Relieving Hot Flashes after Menopause

A lot of women seem to be under the mistaken impression that all of their menopausal symptoms will magically drop off as soon as they have gone a year without a period. Unfortunately this is not at all true. Worst still, you should definitely expect to deal with hot flashes after menopause. This is hard for a lot of women to hear because hot flashes are one of the most dreaded symptoms of the whole ordeal. It is bad enough that pretty much every menopausal woman has to deal with these symptoms during the stages of pre menopause, perimenopause, and menopause itself.

Realizing that you will still have to go through them after the big change of life is enough to make you cry. The good news is that there are many ways you can alleviate them. Understanding the mechanics and fundamentals of what hot flashes are, what causes them, and why we get them is the first step towards eliminating them – or at least lessening them.

Actually, no one really knows what causes hot flashes in the first place. Understandably, however, your hormones are thought to be the main culprit. Estrogen and progesterone are, of course, the main catalysts. Basically, when your body begins producing less estrogen, it throws all your other hormones completely out of whack. They become unbalanced. This imbalance can and does lead to hot flashes, among other things.

As you no doubt know if you have ever experienced one, a hot flash is a sensation of intense, almost consuming heat. It is accompanied by sweating, an increased heart rate, and lightheadedness in some women. It generally lasts anywhere from two minutes to thirty minutes, depending on what kind of hot flash you are experiencing. Typically, they begin in your face. That is where you will first start to feel them. The hot feeling gradually but steadily spreads throughout your entire body. The temperature of your skin can heat up by as much as eight degrees. As such, it is not uncommon for some women to pass out when they are in the grips of a particularly intense hot flash.

As implied, there is more than one type of hot flash. Standard hot flashes come on very quickly. They generally only last a few moments, though it seems much longer to the sufferer. Typically, it takes standard hot flashes less than a minute to reach their full intensity. Slow, or ember, hot flashes are actually not slow. They tend to come on just as fast, but they are not as intense. The problem is that they can last for as long as half an hour at a time. As well, they tend to occur all year round, no matter what the season or overall temperature.

Dealing with hot flashes during menopause is horrible. They are part of the reason so many women look forward to post menopause. Unfortunately, that is no guarantee that you will no longer experience hot flashes. Some women will experience them for the rest of their lives. For a very few, very lucky women, they may indeed drop off completely at the onset of post menopause. In most cases, however, women will still experience hot flashes after menopause. The good news is that they will gradually start to decrease. There is just no real way to tell when this will happen for you.