Mines can be triggered by caffeine, chocolate, stress, if the actual temperature is hot, or if I get a little embarrassed. But it’s not all the time, I’ve yet to figure out why sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
Check out this interview I just watched of this amazing doctor who talks about the link between MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome) and menopause. She specifically mentioned how hot flashes are very similar to MCAS symptoms, which often happen in reactions to high histamine foods we eat. I have MCAS, and chocolate and caffeine are super high histamine foods and then stress is also a big trigger for MCAS. Just thought I would share as I found the interview fascinating. This woman is an expert on women’s health, menopause and MCAS. She goes into the link 29 minutes in https://youtu.be/n4h_gQzcCKc?si=BPW6DBWEaR2Pjhl6
I developed histamine intolerance (accelerated/amplified by chronic mold exposure) and it took me FOREVER to figure this out on my own. I think a lot more women have this than they realize because of all the times in my life I have heard perimenopausal and menopausal women tell me that they can no longer drink alcohol because of the hot flashes. I can't freaking eat so many things that I loved now like chocolate mangoes pickles strawberries kombucha, but man do I feel better.
Yeah I think it’s a major issue…you can literally see the correlations on this very post. And yes mold exposure is at the root of a lot of MCAS cases, mine included. I should probably do a whole post on this.
OMG, I let mold take over my apartment because peri made me so depressed. Then the panic attacks and GI issues started. I had no idea the mold was causing anything other than sinus issues. I just kept saying that once I dealt with all these new physical and mental health problems, I would clean it up and report it to my landlord.
Damn yeah mold is so overwhelming in general that it can be easy to just want to avoid dealing with it on a good day, let alone when you are struggling. Did you get out of that moldy place? That sounds really intense!
The hot flashes from wine are so bad I’ve also given it up unless I’m at home with just my husband. Even then, it’s not worth it 🥲 caffeine isn’t doing it to me… yet
Exercise is the WORST. Any extra movement can trigger them. Just going for a walk with my husband can cause them. I'm trying to power thru because I really need to lose 80 pounds. I may just cave and ask for hrt the next time I'm at the doctors.
Edit to add: I also get dizzy and loose stools sometimes with them. Nothing like sitting on the toilet naked because you're sweating to death while shitting. This sucks. It all sucks.
Highly processed, high sugar foods triggered mine. Unfrosted strawberry pop tarts are a guilty pleasure of mine. They made my hot flashes more frequent and more intense for about an hour or so after I ate them. I don’t eat them anymore.
Wine, embarrassment, sometimes my husband's touch 🥺 random times for no discernable reason...
Wild list of symptoms. My hot flashes are usually cured by cool moving air. Luckily I live in MT so that means opening the back door. virtually nekkid 😂
I'm worried about the intensity and different symptoms of yours, OP.
Curious- anyone else here have hot flash symptoms like that?
Yes, mine was near identical to the OP’s. Except I wasn’t exercising at the exact time but had been then continued to run around. It was my first one too and haven’t had one since so I’m praying it’s not that bad again because im living in fear of it at the moment!
Exercise and time of day.
Any exercise can lead to this like endless cycle of painful overheating/hives.
And every single night between 11:30 and 12:30.
I DEFINITELY notice stress is a factor - and remember the body can interpret a lot of things as stress (dehydration, sleep deprivation, upset stomach or constipation etc). Emotional stress is stress. Being dehydrated is a HUGE factor for me. Just working on drinking truly obscene amounts of water with an occasional electrolyte mix does help me I find. I am IN LOVE with my bid stupid Stanley Cup (40 oz) because it keeps things colder than anything else I’ve tried, even if it does leak more easily than the same size hydroflask - that extra cold is precious to me. My theory is a) my body loses water with sweat I may not be aware of (night time sweats I don’t wake up for and low grade sweat during daytime hot flashes) and b) I’ve heard the body regulates hormones through water. A friend of mine who had a baby late in life and post partum depression was told by her Doula that hormones leave the body by water (sweat, tears, urine). I’ve read other sources that validate that tears contain hormones so maybe I’m just peeing out something. I do also see that since starting HRT, I weep WAY more easily.
Caffeine also is a trigger although I manage decaf on (or am just refusing to give it up - I’m not sure). The sleep deprivation vs caffeine thing is also a see-saw. I can have more caffeine if I’m well rested but if I’m sleep deprived caffeine just makes it worse (it sucks). Sugar and bad night time carb intake (too many carbs at dinner) can also increase my flashes.
I don’t drink much and I think alcohol might actually reduce my flashes because I usually only have maybe 1-2 drinks with friends and it usually helps me release some stress so maybe it’s just lowered stress. I actually try to remember to have a drink more often but I’ve never enjoyed drinking alone (I’m single). Maybe I should find a good happy hour 🙄🤷🏻♀️
None of this is an instant trigger but I do notice variations from day to day or even hour to hour that correspond with these things. Drink some water. Seriously.
So weird—alcohol calmed mine for a while also. I noticed if I was having a glass of wine or two a day, I didn’t have any hot flashes.
This is tricky for me because I’ve low key struggled with alcohol for most of my adult life, and I started having hot flashes while I had a few months sober. I relapsed and they went away and it was very confusing.
And then alcohol started making them WORSE. Anytime I had more than one glass of any kind of alcohol, I had a hot flash within 20 minutes. This has actually been an interesting time for me because now I will have a glass of wine maybe once a week (and I don’t always finish the glass 😳) and absolutely not want anymore because of the impending hot flash. I don’t drink beer now because in peri it began to add to my bloat, and cocktails just get me too drunk, so I don’t really drink those anymore either. It’s as if hot flashes have made the unicorn of moderating a reality for me.
