This is the second time I have started a thread for my mum in as many days. This is a scary thing!
Mother dearest was taken off hormone replacement therapy, due to current research and health concerns. Since she has come off the therapy the hot flashes/flushes have returned.
Is then anyway to get rid of these other then hormone replacement? Some herbal or diet help?
Help pleeease, she is much more pleasant when not suffering.
She’s 59 if that is relevant (well 60 verrrrrrry soon but she would shoot me if I called her 60 before the birthday)
Well, the short version is that everybody’s different, but that many women find that certain foods can trigger hot flashes. Caffeine is a biggie, for one. Alcohol, too. Smoking. And some OTC cold medications, for another. And personally I find that anise oil, which is found in many licorice confections, gives me hot flashes.
Google things like “trigger hot flashes”, there’s a ton of information out there, although unfortunately there are no easy answers other than “hormone therapy”. Which is why it was so popular. My mother is also coming off Premarin for 20 years, and is going through the same thing, and is very annoyed.
She could try evening primrose oil. It seems to have something of that effect on me, as I find I’m taking HRT less since I started on it. It is fairly well known to help many women with PMS, so I don’t think this is unreasonable.
