The FastDay Forum

I find that eating porridge sets them off! It seems to fuel them!

As a male I think part of the hot flushes is an age thing not only a female thing. I started night sweats in my early fifties and they are still going on. Iam 60 !
All my male friends in their 50's; I have talked to about it experience night sweats but don't openly talk about it.

I found the 5:2 as not changed my night sweats.

Tomtank,that's a new one on me! Coffee, chocolate, hot weather - these triggers I know, but porridge! Oh dear!

Back at the ranch,I'm persevering with the magnet (see earlier post in this thread) - quite convinced it's helping to reduce the frequency of the flushes,but that's a very unscientific, subjective conclusion.

Shachat, my darling Nan was 99 when she passed away and still on rare occasions had a 'tropical moment' oh I have soooo much to look forward to

Hello dear fellow menopause sufferers

I was hoping for a miracle too - but I have to agree with GIGI55 & AnneH that my hot flushes seem more intense these past 3 weeks since beginning 5:2.

Or maybe that's just because I'm now also feeling the cold more ?? On a positive note, I'm sleeping much better (esp. on fast days) and waking with a little more energy.

As to moods & snappiness .. who me ??? Though DH & DD (dear dog) do steer clear of me on fast evenings just before dinner... but I'm sure that goes for most 5:2ers not just mean old menopausal me!

I've just turned 54 and have had hot flushes for about 2 years to varying degrees (no HRT) and have tried herbal capsules & wild yam cream (don't laugh!) to absolutely no effect. So I'll be interest to read how that magnet goes SHACHAT !

My weight has been creeping up slowly so I'll be very glad when it slinks off quietly somewhere else !

I'm perimenopausal and have had night sweats for at least 6 years (hot flushes probably only the past 2 years).

I did my first fast yesterday and despite the heat and humidity I slept soundly and wasn't playing on-off on-off with the duvet like a normally do. No sweats either. I don't know if it's related to fasting but if 5:2 controls my core temperature better I'll be very happy!

Ladycare magnet update - I've now been wearing it for about 10 weeks and ..... I honestly don't know. Sometimes I think it does help with the hot flushes and then at other times my normal scepticism kicks in. Particularly hard to tell of late cos it's been SO hot.

I'd dearly love to compare notes with anyone else who's tried this thing, but I don't suppose anyone else has? Bit off the beaten track, I guess.

The perspiration is pouring from my pores as we interwebspeak. 11 years and counting, little change this year so far :0(

Sugar triggers my hot flushes. Too many carbs, if I have a day of carbs I have a night of hot flushes. Now whether its because I am going through the menopause or not, I'm not sure (medical reason I don't know the usual way).

Try cutting your carbs right down and see if it helps.
I cut my carbs right down, then the doctor put me on some tablets- The side effects include , you guessed it, flushing. I just can't win!

I was quite lucky and just had about a year of hot flushes in the peri-menpause and just after. I used to have daydreams of being cold again but am one of those people who was really cold on fast days in the early spring- what a delight to need a hot water bottle. When I had my night sweats and flushes, I started to use soya milk and some soya supplemets and while I'm not sure that made the difference, when I had a blood test to see if I had passed the menopause I was told my hormone levels were 'normal'. It's been about three years since then- and since stopping the soya because of possible negative effects- and I only get the very, very occasional flush. I have noticed though that since starting 5:2 on the odd occasion when I eat lots of carbs or have a higher calorie meal, the surge in my body temperature is really strong. I know that's what food as fuel is meant to do, but is there any link? The thing that's been most pleasing for me on this WOE is regaining my waist, so all those statements about the inevitability of menopausal spread to rebalance oestrogen seem dubious to me. I feel much healthier and my body temperature seems to adjust with my fuel levels quite normally. Sorry for rambling!

Meant to say that I took soya because the soya isoflavones are meant to mimic oestrogen and help prevent the drops which trigger flushes. I'm interested in this issue because there is supposedly evidence that women in some cultures where the diet is lighter and greener have fewer 'menopausal symptoms' and don't necessarily put on the weight that Western women seem to and which is explained as fat producing oestrogen to rebalance us, which seems just odd....especially as it's near our vital organs...The apparent variation across the world makes me think diet is a factor. My own lighter and shorter period of flushes may also connect somehow with two things that were noted incidentally a few years before I entered the peri-menopause: I have a lower resting body temperature and had lower than normal oestrogen levels for my age. Could those factors have made the impact of the menopause less dramatic? And do they connect in any way with the impact of this WOE? I've never had a madly sweet tooth but eat pretty standard levels of carbs and an embarrassing amount of salt and haven't changed that hugely. Salt's the vice I really can't give up although I do opt for chilli instead when possible. Not sure if there are any clues there about easing the flushes etc? Certainly 5:2 and regular walking seems to have whittled away the thickened waist so all I have now to say I'm middle-aged is the grey hair and wrinkles. All feels quite normal so I think this WOE can help with menopausal woes

I am 66 and no longer have the hot flushes. And yes, I had them for about ten years, but like all things everyone is different. I did find (towards the end hahah) that taking Don Quai tablets from the health shop seemed to help a bit, after trying everything else! However, my Dad, who had to take the medication Tamoxifen for his cancer found that it was giving him hot flushes. He was not going to put up with that and went straight down to the doctors who immediately gave him something to stop the hot flushes. Why is it men will not put up with this but us women just seem to suffer in silence and get nothing done about it. Having said that, I prefer not to take any medication that is absolutely not necessary.

I've had them occasionally (not daily or nightly) for about 4 years but have noticed a marked increase in the last 3 months or so.

I used to have porridge and sliced banana with 200mls of soya milk everyday for breakfast (even in summer) and an Evening Primrose capsule. But since the weight has come off (now attempting to maintain) and I'm not eating breakfast daily and stopped eating porridge, breakfast usually 2 scrambled eggs and a piece of marmite toast once or twice a week, they seem to have got worse: still not awful but definitely an unwelcome companion. Like everyone else not too sure where the connections are as, apart from eating less/no breakfast, cutting out the porridge, banana, soya milk combo and not snacking, my diet has remained largely the same. I'm about to try drinking 200mls of soya milk a day again to see if anything changes.

I am just having. the cold shivers now but come Christmas through to Feb when our summer hots up I will be able to compare. I have a soy latte most days and if I eat bread it is soy linseed sliced Burgen loaf

Since I last chimed in in May, I think my hot flushes have stayed the same. Still waking up boiling at night - however the big change is that I'm actually going back to sleep easily once I've cooled off! I've never been a good sleeper and am now getting to sleep within a very short time of going to bed.
I've now lost 10kg, - I don't know if my better sleeping has any relation to the weight loss but it's lovely.
BTW AnnieW I have been having soy milk for years due to sinusitis, and thought that I'd therefore breeze through menopause- HA!