Has anyone ever died from hot flashes?

Has anyone ever died from hot flashes?

Life’s just not fair. Have you ever had a hot flash? If you haven’t you’re lucky. For the inexperienced this is what they’re like. It starts with a jolt, like a sudden shot of adrenalin you might feel when you’re almost in a car wreck. Then you start getting hot all over. It feels like you’re in an oven and have an oven inside of you. You get so hot it’s hard to breathe. You break out in a sweat; sometimes like you just stepped out of the shower.

No matter where you are you start throwing off all the clothes you can without getting arrested. You’d take your skin off if you could.

I’ve been having hot flashes for 27 years. They’re awful. And what makes it worse is you get no sympathy. No one has ever died from hot flashes. So nobody except the hot flasher really cares. I’ve never gotten a sympathy card saying, so sorry about your hot flashes; you’re in my thoughts and freezer. No one’s ever sent me a get well gift like flowers or a bag of ice. And you not only get no sympathy but you’re usually made fun of. People either look at you like you’re demented or they just laugh. And there’s not much you can do but just wait for it to pass.

Hot flashes are usually one of the symptoms of starting menopause. They typically stop after a year or two. But mine never did. And where did they get the name menopause? Who came up with that? The name’s totally inaccurate. Men don’t experience menopause, although some act like they do. And hot flashes don’t just make you pause they can stop you dead in your tracks. It should be called ladyohalt.

One of the most common treatments for hot flashes is hormone replacement therapy. I did that for years and it certainly helped. It reduced them considerably. But I had to quit taking the hormones after I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Then the hot flashes came back with a vengeance.

I’m writing on this subject hoping someone might have a remedy for hot flashes that they’d share with me. If you have a solution that’s worked for you give me a call.

There was one positive thing that came from having hot flashes. The first year I had them our heating bill dropped $200 because I had the furnace turned down so low. But we spent most of that money buying extra sweatshirts and sweaters for my husband because he about froze to death. And he was the one who got all the sympathy. Life’s just not fair.

Keep smiling.

Linda Messmer can be reached at 812-448-8725.