Hot flashes have been waking me up at night and then I can't get back to sleep. I bought something called a chillow. It's like a mini waterbed that can fit inside your pillowcase or lay on top of your pillow. I found it too cold to sleep on all of the time, but I leave it beside the bed and as soon as a hotflash wakes me, I put it on my pillow. It immediately stops the hotflash, cools you down and I am always able to fall right back to sleep. I bought mine at Walgreens but I'm sure they are available at most stores. Hope this helps!

Janet

I find letting a bare leg hang over the edge of the bed helps me. I am grounded and the skin exposed cools me down.

Wow, what great advice!

I'm going online to find one of those chillows. I don't get hot flashes often, but would like to have one of these for when I DO! Also, they must be a big help during the heat of the summer.

Thanks!

What is a power surge?

There's kind of a joke about hot flashes:

"I'm not having a hot flash, I'm having a power-surge!!!"

It's a positive spin, so to speak!

I haven't had hot flashes but I have had night sweats. I wake up at night with my head and shoulders damp with sweat even when it is cold in the room. I'm going to look up those chillows. Maybe they would help even with night sweats. I do the "hang one leg out thing" and it works until I get too cold. Oh the joy of menopause.

Maeflower

I do the "hang one leg out thing" and it works until I get too cold. Oh the joy of menopause

Maeflower,
lol, That's what i do to . Then i get cold and have to cover back up. Just have to love this stuff !! But i am going to find me one of those chel. Geeez, now i all ready forgot how to spell it. This is what this meno. is doing to me. , But i am going to walgreens to find one.
Teresa

i do the same thing. i also added a new attraction in my bed room, A FAN. then i get up under the covers cause i'm freezing, get my sweat on and kick my first leg out, then i take all the covers off , start freezing again and start all over. oh, but i can't forget, everytime i get hot and wake up i go in the kitchen and eat something wonder if i'm going to be a moody fat woman

Sorry, don't mean to laugh 45granny, but I do the same thing..I've actually flung the covers off so fast, I've sent the cat flying across the bedroom. Wouldn't you love to see one of those high speed movies of yourself sleeping at night!

Janet

I have done all of the above also but what I would really like to know is if anyone has used anything that has helped them besides Estroven?
I have the fan, leg over the bed etc. and I am taking a daily supp. of vitimen E and Magnisium plus and good multiviti everyday.

try some meletonine, you can get it any where vitamins are sold, i slept pretty sound last couple days. not perfect, but a start

Hello
Black Cohosh will stop those night sweats.
Be sure to drink a glass of water when you take
it.
Take it about 1/2 hour before bedtime.

Good luck
Angel

Hello, i am a new person...and had finally, last night a complete nights sleep. I put a wet wash cloth in the freezer all day and put it on a plate by the bed...at 3 am when the first one usually hits, i reached over and put it on my chest for about 45 seconds and then put it back on the plate....i fell back to sleep and was pleasantly awakened by my alarm clock...for the first time in three years...i am rejuvenited by a full nights sleep...and hope this works for you...it costs nothing...won't disturb your partner...and you will be happy once more to hear the alarm...good luck...wildonions

I'm going to try one of those Chillows. It should be a big improvement for my husband, who tolerates a large fan on my nightstand that gets turned out three of four times a night and freezes him.

So glad to see someone wrote about the chillow pillow. Have seen them advertised but didn't want to try it till I heard from someone that it helps. I spend half the night flipping my pillow over to find a cold spot to sleep on, and the other half of the night tossing my covers on and off as I get hot and then cold.. oh, for a little relief...... I think it might be worth the investment..

I still LOVE my chillow. There's only one problem with it. If you normally sleep with one arm under your pillow, like I do, the chillow gets pretty heavy on your arm by morning.

If you've ever slept on a waterbed with no heater, that's exactly what the chillow feels like.


