Hot Flashes

When I first started menopause I had hot flashes – bright red skin turning hot flashes.  And night sweats!  Wow.  How can you sweat when the heater is off and its 28 degrees outside?  Well I did! 

I used HRTs for a while, then tapered off of them.  Heart disease runs in my family and I already have high blood pressure, so I was a little worried about the side effects of the drugs.  Over the course of a year I took them daily, then every other day, to eventually none. 

It’s been about 10 years since I took hormones and I’ve had little to no issues with hot flashes.  Then suddenly one day – They’re back! 

I sat in a meeting yesterday and my face and arms started to turn fiery red!  I felt like someone had turned the heat way up in my office.  I took of my sweater (fortunately is was a cardigan with a tank top under it) and opened the window.  Five minutes later, the window gets closed and the sweater goes back on.  Fifteen minutes later the routine begins again.

I’ve heard it called a woman’s personal summer.  It’s not.  Summer is lazy and breezy and wonderful when the sun soaks your skin and you relax in the beauty of it.  This is not a summer day.

I get why our bodies change as we age.  We don’t bear children anymore so our bodies don’t need all the parts and hormones and other things needed to do that job.  But why must other parts of our bodies rebel against the change?  Like the ol’ thermostat!

So what are my options?  Hormone Replacement again?  No – not worth the risk.  Taking soy supplements?  No – recent studies show that to be equally dangerous. 

I guess my options are to go out and buy lots of tank tops I can layer with shirts and cardigans – and get my workout taking them off and on and off and on…..

Ah – the joys of being an older woman.

Well, time to go shopping……