Hi Pupa, I've been in perimenopause for about 3-4 years now. I have been overly hot my entire life. What's strange is I don't get hot flashes now! But, I DO get waves of nausea, and waves of strange sensations, that begin in my chest and go through my entire body.......like all my blood vessels are opening up at once. Hot flashes are from the peripheral blood vessels dilating, so it makes sense that maybe they're dilating in our stomach vessels too.....causing the nausea. I wish we could pay someone to take these feelings away from us for awhile! I'm not sure what to suggest for your water retention, except to cut back on salt. Maybe you could ask your doctor for a mild diuretic, or look for an herbal remedy. Good luck!

Check out the websites and books I offered as information in my original posts.

However, this may be easier go to google.com and search for natural progesterone.

Many great sites come up. You will find that avoiding salt is not a good idea. Natural progesterone is a natural diuretic in that it balances your body fluids as it should.

Yep, nausea here as well for the one hot flash I experienced. I don't ever wish to experience another.

Anyone have night terrors? I haven't had any since hypothyroidism has been diagnosed and treated and progesterone replacement as well. They work well together.

Women are supposed to enter menopause without hot flashes, hysterectomies, etc. Progesterone may be necessary to get you through this phase comfortably.

No thankyou, popcornhazel. I asked for information re others experiencing what I experience, and was pleased to hear from Catherine. I am not interested in using natural progesterone, which you seem to be advocating as some sort of cure-all. I would rather have flashes!
I am lucky. I am able to make this choice. I am concerned that there are many women who are not good at making choices who may be influenced by the kind of high-pressure salesmanship that seems to be rife in the menopause 'industry'.

Pupa. I think your concern about those women who are not good at making choices is well-founded. Because of the sheer size of the baby boom generation and the sheer numbers of potential buyers the industry that has grown up around menopause is thriving. Women are given to understand that hot flashes are unbearable and that they must find something to eliminate them as soon as possible to preserve their lives and sanity. The reality as you seem to have discovered is a little different. They are a nuisance and can be uncomfortable. I, personally, can't imagine anyone enjoying them although I have heard from women who live in cold climates who do actually find them comforting because they keep them warm. They are however usually self-limiting and come and go at random. They are also of no consequence to health and need no treatment.

The "nausea" you've noticed may be your body's version of an aura. Many women, I've spoken to, know that a hot flash is coming before they actually feel hot. I experienced and still occasionally experience (7+ years post natural menopause) a sense that my level of consciousness was/is changing just before a hot flash hits. At night I used to wake up about 30 seconds before the flash started.

My only suggestion as a solution to the nausea comes from someone else who did have this problem. She found that the motion sickness bands sold in drug stores and put around your wrists helped her tremendously.

Hi Pupa,

Leigh's comments on sensing when a hot flash is imminent fit with information I remember reading in research review articles when I first hit menopause. Here's my understanding:

Everyone's bodies' state of arousal (heart rate, adrenalin level, skin temperature) normally rises and falls about once every hour or so, but the effect is so small it is only detectable with continuous monitoring. When menopause starts the effect gets larger, more in some women than others. It's called 'vasomotor instability', but I'm not sure what 'vasomotor' means. Adrenalin and heart rate go up first, then within a minute blood is diverted to the body surface so skin temperature goes up (which we perceive as a hot flash). After a little while it all subsides, then recurs in an hour or so. During the daytime we mainly notice the hot flashes, but at night the adrenalin surge will often wake us up, just before we get hot.

I would find that I was suddenly wide awake, sometimes with my heart noticeably going fast, and then I would get hot. That is, I didn't wake up because I was too hot, instead waking up and then getting hot were two stages of the cycle. Perhaps the nausea is another component of this complex reaction.

Rosie

Is a hot flash then.. like a mini version of a vasal vagel response?

(I am not sure I spelled Vasal Vagel correctly)

No. A vaso-vagal response is a glitch in the autonomic nervous system. When a triggering event occurs, the blood pressure drops. In response the heart rate should go up to compensate, but in people with vaso-vagal problems (aka neurocardiogenuic syncope) the heart doesn't get the right message, and instead of the rate increasing it slows. This results in (temporary) lack of oxygen to the brain which results in a faint. Once the individual is flat, the blood flows back to the brain because it is no longer fighting gravity and the person regains consciousness. It's not a serious problem and doesn't require treatment so long as the person who suffers from it knows what his/her triggers are and so long as the episodes are relatively infrequent. It's diagnosed with a tilt table test with or without a drug challenge.

