Another "girl" Question...are These Hot Flashes?

Lounge By JodieF Updated 9 Jan 2009 , 5:22pm by JodieF

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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 3:17am
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okay Ladies....help me out here. I'm 48 now. I had to have a hysterectomy 9 years ago due to non stop excessive bleeding. They left my ovaries since they were healthy. I haven't really had much thought about my monthly anymore, and I sure haven't missed it!

Anyway, last year we bought a new bed. I would wake up some night about 4 a.m. and feel like I was baking! I mean, I could feel the heat radiate off whatever side of me was on the bed. I'm not sweating, just hotter than heck! I assumed it was because it has one of the memory foam tops. It's not super thick, like some of the new beds, but it's there. But, it was only every once in awhile. The DH has even remarked that the bed is warm.

Fast forward to now. I have woken up every night for months....feeling like I'm cooking. I have to get out of bed to cool off, and then I'm okay after 10 minutes or so. I'm starting to feel like a zombie though. I can't think of the last time I've slept through a night. I'm starting to wonder if it's NOT the bed?????

So, could this be hot flashes or the start of menopause? It never happens any other time! I've done some searching, but I haven't really found anything just complaining of what I'm doing! My mom didn't go through menopause until she was 55, so it would be kinda early, wouldn't it?

Has anyone else had this happen? Is there anything that helps?

Jodie

23 replies
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mkolmar Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 4:36am
post #2 of 24

I hate to say this Jodie, but it sounds like you might be in menopause.
(baby #4 stripped me of hormones and put me into pre-menopause, but yet I still got pms--oh yeah, it was fun until that got under control).
Go to your dr. to make sure but if your waking up and not able to sleep good because you feel like your baking that sounds like menopause to me.
I feel for ya. It sucks not being able to sleep because your horribly hot.

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JanH Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 7:05am
post #3 of 24

It appears the average age of menopause is 51. But there's also early and late menopause, so the age range is quite broad:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menopause

Worst menopause symptom? Lack of Sleep:

http://www.webmd.com/menopause/news/20080421/worst-menopause-symptom-lack-of-sleep

That being said, your foam mattress alone might be responsible for your nightly "hot flashes"...

Some articles on hot foam beds:
(Quick fix, get a fluffy mattress pad.)

http://ezinearticles.com/?Will-a-Memory-Foam-Mattress-Be-Too-Hot-For-You?&id=453586

http://www.epinions.com/msg/show_~threads/cat_id_~17/id_~9020/forum_id_~181

HTH

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CakesByJen2 Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 1:22pm
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I'm not quite there yet, so I can't speak from personal experience, but I've talked to both my mom and MIL about it before. I would think it was unusual to have hot flashes only at night, in bed, never any other time, though I know it varies greatly from one person to another. I've never seen my mom have a noticeable hot flash; she said her's are very mild. My MIL on the other hand, has very sudden, extreme hot flashes that are very obvious to observe, and happen at all times of day. She gets so hot she has to go outside without a jacket in the dead of winter.

I would really suspect the bed. I have heard several people mention that those foam beds are very warm; that's one reason I've never considered getting one, because I tend to get too warm at night as it is. If it started after getting the foam, and only happens in bed... Think back, have you slept in any other beds during this time, been out of town or something, and did you have this problem then? Is there any other bed without the foam in your house you could sleep in for a few nights to test?

Your doctor can do blood tests to check your hormones to see if you are starting menopause, or if your thyroid or something is out of whack. I'd definitely bring it up if you have an appt anytime soon, but I think I'd try to investigate the bed theory a little further before I'd make an appt just for that. It could also be a combination, maybe you are in peri-menopause and your hormones are a little off, and the foam is exaggerating the effects.

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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 3:30pm
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Thanks for your answers. I am thinking it's more the bed than me at this point, since I don't have symptoms otherwise.
The only other available bed also has a foam pad, although it's removable, and I might try that out. It's the pad we bought originally. My DH was miserable on our old bed, and I bought the pad to see if that helped. It did, and I didn't notice any heat issues. The bed we bought was a Sealy Perfect Sleeper set, and was over $1500. It has helped his back a lot. The only other time I've been out of town, we were in Memphis at the end of July when it was over 100 degrees and really humid! *lol* It was so hot I don't even remember if the bed was warm in the morning.

I'm going to do more research on lessening the heat factor, to see if anything helps. The bed does have a waterproof mattress pad, another mattress pad and we have 800 thread count sheets on it.

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TheCakerator Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 3:58pm
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I would say its the bed, because the same thing happens to me and I'm 28! We bought a new bed from Denver mattress around two years ago ... I'm always a warm sleeper but I soon realized that mattress with the foam topper was going to kill me ... I would wake up so stinking hot that I literally had to change nightgowns because I had sweated through them ... it was almost torture going to bed at night because I just knew what was coming .. and then the dh would want to cuddle and I just wanted him as far away as possible ... that memory foam topper retained my body heat like you would never imagine ... finally after about a year and a half we ended up taking it back to Denver mattress not because of the memory foam topper but because it was under warranty against sagging and it had started to sag ... we got store credit and bought another mattress WITHOUT the memory foam and I'm back to sleeping like my old self again, warm, but never drenched in sweat like with the topper ....

