What are hot flashes after menopause? You might know that hot flashes are one of common symptoms of menopause period in women. In the end of menopause period, they tend to be better and then usually gradually go away on their own. But there are also a few women that still experience hot flashes -- though they have already been in the postmenopause (the normal period of women after menopause)!
Causes of hot flashes in the postmenopause!
There are still not satisfied answers for the exact causes of hot flashes after menopause. But there are also several possible causes that may lead to this condition, some of them may include:
Something wrong between hypothalamus and body!
Hypothalamus is a section of your brain that has a significant contribution in controlling the amounts of heat which can raise the level of the body’s temperature. And some experts believe that a miscommunication between hypothalamus & body may lead to what we call as hot flashes (or sometimes people also call them as ‘hot flushes’).
During perimenoupause and menopause, the levels of estrogen or other hormones decrease gradually -- and this may generate wrong-signals received by hypothalamus in regulating the amount of heat in the body. Then hypothalamus gives an order for the body to produce certain chemicals to respond these false signals. These chemicals then create more sweat glands and body-heat by widening the blood vessels within the skin.
Additionally, hot flushes also can be categorized into vasomotor symptoms (a kind of health condition group that often associated with the alternative constriction & dilation of the blood vessels of the body).
Other opinions
Hot flashes in the postmenopause should be lighter than when they occur during perimenopause and menopause. And during postmenopause (particularly hot flashes after the age of 60), the hormone balance usually out -- therefore the causes of the hot flushes in this period may be often associated with the lifestyle choices. Being overweight, lack of physical activity and poor fiber intake are some possible factors that may lead to hot flushes in the postmenopause.
Other factors or conditions that may also have contribution in causing hot flashes after menopause are;
- Certain dairy products & certain spicy foods.
- Cigarette smoking or too much exposure to the secondhand smoke from cigarette smoking.
- Too much having alcoholic beverages & caffeinated beverages.
- Too much exposure to sun (or warm environments).
- Uncontrollable stress.
- Emotional flushing & neurological.
- Women who experience menopause too early (or at an early age), why? Because this condition will not give adequate time for a woman’s body to adjust the new extremely changes from the active menstruation period to the end of menstruation period.
- Even there are some experts who have opinion that women who experience breast cancer may also have high risk of experiencing hot flashes in their postmenopause period.
- Another possible cause is the rapid changes in the proteins (RANK (a receptor) and RANKL (the protein that binds to receptor)) may also be able to lead hot flushes in women who lose their estrogen balance.
Having hot flashes after the period of your menopause is not common, and unfortunately there is no exact formula to determine how long do they last! A few women can experience hot flushes after 5 years or more from the last day of their menopause period.
How long the duration of hot flush in the postmenopause may also be closely related to the cause. So, it’s so important for the doctor to find the clearly possible cause first before recommending any treatment.
What should you do to get over hot flashes after menopause?
Some lifestyle changes (such as keeping hydrated, eating healthy foods, eliminating unhealthy habits, doing regular exercise (like Zumba, yoga, aerobics, etc), using layers of clothing, and so on) may help reduce the symptoms and treat your hot flushes, but however it’s important to see a doctor to get clearly diagnosis, right treatments, and other helpful advices!
So, don’t get you own conclusion for any symptoms that you have -- once again consult with a doctor for more in-depth information.
Furthermore, sometimes women who experience hot flushes in their postmenopause period may also be considered to get evaluation of their adrenal glands.
Once you reach your menopause and postmenopause, the mechanism of your body to make small amounts of androgen, progesterone, and estrogen will be taken over by these adrenal glands. Lifestyle conditions, like stressful mentally or stressful physically may affect the performance of your adrenal glands which then may result hot flushes.
If there is something wrong with your adrenal glands, your doctor may recommend using vegan diet to control or minimize your hot flushes symptoms. One of vegan diet goals is to make sure that patient will get the right proportion /adequate vitamins and good fats per day.
You may also be interested to know hot flashes in men?!
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Image credit to ‘shutterstock’ for illustration
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