Hot flashes apparently begin in the hypothalamus. The dilatation of the blood vessels is a response to a signal (trigger unknown) that the body temperature is rising and needs to be lowered. They seldom if ever result in fainting and the change in heart rate and/or blood pressure is relatively modest.

I get a wave of nausea before my hotflashes and I would call this an "aura". I sense them coming. The nausea lasts for only a few seconds actually and goes away as the hot flash develops more. It's very unnerving to me though.
As I mentioned before, I started the Premphase about 2 weeks ago now and haven't noticed much of an improvement in the hot flashes and nightsweats yet, but I did notice that after being outside in the intense heat and humidity all weekend, the hot flashes were much more frequent and the nightsweats were worse. Yesterday & Saturday, after being out all day in the heat, I noticed that my hot flashes were coming about every 20 minutes all evening and I was up more often than usual with the nightsweats. I think my body was having a heck of a time coping with the heat changes.
After nearly 2 months, I'm hoping for a good night's sleep soon. I sleep about 3-4 hours straight and then start waking up right before a nightsweat starts and then I get them about every hour thereafter. They seem to start in my chest or upper back and then spread out. Very disturbing.
Ruby

Just recently started getting nausea. Have had the hot flashes for almost 2 years. Just another thing to add to my list when I see my GYN next week.

After reading these posts I'm glad to realize I am not alone. I went into menopause right after stopping birth control pills almost a year ago (46). I took them because I was polycystic. In the beginning I had hot flashes every 20 min but now it has subsided a little. There is a pattern to these hot flashes --- first dread (almost like when your stomach drops in an elevator) then chills, then I feel nauseous then the hot flash. The chills and hot flash are nothing compared to the other symptoms. Now they happen 1x an hour or maybe 2 hours.

I tried taking estroven and other stuff like it but they only really get rid of the hot flash. Any suggestions are appreciated. I can't take hormones because of high blood pressure....I'm ready to go back on the pill and take my chances! Thank god I have decent sleeping pills that I take 3 x a week so at least the sleep deprivation is under control. Menopause is awful!

Virginiama,

You could be me, I went off BC almost a year ago at 50 because of high blood pressure and my menopause sysmptoms started almost immediately. Unlike you though I can't go it alone, I take natural progesterone cream and an herbal supplement for hot flashes. I still get them just not as severe. Whenever I get a hot flash I just feel ill and I hate that feeling. I keep threatening to take hrt but my husband talks me down off the ledge. Thank god for airconditioning in the summer.

Cindy

Its OFFICIAL.... Im NUTS.. I mean PERI>.Yep Nausea and the tingling.. I keep telling self its a STROKE. LOL! Then It passes.. I was also having rapid heart beat 120 for pulse. had a echo. Thank God Its fine, and so was the EKG.. :). I told the cardiologist. I was having at least 24 heart attacks a day, cause I associated the hot flashes and rapid pulse and nausea to a heart attack, and the tingling was a stroke.. now the stroke is the tingling and BRAIN FOG!.. amazing how fast it changes in this Peri stuff!.. This isnt deadly is it? LOL!

hi everyone. I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with me. I had hyst w/ everything taken out a year ago, due to ov. cancer. the cancer has been contained thus far. I keep getting these waves of nausea for the past couple weeks..lightheaded, horrible feeling. I'm not on any hormones...it's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't sort of things that my hubby just doesn't understand. Anyway, was wondering if anyone here knows of any relationship between the lack of estrogen and nausea. Comparing it to morning sickness when pregnant, I can certainly see how hormones can make one sick, but oddly, I haven't found much on it for post-menopause. I do take paxil, and missed a few doses, so that could certainly be it also,,,or maybe it's the Big C coming back, how does one ever know??????!!

