It's the sensation of having a personal summer heat wave, and can include flushed face and upper body, sweating, and pounding heartbeat. Chemotherapy and estrogen suppressors can dramatically lower your estrogen levels, and that causes hot flashes. Hormone therapy can help, but is not recommended for women who are at risk for breast cancer. Here are 10 ways to cope with hot flashes, without using hormonal treatments.
1. Stand in a Swimming Pool
Parks and gyms have their pools open for summer, and most are kept at 78-82°F. This is cooler than your average body temperature, and when you are standing in cool water, the water itself draws body heat away from you. I found that I never had a flash while in the pool. If I stayed in the cool water of the pool for half an hour, the effect lasted about two hours longer, which was a great way to be temporarily hot flash free.
2. Get Some Cool Sleep - Cotton, Cool Water, Cooling Pillows, Cooling Mattress Pads
If you have night sweats, try wearing wicking pajamas or nightgowns, and using only cotton sheets. Synthetic fabrics and sleep don't mix well if you're having hot flashes. Try a cool shower, or a glass of cool water just before bed. Get the COOL FLASH PAD to cool your pillow - it's like a cooling pad for your head. The cooling pad takes your hot flash away. Turn the pad vertically, to cool your back and head as you fall asleep. Try the COOL FLASH PAD mattress pad to cool your whole body.
3. Just Cool It, Inside and Out
If you have control of the thermostat, turn it down, especially at night. A cooler bedroom can help you cut down on night sweats. Use a ceiling fan or small personal fan to keep the air around you moving. During the daytime, if you're at home and don't care how foolish you may look, just open your freezer, grab a bag of frozen veggies or the cool flash pad and put them right on your hottest area.
4. Drink a Cool One
Keep ice-cold water nearby, and when you feel a hot flash coming on, drink up. The feeling of cold water flowing inside you will bring relief, and the coolness of the water will actually help lessen the severity of a flash. If you're in chemotherapy, be sure to have at least 8 eight-ounce servings of fluids (for a total of 64 ounces of water or fluids per day), to stay well hydrated.
5. Wipe Out Hot Flashes
Here's a portable solution for hot flashes: Keep a package of baby wipes and a fan nearby. When a hot flash warms you up, use the baby wipe to moisten your face and neck, or wherever else you typically feel the heat.. Use the fan to push air at your moistened skin, to produce evaporative cooling. The small Cool Flash Pad can go anywhere, it’s small and doesn’t need water so it’s extremely lightweight .If you can't take electric fan with you, use a paper fan, which does the trick just as well.
6. Diet and Exercise
Eat soy-based foods or dishes with plant-based phytoestrogens, to cut down on hot flashes. Some good examples are tofu, tempeh, soy milk, soy nuts, lentils, chickpeas, celery, carrots, and grains. Soy supplements are not as effective as dietary soy, in reducing hot flashes. Get some exercise at least three hours per week to raise your endorphin levels. Endorphins drop during a hot flash, so elevating those will help moderate your hot flash symptoms.
Vitamin E comes in 400 I.U. gel caps, and some doctors recommend taking it twice a day, once at breakfast and once at supper, to help moderate hot flashes. Vitamin B6, 200 - 250 milligrams daily, is recommended by The National Cancer Institute's National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project. NCI also suggests trying Peridin-C (with antioxidants), two tablets taken three times daily.
8. Triggers & Temptations
Cut back or eliminate these triggers:
- alcohol
- caffeine
- spicy foods
- diet pills
- nicotine
Pass up on these temptations:
- hot tubs
- hot showers
- saunas
- hot food
- hot bed
- hot room
9. Dress for a Quick Escape
Since you never know when a hot flash will target you, dress in loose-fitting layers, so you can be prepared to peel off enough clothing to cool down, but not so much that you're immodest. Choose cotton and linen fabrics whenever you can, because it allows your skin to breathe, rather than synthetics, which tend to seal in moisture.
Epinephrine and serotonin, chemicals in your brain that signal a hot flash to start.
Reference: Pam Stephan, About.com & American Cancer Society -Updated June 16, 2013
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board