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Hot Flash Forum!

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Comments

  • farmerlucy
    farmerlucy Member Posts: 596
    edited July 2015

    duh - I thought it was a cooling towel which btw works great!! Happy accident

  • JenLeg
    JenLeg Member Posts: 3
    edited July 2015

    hot flashes = annoying! Sometimes in the morning, i feel cold, so i put on a sweater. It seems almost as soon as I put it on, I have to take it off again! Argh!

    I get them at night too & keep a small blanket nearby for when im cold (after ive just kicked off all the sheets of course).

  • rleepac
    rleepac Member Posts: 193
    edited July 2015

    Cool...I'll have to check it out. Thanks

  • Blownaway
    Blownaway Member Posts: 662
    edited July 2015

    Has anyone heard of Brisdelle? My gyno just gave me a month and a half's worth of free samples to help with hot flashes that Effexor just can't seem to do the trick. I took my first one last night along with a lower dose of Effexor than I have been taking. No noticeable improvement yet though.

  • glennie19
    glennie19 Member Posts: 4,833
    edited July 2015


    Brisdelle is the same drug as Paxil.  It's just made in a different strength so the drug company can avoid the patent rules. (oops how cynical of me!)  Don't take it if you are on tamoxifen.

  • LeftyWasMyFavorite
    LeftyWasMyFavorite Member Posts: 3
    edited July 2015

    Haven't read through this entire thread but thought I'd share a tip passed on to me that does wonders for my mild hot flashes/night sweats. Essential peppermint oil, a drop dabbed on my chest, shoulders, wrists or inside elbows. It cools me down in a few minutes and my husband says I smell like a thin mint lol

  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894
    edited July 2015

    I have done the research for folks in the past, but have really dropped off doing that. Saw the post about iCool. Very concerned that consideration of taking a drug that is completely unknown.

    Not good when safety isn't known.

    This page has some info, but the bibliography has more sources. Genistein is the active ingredient in iCool

    http://www.foundhealth.com/genistein/overview


  • Blownaway
    Blownaway Member Posts: 662
    edited July 2015

    Well, I'm on Tamoxifen so I'll be throwing out all those free samples my gyno gave me.

  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894
    edited July 2015

    Blownaway, Please, share with us why you are throwing away the samples. Everyone's learning :) Because it's a SSRI? New drugs are not as good as old drugs IMO. They go through the pre-approval clinical trials>>>approval process>>then marketing. Too often new drugs show up in the initial post marketing time with problems. It takes a few years before a drug that has post marketing problems for word to get out. The first years of the Aromatase inhibitors the side effects that are so extreme became known. 2009 my Mo was emphatic that the horrendous increase in muscle, bone, and joint pain had nothing to do with Arimidex. We all know where that story went.

    Remember that the clinical trials get to pick whose in the trial.

    Still remember a link here on Arimidex (some other thread way before the Arimidex thread), It linked to a researcher at Univ. of Michigan. The statement I remember from his interview was "They hadn't seen these complaints during the trials. Were going to have to go back and take a look at this"

    What was amazing is I never saw a research say such a thing. YouTube is wonderful. Rather than saying a problem didn't exist from the research that he was involved in, he was willing to except that the post marketing complaints indicated a problem. He did it publicly.

    The key here is know your drug. Know what is the research on the drug. Is it Evidence Based Research (EBR)or anecdotal. If you see a product that says read "Testomonials". Major clue it's not an EBR item.

  • glennie19
    glennie19 Member Posts: 4,833
    edited July 2015


    Brisdelle is the same drug as Paxil,,, and Paxil interacts with tamoxifen.

  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894
    edited July 2015

    And as Glennie pointed out earlier, it interacts with Tamox. Which reinforces knowing your drugs. You may think that doc's know their drugs and all the stuff related to you, but it's right here as an example that they don't................Their working on their body part and symptomology.

  • glennie19
    glennie19 Member Posts: 4,833
    edited July 2015


    I would like to know, too.  My GYN recommended it for my hot flashes, but I didn't think it was safe, being 100% ER positive.