Hi Marilyn and everyone else. I feel as if I am pregnant again. For the last week I have had almost constant nausea and emotional weepyness along with the hot flushes and light-headedness, sometimes verging on feelings I might faint. I have been hot flushing at night and early morning for a couple of years but only now am I getting the nausea. After searching the net this is the best discussion I could find about it. I do not take anything. I have been doing more exercise than usual, learning to run and swim better. A couple of days ago I had to get out of the pool because I felt nauseous, and dizzy. I find it hard to run,even tho my legs and breath are OK but I can't stand feeling so HOT! This morning I took kids to the ice rink. Amazingly I felt fine after a few minutes on ice. So now I'm home I have been putting an ice pack on my neck. That actually seems to help with the nausea. I wonder if the loss of fat due to the exercise routine has caused my oestrogen levels to drop to a point where I feel sick? But all the literature says excercise is good for menapausal symptoms and so far it always has been. Any ideas on any of this anyone?

Yup, nausea here too, but without the hot flashes. I've had two episodes so far (I'm new to the journey) and only the first one was followed by a warm feeling.

I know my body is just getting warmed up. can't wait to see what else awaits me.

Sue

Nausea preceding a hot flash is fairly common and usually means a really big hot flash is about to occur.

If you need hot flash or night sweat relief and don't want to take hormones, learn the truth about effective non-hormonal hot flash treatments at MenopauseUpdate.com. Learning the truth means learning the results of well-designed medical research studies. This is what you will learn on MenopauseUpdate.com. You will also learn the truth about the serious risks of taking hormones, including "bioidentical hormones". Currently there are 2 effective non-hormonal hot flash treatments that have been shown to provide long-term relief; they are gabapentin and oxybutynin. Go to MenopauseUpdate.com to learn how you can get started on one of these treatments and start experiencing relief.

Hot Flashes, HOT FLASHES...............what's a girl to do? I'll tell you what to do. You look for alternatives that will help to lessen the symptoms that come out of nowhere to make your life miserable and crazy! I suffered with them for quite awhile and then I decided to try a few things to help alleviate the hot flashes and the night sweats or make them more bearable.

Someone had suggested using a satin pillowcase, because they are smooth and the fabric is nice and cool. Trust me, it works, Especially when you flip the pillow over.

The second thing I do and what I have to found to work best for me is an eye pillow, right out of the freezer. I keep it there so its ready at a moments notice. I use a peppermint scented one because it opens up my sinuses and that helps me to breathe a lot better and helps any sinus or tension related headaches. The cold flax seed inside the eye pillow surrounds my eyes, temples, forehead and cheeks. You will be amazed at just how much relief and comfort you will get. The weight of the flax seed applies just enough acupressure to soothe and relax your facial muscles so your not so tense and uncomfortable . The eye pillow also blocks out all light so you can truly relax and get some needed rest.

I searched online and found several sites that had them. The one I decided to go with was A Touch Of Satin. I liked them because their ingredients were organic, and that was important to me. They had an unbelievably large selection of patterns and I like the feel of satin on my skin. They also had a page on their site that talked about the benefits of their aromatherapy scents. They had lavender as well and that is suppose to be good for migraines and they also had them unscented. It was very interesting. If you want to check them out, their website is http://www.atouchofsatin.com Well, I hope this helps you. Good luck!

Do you know that men go through male menopause too? It's called andropause. We have almost everything you have, hormonal imbalance, night sweats, we feel extremely tired all the time, our sex drive decline, we feel depressed, irritable, Confused, our self-confidence lowers, we cant sleep, and we experience bone loss too. And what really bothers us is that for you women, menopause is just a stage... unlike for us men, we keep it as soon as we have it. Just wanted to let you know. A lot of women think that it is mid life crisis us men go through... no. It's andropause and it is a serious condition too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Night Sweats

So glad to have found this blog site. Now I know that nausea does go with the onset of these hotflashes at night. I'm 62 and trying to wean myself off the HRT patches I've been on and off for 10 years. However, now I wake up more often with such loud heartbeats, sweats and then I'm hit at 3 or 4a.m. with an urge to go to the washroom for a B.M. ( sorry to sound gross) . This is so disruptive to sleep and I feel like a zombie all day. I'm scared to think I might be getting colon cancer. Anyone ever hear of this connected to mmenpause ?? Thanks for any feed-back.

