| Subject: NIGHT CHILLS (COLD FLASHES?)
I HAVE BEEN READING ALL OF YOUR MESSAGES ON MENOPAUSE. WHAT I HAVEN'T SEEN IS ANYONE COMPLAINING ABOUT NIGHT CHILLS. I AM 49 AND IN MY PERIMENOPAUSAL STAGE. I GET ACHES & PAINS IN MY MUSCLES, DEPRESSION, ETC. COULD SOMEONE GIVE ME ANY INSIGHT? |
| Subject: Re:Night Chills
From: DC <[email protected]> Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 14:57:56 -0600 Finally!!! Someone else who is getting
cold! For 10 months I've gone thru this group looking for advice
on "the coldness" and never seen it mentioned. My coldness lasted abt 5
hrs and was profound. Heat didn't touch it nor did extra clothing.
I had no idea what was causing it. On one occasion (the 1st) it got
so bad I told my husband to get me to the emergency room, I felt like my
organs were failing. I had spent 2 hrs in a blizzard clearing off
the cars a couple days before. After 10 months of suffering and keeping
the heat at 80, and endo told me that fat holds estrogen and estrogen regulates
the hypothalamus (the body's thermostat and switchboard for many other
things, like sleep). I started Climara (estrogen) and Provera.
Within 2 days I was warm and have been going out at night, with temp at
40 and windy. Have had a few MILD occurences, that it! I've
been on hormones now for 6 wks. I've had to cut my estrogen patch
in 1/2 yesterday, because I think it's been making me exhausted.
Today I feel just cool. I'll see how it goes. May add 1/4 of
the other 1/2 of the patch if necessary. I'm 61 and have had no period
for 10 yrs, but a 40 pd weight loss triggered this coldness nightmare off.
I felt GREAT before the coldness started....very energetic...agressive....in
your face..LOL. I'm trying to get some testosterone now. Soon
as this coldness stops, I'm off the estrogen, Hate this placid, swollen
cow like feeling. Feel 100 percent more energetic since cutting the
patch in 1/2. Now to stay warm..
|
| I'm 47 and have been getting cold flashes.
To me, they come as a feeling of coldness and tingling in my arms.
My skin crawls, and it's very unpleasant. They come and go.
I'll have them for weeks at a time, then they stop. I sense that
they are connected to stress for me. My doc says she's never heard
of it. When my arms are cold like that, my hands seem very hot.
I have a lot of aches and pains in my back, too. No depression lately,
thank goodness!
Eva |
| As for me, I used to have to stand next to the wall heater to warm up. In those days I didn't know fluctuating hormones could cause that symptom too. I thought then that menopause (or peri) was about hot flashes. Reading this newsgroup has been very helpful in calming me down when I think my symptoms are getting the better of me. Joan L. says, "Just surrender," but that doesn't mean you can't get near a heat source. |
| Joan L. says "just surrender" because
she means accept the symptom and work around it. If you get hot flashes,
dress around them, mop them up with tissues, get a fan, wear natural fabrics
in layers, etc. Just surrendering to cold flashes means the same thing,
Accept them and work around them. Stand by the heater if this works
for you. And now that you mention it, I too have stood by the heater a
lot these past few years. I never associated it with meno.
The idea is to not fight them or
necessarily drug them away. Surrendering to them is not saying suffer
and be punished by them. I hope this distinction is clear, but I
could not tell from your comment interpreting my remarks.
|
| Hey B. - I get "cold flashes" too. Especially
at night. I sleep in a heated waterbed, in a full set of sweats
and socks and still feel like my feet and hands are hanging out the window
in winter! I find the only thing that helps is a very warm shower
without getting cooled down after and straight to bed - try to get to sleep
before you feel cold again.
Sue |
| I highly recommend "duvet" socks/slippers
which are down filled bootee things.. They are infinitely better than socks.
I got mine at Walmart. (Not to mention sleeping under a down
duvet)
Pat |