  • lala1
    lala1 Member Posts: 974
    edited July 2015

    kayb--I don't see my MO till Sept but I will certainly ask him why he's ok with iCool and get back to you. All he told me was that it was the only thing he is ok with us ER+ BC gals using for hot flashes. And he's very conservative about pretty much anything I ask about taking so I was pretty surprised when he suggested it.

  • Artista928
    Artista928 Member Posts: 1,458
    edited July 2015

    I'm already flushing and I haven't even had my bilat mx sx yet! I'm looking at face ice packs. I have one I bought from icy cool for the neck. The full on mask looks like it would be hard for it to fit all faces. Anyone recommend one that really does work and takes care of your entire face wihout having to hold it yourself or have straps that aren't great? Thanks!

  • queenmomcat
    queenmomcat Member Posts: 2,020
    edited July 2015

    Artista: no suggestions, but alertly interested in answers to the "is there a hands=free gel pack that takes care of your entire face?:

  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894
    edited July 2015

    I pulled these over from another thread. The study is related to Pharmacogenomics. The Blog is an analysis of the study. The reason I brought it here is it's an example of what I'm saying about docs not knowing their drugs. Self protection.


    Jan 13, 2015 05:14PM , edited Jan 13, 2015 05:19PM by sas-schatzi


    Received an email with links to two sites. One is Genelex's blog site(first) It discusses a study regarding Pharmacogenomics The second is the study.

    http://genelex.com/blog/study-pharmacogenomic-knowledge-gaps-persist-among-physicians/

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4100727/

    Roughly, The study identifies that only a small percentage of docs are knowledgeable about Pharmacogenomics. Earlier posts, I stated that we needed to teach our docs. The evidenced based research is there in the study.

  • Scottiemom11
    Scottiemom11 Member Posts: 1,072
    edited July 2015

    lala definitely let us know. I had not heard of icool but MO has me limixing soy (I'm vegetarian) because I'm very ER+. Also why she insisted on OS.

    Scottie

  • Artista928
    Artista928 Member Posts: 1,458
    edited July 2015

    """""""""""""

    Ditto on the icool info....and what is OS?

  • Scottiemom11
    Scottiemom11 Member Posts: 1,072
    edited July 2015

    Artista. . .OS is ovarian supression. They put me on month lupron shots which put me in menopause.

    Scottie

  • Angew666
    Angew666 Member Posts: 3
    edited July 2015


    Hi I am new to this forum thingy.  I started my menopause at about 32, I am now 47.  I got breast cancer in september 2012 had  many operations then a mastectomy. I am on Tamoxifen and don't see any problems with it. I decided to have the other breast removed.  I got my BC because I was uing a magic HRT patch, for me the oestrogen was the problem.  For 2 years I had a brilliant life, I slept like a baby, had loads of energy, no bads headaches,no hot flashes ever, kept my weight down and not to mention my bedroom life was, well do we need to go there!  I felt I had won the lottery, life was great. When I got BC I had to stop using it, it was as if my lottery win had been taken away from me, I know it is the thing that nearly killed me and  I now am not supposed to take it but I am at my wits end.  Every sypmton of the menopause came back with a vengeance.  I don't take any tablets (my tamoxifen is liquid based and my husband outs it into a smoothy drink every morning for me).  Does anybody know if  the patch is now safe for me as I have had a double mastectomy?  Would it cause cancer elsewhere? Can I have my miracle cure back? Is there a different miracle cure that anyone knows that might work for me? thank you   angela

  • Early60s
    Early60s Member Posts: 6
    edited July 2015

    Hi Angew666, I think lots of us know exactly how you feel!!! I'd had premature ovarian failure at age 30, had nasty menopause issues way too early, and after a few years of that, started HRT and kept on it for more than 26 years. LOVED my Ortho PreFest (which I always joked should have been named PostFest). Once we found my estrogen-positive cancer, I had to discontinue HRT and, adding insult to injury, had to start taking an aromatase inhibitor to completely block estrogen from being produced.