Wow, I have been dealing with loosing my mind for the last several months.. thinking of a word and not remembering how to pronounce it correctly ,... and then it comes to me... a month ago I had my first panic/anxiety attack and thought I was going nuts.... this week.. just out of the blue .. I felt like back when I just started having my period.. the feeling way to hot and feeling like I wanted to just lie down and pass out... and then the feelings of nausea.. almost feels like being pregnant again..which I know I am not!!....

OO and then the feeling that I am soo hot I want to take a cold shower or at least rip the clothes off and lay under a fan.... I do that .. and then 5 to 10 minutes later I am freezing... and then I get the headaches and the nausea again and it starts all over... I even had my husband rush me to the hospital because my heart was beating so fast.. 128.. while just lying here and my left arm was feeling weird actually my whole body feels weird like I'm fighting the flu.. .. had an ekg .. and they could find nothing... heart rate came back down... then an hour later it started all over again.. and I was feeling like crap again... it comes and goes all day long.. and when I was at the hospital in the ER... they told me it was just anxiety and stress.. I am to young to be having primenopausal symptoms...

I turned 45 this August..... please tell me I'm not nuts... and this is normal... I went to other sites and this is the only one I could find that woman are actually talking about what they felt.. not the definition of a hot flash........

I have an appointment with my OBGYN in December .. but I may not last that long.... !!! this is really sucking!!

Hi everyone.... I am not even sure what I am feeling is a hot flash....I start with nausea and then I get a weak feeling all over....a flush starts at my feet and comes up my body encompassing everything....I almost feel like I am gonna pass out! My blood pressure goes way up. I feel panicky and scared! It only lasts about 30 seconds and then I get really warm. But I don't sweat or get red like a classic hot flash. Then I get the chills and sometimes have to go to the bathroom! (you are not the only one vero-girl) Initially I would only have a couple a month....but now they are daily. How do you know if it is a hot flash or something more serious! My FSH level was 74 so I am definitely peri-menopausal or menopausal. (Had a hysterectomy and retained the ovaries so it is hard to tell.....) ANY feedback would be appreciated. I feel like I am truly going crazy.... :(

I am 36 years old and have recently begun having my symptoms. I know this sounds far fetched but my mother started @ 35!!! Tingling, rapid heartbeat, severe nausea, hot flashes (although not a "pouring sweat" flash yet, just very hot feeling and clammy skin. The symptoms are so frustrating that sometimes I just cry, which I guess is another of my symptoms, one minute I'm fine, the next I wanna rip the head off of a chicken with my teeth, the next I just wanna curl up in a ball and cry myself to sleep. When I'm having the flashes, I don't really want to be touched because it's uncomfortable but at the moment it stops I want to be cradled like a baby. There are so many opinions out there as to what I can do to alleviate symptoms but my mother has always told me, that when it happened, to deal with it as best I could without meds because her Dr. told her that many of the meds out there may alleviate symptoms but would give serious girlie problems later in life. Having been diagnosed with cervical cancer when I was 30 and having it removed, and also having not had one single dr appt since then (my fault, noone elses', kind of afraid...) I am super nervous about making that appt and getting the news...Thank you ladies for this panel, it really does help to know that understanding women are out there (none of my friends are going through this yet). Thank you.

Hi! Do you think this is a hot flash? (It's been very scary for me.) Right before I have a sense of deja vu. It's kind of like time freezes for a split second. Then I get a feeling of nausea, a fearful feeling, and then a tingling sense of heat starts around my midsection and slowly moves toward my head. Then it's gone. I can go days/weeks with nothing and then can have 10 or more episodes in a day/night. (I'm 52.)

This has made me feel so much better. I have come to refer to this feeling as a Nausea Flash. It will start with a burning sensation at the bridge of my nose and spread throughout my whole body. A feeling of impending doom sticks around until they go away completely. I get to the point where I hate to be alone in the house because of this feeling. I started menopause 8 years ago.

so thankful i found this site. i also have nausea hot flashes but also have pregnancy symptoms of bloating and flutters but not pregnant. I've missed only 2 periods but the 2 before that were light and lasted only days. i feel like my period is coming but does not. the nausea also lasts through out the day on and off, for last month or so and gets worse right before a hot flash. I am 45 yrs old.

