Is there a connection between being GF and Hot Flashes?

wonderwoman · Post by **wonderwoman** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:44 pm

I have been bothered terribly with hot flashes since going off the HRT back in maybe 2001. Now I have noticed that I am not having the hot flashes since being GF, DF, & SF or at least as many or as bad as before. Could there be a connection? Has anyone else experienced this?

If I continue to not have the hot flashes, or if they are fewer and less severe, then going on this restrictive diet is certainly worth it. I got more than I expected.

Tex, this is a question for the ladies. But you can answer also if you want to.

Jan · Post by **Jan** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:59 pm

I didn't notice a change in my hot flashes when I when GF. On a rare occasion I will have a night sweat still, but no hot flashes. Some of this may be because I started menopause early (age 48). I tried HRT for just a short time but it seemed to bring my periods back so I stopped that. Don't know if that helps answer your question or not.

Jan

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 10:04 pm

I didn't notice a change in the hot flashes after going GF either. They've diminished with time (they started 14 years ago), but I still get them occasionally.

Gloria

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 10:12 pm

hi there gloria
hope you are continuing to to improve.

charlotte, as we discussed on another thread the other day, i have been getting cold feelings after i eat, and then 3 hours later i get hot. hopefully i have at least 5 years before i have to worry about menopause.

wonderwoman · Post by **wonderwoman** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:38 am

I've had HOT HOT HOT flashes for over 20 years. Even when on the HRT for about 10 years. When a hot flash passed I'd be cold from the moisture in my clothing. If indeed my hot flashes are gone or diminished (and only time will tell) it could only be from the change in diet and nothing else. :dancingpenguins:

Ginny · Post by **Ginny** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:39 am

Just to pipe in, I have had hot flashes since going off HRT as well; about 10 years and initially it probably slowed down because my brain was on the ten trips to the bathroom with CC! It didn't take long to go back to sweats and cold! I have tried a natural product called "Flash Ease" by Nature Sunshine and it does work to keep it under control. Ginny

Bifcus16 · Post by **Bifcus16** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:01 pm

I am another one with bad hot flushes. Had them for nearly five years now (since I was 45). The chills that go with them mean I have nearly given up even pretending to know what the ambient temperature is - I ask people if it is cold and watch what others wear to try and gauge what I should do. It must be a health hazard to go out dressed lightly if the outside temp is cold.

I don't believe the GF diet makes the slightest difference to them, in my case.

HRT caused a MC flare so it got dropped. I now take pretty much everything I have ever read of as helping!! Black Cohosh, sage, zisyphus, red clover, dong qua, licorice, vitamin E, withania, and I can't remember what else in 'hot flush formula'! If I drop any one of them they get worse, so they do have an impact. With the whole medicine cabinet I can almost keep them to a manageable level.

Specialist doc put me on Exeffor - dropped that after a month due to side effects. Her next idea is an anti epilepsy drug, and I am almost desperate enough to try it. Can't get the natural hormones here - and the doc thinks if HRT causes MC the natural hormones will do the same thing.

If anyone had a magic solution (even it is giving up my favourite food) I would embrace it. Sadly, the diet doesn't do it for me. Maybe I have to give up all soy.

Whilst typing this I have gone from shivering to sweating. aaaarrrggghhhh.

Lyn

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:09 pm

did you know that most of the pharma HRT products in australia is derived from horses urine?
Given i am allergic to horses i will not be able to take HRT.

One of the reasons I am using the implant to control hormone issues is in hope of delaying the onset of Menopause as long as i can. (i am 40)

when it happens i will be on the same natural supports as Lyn,

Ladies, what is worse, MC Flare or Menopause?

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:13 pm

Hi Gabes,

Menopause symptoms come and go. MC is constant and life altering.

Gloria

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:22 pm

gloria
thanks for that -if i can get through the adjustment to MC i am thinking i can deal with menopause guff

i remember we talked about NG tubes when Tex was in hospital and they were considered pretty bad and i have survived them as well.....