    Hot flashes with a vengeance. But no cancer now.

    If your tumor was estrogen-positive, you just can't get that HRT patch again, ever, unless you want to risk "feeding" any errant cancer cells that might be waiting for dinner!

    We can't "get back" that perfect life, but when it was happening, unknown to us, we were feeding the cancer beast. So it wasn't really the perfect life. That was an illusion.

    When you find yourself longing for your former life, maybe try instead to think about how you at least HAVE a life, and you've slaughtered the cancer beast.

    Hope that helps a bit. :)

  • Blownaway
    Blownaway Member Posts: 662
    edited July 2015

    Angew666 - I hear you! I took Premarin for about 10 years after menopause at age 47 or so. Didn't think I could live without it , my hot flashes had been about twice per hour, night and day. My mom took it for close to 50 years with no problems. I am the first incidence of breast cancer in my family. I felt safe in taking it.....NOT!!! Well, here we are. My onco tried me on Effexor for hot flashes, we kept bumping up the doseage all the way to 225mg. Still had h/f's and couldn't deal with the s/e's of the drug. I stopped Effexor and now I'm trying Icool, though I have not asked my onco for an ok on it. We can no longer take any form of estrogen. If we were men, I'm sure more choices would be out there for us....pharmaceutical companies are more concerned with giving the guys boners than alleviating womens suffering....I'm just saying......

  • Angew666
    Angew666 Member Posts: 3
    edited July 2015

    Hi to you both, thank you so much for replying to my very first post.  I suppose I thought that there might have been some miracle or magic secret  that somebody knew about, i suppose i was just grasping at straws.  I know I am one of the lucky ones, I most certainly know that as my best friend in the world died of breast cancer 8 months after I was diagnosed.  I will just have to keep hoping that one day they will stop and until then, chin up as best as I can.  Luckilly I have the best husband in the world - thank you again

  • Angew666
    Angew666 Member Posts: 3
    edited July 2015

    Yes they do have it as bad as we do so we are all in the same boat some way or another.  My husband has started having a few 'hot ones' but I am sure he is just coming out in sympathy for me, he wishes he could take them away from me so maybe that is him trying, what a sweetie he is

  • Artista928
    Artista928 Member Posts: 1,458
    edited July 2015

    Can anyone actually using icool that can attest to whether it works or not? I naturally run hot, and I haven't started any txs yet. :(

    Thanks!

  • AZ85048
    AZ85048 Member Posts: 1,467
    edited July 2015

    Artista928 - I used it faithfully for about six months over a year ago and got little to no relief. I truly wish I could attest to its magical powers, but I honestly don't think it does much at all - at least not for me.

    Bawling

  • lala1
    lala1 Member Posts: 974
    edited July 2015

    I am using iCool now and have been for about 6 weeks. I've gone from half a dozen HF during the day and another half a dozen HF at night to about 3 or 4 during the day and 1 or 2 at night. The duration and intensity and dropped as well. Every HF used to wake me up at night and I would toss and turn for a while and finally fall back to sleep. Now I wake up just enough to throw off covers and fall right back to sleep. Then at some point I get cold and cover back up! I feel I've gotten about a 75% improvement in my HF. They just seem so much more manageable. I take 1 pill each morning with breakfast.

  • Blownaway
    Blownaway Member Posts: 662
    edited July 2015

    I just started Icool last week so cannot comment.

  • Tresjoli2
    Tresjoli2 Member Posts: 579
    edited July 2015

    I,just finished taxol number 6. After I got home...the hot flashes kicked in full force. I hadn't had one before. I'm soaked in sweat...is that normal? It feels like I am having one after the other. Wow...

  • lifelover
    lifelover Member Posts: 263
    edited July 2015

    I often have one after another. Some days are worse than others but I have them every day and have had them for four and a half years now :( And I always have to mop my face - embarrassing when I'm teaching but my pupils are used to it.

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