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Hot Flash Forum!

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Comments

  • Cindi2011
    Cindi2011 Member Posts: 84
    edited April 2012

    I AGREE WITH TRYING2BPOSITIVE

    FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT ARE USING BENYDRYL OR ANTIDEPRESSANTS.......TALK TO YOUR ONCOLOGIST ABOUT THE SE OF THOSE DRUGS.

    My primary doctor put me on antidepressants (thank goodness I had only taken 2)  Come to find out it would have weakened the effect of the tamoxifen.

     I rather keep the thought in my head that every time I have a hot flash it is burning up those little cancer boogers.

    good luck ladies

    My surgeons nurse (from last year) sent me a note this week for the anniv. of surgery.

    Reminding me of what I said after surgery:  Its ONLY a boob, if you want the other one and it means me being alive and well.............by all means.........take it, I dont need them!!!!

    Also my foster daughter sent me a note:  Roses are RED, Violets are BLUE,  I LOVE you, one boob or two.

    DONT LET CANCER CONTROL YOU!!!!!

    YOU ARE IN CONTROL........TAKE CHARGE!!!!!

  • Joanne_53
    Joanne_53 Member Posts: 714
    edited April 2012

    I love the one boob or two --

    I will say though once you have b/c it isn't just about the boob ---

    as for drug interactions -- you can look them up -- benadryl is a no no -- as are some antidepressants (Wellbutrin NO/Effexor is ok) -- any cold or alergy that are night time are also NO.

  • lisak7290
    lisak7290 Member Posts: 103
    edited April 2012

    Not sure if I have hot flashes or not...I have my moments were my head just feels hot and sweaty.

  • jenlee
    jenlee Member Posts: 204
    edited April 2012

    Chemopause does give me crazy hot flashes, mostly at night.  But strangely, hot and cold all night.  So I start out with the fan on and lots of blankets, then hot, then cold.  My daughter came a few mornings ago, saw the sheets and accused me of wetting the bed :)

  • lisak7290
    lisak7290 Member Posts: 103
    edited April 2012

    How do you make yourself more comfortable while having one??

    Battery power fan or paper fan

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited April 2012

    paper fanner here!

  • Linda54
    Linda54 Member Posts: 509
    edited April 2012

    lisak7290,  Anything within reach that you can use for a fan...LOL....I was in Lowes paint dept and started having a bad flash so I was looking around for something to fan with...I grabbed one of those paint sample sheets...relief!!!!.....I have small electric fans in my kitchen, next to my bed and on my vanity....and next to my treadmill....I keep a greeting card in my Bible for church and I glued 2 index cards together (for thickness) and keep one in my purse.  When I had my bi-lateral surgery I took one of my little electric fans to the hospital along with an extension cord....I try to be prepared at all times.  And I take a fan to Spin class with me. I am known as the Fan Lady..LOL

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited April 2012

    In the house I have electric fans in every room!

  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894
    edited April 2012

    Hi everyone just dropped in, Doing well except can't where glasses b/c it caused an incision problem--so typing may be way off  LOL. Sometimes when I can focus I can't even makeout what word I was trying to type. Have to squint at all posts.

    Linda sorry to tell you this , but electric fans are outlawed in all hospitals b/c of potential of blowing around bacteria. Just like me to drop in with bad news sorry.

    Hope all are doing well otherwise.Sheila

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited April 2012
    Hey Sheila - Great to hear from you!!!  
  • Joanne_53
    Joanne_53 Member Posts: 714
    edited April 2012

    I am like Linda -- I can make a paper fan out of anything.  I have the temperature in my house pretty low so I just have to add clothes - so far I don't have any flashes in bed.

  • lulubee
    lulubee Member Posts: 903
    edited April 2012
    If I'm home, I open the freezer door and stick my head in.  Smile
  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894
    edited April 2012

    Omaz -------how is it? I went off aromasin 4 weeks before surgery, had some minor problems going off it that surprised me. My lower legs swelled , 3plus edema.about 3-4 x's then normal, RT index finger felt arthritic --now normal,  a few HF the first week., then okay. plan to get nips tattooed after okay by neuro doc. Psychologically much improved knowing what Little Bean was/is B9---weight lifted.---huge attitude change.

     Hiick how is it with you too?

    Thanks to both of you for the PM's when I was going through it meant allotCool (((H))) sheila

  • Linda54
    Linda54 Member Posts: 509
    edited April 2012

    kayb, I have been known to remove my shirt also....at home only!!..LOL

    sas-schatzi,  the hospital did not say anything to me about the fan....but that was 4 yrs ago so things might have changed since then.  When I go in for day surgeries I take a cardboard fan.