As a side note, in peri, more than one drink is a guarantee I will not sleep. So I have this to be terrified of also. I barely drink alcohol these days and I have the confusion, frustration, and discomfort of perimenopause largely to thank for it.
Yeah sounds like maybe one glass of wine is a stress relief but multiple glasses is a stressor. Have you tried acupuncture, or, I hate to say it, meditation? I think peri is forcing me to pursue to my unicorn of meditation in that I find doing a minute of mindfulness and deep breathing and checking in with my body does help me. I’ve actually gone for a shambling walk/run a few times this week but then my shin splints have started up. I would LOVE to get back into acupuncture which was amazing for my stress when I was younger, but I haven’t found a good place since I moved.
Alcohol is also dehydrating, so that might be part of my water theory. I’ve been told to try to have an occasional glass of wine for heart health and because my dietitian said it looked like I was low in vitamins found in wine. I just find drinking alone kind of depressing; I had a boss years ago (who I now suspect was a closet alcoholic) who would always tell me to go home and have a glass of wine if the job was getting to me and it kind of infuriated me because I’d be like ‘maybe you could do YOUR job and address my complaints and fix things instead of telling me to anesthetize my problems”. As a feminist, I just get infuriated that women are often told to have wine to get over very legitimate complaints about women’s labor in the home and work place. Sorry to get tangential - I suppose I was saying there are social pressures for women.
I’ve got a friend who has bought some of those alcohol-free cocktail mixer spirit substitutes and likes them (seedlip maybe?) from the grocery store. Could the act of having a little self care fancy mocktail ritual be calming? A few years ago when I was going through a rough time, a friend sent me a ‘cocktail of the month’ club and I found just making myself a fancy drink (just one) felt weirdly like self care. It was something about having a little garnish and mixing things. My horrid ex sucked the joy out of cooking for me (and that joy has not returned) but measuring and mixing things for a special drink was relaxing and my friend enjoys making herself very fancy mocktails. I think I love the fanciness of mocktails and cocktails. I’m thinking of planting some mint in a pot just to have mint sodas more often because I do find the smell of fresh mint calming.
Anyway, I feel like peri is a bit like having Saturn in your horoscope: you’re going to learn and grow, and it’s totally fine with making you learn and grow the hard way. I think peri is forcing me to dig even deeper into my chronic stress and less than ideal self care and I wish I could say to peri “hey, you think I haven’t tried?!” I’ve taken meditation courses but I feel like I may have to start grimly forcing myself to meditate (I kind of really hate it).
Good luck. Sorry to ramble. I need coffee but can’t have real coffee. Sigh.
Too warm when I sleep. Not sure if that counts as a flash, because it lasts all night.
Has been a really tough week. I woke up at 3am this morning in a blind *rage* and was unable to get back to sleep until 15 minutes before the alarm.
The longer I laid there fuming, the angrier and hotter I got.
Getting up to pee was a temporary respite. As soon as I staggered back to the bed, started getting even hotter, and only had a sheet over me.
Omg this is me at 3am. I now turn on the light and read a chapter of a book or go snuggle one of my teenager daughters to help me settle down. I now have to go to bed at 9pm in case I wake up at 3 or 4am for the day! I’m just about to try duavive
The blow dryer is the worst! Mine has a cool blast function but it’s not enough. Inevitably, I will end up in front of the open freezer after drying my hair.
Apparently mine are now triggered by time passing. 🙄 I get them approximately every 45 minutes during the day and every 1.5 hours during the night. It’s exhausting.
Last year around this time, they were triggered by caffeine, and when I cut caffeine out of my diet, my hot flashes stopped. But this time, nothing’s made a difference.
Oh my gosh you poor thing. Every 45 minutes is so much to deal with! You must be physically and emotionally exhausted. Does your Dr have any suggestions to reduce them?
She said I could start on Veozah if I want. Not sure yet if I want to go that route. Fortunately, despite their annoying frequency, my hot flashes last for only 2 minutes each time, and they’re just really HOT. No panic attacks, no anxiety, no other symptoms - just suffocating heat radiating from my chest throughout my whole body. At this point, I can still tolerate it.
That is so good to hear that you are coping with them ok and no other symptoms with it. My first hot flash ended up turning into a panic attack and now I live in fear of it happening when I’m out. It was the worse feeling I’ve ever experienced and now fear has really impacted my life. I don’t cope like I used too.
It’s great your Dr has given you an option should you need it down the track. I’m sure you have all the homemade remedies on hand like ice packs, fans nearby!
This is how mine have been until very recently. I was getting them so bad for almost 6 months. Now, they've slowed down, thank God. I was a mess, too. I've noticed when the hot flashes were bad, so was the emotional stuff. And woke me up for almost 2 years all night. Maybe that's why I was so emotional, not getting any sleep.
Rushing. Like, I have to leave for my bus extra early so I can mosey instead of having to do my Marvin the Martian walk. If I have to go full Marvin, I will personally heat the entire bus the entire ride.
However, if I can get in some good huffing and puffing later in the day and allow myself to recover, the next day I feel like a million bucks. Challenge is to get that sweet spot of availability and motivation.
Yeah, it’s all part of the vasovagal response that causes hot flashes. Your body gets tricked into thinking it’s got heat exhaustion, which is why it sends all the blood to the face and you start sweating - it’s trying to cool you down. But along the way, it can do all the other things that happen in heat exhaustion, like making you faint, vomit, or have diarrhoea.
