Posts Tagged "hot flash"

Wednesday Bubble: Forget the Baubles!

Posted by Liz on May 2, 2012 in hot flash, humour | 3 comments

[Image: http://bedrock.deadsquid.com/information/profiles/index.php?profile=wilma]

You need Hot Girls Pearls! 

I’m giving full credit to my BBFF Amy Zimmerman for this fantabulous find. And if you are wondering about these baubles, they’re for all you flashing fashionista babes who think being cool and confident isn’t just a cliche. In fact, Hot Girls Pearls contain an icy gel to make sure that you won’t be sweating at the office or during a dinner date. Going out for a hot night on the town? The only thing that’s gonna be hotter than you sister is that woman next to you without her pearls! That is, if you dig the “Wilma Flintstone” look (as Amy points out). And lordy lord, how much do these babies weigh, anyhow? Just looking at them causes me to break into a sweat.

Still, I haven’t tried them and you know what they say “don’t knock it til you try it.’ Personally, this isn’t my look and big pearls are just baubles gone bad in my book.

Yikes! This one’s got ‘burstable’ written all over it.

p.s. show Amy some love and visit her wonderful blog post about these babies…

Happy Birthday!

Posted by Liz on Apr 27, 2012 in hot flash, humour | 0 comments

I know a few fine women with birthdays this month. Bet you do too. So in their honour, I am simply saying, if you can’t find any matches…

It’s Friday! Time for some folly and fun!

Forecast: there’s a Coldfront moving through

Posted by Liz on Apr 23, 2012 in hot flash, HRT | 2 comments

“Cold front” you say? But it’s Spring in the Northeast and temps have been pretty warm.

Nope, not Cold Front, but Coldfront®, a new personal cooling system designed to cool flashes when they hit.

Coldfront is not unlike Cleavage Coolers, the revolutionary product that fits right into your bra like rubber chickens. However, these nifty little Coldfront packs fit into a container the size of a sunglass case, are the size of your palm and reportedly soft to the touch and stay cold all day because of a built-in cooling core. When those hot flashes hit, just pull one of these babies out and palm those sweats right out of your life. No drugs and a reusable cloth that wicks moisture away. The company describes Coldfront as “safe, effective, discreet, convenient, mess free, environmentally friendly” and best of all: “elegant.”

I’m not entirely sure about the last adjective and hardly believe that the carrying case would easily double as a purse on a night out on the town. Still, Coldfront is not the first product based on cold technology to address the body’s sudden inability to regulate its internal thermometer. And yet, at a pricepoint of $50, it seems like a reasonable investment compared to other HRT alternatives that require a bit more of a time and financial commitment.

I have not seen the product nor do I know anyone who’s used it. Personally, I am a bit skeptical but it’s my job to be. And, I never truly believe testimonials on a website; what company publishes negative feedback? What’s more, the product, like cleavage coolers, the bedfan, the chillow, chillipads and gelmats, all rely on a woman who wants some ice, ice, baby! I dunno, but I run hot/cold on this whole approach.

Have you heard of Coldfront? Have you personally used the product? Inquiring minds need to know!

Flashes and body composition and age, oh my! What’s the relationship?

Posted by Liz on Jul 22, 2011 in aging, hot flash | 0 comments

For some time now, experts have made the connection between body mass index (BM() and hot flashes during menopause, theorizing that body fat offer protection against hot flashes since androgen hormones are actually converted into estrogens in body fat. On  the flip side? Women with lower BMI should have more frequent hot flashes. However, this hypothesis — formally known as the “thin hypothesis” – has recently been questioned, especially among researchers whose studies have shown the opposite: that a higher BMI leads to more hot flashes because the fat acts to insulate the body and prevent heat dissipation. In the middle of this argument are women, overweight, underweight, normal weight, who may have an opportunity to prevent hot flashes before they worsen or at least ameliorate them.

To more thoroughly tease out the underlying causes of hot flashes as they relate to body composition, researchers evaluated a subset of 52 women participating in the larger Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN, an ongoing trial at seven sites across US that are examining women’s health in middle age). These women were African-American or non-Hispanic Caucasians between the ages of 54 and 63, mostly overweight, in menopause and reported experiencing hot flashes or night sweats. None were taking hormones or antidepressants, and still had their uterus.

In the study, published online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, broad measures of central abdominal fat/total percentage of body fat, BMI and waist circumference and blood hormones were taken. Over two, 48-hour periods, participants also wore a monitor to evaluate the frequency and severity of hot flashes and were asked to both complete electronic diaries and press buttons on their monitors that would notate when they were experiencing symptoms.

