But when a woman gets a sensation out of the blue that feels like the body’s thermostat has suddenly been turned up high and lasts for several minutes – well, that sensation is known as a hot flash, and it’s one of the most important moments in a woman’s life.
Hot flashes are a symptom of menopause, the condition that indicates a woman's fertile period of life is ending. The hot flash is described as a feeling of warmth that spreads over the body, lasting anywhere from seconds to several minutes.
The symptom can arrive during perimenopause (the early stage of the menopausal transition), during menopause or even in postmenopause circumstances. It is estimated that about 70 percent of women experience hot flashes.
Despite the obvious connection to aging and menopause, not every hot flash is caused by menopausal hormone changes. While women are the primary targets, men can experience something akin to a hot flash, which points out that the thermal regulation unit in the human body is subject to change and stresses that are not totally reliant on the menopausal process.
Surprising Causes of Hot Flashes
Here are some other possibilities that may cause a condition similar to hot flashes:
1) The room is too hot - If you nudge the thermostat up a bit too high, the temperature in the room can climb quickly and may exceed the comfort zone you were seeking. If you are asleep when this happens, your conscious mind may not notice, but your unconscious mind may trigger the body's defense mechanism against overheating, known as sweating. Similarly, turning up the electric blanket, wearing too many conventional blankets, wearing too many layers of clothing, or using a hot water bottle or other warming device can create temperature extremes that may be mistaken for hot flashes.
2) Spicy foods or overeating - Food is fuel, and if you take in too much fuel, the body will go into overdrive in an attempt to digest it and move it on out, resulting in an uncomfortable warm feeling. Similarly, if you are not used to spicy food, the body may react by raising its temperature.
3) Cancer - There is a medical condition called a carcinoid syndrome. This is a type of endocrine tumor that can cause large amounts of serotonin to be secreted, simulating the hot flash reaction.
4) Medications - There are a large number of medications can raise the body temperature as a side effect of their intended use. These include antibiotics (Isoniazid), antiarrhythmic drugs (Procainamide, Quinidina), antiepileptic drugs (Phenytoin), high blood pressure drugs (Alpha-methyldopa) and many others.
5) Infections - If a body part is inflamed, the body temperature can rise as your immune system attempts to battle the condition.
What Does It Feel Like?
Women often describe hot flashes as beginning in the head and radiating downward, but the hot flash can start anywhere. The methods the body uses to regulate hot and cold temperatures seem to be askew when this happens, although how the hormonal changes going on affect that process is not yet fully understood.
Some redness of the skin surface may appear during the hot flash, and sweating ranging from mild to extreme may occur. When the sweating happens during sleep, they are termed "night sweats" and often leave bedding drenched in sweat.
When hot flashes occur is as variable as the women that experience them. Some women start having the issue several years before the cessation of menstruation, while some never get a hot flash during the transition. There appears to be no predictable pattern or condition that can determine who will get it and who will not.
Figuring Out the Problem
A doctor will conduct a complete physical examination and take a medical history to determine whether hot flashes are related to perimenopause or menopause or if they may be caused by some other condition or circumstance. Doctors may ask questions like whether you have recently traveled or if you've dined in any restaurants lately.
Because hot flashes are a symptom, not a medical condition, there is no way to stop them from occurring. While taking a medical history, the doctor will ask how often and when the condition occurs, and under what circumstances.
There typically are also questions about other symptoms that may occur before, during or after the event. The information is usually enough to make an effective diagnosis, but blood tests sometimes are performed if there is any question about whether the symptoms are menopause related. Blood tests will try to measure hormone levels and discern whether any other conditions may cause hot flashes.
There are therapies available to treat hot flashes as part of an overall program. These include hormone therapies, drug treatments, alternative and complementary medicine, black cohosh, and phytoestrogens. Some have been clinically tested to gauge relief, and some have not.
Most commonly, doctors will recommend estrogen therapy using either oral medications or a transdermal patch to transmit the hormone. This treatment can be exclusively estrogen or may include progesterone (also known as progestin).
Combining the two hormones has its risks. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) did a study that determined that the therapy did reduce the severity and frequency of hot flashes, but a longer-term study was stopped when it was discovered that the treatments also predisposed women to a greater risk of stroke, heart attack and breast cancer when compared to a group of women who did not receive the therapy.
Some studies after that indicated that estrogen therapy alone carried an increased risk of breast cancer and stroke (but not heart attacks). There was also an indication that women engaged in estrogen therapy increased their risk of endometrial cancer (the lining of the uterus). This applies to women who have not had the uterus removed and are post-menopausal, leading some researchers to note that any negative consequences associated with estrogen therapy may be more related to a woman’s age and postmenopausal status. It is recommended to discuss these risks with a doctor. Most medical professionals agree that estrogen therapy should be a short-term treatment.
Another popular treatment is bioidentical hormone preparations. These are medications that mimic the chemical composition of the hormones the body generates and are derived from plants and synthesized in a laboratory. These bioidentical hormones are approved by the FDA. They are either manufactured by pharmaceutical companies or are created in some cases by a specialty pharmacy called a compounding pharmacy. The individualized bioidentical hormones from compounding pharmacies are not standardized and, thus, are not FDA-approved.