My mum always had the house heated to about 30 Celsius when I was young. We were cooked. She really felt the cold and there were endless arguments, with her turning the heat up, and my dad turning it down.
Since she’s went through the menopause, she’s always roasting, and the house is freezing cold. I know it’s common to have hot flashes during the menopause, so I assumed this was temporary, but she’s many years past it now, and still the same. I’ve heard her complain that it’s too warm when the house temperature is around 12 Celsius. We have to wrap up to visit her.
Is this common? I’m thinking it could be a real money saver with heating bills once I get to that age.
This is a matter of perception, not actual body temperature as I understand it. Women lose less body heat than men due to having more subcutaneous fat, that means their skin is cooler since less heat is escaping through it, people feel heat or cold with their skin, so women tend to feel colder than men for a given temperature despite actually suffering less from the cold.
I don’t know the answer to your question, but how she feels doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with her actual metabolism.
I have been boiling hot every since hitting menopause. Yes there are hot flashes and those are fleeting, but I generally run hotter in general all the time.
There are two fifteen minute periods per year where the Lovely and Talented Mrs. Shodan is comfortable in terms of temperature. From May to September she is too hot, from September to May she is too cold.
Of course, when she is too hot she turns up the AC until she is too cold, and when she is too cold she turns up the heat until she is too hot. but I have not observed that this correlates with menopause. She’s been this way for thirty years. If we didn’t have dual controls on the electric blanket I would have been cooked medium-rare every winter night since 1982.
I have always been prone to a chill, mostly as I’m small and don’t weigh a lot. And despite a menopause that made me think, on more than one occasion, that I might actually burst into flame, I am, once again, always chill.
(After a dental visit with freezing, or after travel shots, I often become very, VERY cold and simply cannot get warm again! I shiver really profoundly and no amount of blankets seems to warm me! I just have to wait till the effect wears off!)
I was always freezing cold. During menopause I got hot flashes only occasionally but for the first time in my life I was warm almost all the time. Mrsin took to calling me his “Toaster Girl”. He used to warm me up, now I warm him up.
I’m always cold too. I often have to crank up the heat to 21 Celsius. I’m now hoping that I take after my mum and start feeling hot all the time once I’m older. At least that would be one good thing about the menopause!
It does seem extremely variable though. I’d always thought that older people feel the cold more. Like old grannies with the house kept at 30C. But I’ve noticed quite a few post-menopausal women seem to feel warmer.
I worked in a small office with four women who were in there 50’s - early 60’s. They couldn’t agree on what was a reasonable temperature and were constantly adjusting the thermostat. It drove the rest of us crazy.
I had to translate the numbers but 21C is about 69/70 F which isn’t “cranking the heat” to my mind; the “standard” thermostat setting here would be 72 though of course people are encouraged to lower it to 68 to save energy in the cold weather. 30C would be 86F which would be sweltering.
I’m post-change myself and can’t say I feel colder OR warmer, though I confess I’ve been extraordinarily lucky hot-flash-wise (have had very few of them).
I now run hot. I used to not really have any problems temperature wise, but in the past 10 or so years, I have to have the house cold.
If it gets over ~71 degrees (~22c) in the house, I get a headache. If it’s hotter than ~64f (17c) degrees, I can’t sleep. This is not cheap, since I live in Texas. Also, I miss the time when it was nippy in the house and I could run the heat and make it cozy. I never get to cozy temps anymore without a headache.
I hang around the house in a sleeveless top all the time, while my sweetie is wearing long sleeves and a sweater.
I was very lucky in the hot flash department too, Mama Zappa.
I cannot stand winter-type cold. If the temperature falls below 40F I start turning into an icicle. Below freezing? Nope, not going out unless I have to be at work or it’s snowed and I have to shovel the driveway. I’ll be here on the couch dressed in layers with the electric lap blanket.
It’s not so much post-menopausal stuff as it is a wonky metabolism, thanks to having a thyroidectomy a few years ago. I’m on levo, of course, but even so the cold now rushes right through me and likes to settle in my bones.
Conversely, I know when my levo needs readjusting: I run into the freezer at work in short sleeves and the cold doesn’t bother me.
OP, it could be your mum’s thyroid. Lots of women develop thyroid issues post-menopause.