8 Quick Answers To Common Hot Flushes Questions

8 Quick Answers To Common Hot Flushes Questions

Usually, when your body heats up, the blood vessels on the surface of the skin expand,
allowing more blood to come through and the heat from the blood evaporates into the air.
This is your body’s natural way to lose additional heat.
If you are extra hot, then sweating can be triggered, and as the sweat evaporates it cools you down.

In the brain, you have a gland called the hypothalamus and one of its key functions is that it produces releasing and inhibiting hormones, which start and stop the production of other hormones throughout your body.

As your sex hormones, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone start to fluctuate during menopause, the other areas where the hormones are involved are put under pressure.
Your hypothalamus gets your nervous and endocrine systems to work together in times of crisis and tries to keep everything in balance including regulating your body temperature.

It can sometimes think that your body’s too hot when it’s not, setting off a panic mode. The cooling process, springs into action, resulting in your blood vessels expanding, giving you a rush of blood and that’s your hot flush.
It can also trigger sweating as well and you can end up getting a hot flush combined with sweating, or worst of all you might get night sweats in the middle of the night.

 

8 Quick Answers To Common Hot Flushes Questions

1. Can your nervous system cause hot flushes?

It’s normal to start sweating and feeling hot and clammy when you get nervous, anxious, or scared about something.

This is because the nervous system interferes with your temperature control.
As you go through menopause your nervous system is stretched to the max because of all the other changes that are going on in the body as well.

Anxiety
Anxiety is one of the most common menopause symptoms causing you to be in a state of anxiety practically all day and very often an anxiety attack will accompany or precede a hot flush.

Stimulants
These are things like caffeine, alcohol, and high salt and sugar foods. These can rev up your nervous system and can trigger a hot flush within 10 – 15 minutes of taking them.

Low blood sugar levels
Low blood sugar levels can stress the nervous system and trigger a hot flush.

Dehydration
Hot flushes and night sweats will dehydrate you, and dehydration will put your nervous system into panic mode, triggering more hot flushes or night sweats.

Lack of magnesium
Falling estrogen can interfere with the absorption and the availability of magnesium, which is vital for your nervous system.
If you are low in magnesium, your nervous system will be overstressed, triggering hot flushes.

What you can do to help yourself

• Look at lovely calming herbs, such as passion flower, or even a really good vitamin B complex can help to reduce anxiety
• Cut out or reduce the intake of coffee, black tea and high salt and sugar foods
• Drinking more water
• Eat little and often, as it will help to keep your blood sugar level stable and help your nervous system
• Take a magnesium supplement
  Usually, about 200 milligrams a day is fine

2. Why are hot flushes worse at night?

You might find that after your dinner, just as you are winding down, the hot flushes will kick in with a vengeance.

This could be due to an accumulation of things that occur during the day and that then hit a peak in the evening.
These include dehydration, the amount of caffeine that you have been drinking, the amount of daily stress you are under, and what you ate or didn’t eat.

What is going on in your day, might have an adverse effect on your nervous system, on your digestion, and on your general mood.
Add these all together and it can stress the nervous system to the point where your hot flushes really kick in.

What can help?

• Keeping a diary of your daily habits which can then help to pinpoint what’s going on and making it easier to address
• Look at what you have for dinner, including your last glass of wine, or your last cup of coffee
• Remember, not to have too many stimulating foods, such as spicy foods, high salt and sugar foods which can also make hot flushes worse

3. Can hot flushes stop and start again?

Can you get hot flushes in the first year of menopause and then find that they disappear, and then after a year or two they come back again?

The answer is yes.
Your hormones don’t necessarily decline in a set manner from the start of perimenopause until the end of menopause.
Your hormones can fluctuate and these changes, when they occur, can trigger certain symptoms, one of them being hot flushes.

4. Is it normal to feel cold & clammy after a hot flush?

This is a horrible and uncomfortable feeling.
One minute, you’re boiling, sweating profusely, and the next minute, you’re shivering.
Hot flushes arise because your body’s ability to control its internal temperature is out of sync.

When you have a hot flush, your body reacts by triggering blood to rush to the skin in order to cool you off.
Blood comes from the internal core of your body and ends up going onto the skin.
As it hits the skin, the air cools the blood, which then goes back into the body.

This is what cools you down and can induce sweating as well
Sweating will cool you down even quicker and it is this cooling down process that then makes you feel really cold straight afterwards.
If you experience this during the day, the only real way of coping with it is to wear layers.

5. Is it normal to feel nauseous before a hot flush?

This can be nausea either just before a flush or just after a flush.
It can be because you are dehydrated, or the fact that your blood sugar is low, or because your blood pressure has dropped too quickly.
Keeping a diary can help determine the cause.
It may be that you have skipped a meal and your blood sugars are too low.

6. Why does a hot flush make you feel dizzy?

When you have a hot flush, the blood vessels open up very suddenly and can cause a drop in blood pressure, the blood drains from your brain causing light-headedness and dizziness, and in some instances, feeling as if you want to faint.

7. What causes pins & needles when you have a hot flush?

You might find that you get tingling sensations, electrical shocks, or pins and needles just before you get the hot flush.
This tends to be caused by an adrenal rush and stems from the nervous system.
Due to all the different emotions that overstretch your nervous system during menopause, it can trigger adrenaline to be released and you end up getting a hot flush.

8. Can you still get hot flushes after menopause?

Yes, you can.
Some women seem to be experiencing an extended menopause and they are still getting symptoms well after their periods have stopped.

It can also be due to other health issues and if you are still getting flushes four or five years after your periods have stopped, it is a good idea to double-check with your doctor that nothing else is going on.
It could also be due to stress, or it could be that you are low on vitamin D, especially if you’re getting sweats and flushes above the neckline.
Low iron can also cause flushes, double-check with your doctor to rule out anything else that might be going on.

Sources
mayoclinic.org – hot flashes symptoms and causes
medicinenet.com – hot flashes
medicalnewstoday.com – what does a hot flash feel like
healthline.com – menopause nausea
womenshealth.obgyn.msu.edu – hot flashes after menopause health.havard.edu – menopause-related hot flashes