Bifcus16 · Post by **Bifcus16** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:41 pm

I have got the MC under control (touch wood), so for me the flushes are clearly worse as they are going on for so much longer.

At one time I had to make a choice between D and Flushes - ie, to take or not take the HRT - I chose to try other things on the flushes and stop the D by stopping the HRT. It is an easy choice - constant lack of nutrition from D will do very bad things for your body. But the hot flushes can have a big impact on life as well. I find it hard to believe there isn't a viable solution out there somewhere in the blogosphere.

Lyn

wonderwoman · Post by **wonderwoman** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 8:56 am

In December before this all started with the explosive D, my Endocrinologist suggested I get off the soy milk and take black cohosh. I started taking it immediately and then stopped after about a week because I was taking the penicillin for the tooth abscess and had D so bad and I didn't know what was causing it. I completely stopped the soy milk after I tested positive for soy by Enterolab. I have not gone back on the black cohosh because I didn't know what effect the herb had on me. I ran across the container last week and that's when I started to think about this.

Lyn, maybe you might try giving up soy for a couple of months and see if you notice a difference.

The time of day when my hot flash was the most annoying was about 3 minutes after I got into bed at night. I could be so very very cold sitting in the chair at night and would take off my heavy robe and afgan and run to bed. About three minutes later my head was on fire, my hair and body was wet and off came the covers and on went the fan. After about 10 minutes I would cover up because the moisture was evaporating and I began to get cold again. This happened night after night and I am not experiencing that now. That's why I presented the question. Because it's not happening now.

Thanks for everyone's comments.

Stanz · Post by **Stanz** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 12:50 pm

Wow, am I the only one here who is still on HRT?

did you know that most of the pharma HRT products in australia is derived from horses urine?

Gabes, the only HRT med I'm aware of that is made from pregnant horse urine is Premarin, which is estrogen replacement only. I've been taking the lowest dose of this since I was your age. I know there is some controversy as to there being some animal abuse issues regarding it and I don't know how much of that is true. I do remember having a nasty exchange w/a ND I was seeing for chelation therapy about my taking it.

I had a hysterectomy at 26, but kept my ovaries. When my tests showed that I was beginning early menopause I decided I wasn't ready for that. With no family history of breast cancer, and Premarin being estrogen only (and not one of the HRT options that was considered "dangerous" because of the progesterone), I just figured I'd had enough trauma in my life already and even if it killed me I didn't care. I have twice stopped taking it and had immediate hot flashes and other unpleasant results. I get mammograms every year and have never had a problem. At my last mammogram I talked to the technician about it and she said she'd been on Premarin for 25 years and would never stop.

I've done a lot of research on this in relation to MC and IMO, I highly question HRT as being a cause of MC, at least not in my case. What I question is the reason why I had a hysterectomy in the first place. I don't believe that I ever had endometriosis, I believe I had scar tissue that was caused by gluten. Of 6 girls in my family, 4 of us had hysterectomies and of these 4 - all of us have had what I consider now to be pretty obvious GS. 2 of my sisters are gone now and one of them had a different father. I KNOW I am GS but I can't get my sisters to be tested for GS in spite of the fact that they are textbook cases and their offspring are as well. Since endometriosis runs in families and nobody seems to know why exactly, it makes just as much sense to me that the scar tissue could have been caused by G.

In any case, HRT doesn't seem to bother my digestive system at all and it definitely helps my libido, which is no small consideration for me. I will take this stuff as long as I can.

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:08 pm

Connie thanks for sharing
for many many years i held hte belief that hormone issues affect all of us differently and what works for one doesnt necesarily work for another and vice versa, throw MC into the mix with the same theory then it is trial and error to figure out what works and what doesnt

ultimately it comes down to quality of life, doing what you need to do to enjoy life.

Stanz · Post by **Stanz** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 2:05 pm

Gabes,

That is true. I was little when my mom had her hysterectomy w/no HRT. She became a violent person, especially towards me and my sister. I never forgot that and maybe that is part of what I fear. Regardless, I've just never heard anyone say they enjoyed menopause, so...

Connie