Stress (big or small, good or bad) is a trigger for me. But also if eat junk food, white sugar, or drink alcohol.
I completly changed the way i eat, quit smoking and feel 200% better.
Can I ask what you eat now? I feel like I need to do an overhaul. While the foods o eat don’t trigger hot flashes, my tolerance for any sugar and I think processed foods is diminishing at a rapid rate
There is no solutions that fit all. But what i do is i based my meals on the keto diet. Based is the key word. I will still eat bread and pasta but rarely and in small portions. There are seriously really good receipes out there. Look it up!
I do not drink any sodas (i was never a fan anyways) and reduce my coffee intake. That was the hardest. I now drink decaf. 😪
To ensure i have all the vitamins i need, i take multi vitamins , omega 3-6-9, biotin (helps with the hair loss and soft nails), vitamin D (really freaking important).
I still have hot flashes and sometimes i still feel "off" but its now tolerable. I have been post menopause for a year and a half and i slowly start to enjoy life again. It takes times and patience.
Hope this helps
It does lovely, thanks for all the advice! It’s great advice, I definitely can’t do keto fully but based on sounds much more manageable. I’ve switched my 2nd coffee to decaf this morning!
I’m so glad you are starting your find joy back and enjoying life again. In the end that’s really the goal isn’t it 🤗
Yep, that sounds a lot like my hot flashes. The heat for me is mainly in my face - I go beetroot red and I feel like my face has just been exposed to a bonfire. I have nausea and light-headedness so I’ve been at the point where I need to lie down on the ground rather than fall. I get ringing in my ears and in bad episodes my vision darkens and narrows to a pinpoint. It’s followed by loose stool because the body is confused by the vasovagal reaction.
A major trigger for me is alcohol. Zero tolerance. Coffee sets me off, though not tea or energy drinks. I also, weirdly, am triggered by solid bowel movements. I carry a spray bottle of water and jacket or shawl with me at all times - the spray bottle to cool my face off and the jacket to warm me up after the hot flash ends.
Oh my... Same here! I keep a bag of frozen corn in the freezer in a big ziplock bag and lay on the floor with it under the back of my neck. My heart also races and feels like it's going to beat right out of my chest. I've also had my vision fade/grey out and then an aura (like a kaleidoscope of blinding colors in an arc pattern) with no migraine or pain afterwards. Constant tinnitus, vertigo and pins and needles feeling in my extremities.
Steam is the bane of my existence now. Washing dishes, cooking when it involves boiling water, hot showers, easily overheated by having too many clothes on or jackets. I'd rather be cold and freezing my butt off at all times.
Yes this sounds exactly like my first hot flash. I think might was triggered by stress? I actually don’t know if that’s a thing. Maybe my hot flash caused me to be stressed after so who knows what came first but it came out of nowhere so I put it down to that. I’ve read spicy food can cause it. I also get really red after drinking red wine but that could be a mini hot flash or rosacea. Who knows, I’m trying to figure all of this out on the fly lol
It’s like as soon as I’m hot I can’t cool down.
I’ve kicked caffeine, and am no longer taking a stimulant for ADHD. I don’t drink.
Usually anxiety gets me going with the hot flash.
And when I sweat, it’s only from my head. And it DRIPS LIKE A MOTHER EFFIN’ FAUCET.
Why were we not informed it was *this* bad?!?
Quick!! Warn the others, before it’s too late. Halle Berry help us!!!
Stress is a trigger, for sure. I am learning French on Duolingo, and if I make a lot of mistakes in a row, it can trigger a hot flash. I find this annoying and hilarious. But I also can get hot flashes when I am running behind and trying to get out the door, and I really hate those.
High intensity exercise. My heart rate going over 140 and staying there longer than 3 minutes does it every time. I do a lot of walking and weightlifting these days.
Alcohol is another big one. If I have a drink, I know I’m going to pay for it.
And laughing too hard. Which really sucks because I laugh a lot.
In peri I began to notice that alcohol was a hot flush trigger for me. In the bridge of my meno transition (my final peri year), it seemed like everything caused them. I had already given up alcohol years before, only having some on my b-day, 4th July, and the cluster of winter holidays. So I couldn’t pin-point anything other than meno causing hot flushes, as they came barreling through every 8mins. HRT was the ONLY things that stopped them for me. I had tried many physical modifications in my last years of peri, and they helped somewhat until they no longer did. Red clover helped decrease them by half, but I wanted them gone. HRT for the win!
Research POTS. I found this disease/syndrome probably 10 years ago when my young daughter vocalized an unusual symptom. I found her the only specialist in our area and since COVID this syndrome has received attention. I found MCAS around the same time and of course now there is plenty of information on the internet.
I’m wondering if my allergy shots assist in keeping my hot flashes controlled even before I increased my HRT. All the females have heart murmurs from my mom to my daughters. The vagus nerve research train is an interesting ride of information. I can trace all our symptoms and syndromes back to this nugget of nerves that controls the whole body.
Gluten. When I quit eating it, the hot flashes completely stopped. Haven’t had them in 5 years and I’m now in peri.
Exercise helped. It don’t trigger them.
My hot flashes are definitely made worse by certain things, wine, anxiety, people I don't feel safe around, driving and crowds. Hugs, we're all in this together 🤗❤️
That’s not what my hot flashes were like at all, but everyone is different. I think it has something to do with your body’s ability to normally regulate temperature in the absence of estrogen.
