Hot Flash Forum!
Comments
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I'm already on Prozac...20mg... The flashes havemt been too bad. I wonder what the half life of that stuff is? LOL!! Seriously, I stopped it two nights ago, so far so good.
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The half-life can be 4 - 9 days depending on if you are a slow metabolizer or not. 20 mg is the right dose for hot flashes.0 -
I went to my MO today for a regular 6 mos follow up. She is wanting to wean me off my Effexor and while I'm weaning myself off she wants me to take my Gabapentin twice daily. She then prescribed me a medication called Brisdelle, brand new on the market. My MO said that if the Gabapentin works to control the hot flashes during the day then she said I could take that instead of the Brisdelle. It will be interesting to see how this works. Hope everyone has a hot flash free day.
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Brisdelle is the same med as Paxil! Packaged as a different MG causing you to pay brand name price for a med that you could get generically! It is 7.5 mg. Ask for generic Paxil 10 mg. Save you some $$$0 -
Does anyone know if it would be healthier to take a sleeping pill at night and sleep through the night sweats versus the antidepressant approach. Hot flashes during the day are bad enough but I would love to not be awakened all night long from a racing heart and internal combustion! AND I have not even started Arimidex yet!
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blownaway, my MO prescribed ativan for that very purpose -- to sleep through the night sweats without caring about them. I personally didn't like feeling so sedated, but if you can tolerate it, this could be a good solution for getting a solid night's rest.
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so. I called the naturopath who gave me that supplement. She said that the product is not a phytoestrogen. She said she even called the company to verify. She said if I am not comfortable taking it that I shouldn't. So far so good...then she suggested another product I can look at that is perfectly safe. So I looked it up. The website clearly says that it is CONTRAINDICATED for women with a history of estrogen positive bc. I think my relationship with this practitioner is over. And, she was recommended by the social worker at my cancer center. Guess who else is getting a note from me! (I hope the protein powder she gave me is "safe"...I do know that it doesn't have any phytoestrogens).
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Good grief!!!0 -
Gemini - isn't Ativan just another anti-depressant? I'm afraid to get started on one because of all the warnings of "do not discontinue use without advice from your doctor". That's what all the anti-depressants/anti-anxiety drug labels say. Does anyone take just plain sleeping pills to get around the night sweats?0 -
Ativan is an anti-anxiety med.I took Ambien for sleep years ago and I got physically dependent on it. It was hard getting off of it. Now I rotate sleep inducing meds so that I don't have that happen again. I find that any sort of sleeping pills don't stop the HF's, but hopefully make me drowsy enough that after I have one, I can easily fall asleep again.
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Thanks Glennie - I hate to think how much worse the h/f's are going to be after starting on one of the hormone suppressing drugs in the next few weeks. Right now, I wake up about 5 times a night. I get so pissed off each time, it's hard to fall back to sleep.
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I hear you on that! Benadryl might help you fall back to sleep. Others have tried melatonin. And you could ask your doctor for some Ativan/Valium/Xanax (all anti-anxiety meds) or Ambien/Lunesta/Restoril (sleep meds). Rotate them around. I've been on the Prozac for 10 days now,, and last night I got 5 hours of solid sleep. That's been a while! I was really reluctant to do the anti-depressants too, but I was feeling quite desperate. I figure that I'll try it for a couple of months and see how it goes. The reason I chose Prozac is because it has a long half-life,, so it will be easier to taper off than it would be with Effexor, and my doctor says it has less weight gain than Paxil.0 -
It's always something ... Benadryl isn't a good option as a sleep aid because it apparently interacts badly with tamoxifen (making tamoxifen less effective). Melatonin is probably the best sleep aid to try first. Start with the lowest dose (like half a mg); higher doses can have the opposite effect. There's a lot of info here on the forums about melatonin, so I recommend doing a search.
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gemini -Have to tell you I take a benedryl and a 10 mg melatonin every night. I'm past that stage...
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Benadryl does interact with Tamoxifen,, but it doesn't with Arimidex.0 -
hello and holy crap! I completed 32 rads a week ago and start Tamoxifen in two weeks. today I had my first appt at psychiatry here at MDA and they prescribed Clonopin in preparation she said for anxiety and worse sleeplessness. I'm already on xanax, she said that wasn't strong enough and they're weaning me off Wellbutrin and bringing in Effexor. Been following this feed for awhile and I've got to say everything ahead of me sounds about as fun as a bucket of nails. Clearly as I suspected all along, chemo and radiation may have been the easy par
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Oh gosh, nothing was as horrible as chemo for me. Not even Effexor - and I think that is a horrible med - although it did help me cope for a few years. Now, I just don't need it and I'm so grateful that my body is moving on.
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Hi, thought I'd post an update. I'm the one who had a ridulous response to Effexor.
I've been on Letrozole for about three weeks and have had...get ready...NO NOTICEABLE SIDE EFFECTS. I had hot flashes before I took it (thus the wildly unsuccessful one-night-stand with Effexor) and I have hot flashes now, too, possibly an itty bitty bit worse, but tolerable.
