Why should I be concerned about hot flashes ? I carry a fan around and it works fine!
Hot flashes are your body’s cry for help! They indicate surging hormones trying to get a woman’s body back to it’s premenopausal functioning state. Hot flashes are not good for you. They essentially squeeze your brain, and can produce damage. Blood vessels constrict during hot flashes. Studies are finding that women who have hot flashes are probably more likely to have heart disease and possibly strokes. Studies have been done using PET scans to see what happens to brains as women hot flash. It is not good!
I believe hot flashes should only be used as a monitor to evaluate the body’s need for estrogen. If you are taking hormone replacement and still having hot flashes, you are not on a sufficient dose. Estrogen receptors are all over a woman’s body and in menopause they are hungry. Hot flashes mean the amount used is not enough. The object of hormone therapy should not be to stop the hot flashes. Some menopausal woman do not have them. The purpose of hormone therapy should be to provide an adequate amount of estrogen for bones, brain, heart, blood vessels and genital/sexual function. This provides a better quality of life for woman as they age. Shouldn’t that be our goal?