Hot flashes and night sweats

My BCN recommended sage tablets and I do think they help a bit but probably not significantly - I am starting to reduce them and will stop once I finish the packet I am on to see if it makes a difference. They are also on the Macmillan website as something to try for breast cancer patients though and I think when mine were really bad, they did calm them.

Other things that help my night sweats:

A chillow - cold gel pillow. It doesn't stay cool, so I use it to try and get rid of night sweats then put it back down by the side of my bed to cool down again for the next time. I have several of these now. I used to use it under my head but I now find my feet keep me hot so use them there now. This is probably the best thing I have found for night sweats.

Sleep in as little as possible (or better still, nothing), as that helps when you throw the bed covers off.

I also have a fan by my bedside to use when I can't cool down.

I've recently changed mattresses to something a bit cooler, also helping

I am drinking nettle tea which seems to help with the anxiety that comes with a hot flash or night sweat. If I don't get the rising panic feeling then they don't seem to last as long. But I am a little wary of drinking too much as I think it might be a phytoestrogen. 

For hot flashes during the day I do the usual - dress in layers, I have a hand held fan, drink cold water. I find exercise helps, and being outdoors.

Mine have significantly improved since first having them - I was put into a medical menopause with zoladex injections to stop my ovaries working, and this was during chemo so the sudden menopause was intense.

I also find it helpful to remind myself that menopause is a natural thing and that hot flashes and night sweats are your body going through enormous change, though I don't think tamoxifen actually puts you into menopause (though if your hot flashes are only just starting - perhaps you are starting menopause?).

Another thing I try and think about is that oestrogen helps with temperature regulation, so now it has been taken away, my body is trying to figure out how to keep itself regulated. I try and think of the hot flashes and night sweats as my body fine tuning itself and as they are slowly improving, they will eventually fade away once my body has rebalanced its thermoregulatory system! I think of the hot flash as my body testing out what it needs to do.

These are all my coping strategies - I do think that hot flashes are made a bit worse by panicking about them, which is what I did for a long time - you feel so out of control. So finding psychological ways to help has also started tp help me a bit more.

Things that make them worse: alcohol, a hot room (my cozy wood burner!), stress, thinking about them (no joke - I can be thinking 'oh I've not had a hot flash for a while' and then I get one)

I find the hot flashes during the day not too bad to cope with but only because I'm working from home, I don't know how people cope in an environment they have no control over.

Night sweats wake me and keep me awake. I just try and relax and rest and not panic about not sleeping. If I've had a spell of really not sleeping for a few days or a week, then I have sleeping tablets from my Dr. I take one maybe every month and it resets my sleep pattern as well as letting me actually sleep.

I've seen others on here have success with acupuncture, which I'd like to try - I've had huge success with acupuncture for other things in the past

Hi 

I’m the same hot flushes and night sweats are distributing  my sleep to. I am currently taking sage but dint think they are having any impact the doc px clonidine Itake 4 a day again I’ve been on them nearly 4 months and they are not doing anything either one of the ladies that I speak to on this forum suggested phenergan prescribed from the doc it’s a antihistamine going to try and get through to docs next week. I was prescribed sleeping tablets but only get 7 prescribed at a time I take 1 a week just so I have a decent sleep. Try all the tips beatthebreast has given as they do help a bit. I am post menopausal but I’m on letrozole for the next five years.

take care 

Anne xx

I’m a big fan of acupuncture and was lucky enough to be referred for the programme at The Royal Marsden by my oncologist.A series of 6 weekly sessions has changed my life.Like you the night sweats were debilitating.

After 6 sessions I was taught to self needle which I do weekly and have a hospital top up every two months.

I’ve not had a night sweat for weeks and only an occasional day time one.

They have been running the RMH clinic for over 40 years so they have faith in it.

I also try to avoid caffeine after midday as this helps me sleep

I am taking Letrazole which is causing my symptoms 

take care

Hi everyone .

Yes , hot sweats and insomnia were the reasons for driving me onto HRT for over 10 years . I simply could not function properly at my customer facing job , which included a lot of presenting work .

Now I am not on HRT , immediately taken off after diagnosis in August , I have found these symptoms have returned albeit massively diminished .

Prior to succumbing to HRT I see that all of the above advice is great and many of these  recommendations I followed myself . It’s all worth a try .

Something else that I do now which I didn’t do previously is eating tofu as a main meal twice a week . My alcohol intake is minimal and funny enough when I went to a house party for NYE and had a couple of glasses of fizz immediately my flushes started kicking off .

I also apply a breathing technique when a hot flush begins . It seems to lessen the longevity and “fierceness” of the sweat.

Together we are stronger 

Penelope xx

Hi All

thanks for all your very helpful advice. I’m going to give it all a go 

I just remembered that I was put on chlonidine by my doctor to see if it helped. It didn't help the hot flashes or night sweats for me (it is known to only work for some people), but I also got bad muscle spasms and I became almost complete numb to any intimate touch. So I stopped them! Since that experience, I haven't tried the other ones available for breast cancer patients - low dose anti-depressants etc as I don't want a similar experience, but there are those options too if you are really struggling.

My next step is acupuncture, which isn't offered by my health board but I have someone who does it for menopausal symptoms locally. I am just waiting for covid to calm down a bit.