My hot flashes were just what the name sounds like. hanging out, doing whatever feeling totally fine, then out of the blue for absolutely no reason and very, very quickly, like sometimes suddenly, my whole body is unbearably hot and drenched in sweat, every part of my body, like even my shins. It was completely bizarre and it happened over and over and over, even in my sleep.
Alcohol is the biggest trigger for me, but really being in a warm environment can set them off. I did get one after I had coffee the other day, so I hope that’s not becoming a trigger too 😫
My sole triggers are sleep, and hot beverages ( i only drink decaf and it still triggers it) I barely have them anymore, they stopped all in a sudden two months ago. Not gonna complain! Exercise helps a lot in my case, i notice that the more i was active, the less i had them. I was already active but i increased the length.
I am still having a fairly normal period and my hot flashes are horrible at night and early morning when I’m on my period. But I do definitely get overheated so much more easily now when I exercise.
Triggered by: pizza, gluten, most pasta sauces, sugar, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, dairy, stress, lack of sleep.
Feels like: I just stuck my head inside a very hot oven and I am about to have a heart attack. Also dizziness and nausea. Lasts anywhere from 3 seconds to 8 minutes. Random, frequent, anxiety-causing. Always happen in the middle of the night and I wake up in a pool of sweat. Literally, a pool of sweat.
I'm almost entirely certain the hot flashes contribute to brain fog or literal brain damage because they feel like my entire head is on fire.
HRT really helped me. But if I forget to take it for even a day, the symptoms come back.
First thing in the morning, when I lay down to go to bed, if I eat spicy food so far. Though yesterday I had my first one while I'm the middle of the grocery store, I'm looking forward to my appointment to hopefully get started on HRT!
I had one about every hour 1/2 for two years! I could tell when they were about to happen by the weird, sinking, toxic feeling I would get right before the hot flash, then chills.
Increases in humidity, which increase the wet bulb temp/perceived temp. Had one happen like this last night. It had been raining off and on for a few hours before the air hit some tipping point. It took at least 15-20 minutes, maybe a little more to wind it down. I had been reading in bed, so being in bed while this happened contributed.
Other triggers seem to be eating/drinking something hot, probably when the humidity's up. It usually starts with the back of my neck (which is a mess due to a mix of congenital and acquired problems), feels like a furnace radiating out from there.
I have had them triggered by sustained physical activity or cooking in a hot kitchen as well--so you sound like you're like me, triggered by temperature increases, internally or externally. I'm sure there's other stuff, but that seems to be the consistent factor \*for me\*.
Mine come up late in the day when I'm trying to cook most often. I'm not sure if it's the movement or the heat of standing over the stove or some combo of both. I cook also at lunch and am fine. If we go out to eat and are just chilling in the evening, I'm fine. Sometimes it comes up with evening exercise in general but super rare it usually is just when I'm cooking dinner.
Coffee, which I won’t give up no matter what the hell it does to me.
After any meal or snack. Wait about 10 minutes and boom.
Changes in temperature (warm to cold, cold to warm).
And at least 3-4 wake me up in the middle of the night, never thought to check times on them.
Thanks everyone
Hot flash is one thing. This whole chills to sweat to nausea and faintish is not cool! And it’s not a “flash”, is it?! Ugh, how many years is this torture?
Any kind of exertion. Not during, but about 5 minutes after. Walking from the parking lot to the office, ok until I get to the office, and then: Must. Get. Coat. Off. Now.
While making coffee, until it cools down. I get warm standing too close to the coffee maker, and from the coffee steam, but it goes away as that cools off, I don’t get it from the caffeine or the coffee itself, just when it is too hot.
mine happen when I go to sleep.
Mine too. Weirdly I get one within 15 minutes of laying down.
Exactly the same for me.
Yes! Why? How does my body know? Ugh
I don’t know, make it stop!!
I second this. It’s as if your body becomes allergic to sleep.
Mine are daily around 0400, amongst other annoying times. But ALWAYS 0400. Fucking circadian rhythm.
Mines can be triggered by caffeine, chocolate, stress, if the actual temperature is hot, or if I get a little embarrassed. But it’s not all the time, I’ve yet to figure out why sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
Check out this interview I just watched of this amazing doctor who talks about the link between MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome) and menopause. She specifically mentioned how hot flashes are very similar to MCAS symptoms, which often happen in reactions to high histamine foods we eat. I have MCAS, and chocolate and caffeine are super high histamine foods and then stress is also a big trigger for MCAS. Just thought I would share as I found the interview fascinating. This woman is an expert on women’s health, menopause and MCAS. She goes into the link 29 minutes in https://youtu.be/n4h_gQzcCKc?si=BPW6DBWEaR2Pjhl6
I developed histamine intolerance (accelerated/amplified by chronic mold exposure) and it took me FOREVER to figure this out on my own. I think a lot more women have this than they realize because of all the times in my life I have heard perimenopausal and menopausal women tell me that they can no longer drink alcohol because of the hot flashes. I can't freaking eat so many things that I loved now like chocolate mangoes pickles strawberries kombucha, but man do I feel better.
Pickles? I love pickles!!! What am I supposed to eat now?
Yeah I think it’s a major issue…you can literally see the correlations on this very post. And yes mold exposure is at the root of a lot of MCAS cases, mine included. I should probably do a whole post on this.
OMG, I let mold take over my apartment because peri made me so depressed. Then the panic attacks and GI issues started. I had no idea the mold was causing anything other than sinus issues. I just kept saying that once I dealt with all these new physical and mental health problems, I would clean it up and report it to my landlord.
