What Are Hot Flashes and How Do I Treat Them?

You’re going about your day, crushing your to-do list, celebrating with a stop at Starbucks, and that’s when it hits you. You’re on fire from the inside out. As you pull up to order that double-espresso mocha frappuccino with extra whip, you’re tempted to ask the barista if you can plunge your head into the ice maker. Hot flashes come out of nowhere, take over, and then leave without so much as an apology for ruining your coffee break and covering you with sweat. Totally not cool (pun intended)!

Thanks to those wonderful hormonal changes, you are bound to experience a hot flash or two, or seventy-five (or hot flushes according to our friends from across the pond). Thankfully, treatment options are available. Remember, two thirds of people experience hot flashes during menopause? I guess you could say this symptom makes for a real “hot topic”!

What Are Hot Flashes?

Overview

During the different stages of menopause, your hormones are constantly changing. One minute they are flying high. The next minute, they are in serious need of a pick-me-up. As part of menopause, your estrogen levels will decrease.

According to the medical professionals at Johns Hopkins, “Estrogens are a group of hormones that play an important role in the normal sexual and reproductive development in women. They are also sex hormones. The woman’s ovaries make most estrogen hormones, although the adrenal glands and fat cells also make small amounts of the hormones. In addition to regulating the menstrual cycle, estrogen affects the reproductive tract, the urinary tract, the heart and blood vessels, bones, breasts, skin, hair, mucous membranes, pelvic muscles, and the brain. Secondary sexual characteristics, such as pubic and armpit hair, also start to grow when estrogen levels rise. Many organ systems, including the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems, and the brain are affected by estrogen.”

In other words, estrogen plays so many roles they’re like a swing in a Broadway musical.

Symptoms

A hot flash is a sudden feeling of warmth in the upper body (mostly in the chest, neck, and face). Your skin might redden and you might become sweaty. To be honest, you may feel like you could burst into flames at any second.

Hot flashes vary from woman to woman and can be very mild or strong enough to wake you up (called night sweats). Most hot flashes last between 30 seconds and 10 minutes (yeah, that’s a bit longer than we prefer). They can happen several times an hour, a few times a day, or just once or twice a week.

The following are symptoms that you might feel during a hot flash:

• Sudden feeling of warmth in your chest, neck, and face
• Red, blotchy skin
• Rapid heartbeat (No! You’re not having a panic attack. It’s just your hot flash setting a rhythm your body can dance to.)
• Perspiration on your upper body
• Chilled feelings as the hot flash starts to go away
• Feelings of anxiety

Causes

According to the Mayo Clinic, “hot flashes occur when decreased estrogen levels cause your body’s thermostat (hypothalamus) to become more sensitive to slight changes in body temperature. When the hypothalamus thinks your body is too warm, it starts a chain of events— a hot flash—to cool you down. Rarely, hot flashes and night sweats are caused by something other than menopause.”

Translation: Your body thinks you’re overheated and hot flashes make you FEEL hotter while cooling you.

Treatments

How can you control hot flashes to the best of your ability so that they don’t drive you absolutely nuts?

• Try to avoid alcohol, caffeine, stress, spicy food, and smoking. These items tend to make hot flashes worse.
• Use fans. (The kind with blades that create cool air, not the kind that ask you for autographs. Although, it couldn’t hurt to have your own personal cheering squad!)
• Practice deep breathing. 
• Exercise regularly (or at least try to).
• Take supplements, but speak to your doctor before doing so.

It’s a Wrap!

Thanks to the ups and downs of hormonal changes during menopause, you are bound to experience physical and emotional changes as your body works to adjust. One symptom of menopause is a hot flash (AKA that fiery feeling that rises from nowhere and tries to knock you on your very warm butt).

A hot flash is a sudden feeling of warmth in the upper body. You might feel:

• Sudden feeling of warmth in your chest, neck, and face
• Red, blotchy skin
• Rapid heartbeat
• Perspiration on your upper body
• Chilled feelings as the hot flash starts to go away
• Feelings of anxiety

Thankfully, there are a few ways to help treat hot flashes. Always be sure to speak to your healthcare provider if hot flashes start to severely impact your everyday life.

Let’s face it: Hot flashes are as relaxing as taking a hot bath in hot sauce. Give yourself some grace. If you’re going through a hot flash, then do what it takes to help you feel comfortable, even if it means draping yourself in cold washcloths while sitting in front of a fan. Think of it as indulging your (literal and figurative) hot self Beyonce-inspired wind-blown hair moment.

Sources

• https://intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/topics/live-well/2016/04/10-common-signs-of-menopause/
• https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/menopause/symptoms-causes/syc-20353397
• https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/estrogens-effects-on-the-female-body#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20regulating%20the,pelvic%20muscles%2C%20and%20the%20brain
• https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15224-menopause-perimenopause-and-postmenopause
• https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hot-flashes/symptoms-causes/syc-20352790

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