Chemo and Hot Flushes

It must be so frustrating - not sleeping and no answers. I didn't have particularly heavy periods but was high oestrogen, no flushes during menopause and no flushes during A/C or Taxol. So much of cancer treatment side effects is utterly random. Hope the problem resolves soon. 

Thanks @kmakm. FYI last night I took an Endep 10 mg. Slept great. Still had the hot flushes until 1 am but don't remember anything after that, so must have slept a solid six hours. Feel a little groggy this morning though. These were prescribed to me by my GP who had breast cancer herself. They are used to treat depression and so technically they are anti depressants, but my GP uses them as sleeping tablets, in that I don't take them all the time, only once in a while when I really need decent sleep. 

@Nadi It's so interesting isn't it? I didn't have very heavy periods, and how would one know if you had high estrogen? My oncologist says they don't really understand the precise whys and hows of hot flushes. I am tempted to say that if most men had them the issues would have been solved years ago.Whoops, I just said it...

The psychologist I see specialises in breast cancer too. I'm not happy to hear that chemo hot flushes can go on for years! But some people's seem to resolve in a shorter time frame. I can only hope that I fall into the latter group because I can't see how I'm sleeping now is remotely sustainable.

I hope your flare up is very short lived. Take care. K

Hi @kmakm . No not more worried or stressed than normal. No alcohol. Cut out caffeine, citrus and spicy food.Can't think what has caused them to flare up again. I was referred to a psychologist when they first got really bad in the past and I wasn't coping. This pyschologist only sees cancer patients. She told me that it's normal for intense hot flushes come and go for years after chemo! She also said that in her experience women who had very heavy periods and / or high estrogen before chemo seem to have a harder time when it comes to hot flushes after taxol. 

Definitely not enough research in this area. My issue is that when I get them so frequently I can't fall or stay asleep. If I go without sufficient sleep for weeks I tend to slip into both a physical and psychological depression. I'll take a sleeping tablet tonight to see if I can get some decent rest tonight before my body becomes too sleep deprived.

On the upside, they definitely DID GET BETTER for some months. So if that happened once it can happen again. I just have to stay sane and well while I go through this latest flare up and I hope it will be weeks not months until they dissipate again.

Good luck

@Nadi Are you stressed or worried about something? I am wrestling with depression and know my lack of sleep is an issue. I've found it surprisingly difficult to get some doctors to take this factor in our treatment and healing seriously.

Wasn't in menopause before chemo. Slammed straight into it from my third taxol cycle. Hot flushes started right away and hit me between every 8 to 20 minutes for nine months. The lack of sleep I experienced because of them put me in to depression. Then gradually over a year I learnt to live with them and they became less frequent to around 30 minutes to an hour. Then last month I mentioned to hubby how good they have been maybe 8 a day total. Except NOW for the past 5 days I am back to them every 20 minutes. Don't know why they have come back like this, but bloody well wish they will bugger off again. Now off to work after an hour of sleep last night <Sigh>

Yes I had horrod hot flushes during chemo. Have completely settled and niw just have the odd post menopause hot flush and being hot at night. 

Only occasional hot flushes in the year before diagnosis. Clearly peri-menopausal but still menstruating most months. At diagnosis everything stopped, including the hot flushes, for almost two months. Then in the second cycle of chemo the hot flushes started with a vengeance. I'm interested to see if they change as the chemo leaves my body.

Chemo hot flushes and night sweats are the pitts.  I remember trying to put my make up on at 5am to go to work and having it run down my face as I was doing it.  YUKKK!  I would get 20-30 a day.  Horrid stuff.

I've had a quick google but all too much terminology for my poor, tired brain.