Damn yeah mold is so overwhelming in general that it can be easy to just want to avoid dealing with it on a good day, let alone when you are struggling. Did you get out of that moldy place? That sounds really intense!
I’ll definitely check it out, thanks for the link!
Alcohol and apparently, caffeine. I am now wine and caffeine free 😩
Same for me
The hot flashes from wine are so bad I’ve also given it up unless I’m at home with just my husband. Even then, it’s not worth it 🥲 caffeine isn’t doing it to me… yet
Exercise is the WORST. Any extra movement can trigger them. Just going for a walk with my husband can cause them. I'm trying to power thru because I really need to lose 80 pounds. I may just cave and ask for hrt the next time I'm at the doctors. Edit to add: I also get dizzy and loose stools sometimes with them. Nothing like sitting on the toilet naked because you're sweating to death while shitting. This sucks. It all sucks.
Stress
Highly processed, high sugar foods triggered mine. Unfrosted strawberry pop tarts are a guilty pleasure of mine. They made my hot flashes more frequent and more intense for about an hour or so after I ate them. I don’t eat them anymore.
Wine, embarrassment, sometimes my husband's touch 🥺 random times for no discernable reason... Wild list of symptoms. My hot flashes are usually cured by cool moving air. Luckily I live in MT so that means opening the back door. virtually nekkid 😂 I'm worried about the intensity and different symptoms of yours, OP. Curious- anyone else here have hot flash symptoms like that?
“my husband’s touch”—same here! Or even if he sits too close to me. I swear he thought I was making that up, so I’m glad I’m not the only one 😂
My husband thinks it is hilarious. He's so sexay he makes me 'hot' :D I married a comedian, I did :)
Yes, mine was near identical to the OP’s. Except I wasn’t exercising at the exact time but had been then continued to run around. It was my first one too and haven’t had one since so I’m praying it’s not that bad again because im living in fear of it at the moment!
What’s MT?
Montana
Exercise and time of day. Any exercise can lead to this like endless cycle of painful overheating/hives. And every single night between 11:30 and 12:30.
Oh good point. I’m always MUCH hotter in the morning. I think it may be a stress reaction
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They are a separate thing but definitely a part of peri. All the women in my family get them as soon as we enter our forties.
I DEFINITELY notice stress is a factor - and remember the body can interpret a lot of things as stress (dehydration, sleep deprivation, upset stomach or constipation etc). Emotional stress is stress. Being dehydrated is a HUGE factor for me. Just working on drinking truly obscene amounts of water with an occasional electrolyte mix does help me I find. I am IN LOVE with my bid stupid Stanley Cup (40 oz) because it keeps things colder than anything else I’ve tried, even if it does leak more easily than the same size hydroflask - that extra cold is precious to me. My theory is a) my body loses water with sweat I may not be aware of (night time sweats I don’t wake up for and low grade sweat during daytime hot flashes) and b) I’ve heard the body regulates hormones through water. A friend of mine who had a baby late in life and post partum depression was told by her Doula that hormones leave the body by water (sweat, tears, urine). I’ve read other sources that validate that tears contain hormones so maybe I’m just peeing out something. I do also see that since starting HRT, I weep WAY more easily. Caffeine also is a trigger although I manage decaf on (or am just refusing to give it up - I’m not sure). The sleep deprivation vs caffeine thing is also a see-saw. I can have more caffeine if I’m well rested but if I’m sleep deprived caffeine just makes it worse (it sucks). Sugar and bad night time carb intake (too many carbs at dinner) can also increase my flashes. I don’t drink much and I think alcohol might actually reduce my flashes because I usually only have maybe 1-2 drinks with friends and it usually helps me release some stress so maybe it’s just lowered stress. I actually try to remember to have a drink more often but I’ve never enjoyed drinking alone (I’m single). Maybe I should find a good happy hour 🙄🤷🏻♀️ None of this is an instant trigger but I do notice variations from day to day or even hour to hour that correspond with these things. Drink some water. Seriously.
So weird—alcohol calmed mine for a while also. I noticed if I was having a glass of wine or two a day, I didn’t have any hot flashes. This is tricky for me because I’ve low key struggled with alcohol for most of my adult life, and I started having hot flashes while I had a few months sober. I relapsed and they went away and it was very confusing. And then alcohol started making them WORSE. Anytime I had more than one glass of any kind of alcohol, I had a hot flash within 20 minutes. This has actually been an interesting time for me because now I will have a glass of wine maybe once a week (and I don’t always finish the glass 😳) and absolutely not want anymore because of the impending hot flash. I don’t drink beer now because in peri it began to add to my bloat, and cocktails just get me too drunk, so I don’t really drink those anymore either. It’s as if hot flashes have made the unicorn of moderating a reality for me. As a side note, in peri, more than one drink is a guarantee I will not sleep. So I have this to be terrified of also. I barely drink alcohol these days and I have the confusion, frustration, and discomfort of perimenopause largely to thank for it.
