Hot flashes - please explain

[dodo]

Can anyone who has gone through the menopause etc explain hot flashes to me?

I have been having these warm feelings go through my body occasionally and as I'm told it's not my heart this is the only thing I can justify it to.

I am not menopause age though but did have a baby just over a year ago and since my periods returned this seems to happen to me.

What do they feel like? Where do they originate in the body?

TY :)

[gaaron]

mmm..hot flushes can happen at any time..it just seems to be more prevalent at the time of menopause. It's just a hot feeling, sometimes with a lot of perspiring. Absolutely nothing to worry about. It's a bit like the feeling you get when you go red in the face, you know, but it's the body x

[missy007]

Dodo

I am 47 and have had flushes for years - I am still not menopausal it may still just be your hormones settling in - I try and put it down to my meds - I think its something women have to put up with - don't dwell on it too much it will pass just tc :hugs:x

[nomorepanic]

Did you see my reply to your post about the heart thing?

[dodo]

About the neck? Just read it ty.

[dodo]

Where in your body do the flushes start though? And how long do they last? Seconds, minutes?

[nomorepanic]

people are different - they can be anywhere - arms, face, neck, chest etc

there is not one answer on this

[suzy-sue]

Mine can last for a couple of mins or a lot longer .It starts on my chest and rises .If its bad I can sweat and feel chlaustrophobic ,thenI have to go outside or stick my head out of the window .Its similar to the start of a panic attack .But I know the difference . Its caused by hormone levels :lac:

[bmccartney]

i was unfortunate enough to suffer with severe (SEVERE) hot flashes earlier this year. I can describe it as almost a feeling of an internal inferno that started in my abdomen and spread upward to chest neck and head. It was a wave that intensified as it travelled up into my head, I was soaked with sweat, sometimes felt sick to my stomach and dizzy/ faint. I had hot flashes every 45 minutes for months ( in the humid Ontario summers !) and was so traumatized by them... it was the start of my anxiety issues.They woke me up all night long for months until i was exhausted and on my very last nerves.Made me feel panicky and out of control and at times even plugged up my ears. Finally cried my way to the doctor and went on estrogen replacement VERY reluctantly. I do realize my case was extreme and not all women suffer this way but some are driven almost insane. Apparrently they are worse for smokers and people that can be descrbed as "intense personalities" ( I am both) My body changed and i experienced something I had no control over and truly this was the START of this anxiety problem for me. Now the worry of taking the dreaded estrogen bothers me too but hot flashes are gone. Deathly afraid to experience that again. Hot flashes are all to do with fluctuations in estrogen and at my age (51) it is about estrogen depleting. For you, it is normal fluctuations of estrogen during your cycles ( things change in our bodies everytime we have a baby!) I think anxiety "sensitization " makes you more aware of them.

[dodo]

I seriously wonder if this is what I'm experiencing. I did wonder if it was an adrenalin rush but this seems more likely.

I keep getting these warm sensations under my diagram that spread up through my chest. Sometimes they go up my neck and my neck feels hot and tight.

Very much like the start if a panic attack.

It can last a couple of seconds and recover a few times in a row.

Sometimes I get them when I'm trying to sleep.

Sometimes they start when I'm just relaxing.

I'm due my period any say now and gave been getting them for a few days and they're frightening the life out of me as I am convinced it wax a heart issue but my heart rate stays the same.

[daybyday]

I am 55 and post menopasue since cycles stopped at 45
It really depends on what the hot flashes are from. Hormones, stress, anxiety, pre-menopause. They are differeent. I have had the menopause flashes and anxiety flashes.

[gaaron]

dodo, It is normal in women. I wake up a few times in the night 'drenched', or suddenley during the day am taken aback by the sudden 'heat' enveloping my body. There is nothing to worry about. x