Come join others currently navigating treatment in our weekly Zoom Meetup! Register here: Tuesdays, 1pm ET.

Hot Flash Forum!

1235756

Comments

  • Rennasus
    Rennasus Member Posts: 642
    edited July 2011

    I am still waiting for VJSL8's punch line about the Vodka ice bag doing double duty... ridding one of hot flashes AND insomnia. Sounds like a winner to me! LOL

    PS I too know nothing about DIM. Some may even say I am DIM. Sadly, I have nothing to blame these bad jokes on today ... I'm off all painkillers!

  • mammalou
    mammalou Member Posts: 293
    edited July 2011

    Can I ask what the DIM is?

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited July 2011

    3,3'-diindolylmethane 

    Here is a link to an article about DIM and this

    "Animal studies have shown that DIM -- a chemical produced when vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and kale are chewed and digested -- can actually stop the growth of certain cancer cells."

  • mammalou
    mammalou Member Posts: 293
    edited July 2011

    Thanks Omaz.  I'd love to do that study.  I think I'll check out if my hospital is doing that.

  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 471
    edited July 2011
    Omaz Thanks for posting the DIM info.  Broccoli has been my favorite vegetable since I was a child.  I guess that it didn't do me much goodCry  I  have a delicious recipe for kale salad if anyone is interested, I will post it.
  • Rennasus
    Rennasus Member Posts: 642
    edited July 2011

    Yes, love Kale! Recipe please! Laughing

    So I was going to ask if I should be eating more broccoli...? 

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited July 2011
    Shannon - Got the ok for using the menopret.  Onc PA said a new study just came out that showed black cohash is ok to use by us ER+ women.
  • Rennasus
    Rennasus Member Posts: 642
    edited July 2011

    That is GREAT news Omaz!

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited July 2011
    I am thinking this might be the study - link - though she didn't say so.
  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 471
    edited July 2011

    Kale Salad Recipe: Dressing: 1/3 C tamari/soy sauce/or Braggs liquid aminos

                                                1/3 C lemon juice

                                                 1/3 C extra virgin olive oil

                        Raw Ingredients: 1/2 of a medium red or vadalia onion chopped however you like

                                                  1/4 C sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds

                                                   1lb of Kale ( I use organic Kale-one large or 2 small bunches)

                                                   1 avocado cubed

    It's good if you let the onions sit in the dressing for a bit.  Wash and chop the Kale into bit size pieces and mix everything together.  Sometimes I add dried cranberries.  It's always better the next day, so if you have time, let everything sit for a bit before eating.  It feels healthy to eat this salad.  Enjoy!! 

                                                 

                               

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited July 2011
    wen - mix it all together and put it in the fridge?
  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 471
    edited July 2011

    I leave it out if we are eating it soon as I don't make it ahead of time. After eating  I put it in the fridge.

  • Rennasus
    Rennasus Member Posts: 642
    edited July 2011

    Thank you for sharing the recipe, wenweb! I have never eaten kale raw before!

  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 471
    edited July 2011

    Personally I think that kale is better raw.  I had never eaten it that way prior to this salad, but I always find it to be tough when it's cooked.  Even raw it's a good jaw workout!!

  • theresap60
    theresap60 Member Posts: 849
    edited July 2011

    wenweb - thanks for sharing the recipe.  I've never eaten kale raw before either ... always cooked the bitterness and toughness out of it with leftover ham.  Your recipe looks a lot healthier.

  • MBJ
    MBJ Member Posts: 3,671
    edited July 2011

    Hi ladies!  I haven't posted on here before, but I would like to ask a question.  Has anyone tracked what their temperatures actually are with a thermometer before and after a hot flash?  I seem to only have them when my temp is plummeting or excellerating.  For example:  I will be running at 98.6 and then plummet to 98.3 and this is when I have a hot flash and then it plummets even further to 97.6 and then I start having chills.  I also have them when my body temp is really low, for example, 96.5 F going up to 97.9.  So even though I feel really hot, my body temp is actually, when I take my temperature, really low.  Anyone else have this or am I just weird?

  • dogsandjogs
    dogsandjogs Member Posts: 677
    edited July 2011

    Wouldn't you know it? I probably can't take DIM because I'm on Coumadin for atrial fibrillation.

    So how to choose? Cancer or Stroke?

    Hm---I'll have to ask my cardiologist. Maybe a small dose would be ok.

  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894
    edited July 2011

    MBJ----it would take a literature search to see if it's been researched. Google "evidenced based research temperature during hotflashes." It will be interesting to see what you come up with?

  • Rennasus
    Rennasus Member Posts: 642
    edited July 2011

    MBJ I've seen your thread on low temps and have actually wondered what my temp is when I have a hot flash! Because of course it feels like i am burning up. I bought a Vicks thermometer; I'll take a few readings in the next few days and will let you know what I notice!