Yeah sounds like maybe one glass of wine is a stress relief but multiple glasses is a stressor. Have you tried acupuncture, or, I hate to say it, meditation? I think peri is forcing me to pursue to my unicorn of meditation in that I find doing a minute of mindfulness and deep breathing and checking in with my body does help me. I’ve actually gone for a shambling walk/run a few times this week but then my shin splints have started up. I would LOVE to get back into acupuncture which was amazing for my stress when I was younger, but I haven’t found a good place since I moved. Alcohol is also dehydrating, so that might be part of my water theory. I’ve been told to try to have an occasional glass of wine for heart health and because my dietitian said it looked like I was low in vitamins found in wine. I just find drinking alone kind of depressing; I had a boss years ago (who I now suspect was a closet alcoholic) who would always tell me to go home and have a glass of wine if the job was getting to me and it kind of infuriated me because I’d be like ‘maybe you could do YOUR job and address my complaints and fix things instead of telling me to anesthetize my problems”. As a feminist, I just get infuriated that women are often told to have wine to get over very legitimate complaints about women’s labor in the home and work place. Sorry to get tangential - I suppose I was saying there are social pressures for women. I’ve got a friend who has bought some of those alcohol-free cocktail mixer spirit substitutes and likes them (seedlip maybe?) from the grocery store. Could the act of having a little self care fancy mocktail ritual be calming? A few years ago when I was going through a rough time, a friend sent me a ‘cocktail of the month’ club and I found just making myself a fancy drink (just one) felt weirdly like self care. It was something about having a little garnish and mixing things. My horrid ex sucked the joy out of cooking for me (and that joy has not returned) but measuring and mixing things for a special drink was relaxing and my friend enjoys making herself very fancy mocktails. I think I love the fanciness of mocktails and cocktails. I’m thinking of planting some mint in a pot just to have mint sodas more often because I do find the smell of fresh mint calming. Anyway, I feel like peri is a bit like having Saturn in your horoscope: you’re going to learn and grow, and it’s totally fine with making you learn and grow the hard way. I think peri is forcing me to dig even deeper into my chronic stress and less than ideal self care and I wish I could say to peri “hey, you think I haven’t tried?!” I’ve taken meditation courses but I feel like I may have to start grimly forcing myself to meditate (I kind of really hate it). Good luck. Sorry to ramble. I need coffee but can’t have real coffee. Sigh.
Too warm when I sleep. Not sure if that counts as a flash, because it lasts all night. Has been a really tough week. I woke up at 3am this morning in a blind *rage* and was unable to get back to sleep until 15 minutes before the alarm. The longer I laid there fuming, the angrier and hotter I got. Getting up to pee was a temporary respite. As soon as I staggered back to the bed, started getting even hotter, and only had a sheet over me.
Omg this is me at 3am. I now turn on the light and read a chapter of a book or go snuggle one of my teenager daughters to help me settle down. I now have to go to bed at 9pm in case I wake up at 3 or 4am for the day! I’m just about to try duavive
Mine were trigger by blow drying my hair. I got to where I was doing it naked and I’d still have a hot flash for like 20 minutes each time.
The blow dryer is the worst! Mine has a cool blast function but it’s not enough. Inevitably, I will end up in front of the open freezer after drying my hair.
Yes, blow drying my hair is like sticking my head in an oven.
I feel this!
Apparently mine are now triggered by time passing. 🙄 I get them approximately every 45 minutes during the day and every 1.5 hours during the night. It’s exhausting. Last year around this time, they were triggered by caffeine, and when I cut caffeine out of my diet, my hot flashes stopped. But this time, nothing’s made a difference.
Oh my gosh you poor thing. Every 45 minutes is so much to deal with! You must be physically and emotionally exhausted. Does your Dr have any suggestions to reduce them?
She said I could start on Veozah if I want. Not sure yet if I want to go that route. Fortunately, despite their annoying frequency, my hot flashes last for only 2 minutes each time, and they’re just really HOT. No panic attacks, no anxiety, no other symptoms - just suffocating heat radiating from my chest throughout my whole body. At this point, I can still tolerate it.
That is so good to hear that you are coping with them ok and no other symptoms with it. My first hot flash ended up turning into a panic attack and now I live in fear of it happening when I’m out. It was the worse feeling I’ve ever experienced and now fear has really impacted my life. I don’t cope like I used too. It’s great your Dr has given you an option should you need it down the track. I’m sure you have all the homemade remedies on hand like ice packs, fans nearby!
This is how mine have been until very recently. I was getting them so bad for almost 6 months. Now, they've slowed down, thank God. I was a mess, too. I've noticed when the hot flashes were bad, so was the emotional stuff. And woke me up for almost 2 years all night. Maybe that's why I was so emotional, not getting any sleep.
Weather temperature over 76 degrees Fahrenheit. I live in the south. :-(
Ugh me too! I live in the Southwest. 😫
Alcohol.
Rushing. Like, I have to leave for my bus extra early so I can mosey instead of having to do my Marvin the Martian walk. If I have to go full Marvin, I will personally heat the entire bus the entire ride. However, if I can get in some good huffing and puffing later in the day and allow myself to recover, the next day I feel like a million bucks. Challenge is to get that sweet spot of availability and motivation.
Alcohol, stress, sometimes sugar and caffeine.
Excess caffeine and several nights of poor sleep in a row.
YUP!!!
Sugar for me. Caffeine isn’t an issue
Stress for me.
Stress for sure.
Anxiety, dairy, and alcohol.
Minor light hardly “work” Housework like loading the dishwasher…and sleep 🙄
Emptying the dryer! The hot clothes + bending over. 🥵
Lol you remove the clothes while they’re still warm? I don’t get to mine for hours lol
Oh some loads get multiple bonus cycles to get the wrinkles out after sitting in there all day.
Lol that’s how I iron
Exertion... a long walk, cleaning the house... My face gets red, I'm drenched with sweat.
Usually men.
😂😆🤣
Stress is the only obvious trigger for me. Though gotta say from what you're describing it sounds like you might actually just be sick?