So, since I am an "overreactor" to just about anything pharmaceutical, my lack of side effects is really something!
I tried one round of acupuncture for the hot flashes. Probably not enough to give it a fair shake, but there wasn't even a small difference. Other people have reported that acupuncture was relaxing, but I didn't have that impression. It didn't hurt, and it felt interesting, but I made a strategic error and asked the acupuncturist about how acupuncture works. Unfortunately, she got the central and peripheral nervous systems mixed up, and then started talking about chi (sp?). I teach for a living. When a student asks something and I don't know the answer, I tell that person I don't know and I explore ways to discover the answer. Instead of that approach, which I find honest, I got pseudoscience and incorrect assertions. The most I can say about my acupuncturist is that she was nice and did want to help.
Has anyone actually obtained relief from hot flashes through acupuncture?
HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone. So done with 2014, am I right???
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Early60s - Effexor was not my cup of tea either. I tried it for a couple of days then threw it in the trash.0 -
I tried Effexor years ago and it was awful for me. But I know it works for a lot of people. I just tell people that I'm still hot, but now it comes in flashes.
And I have a USB fan at my desk that runs off my computer. 0 -
Temp here today is 12 degrees. Where are those hot flashes when you need them? Silly question but as I ran in and out of the house today to work and on errands, I kept thinking that, just kept thinking where are you hot flash when I need you.
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Hello Early60's,
Acupuncture worked for me. It really reduced my flushes by about 80%. I wish I could afford to have it done more often. Some clinics here in the UK offer it free of charge for a period of about 6 or 8 sessions. I think a 6 or 8 week course of it followed by about the same off and then starting up with the acupuncture again might be a good solution. But I haven't been able to do it myself.
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I am taking Effexor for hot flashes/night sweats and it has worked really well for me. The flashes have reduced to about only 90% and not as intense. I feel pretty good on the Effexor but I think I have started to gain a little weight - YIKES! Its always something.
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so I'm 12 days into Effexor and I'm still alive! Tamox starts today too! Effexor has easily got to be one of the most constipating meds ever. The first three days I felt like I was tripping but xanax helped- a little. I'm taking it in the morning, holy crap am I a sleepy cow when I wake up and I can all of a sudden sleep 12-15 hrs no problem! That's effexor I've been told. Lots of water, stool softeners, etc but otherwise and overall it's a very subtle med that is ok- we shall see what Tamox is like. Thanks everyone for your replies!! Ah Breast cancer, making new friends every day so that's an upside
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CAS4 - I am still trying to find what works for the constipation issue. I drink lots of water, eat lots of fruit and veggies, take Miralax and eat prunes - and all I get is very little results from all my efforts, lol. I suppose I will be on a pill for that soon enough.
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CAS4 and Cidneyl---Try taking SloMag. You can buy it at Walmart. It's a timed release magnesium supplement. Works awesome for joint and muscle pain caused by Tamoxifen and as an added bonus it's fantastic for getting rid of constipation!! I take 2 every morning and I'm as regular as a clock. I started with 2 in the am and 2 in the pm but that was more than I needed. It got rid of all my pains and kept me regular with just 2. I'm having a hysterectomy next week which is famous for causing all sorts of bowel issues. I'll let you know how well it works on that!! Gas pains.....my biggest fear second only to surgical menopause!!! Oh the joys of Tamoxifen!!
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lala, I had HX in Sept! Yes,,,you can get bowel issues. Prune juice was a big help for me. I now eat prunes daily and find they really help me be regular. I only had the gas pain the night I came home. Taking simethicone (Mylicon) does nothing, cuz the gas is in your abdomen,, not in bowel, and it irritates a nerve so you get gas pain in your shoulder. It's crazy, but true. I had to sit up,,, could not lie down for the first couple hours that I got home. Then I could use my wedge pillow.0 -
I switched Effexor a month ago. I switched to the new Brisdelle and it worked amazingly, however, I can't afford 50.00 a month for a 30 day supply. My MO has changed me to the Paroxetein and today is day 2. So far so good. Hope you all have a great day.
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Hi Christrenee77,
Hi, I just read what you just posted.
I looked up both drugs and am wondering what is the difference?
It seems Brisdelle is the trade name drug (so a higher co-pay) and paroxetine is the generic.
Usually the insurance company doesn't even let me use a trade name if a generic is available.
Are these used instead of Effexor for "just" hot flashes?
thanks for the info.
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Yikes- Brisdelle is a newer version of Paxil. Brisdelle doesn't have 3 components that Paxil does. I've heard good things about Paxil other than the fact of weight gain. Brisdelle has some very interesting SE's, such as bloating, excessive gas and frequent urination. Which to say I had all of the above. I felt immediate relief from the HF's, it was great to not feel like a freaking sauna going off in my body. So far on day 2 of the paxil, no HF's or sauna feeling. I get warm but that's it. I figure I will take the paxil until it no longer works then go back to Brisdelle and suck up the copay cost.
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