The result? A higher percentage of body fat, BMI and waist circumference were associated with a reduction in the frequency of hot flashes only in women who were 59 or older. Moreover, this association was restricted to Caucasian women in the study compared to their Black peers.  However, in so far as the interaction between estrogen levels (and sex hormone-binding globulin) and body composition, researchers found that higher levels reduced but did not fully eliminate the distinctions in hot flashes and age.

So, why the differences compared to other studies? Others have looked as self-reported hot flashes via questionnaires while this one actually took physiological measures of hot flashes via the monitors that the women were wearing. The researchers also looked specifically at the link between size, weight and proportions of the women and hot flashes rather than risk factors of any or no hot flashes.

Importantly, data are starting to emerge that show how BMI/adipose fat and the relationship to reproductive hormones varies by age and menopause status, with higher estrogen levels related to older, menopausal women and lower to younger women. What’s more, while body fat may act to produce estrogen in older women to play a role in regulating body heat and dissipation, it seems to play a different role in younger, overweight women, predisposing them to hot flashes. Finally, wellbeing also appears to play a role in symptoms: in this case, women who were anxious reported more hot flashes and hot flashes tended to increase anxiety.

Should you care?

Although the sample size is small, the is first time that researchers have considered how age and race affect the way that obesity may affect hot flash frequency. It’s worthwhile filing it under “useful information,” especially when it comes to perimenopause and preparing to deal with full blown symptoms as you enter menopause.

A special thanks to my pal Ivan Oransky, executive editor of Reuters Health and author of Retraction Watch  for giving me a heads up on this study. Thanks Ivan!

Wednesday Bubble: 10 is the loneliest number…

Posted by Liz on May 11, 2011 in hot flash | 0 comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTO4hvLEH4Q]

I’m using this Bubble to burst a few illusions, such as hot flashes during menopause don’t actually last very long.

How about 10 years?!

Right now, one year for hot flashes to come and then go sounds pretty tempting, doesn’t it?

A few years ago, I wrote about a study in the journal Menopause that alluded to the fact that hot flashes were likely to last for five years or more. Just this week, I ran across another study in Obstetrics & Gynecology that adds another 5 years to the evidence. Yikes!

How long is long enough?

Clinical Guidelines suggest that hot flashes peak one year into menopause and for most women, last anywhere from six months to two years. So, why is popular opinion, if you will, being challenged in research circles?

Using data from the Penn Ovarian Aging Study, which followed and monitored women over a 13-year period, researchers evaluated moderate-to-severe hot flashes on average, every 9 months. The women did not report having hot flashes at the study’s start, but developed them between the first year and near the study’s end. During each assessment, interviews were conducted on overall health, height, weight, hip and waist measures were taken and blood samples collected (to evaluate hormone levels).  Menopausal status was also delineated by  five stages:

• premenopausal (regular menstrual periods)
• late premenopausal (cycle change of 7 days or more in either direction observed one time)
• early transition (change of 7 days or more observed at least twice in a row)
•  late transition (three to 11 months without a menstrual cycle)
• postmenopausal

More than 90% of women in the study were pre or late premenopausal at the study’s start.

Unfortunately, the results of the study are not very promising. On average, the median duration of moderate to severe hot flashes was 10.2 years, with only 37% of women reporting that their hot flashes stopped during the study. However, researchers found a relationship between length of time and when hot flashes began. For example. hot flashes tended to last longer (i.e. more than 11 years) in women who reported their hot flashes started in the premenopausal or late premenopausal stage compared to women whose hot flashes began in the early transition (average 7 years) and late transition (average 4 years).

Age was also a factor as the median duration of hot flashes tended to be longest in women who started flashing before the age of 40. Most commonly, however, more than a third of women tended to have the worst flashes when they were between the ages of 45 and 49.  Other factors such as African American race and a body mass index less than 30 were also associated with having hot flashes for longer periods of time.

If you are wondering about the silver lining in this story, there actually is one. The researchers say that it may be a good idea to start addressing vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes in younger women who are starting to have irregular menstrual periods.  Because “traditional hormonal therapy may not be the ideal choice for this population, given, for example, the problems with breakthrough bleeding and the need for contraception,” other treatments need to be evaluated.

I’ve long espoused the value of taking steps to shut symptoms down sooner rather than later, which is why alternative strategies may be so useful. If duration of hot flashes last longer when they start a younger age, and it is recommended that hormonal therapy be used for the shortest period of time possible, it’s not a bad idea to speak to a health practitioner about incorporating things like black cohosh into a daily routine. As always, there’s no time like the present to start taking charge of your health and get ahead of the change.