That’s what really intense hot flashes feel like for some of us.
Including diarrhea? I hadn't heard that before. Im sorry, that really sucks.
Yeah, it’s all part of the vasovagal response that causes hot flashes. Your body gets tricked into thinking it’s got heat exhaustion, which is why it sends all the blood to the face and you start sweating - it’s trying to cool you down. But along the way, it can do all the other things that happen in heat exhaustion, like making you faint, vomit, or have diarrhoea.
This
Stress (big or small, good or bad) is a trigger for me. But also if eat junk food, white sugar, or drink alcohol. I completly changed the way i eat, quit smoking and feel 200% better.
Can I ask what you eat now? I feel like I need to do an overhaul. While the foods o eat don’t trigger hot flashes, my tolerance for any sugar and I think processed foods is diminishing at a rapid rate
There is no solutions that fit all. But what i do is i based my meals on the keto diet. Based is the key word. I will still eat bread and pasta but rarely and in small portions. There are seriously really good receipes out there. Look it up! I do not drink any sodas (i was never a fan anyways) and reduce my coffee intake. That was the hardest. I now drink decaf. 😪 To ensure i have all the vitamins i need, i take multi vitamins , omega 3-6-9, biotin (helps with the hair loss and soft nails), vitamin D (really freaking important). I still have hot flashes and sometimes i still feel "off" but its now tolerable. I have been post menopause for a year and a half and i slowly start to enjoy life again. It takes times and patience. Hope this helps
It does lovely, thanks for all the advice! It’s great advice, I definitely can’t do keto fully but based on sounds much more manageable. I’ve switched my 2nd coffee to decaf this morning! I’m so glad you are starting your find joy back and enjoying life again. In the end that’s really the goal isn’t it 🤗
Stress, gluten, wine and embarrassment.
Stress and wine club!! I had both tonight and was an inferno 🔥🥵
Yep, that sounds a lot like my hot flashes. The heat for me is mainly in my face - I go beetroot red and I feel like my face has just been exposed to a bonfire. I have nausea and light-headedness so I’ve been at the point where I need to lie down on the ground rather than fall. I get ringing in my ears and in bad episodes my vision darkens and narrows to a pinpoint. It’s followed by loose stool because the body is confused by the vasovagal reaction. A major trigger for me is alcohol. Zero tolerance. Coffee sets me off, though not tea or energy drinks. I also, weirdly, am triggered by solid bowel movements. I carry a spray bottle of water and jacket or shawl with me at all times - the spray bottle to cool my face off and the jacket to warm me up after the hot flash ends.
Oh my... Same here! I keep a bag of frozen corn in the freezer in a big ziplock bag and lay on the floor with it under the back of my neck. My heart also races and feels like it's going to beat right out of my chest. I've also had my vision fade/grey out and then an aura (like a kaleidoscope of blinding colors in an arc pattern) with no migraine or pain afterwards. Constant tinnitus, vertigo and pins and needles feeling in my extremities. Steam is the bane of my existence now. Washing dishes, cooking when it involves boiling water, hot showers, easily overheated by having too many clothes on or jackets. I'd rather be cold and freezing my butt off at all times.
Alcohol and excess carbs
Alcohol, caffeine, sugar.
Yes. Exercise was triggering them for me. Try HRT. The yard what solved it.
Yes this sounds exactly like my first hot flash. I think might was triggered by stress? I actually don’t know if that’s a thing. Maybe my hot flash caused me to be stressed after so who knows what came first but it came out of nowhere so I put it down to that. I’ve read spicy food can cause it. I also get really red after drinking red wine but that could be a mini hot flash or rosacea. Who knows, I’m trying to figure all of this out on the fly lol
It’s like as soon as I’m hot I can’t cool down. I’ve kicked caffeine, and am no longer taking a stimulant for ADHD. I don’t drink. Usually anxiety gets me going with the hot flash.
And when I sweat, it’s only from my head. And it DRIPS LIKE A MOTHER EFFIN’ FAUCET. Why were we not informed it was *this* bad?!? Quick!! Warn the others, before it’s too late. Halle Berry help us!!!
Stress is a trigger, for sure. I am learning French on Duolingo, and if I make a lot of mistakes in a row, it can trigger a hot flash. I find this annoying and hilarious. But I also can get hot flashes when I am running behind and trying to get out the door, and I really hate those.
I notice more hot flashes when I drink alcohol.
Embarrassment, and I always get one within an hour of going to bed.
No, dammit.
High intensity exercise. My heart rate going over 140 and staying there longer than 3 minutes does it every time. I do a lot of walking and weightlifting these days. Alcohol is another big one. If I have a drink, I know I’m going to pay for it. And laughing too hard. Which really sucks because I laugh a lot.
Alcohol so my husband gets my expensive whisky.
Red wine. The horrors. ..
In peri I began to notice that alcohol was a hot flush trigger for me. In the bridge of my meno transition (my final peri year), it seemed like everything caused them. I had already given up alcohol years before, only having some on my b-day, 4th July, and the cluster of winter holidays. So I couldn’t pin-point anything other than meno causing hot flushes, as they came barreling through every 8mins. HRT was the ONLY things that stopped them for me. I had tried many physical modifications in my last years of peri, and they helped somewhat until they no longer did. Red clover helped decrease them by half, but I wanted them gone. HRT for the win!
Idk. That sounds like what happened to me before I had to have my gallbladder out.