  • Rennasus
    Rennasus Member Posts: 642
    edited April 2012

    Haven't check this thread lately, happy to see activity!

    Flashes for me are exactly as y'all describe... fingers and toes cold, shivers down my spine, then a flash, hot-hot-hot peel off the clothes (at home only, otherwise, up goes the hair), then I get the shivers again. Every morning I wake up freezing from the fan I cannot live without at night. C.R.A.Z.Y.

    I have recently disproved one of my hot flash theories that we have talked about here... When we awaken in the middle of the night, is it because we have to go to the bathroom, or does the hot flash process wake us up and once we're awake we realize we have to go? I thought I was waking up because of the hot flash. Well last week our dog started barking in the middle of the night. I was sound asleep. Once his bark woke me, I got up and used the bathroom and like clockwork, there came the flash. So I wasn't woken up *by* the flash, it happened *after* I was awake. Seems once I am awake, my body does the flash dance. I will continue to look for a pattern here, but this makes sense to me. Anyone else?

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited April 2012

    I think my flashes wake me up.  I only sleep through them once in a while and I know because I wake up all wet.  They usually wake me up and I get up to pee since it seems to help me cool down.  Then it's the fan for a while, then one cover on, then the next cover on, arm still hanging out, wait wait wait - almost over - fan off......oooooppps not done yet -......fan back on....  How come I don't lose weight with all this nightly activity???

  • carolinames
    carolinames Member Posts: 10
    edited April 2012

    I'm with you Omaz.  I wake up right before the hot flash.  My husband is freezing and I have the covers off, fan on, A/C down low.  Then I get cold and huddle under the covers....all night long! 

  • ginger48
    ginger48 Member Posts: 1,437
    edited April 2012

    I am with you guys. Wake up right before flash then hot, hot, hot. Then I add a cover at a time till I fall back asleep. I am doing a sleep study on Monday night. They will think I am crazy! Might have to bring a fan...

  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894
    edited May 2012

    Linda ----Hi sweetie--------the fan thing has been in effect several years before that. -------may be they didn't enforce it in your hospital. When I first learned of it I was chasing around trying to get a fan and then was informed why I couldn't find one--------hope your feeling better sheila

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited April 2012

    My new thought about hot flashes is that they are keeping my skin moist.  Hah - fighting the drying out of menopause.

  • luckyjnjmom
    luckyjnjmom Member Posts: 114
    edited May 2012

    Now that you've mentioned it - I'm not sure what the sequence is either flash or pee - I'll have to start tracking it - but I do think that the flashes help you lose weight - or so it seems with me. that's the only upside I've found from this process and it may be delusional thinking - but the numbers on teh scale are going down - so I'm willing to credit the hot flashes with one good thing - otherwise it just totally sucks.

    Lucky

  • Linda54
    Linda54 Member Posts: 509
    edited May 2012

    during the day when I have to pee but I put it off for just a bit...there comes the flash. I really do think there is a connection with them....also I think the feeling before the flash is what wakes me and when I am headed to the bathroom the flash is full blown.

  • anne67
    anne67 Member Posts: 14
    edited May 2012

    Anyone taking Estroven for hot flashes or night sweats?

  • jenlee
    jenlee Member Posts: 204
    edited May 2012

    Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but my older sister has had great success with the the following during her "normal" menopause...  evening primrose oil and a gulten-free/sugar-free diet.

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited May 2012
    anne67 - here is a link to a short article about estroven here on BCO - LINK
  • anne67
    anne67 Member Posts: 14
    edited May 2012

    Thanks for the link Omaz-it was very helpful!



    Jennifer, thanks for the info about your sister. I actually was gluten free for a couple of weeks (I was doing Phase 1 of the South Beach diet) but I still had night sweats. I have read about the evening primrose oil so maybe I'll give that a try. Based on Omaz's link, I think I will check with my doctor before I start these herbal remedies. It would be great to find something that was okay to take...I'll even settle for the "placebo effect" at this point! :)

  • ginger48
    ginger48 Member Posts: 1,437
    edited May 2012

    I have been gluten free for 6 or 7 years. I still get hot flashes but they are pretty tolerable.

  • anne67
    anne67 Member Posts: 14
    edited May 2012

    I may try gluten free again if my doctor doesn't approve of me trying the herbal remedies. I just started Tamoxifen about a month ago. I am having night sweats which are interfering with my sleep. I can't imagine feeling this tired for the next five years.

  • nita1027
    nita1027 Member Posts: 1
    edited May 2012

    susieq58, I have, indeed, noticed a link between urinating/the need to urinate and hot flashes. 

  • ginger48
    ginger48 Member Posts: 1,437
    edited May 2012

    Kayb- I am off sugar too!

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