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mkolmar Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 8:34pm
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I didn't know memory foam could do that. Whoa, change beds and see what happens. Hopefully that will stop them.

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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 8:37pm
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I do have a Dr.'s appt in a few weeks, for a checkup, and he always does bloodwork. I will mention all of this.
We can't buy another bed right now. The DH just had to take a 10% paycut to keep his job. I've been doing more reading and I'm going to try and find a really thick mattress pad and I'll try sleeping in my sons' room, after I pull the memory foam pad off his bed.

Well, if it IS the bed then it's a good rehearsal for when I DO go through menopause, eh??? icon_lol.gif

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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 8:38pm
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I do have a Dr.'s appt in a few weeks, for a checkup, and he always does bloodwork. I will mention all of this.
We can't buy another bed right now. The DH just had to take a 10% paycut to keep his job. I've been doing more reading and I'm going to try and find a really thick mattress pad and I'll try sleeping in my sons' room, after I pull the memory foam pad off his bed.

Well, if it IS the bed then it's a good rehearsal for when I DO go through menopause, eh??? icon_lol.gif

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ziggytarheel Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 9:12pm
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If it is your bed, I wonder if there is something you can put on your side of the bed as a buffer to help the heat issue? Some type of fiber in a mattress pad that would help to counteract the situation?

I was having "hot in the middle of the night" issues, but realized that as soon as I left the bedroom and came in the livingroom, I wasn't hot any more. Our heating and cooling system is notoriously uneven in our house and we've found whether summer or winter, in the middle of the night our bedroom can be significantly warmer than the rest of the house.

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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 9:42pm
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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 9:44pm
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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 9:45pm
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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 9:47pm
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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 9:49pm
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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 9:50pm
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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 9:51pm
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JodieF Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 10:44pm
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wow....sorry for all those posts! Yikes! I answered right before the site went down and that's what happened!

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funcakes Posted 6 Jan 2009 , 11:53pm
post #19 of 24

first of all-those are power surges-not hot flashes! You can get a lot done when you view them like that, my boss really appreciated my menopause year(s)

I think you NEED to discover if it is the bed by going off on a vacation and staying in a lovely hotel to test out a different bed!

Let us know how this works out for you-

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JodieF Posted 7 Jan 2009 , 2:01am
post #20 of 24

Funcakes...*lol* I love that...power surges! Your idea of a hotel stay sounds pretty lovely too. I have a daughter who works for a Four Points Sheraton.....maybe I should call her? thumbs_up.gif

I almost have to laugh though. After he got done working, I sat down the DH and confessed how badly I've been sleeping. I hadn't wanted to tell him how miserable I've been because we bought the bed for his back and it had really seemed to help. Anyway, he told me that it hasn't been helping his back and he doesn't like the bed either! OHMIGOSH.....we spent over $1500. Sheesh.......

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JodieF Posted 9 Jan 2009 , 1:55am
post #21 of 24

Well, did an experiment for the past two nights. I took a full sized comforter and folded it in half lengthwise and put in under the sheet on my side of the bed. I slept through the first night. I was warm, but didn't feel l was cooking! Last night I didn't sleep well, but that was stress. Again, warm, but no in the oven feeling. So, I'm thinking it is the bed, but at least there's something I can do to help.

I am going to mention it to my Dr. though, because it probably wouldn't hurt to get my estrogen levels checked anyway.

Jodie

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cakelover25 Posted 9 Jan 2009 , 4:13pm
post #22 of 24

It may be your bed but I'm 45 and had similar symptoms off and on. When I mentioned them to my doctor, she told me to try one of the otc supplements with black cohosh and that seems to take care of them for me.

Good Luck!

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cakesdivine Posted 9 Jan 2009 , 5:13pm
post #23 of 24

I have been having hot flashes since age 36, I am now almost 45. The hot flashes are constant, all through the day, worse at night...periods very irregular now for about a year and 1/2. I just want it to be OVER! I welcome full menopause...I just wish it wouldn't take so long to get through it! I miss having the huge walkin freezer that was available to me when I worked at the grocery store bakery years ago...LOL!

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JodieF Posted 9 Jan 2009 , 5:22pm
post #24 of 24

Last night I felt like I was cooking again! I don't think I slept 2 hours, and that was after taking 1/2 an Ambien. I've done more reading and found this:

http://www.34-menopause-symptoms.com/

I have a LOT of those symptoms. I think I'm either in menopause or pre-menopause. I think I'm having the flashes and the bed is just exaggerating them. I made an appt. with my gyno (the 23rd) and my Dr. today (the 19th).

Ain't it FUN being a woman???? icon_cry.gif

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