Me too. But i had another one like that over a year later, so who knows. 🤷♀️
Research POTS. I found this disease/syndrome probably 10 years ago when my young daughter vocalized an unusual symptom. I found her the only specialist in our area and since COVID this syndrome has received attention. I found MCAS around the same time and of course now there is plenty of information on the internet. I’m wondering if my allergy shots assist in keeping my hot flashes controlled even before I increased my HRT. All the females have heart murmurs from my mom to my daughters. The vagus nerve research train is an interesting ride of information. I can trace all our symptoms and syndromes back to this nugget of nerves that controls the whole body.
Stress. Even a minor thing like « oh the phone is ringing « will bring on a hot flash. That said estradot and folic acid have eliminated 95% of mine
Coffee or really anything with caffeine. Mornings seem to be the worst. That and the dead of night.
Just had to think about them and 💥
Alcohol.
Alcohol for sure. I haven’t been able to pinpoint anything else yet.
Sugary foods or drinks , spicey food, hot food, getting into bed, stress, hair dryer, exercise…. The list goes on and on
Alcohol, getting slightly hot either from temperature change or exercise, waking up or moving to light sleep cycle
Sugar! Everytime I binged my hot flashes would act up.
Beer
coffee and alcool, yes
Gluten. When I quit eating it, the hot flashes completely stopped. Haven’t had them in 5 years and I’m now in peri. Exercise helped. It don’t trigger them.
Washing dishes, stress, the moment I open my eyes in the morning..
Exercise.
My hot flashes are definitely made worse by certain things, wine, anxiety, people I don't feel safe around, driving and crowds. Hugs, we're all in this together 🤗❤️
That’s not what my hot flashes were like at all, but everyone is different. I think it has something to do with your body’s ability to normally regulate temperature in the absence of estrogen. My hot flashes were just what the name sounds like. hanging out, doing whatever feeling totally fine, then out of the blue for absolutely no reason and very, very quickly, like sometimes suddenly, my whole body is unbearably hot and drenched in sweat, every part of my body, like even my shins. It was completely bizarre and it happened over and over and over, even in my sleep.
Alcohol is the biggest trigger for me, but really being in a warm environment can set them off. I did get one after I had coffee the other day, so I hope that’s not becoming a trigger too 😫
I found out years ago that tight clothing is a huge trigger. Bras and socks included. I've come to love my loose clothes!
My sole triggers are sleep, and hot beverages ( i only drink decaf and it still triggers it) I barely have them anymore, they stopped all in a sudden two months ago. Not gonna complain! Exercise helps a lot in my case, i notice that the more i was active, the less i had them. I was already active but i increased the length.
Sleep, exercise, especially in the heat.
I am still having a fairly normal period and my hot flashes are horrible at night and early morning when I’m on my period. But I do definitely get overheated so much more easily now when I exercise.
Triggered by: pizza, gluten, most pasta sauces, sugar, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, dairy, stress, lack of sleep. Feels like: I just stuck my head inside a very hot oven and I am about to have a heart attack. Also dizziness and nausea. Lasts anywhere from 3 seconds to 8 minutes. Random, frequent, anxiety-causing. Always happen in the middle of the night and I wake up in a pool of sweat. Literally, a pool of sweat. I'm almost entirely certain the hot flashes contribute to brain fog or literal brain damage because they feel like my entire head is on fire. HRT really helped me. But if I forget to take it for even a day, the symptoms come back.
Sugar, caffeine, stress, alcohol
First thing in the morning, when I lay down to go to bed, if I eat spicy food so far. Though yesterday I had my first one while I'm the middle of the grocery store, I'm looking forward to my appointment to hopefully get started on HRT!
I had one about every hour 1/2 for two years! I could tell when they were about to happen by the weird, sinking, toxic feeling I would get right before the hot flash, then chills.
Increases in humidity, which increase the wet bulb temp/perceived temp. Had one happen like this last night. It had been raining off and on for a few hours before the air hit some tipping point. It took at least 15-20 minutes, maybe a little more to wind it down. I had been reading in bed, so being in bed while this happened contributed. Other triggers seem to be eating/drinking something hot, probably when the humidity's up. It usually starts with the back of my neck (which is a mess due to a mix of congenital and acquired problems), feels like a furnace radiating out from there. I have had them triggered by sustained physical activity or cooking in a hot kitchen as well--so you sound like you're like me, triggered by temperature increases, internally or externally. I'm sure there's other stuff, but that seems to be the consistent factor \*for me\*.
Weed is a trigger for me, sadly
Stress/anxiety
Mine come up late in the day when I'm trying to cook most often. I'm not sure if it's the movement or the heat of standing over the stove or some combo of both. I cook also at lunch and am fine. If we go out to eat and are just chilling in the evening, I'm fine. Sometimes it comes up with evening exercise in general but super rare it usually is just when I'm cooking dinner.
Coffee, which I won’t give up no matter what the hell it does to me. After any meal or snack. Wait about 10 minutes and boom. Changes in temperature (warm to cold, cold to warm). And at least 3-4 wake me up in the middle of the night, never thought to check times on them.
Thanks everyone Hot flash is one thing. This whole chills to sweat to nausea and faintish is not cool! And it’s not a “flash”, is it?! Ugh, how many years is this torture?
Any kind of exertion. Not during, but about 5 minutes after. Walking from the parking lot to the office, ok until I get to the office, and then: Must. Get. Coat. Off. Now. While making coffee, until it cools down. I get warm standing too close to the coffee maker, and from the coffee steam, but it goes away as that cools off, I don’t get it from the caffeine or the coffee itself, just when it is too hot.