Janet

I bought the chillow. Will be my second night for me and it definetely helps. It was definately woth the inveswtment. I have real intense hot flashes. I tried the black cohosh and that didn't work. I am tring the night primrose capsules. I feel like it has helped some cause I usually have a lot of little hot flashes and at least 3 or 4 hard ones at night. I only had one last night that was hard. Has anyone else out ther tried the primrose. I am also taking the GNC menopause pack. I have been on that for 2 and a half months. I had a full hysterectomy 10 years ago. Open to any ideas.................. Cheryl

I bought the Chillow a while back, and yes, it can be heavy if you need move it back & forth.

I more recently bought extra strength Wild Yam Gel by "at last naturals." It's an Aloe Vera based body gel, which you apply twice daily; to be used "during times of imbalance." I found this in the natural health & beauty section of my local Foodtown supermarket. Using it for a few weeks now, hoping something & everything will help.

~CSIFan

Have you all tried wicking sleepwear? They help relieve night sweats. There are several out there that give you comfortable nights sleep and keep you dry.

****


Board Administrator: Commercial websites have been removed.

I've had night sweats for a couple of years now. Just hanging a leg out from under the covers doesn't do it for me. I keep a pedestal fan going all night long right beside my head. It is the kind that will oscillate when a certain button is pushed. But you can turn it by hand, as well. I have it running away from my face, then when I get a hot flash, I pull it toward me until it subsides. The low hum of "white noise" also lets me get to sleep, as it blocks out the random noises and creaks in the house that will keep my mind racing all night long.

I keep a large thermal cup of ice water with a straw on my bedside table. When I am thirsty, I don't have to sit up in bed to drink.

If you don't want a fan going all night long, your best friend is paper plate. They made a pretty good substitute fan for cooling off. I'm known to keep a paper plate beside me while watching TV. I'm alternately fanning myself with a paper plate and then covering up with the afgan when the chills begin afterward. Quite a silly sight, I'm sure, but it works!

The trouble I have with night sweats is when I move it triggers one so when I'm covered up and I move, I get one (yeah, the leg-hang-out thing too) but then I get cold and cover up . . . which triggers another one!!! Don't get a lot of sleep that way. I have recently found though that if I make a VERY strong tea with sage (it tastes terrible), it at least tones them down enough to let me sleep for a change. I've recently gone off of the HRT because they said I have a couple of fibroids and I don't think the hormones are good for them. I'm taking Vitex now because I read that it can reduce fibroids.

Must say the the best part of nightly hot flashes is the relief you occasionaly get with a cold chill...love 'em! What is curious is the timing of these pesky sessions..you can almost pinpoint when they come... mine started at 1am, then the 3am toilet trip which used to be so regular. The one I loathe is the 5am-er, which forces me out of the bedroom altogether.
Remember when ladies carried fans in their purses? Now we know what that was all about. I use a plastic ice cream lid or plate too.

Greetings fellow Flashers. I truly am one now (flasher) My husband is very sympathetic towards my struggles and yet I think he may never want my flashes to end because he now gets regular peep shows! At night when we are sitting watching tv he will hear me say "uh oh" or "oh my god" and the next thing he knows I'm flashing "the girls". This can happen up to 5 times or more in a night. His only concern is that I will do this when we have company!
Seriously I am fortunate that he is my partner. In bed the other morning he felt a flash coming on while he was cuddling me and he threw the covers off of me and started fanning me! Bless his heart he covered me back up when he felt my body cool down. (I somehow continued to sleep; don't ask me how) I have been keeping a giant mug of ice water next to the bed so that when I feel one coming on I glug some water and it seems to shorten the time. Of course the downside to the water is I have to go pee at least 3-4 times a night.

I have been reading the info on things to do to help with symptoms. I'd be interested to to hear feedback on using flaxseed, phytoestogen creams or progesterone creams, etc. I tried the OTC stuff like estroven and it made me nauseous.

