I'm 44 years old and my periods are very irregular. This afternoon I had some anxiety- wanted to crawl out of my own skin and then my chest got warm and heat crept up my neck. My chest and neck only were hot and weird thing- the anxiety and crawly feeling went away when the heat came! Is this a hot flash? I think my period is due soon (but who knows on that one). I still am lingeringly warm throughout my chest and neck- it feels kind of good in a weird way.

My face is not hot, though.

Is this anxiety or a hot flash?? I have had a huge anxiety problem since my periods became irregular two years ago but the anxiety usually has adreniline with it and this just heat.

Oak,

Hot flashes can be different for us all...and what you are describing sounds very much like a flash. I know I would feel "odd" before a hot flash, although I don't think I would call it "anxious". My early hot flashes were different from the later ones....so they do change. Now if I get one (it is rare now as I am on BHRT) I get overwhelmingly hot, my face prespires, and my neck and my chest...if they happen at night I will wake up soaked from head to toe....yuk!!

I think some of the sensations we feel during peri we describe with words like "anxiety" and "panic", but they aren't really those things. Some of the strange sensations can CAUSE us to feel anxiety. Am I making any sense at all here?

My experience has convinced me that the feelings I had were not true anxiety....they were the physical manifestation of hormonal imbalances.. I think that is why so many of the peri symptoms which I had, I didn't recognise as peri symptoms, nor did I see them as anxiety problems. It was all weird physical sensations...I didn't feel "right" at all. Well sorry for going off topic!!

Hi Oaksister,

What you describe could either be anxiety, or a hot flash, because the profile fits both. I'm not on any hormones and am doing it naturally, so I have had about every type of flash you can imagine, and then some. Flashes can, and do cause anxiety in some women, as the mere process of Flashing increases our adrenaline, which in turn creates anxiety. After a time, we become used to this feeling and the anxiety seems to settle.

I think you might get a more precise answer if you can say whether you had something that made you anxious before this happened to you.

Whatever it was, with the irregular periods et al, you certainly sound Perimenopausal despite you age. [ It is said that pre 45 is young for meno]

Welcome to the forum, and just know that you aren't alone, and sadly, like all of us, you're in for a bit of a bumpy ride.

Viktoria

I had my right ear turn bright red out of the blue while I was at my desk working today. Could that be a hot flash? Very odd feeling on my poor ear, almost scared. I cannot imagine having that bright beet red feel and the feeling of heat radiatating all through my body. Now I know what you some of girls mean when you say it is your worst How claustrophobic!!

I really don't talk like that (sentence at end) ha ha.

welcome to the club------it sure sounds like one,Keep a calendar for while---such as1.where am I ?(what is the weather outside like)2.what was I eating?(spicy or not spicy---spicy can activate flashes)3.Was I stressed at the time it happened.?By writing these things down for a while you will get to know yourself better,so you can describe your symptoms to yourself,and maybe to your doctor.Check many of these forums for info---but realize these things can happen for several different reasons.

Yes, yes... and hey yes! One night my left ear was so red and hot!!! Most times it's both red hot ears (together with red face and chest). But that evening, just the one HOT red ear. Took my temp. Normal. Soooo weird.

Yes yes yes! Anxiety can procede a hot flush. Really for me, the jittery, depressed, etc etc etc stuff is worse than the heat that eventually comes. Like I posted earlier, that I can sit in anxiety or what seems as anxiety and depression for say 20 to 30 minites even and think, "man I dont feel good", then boom, I get hot

I think floater is right. it is a peri think more than an anxiety thing. Feels like anxiety though!!!!

It sounds like a combination of both. I am getting a lot of that, mostly in the chest area, especially at night I get drenched between my breasts while sleeping. Sometimes my body feels like a furnace almost like I have a fever but I don't. Then the chills come and it ebbs for awhile. I get the anxiety worst in early a.m. to early afternoon. I have meds for that, but it's still very uncomfortable. I feel like my body temperature is all over the place, before during and right after my period ends. Sometimes it ends and the spotting returns briefly and then the hot flashes start again. Ugh!

Thanks everyone! I've been checked out by the doctor and my hormones are in range but I have thyroid stuff. Everything is in range except two kinds of thyroid antibodies are very high. The anxiety could totally be worry about all the weird new sensations that keep popping up.

I have woken with night sweats- drenched-- but that hasn't happened in six months and only happened right before my period. They went away after I started taking my vitamins daily.

Sure enough my period started the day after the suspected hot flash. My period might show up on day 21 or day 36. I used to be 27-28 days. My doctor told me to add soy to my diet.