Footed Womens Pajamas

Putting a damper on hot flashes

Staying cool, exercising daily and using various prescription and non-prescription treatments are remedies available for women who wish to prevent those pesky hot flashes, says Cindy Lewin, a nurse practitioner with Sergeant Bluff Family Medicine Center, on May 25, 2011 in her office. But even men can have hot flashes, mainly due to low testosterone problems, she noted.

A really buff, quick-footed superhero in red tights is not a hot flash. He's just The Flash.

If you want to get an earful about a genuine hot flash, ask one of the 50-some million American women who are affected by it from their perimenopausal years through menopause and often beyond, sometimes well beyond. According to Cindy Lewin, a family nurse practitioner with the Sergeant Bluff Family Medical Center, it occurs in about 80 percent of women.

"A hot flash is a sensation of heat that may be accompanied by a rapid flushed face and sweating. The actual cause is unknown, but they think it might be an increase in pulsative release of GnRH from the hypothalmus, and this triggers the effect that regulates the temperature of your brain," Lewin said. "Hot flashes occur when the blood vessels near the skin's surface dilate to cool."

Hot flashes often come at night. Called night sweats, they can sometimes cause insomnia, resulting in serious fatigue the next day. They are also called hot flushes for the face-and-neck blush that accompanies the flash. Aggravated women probably have their own pet names.

But there is relief available, a host of remedies, in fact, Lewin said.

How long they last varies from woman to woman. Some women stop flashing after menopause. Others have it their entire life.

The severity varies verily.

"I've gone through menopause and I've never had a hot flash. There's sometimes when I've felt a little bit warm, but that's been it," Lewin confessed. "Then you have the people that it will just come on.... They'll be fanning and they'll almost have to take their clothes off because they feel so hot and miserable. And then you have other people who will just have that one flash and maybe fan a little bit. Then it will resolve. And it can last from a few seconds to minutes.

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