I'm 48-1/2 and have been getting symptoms gradually for the past 1-2 years (the past 2 months have been a roller coaster) I just had my first month without a period in December. Before that for about 4-6 months they were "different" either lasting longer or a little heavier and not the usual color.

Well that's all for now.....I love having found this site. I am grateful not to have to go thru this alone and also to be able to know that some of the other symptoms like feeling like something is wrong when nothing is wrong is "normal" right now.

Hugs to all,

tooter (pam)

I found PS in 2002 when I started having Heart Palps, I stopped drinking coffee and they went away.
I am back again... I have now joined you gals with hot flashes and night sweats and they are keeping me awake at night. I miss a good nights sleep.
I have found that simply keeping a damp wash cloth on a saucer by the bed helps when I start heating up. I wake up just before I get the hot flash, so by using the wash cloth on my arms and chest or laying it even on my forhead, it helps and I don't wake up so much that I can't go back to sleep. It seems to shorten and lessen the intensity of the hot flash.

Has anyone had any luck with increasing soy in thier diet to control hot flashes. I am a vegetarian and eat low fat high fiber already. I used to eat soy products more than I do now. Are there any dietary guides and recipes in PS. I haven't found any yet, but the site is so large, there are lots of places I have not yet found.

mars

I actually started taking soy in tablet form about 2 weeks ago. I hadn't had night sweats for almost a year and they came back. I went from having 6-7 a night down to 2-3 a night. I do have to throw the covers off for a few minutes. I take 65mgs of soy made by Nature's Resource. It was the highest mg's I could find in the drug store. That is all it is. Just soy and nothing else. I only had the sweats for 2 months last time so hopefully it won't last too long this time either.

Kim

Hi gals...I have been having more hot flashes/night sweats these past two weeks. I have noted that they are much more extreme and last for a long time. The worst one lasted twenty minutes...I was burning up.

I have not had my soy shakes since the holidays began (I was not working out and was cutting calories to compensate, so I skipped my shakes) and I have now noted the correlation between stopping the shakes and the increase in the "flashes". I do not get them during the day, only at night, which I am thankful for--but the interruption of my sleep is taking a toll on me.

I am heading back to the gym on Monday (I had a flare-up with my shoulder pain and skipped last week with the weights to give it some rest). I will restart my shakes and will let you all know how things go.

Leg out of the covers works for me...except that that leg freezes! Heehehe....

Sorry ladies..haven't quite got this posting down yet.

Just wanted to share what seems to be working for me right now, concerning the hot flashes.
Couple of cups of Clelestial Seasonings "Sleeptime" tea, without honey or sugar. Right before bedtime.
Still sleep with my chillow...it's been my favorite nighttime friend.

Thought the sleepless nights were going to be the downfall of me there for awhile.
Still making the nightly trips to the potty, but I'm able to fall right back to sleep.
Hope this helps someone.

Oh...should also mention, I've cut caffine...coffee, soda...I'm still working on the chocolate.

When my husband had knee replacement surgery, the therapist told us about homemade ice packs which I find are helpful for night sweats. The therapist told me to soak a couple of dish towels under the kitchen faucet and put them into a plastic bag, then put the bag in the freezer. After the towels have frozen, leave them in the plastic bag. We could then press it gently onto my husband's sore knee, where it stayed put nicely.

Later, I tried using the ice pack on my pillow and it helped my night sweats without causing my pillow to get wet.

Yepthatsme2,
I also take the Celestrial Seasonings "Sleepytime" tea, except I take the "Sleepy Time Extra", with Valerian. I was almost out last night so had to run down and bought 4 boxes. I use splenda with it. I put two teabags in a cup and let it steep for 6 min.. I sleep like a baby now and the night sweats if they happen, aren't waking me up.

I was taking Estroven and recently switched to New Phase, and have just started taking Black Cohash. No relief yet, but I am hopeful. So glad to have found this forum, as now I know I am not the only one that is up too many times during the night!