    So DIM acts as a blood thinner?

  • Mazy1959
    Mazy1959 Member Posts: 254
    edited July 2011

    When I first started getting hot flashes during chemo treatment, the heat started in my feet and went up my body just like a thermometer LOL. As it hit my head, my face would turn red and my face would suddenly be saturated and dripping with sweat. It was hot outside and I about froze everyone out of the house cause I had the AC set on 68-70 degrees. LOL My son bought me a fan with a remote so I could adjust it to suit myself without getting up and using the fan made it so I could raise the thermostat so others werent freezing. After a year the hot flashes really simmered down. I started taking Prozac and it cut them down by about 75%. I still get them but they are tolerable.FYI..My onc does not advise taking black cohosh for ER pos gals..I know its controversial but wanted to mention it. Hugs and luvs, Mazy

  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894
    edited July 2011

    Was it here that someone asked me about clonidine causing neuropathy?-------I didn't get back to say that it's a centrally acting antihypertensive------meaning it works in the brain------and the neuropathy was more akin to severe vessel constriction-----cold hands painful and burning -while thats different that nerve neuropathy, I wasn't going to take any chances. If that wasn't here just ignore this LOL-------where was I------where am I

  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 471
    edited July 2011

    sas-schatzi Yes, it was here that you mentioned the Clonidine.  I have decided to try it for hot flashes.  My Dr. inadvertently sent it to the mail away pharmacy so it just showed up at my house.  I decided to take that as a sign Laughing.  The drug monograph does say that it works in the brain by relaxing the blood vessels which (as you are stating) is the opposite of vessel constriction.  While I find it daunting these days to try new meds, from what I have read the clonidine  can also be effective for migraines, which I do get.  I'm hoping for miracles here, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting.

    BTW  I was in my bathroom last night when a hot flash came on, so I decided to take my temperature.  It was 97.7 which I found interesting since the body emits sooo much heat.  Yesterday, while at yoga, the instructor stopped to make a correct of my pose while a hot flash was just starting. She could feel the heat emanating from my torso and said "you've got some major heat going on here"...as if I didn't already know Tongue out

  • ritaz
    ritaz Member Posts: 76
    edited July 2011

    Well, the FIRST time I went thru Mentalpause (that's what we call it at my house) my PCP prescribed gabapentin.  It really worked - and I had tried estroven as well and the gabapentin won hands down...Now, Arimidex induced hot flashes - it feels like Mentalpause all over again...I have an appointment with Onc next Wednesday and I'm asking for gabapentin...Although, for most people the SE's of Arimidex subside, in my case, the hot flashes haven't stopped nor the night sweats that wake me up a few times a night...tough not getting enough sleep!  I feel like I'm weary all day long...

  • Mom_of_boys
    Mom_of_boys Member Posts: 101
    edited July 2011

    Thank you, thank you, thank you for starting this forum!  I'm looking for some heat relief myself.  Here in Texas, we are going thru record temps.  Combine that with high utility bills and humidity, and I'm up for (almost) anything!

    I've been taking the Neurontin myself for about two years.  My onc prescribed it for me to help with the hot-ness.  Never sure it helps that much UNTIL I run out of my RX... then I KNOW there's a difference in my hot flashes/night sweats. 

    Like others have said... mine are definitely worse in the evening hours... again starting about 5:00 p.m. 

    Definitely asking onc about the menoret and am ordering a chillow SOON!

  • elimar
    elimar Member Posts: 5,885
    edited July 2011

    Gabapentin didn't help me.  Everyone is different with these brain altering chemicals.

  • Rennasus
    Rennasus Member Posts: 642
    edited July 2011

    OK I know this is crazy but for the 3rd morning in a row, at exactly 6:38 AM, I am awakened by a hot flash. It is SO regular, these things, that it confounds me. Anyone else notice how chronologically timed (to the minute) these flashes are? 

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited July 2011

    my hot flashes are just about every 50 minutes.  I take melatonin/anti-histamine at night so I actually go about 2 hours sleeping sometimes but start right back into that schedule in the morning.  I think I have had around 6,000 hot flashes so far (thankfully they are pretty short usually).

  • Mom_of_boys
    Mom_of_boys Member Posts: 101
    edited July 2011

    Regarding the antihistamine, a non-BC friend told me that her OB/GYN said one of Zyrtec's SEs was actually helping hot flashes.  Anyone else heard this?

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited July 2011
    mom- I haven't heard that, interesting.
  • DebInTN
    DebInTN Member Posts: 9
    edited July 2011

    I've had EXCELLENT results taking Peridin-C.