Menopause Hot Flashes

Menopausal women experience hot flashes, one of the most common symptoms of menopause. But what cause the hot flashes and how can they be alleviated or minimized?

Menopause Hot Flashes - A Baffling Symptom

Many women are afraid of menopause and worry excessively about entering this stage. For most of them, the fear comes from having witnessed their mothers go through it. They recall their mothers become irritated at the slightest provocation, and usually for no reason at all. They watched their mothers alternately suffer through menopause hot flashes and night sweats. However, menopause hot flashes are not the worst symptoms of menopause. More serious menopausal symptoms exist.

Hormonal Imbalance

Women who enter the pre-menopausal stage experience mood swings. This is because of the hormonal imbalance that begins to occur wherein the hormone in the blood slowly diminish and becomes depleted. Mood swings are characterized by feelings of being on top of the world one instance and feelings of despair the next. Mood swings are not only frustrating and confusing to menopausal women but they affect the people around them. Family members are greatly affected because they are unable to understand the mood swings and thus, they are unable to adjust to such behavior. At worst, relationships break off.

A Few Facts About Menopause Hot Flashes

There is not a lot that science and medicine know about menopause hot flashes. What is known is that these hot flashes happen before menopause. They can strike anytime. The reason that it happens is still unknown, though. What is known is that estrogen formation has something to do with menopause hot flashes. It has been observed that women who have hot flashes begin to feel better after they have been treated with estrogen replenishment. It has also been observed that American, Australian and Western European women have a higher propensity for experiencing menopause hot flashes while Asian women and the rest experience fewer episodes.

Menopause Hot Flashes: A Medical Enigma

Medical researches know that the brain, where the body's "thermostat" is located, is where menopause hot flashes originate. What is not yet known is why this thermostat is turned high for some women and not so in others. While there are researches and experiments being done, they are not adequate since mice, which do not get menopause, are being used.

There are reports that say the human brain has a core zone, which is a neutral zone, and it is about about 0.7 degrees F. The body starts to sweat if the core body temperature goes above the core zone's temperature. On the other hand, the body starts to shiver if the core temperature goes below the core zone's temperature. Menopausal women who experience hot flashes have been observed to have their neutral zone shrunk to almost nothing. As a result, the slightest rise in their body temperature can cause their bodies to heat up. It is still not known why the neutral zone in some women disappears.

Hormone Replacement Therapy

Hormone replacement therapy or HRT is effective in relieving the symptoms of menopause, particularly menopause hot flashes. However, prolonged use of HRT may increase the risk of cancer. Thus, HRT is taken with great caution.

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