Hi ladies, I am so glad I found your comments. Now I know I am not imagining my symptoms. Every couple of months, always in the evening whilst relaxing, I experience an episode of hot flush, mainly on the face and neck, with feelings of nausea, anxiety and then (no other polite way of saying this) bowel movements. I end up sitting there with a cold wet face-washer over my face and neck which brings relief. This episode usually lasts for about 1/2 hour or so. I have experienced this only for the last 4 years. I use to think it was related to my atrial fibrillation condition I have but I was told no, and I have a blood pressure machine at home, and when I check it whilst having this attack all is pretty normal though my bp does go up a little (that's not a surprise!). I am 58 and thought I went thru menopause pretty easily and have had (other than the odd night sweat) no other problems. This is the first time I have thought this problem might be "girlie" related. Thanks for all your helpful comments, I am now going to go and see a Doc about having this side of things checked out. Goodbye from sunny Australia!!!!!

Just wanted to chime in with everyone else. I have been having hot flashes for over 4 years now. I am 56. First I have the feeling of dread/anxiety, it is an awful feeling, never experienced anything like it in my life. Then comes the nausea, then the hot flash. This happens about every 2-3 hours I would say. I feel like it will never go away. I am not on any kind of hrt. Guess I will just tough it out for now. So hard to dress for anything, when I know I have to be able to get down to bare arms in a hurry, no pullover sweaters for me! The feeling of dread is really difficult also. No one ever mentions that either! All you can do is either laugh or cry I guess.

I am so very grateful I found this...I too thought I was crazy or having a heart attack. I have the hot, hot flashes, loss of energy (laying on the couch for days), nausea, foggy, increased heart rate (104+) then drops down to normal 62-68. Thank You all.

I have the exact same symptoms as aussiesoni. My hot flashes happen once a month and usually only one time, but it lasts for about 15 minutes (although it seems longer). It is always in the middle of the night, around 2 a.m. I suddenly wake up kind of panicky, not knowing why, then shortly get a radiating heat in my chest which then spreads outward to my extremities and then my arms and legs tingle and I feel like I am going to pass out. I also get the feeling of extreme nausea and the need to have a bowel movement. I lay as still as I can, practice deep breathing techniques and reassure myself that I am ok and this will pass. It feels like a panic attack and I'm sure I am anxious at the onset. I am 44 years old and had a total hysterectomy 7 years ago. Initially I was on Progesterone, but my gynecologist switched me to Estradiol and I have been on that for 6 years. The hot flashes have been a recent development and the first few times I had one, I thought I needed to go to the emergency room. Finding this website was a Godsend and I know I am not alone! My question is, can anything be done or is this something that I'll just have to deal with? I also need to say that I have had a kidney transplant and because of the medications I take for that, I cannot take just any over the counter medication or herbal supplement in case it interferes with my anti-rejection medication. And not that I wish this on anyone else, but I am glad that I am not the only one experiencing this and grateful for your stories! Best wishes!!!

I am a 50 yr. old female going through the worst menopause ever (well in my opinion). I have been having hot flashes for about 2 yrs. now and they are getting worse and more frequent. The night sweats are killing me and the feeling before the hot flash is scary and annoying. I have tried meds and over the counter stuff but nothing helps. The prescribed medications make my legs hurt so bad I can't stand it. Is anyone else feeling this hopeless and wondering if this will ever get better?

cinmin, I have had experiences very similar to yours. I get that weird loss of clarity feeling (I describe mine as having a memory that I haven't had yet), a heat wave that moves from my head to my toes (it lasts only a few seconds), and extreme nausea with a light-headed feeling. I usually lay down and recover pretty quickly. The first time this happened, I thought I was coming down with the flu so I called in sick and stayed in bed all day. I had a few of the above described episodes that morning but the rest of the day I was fine. It has happened again (about a month or so later); a few episodes in the morning but the rest of the day, fine. I don't like it. Is this menopausal? I'm 49, have been having night sweats for a few years (nothing serious, just annoying), have had a hysterectomy but still have ovaries.

Hi ladies, it’s been a few years since you all posted here. Can any of you tell me if you found anything to help the extreme nausea, anxiety etc that you experienced with your hot flushes? Have any of you made it to the other side yet?