Cats, menopause and CPAP

If men had these symptoms, there would have been a solution YEARS ago!
(Besides Premarin, which messes up your gall bladder)

I have a tower fan and a remote. The fan blows right on me but not my husband. I also like to cool my wrists in the vent on my mask.

I'm past menopause, but still have the middle of the night sweats. I even have a little travel fan for when we go on trips.

Hi Lynn, thanks for the mask suggestions. I'll look into those. Not sure what the return window is but I'll try to find out.

I do have lanolin but was only using it on the nose area. I can try that all around the mask.

Unfortunately I can't use black cohosh. It makes my joints hurt as if I have flu. I haven't tried ashwagandha. I am using bioidentical estradiol cream which helps reduce hot flashes though it doesn't completely eliminate them. Soy isoflavones are another option if you are okay with soy.

Janknitz wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 1:51 pm

I have a tower fan and a remote. The fan blows right on me but not my husband. I also like to cool my wrists in the vent on my mask.

I'm past menopause, but still have the middle of the night sweats.

That's too funny! I don't like fans but I could open my window more. I'm either shivering or sweating. There's no comfortable middle these days. Please don't tell this doesn't go away! 🥺

Well it must because my mom is always freezing.

Night sweats can have many causes besides "that one."
Even men can have them.
See your doctor if they have overstayed their welcome.
(as if they are ever welcome)

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 12:35 pm

If men had these symptoms, there would have been a solution YEARS ago!
(Besides Premarin, which messes up your gall bladder)

Amen sister!

Testify!

KittyMom22 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 2:27 pm

Hi Lynn, thanks for the mask suggestions. I'll look into those. Not sure what the return window is but I'll try to find out.

I do have lanolin but was only using it on the nose area. I can try that all around the mask.

Unfortunately I can't use black cohosh. It makes my joints hurt as if I have flu. I haven't tried ashwagandha. I am using bioidentical estradiol cream which helps reduce hot flashes though it doesn't completely eliminate them. Soy isoflavones are another option if you are okay with soy.

I avoid soy personally. Only have it in occasional food form via soy sauce. interesting what you say about the cohosh. I hadn’t heard that one before. Not that I am discounting it. Even though I think I am a year or two older than you I’m not quite as far into menopause as you are, and I am hoping and hoping that I don’t get hot flashes with any regularity. Lol.

also, I found that if I use just a bit too much I was little and it doesn’t create a good seal. I just have to be just a tiny bit and a little bit tacky.

Re mom: sounds like she’s going to need a space heater in her bedroom to Keep warm, so you don’t have to keep the whole house blasting lol. Good luck.

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:34 pm

Night sweats can have many causes besides "that one."
Even men can have them.
See your doctor if they have overstayed their welcome.
(as if they are ever welcome)

Yeah, all the doctor says is that I'm a woman of a certain age.

[quote = lynninnj] Re mom: sounds like she’s going to need a space heater in her bedroom to Keep warm, so you don’t have to keep the whole house blasting lol. Good luck.
[/quote]

Yes, I've already got plans for that! poor woman.

KittyMom22 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 4:06 pm

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:34 pm

Night sweats can have many causes besides "that one."
Even men can have them.
See your doctor if they have overstayed their welcome.
(as if they are ever welcome)

Yeah, all the doctor says is that I'm a woman of a certain age.

Obviously NOT a woman doctor--possibly one who should only
be treating patients of his own gender.

To a male doctor every symptom a woman has "over a certain age" is menopause.

I avoid phytoestrogens too. When I started a low carb diet I was peri-menopausal and I substituted a daily homemade flaxseed muffin for bread. I didn't think much of it when I started spotting, but the bleeding persisted and by 8 weeks it became hemorrhagic. My doctor's verdict was "just menopause", but fortunately I didn't accept that. Dr. Google had the answer--phytoestrogens in flax and other foods can cause bleeding. Within 48 hours of my last muffin the bleeding stopped, but I was pretty anemic at that point, and it took about 6 months to get that back up to normal levels. I stay away from soy, flax and chia because of the levels of phytoestrogens in them.

On really cold nights I start off in bed with a heating pad on low at my feet, and all the blankets because we turn off the heat around bedtime. But around 4 a.m. I always wake in sweat. I peel off the blankets and turn on the fan, and I need to be cold before I can get back to sleep, but then I sleep really well in a cold room and warm bed. Before CPAP, getting back to sleep took hours, now I fall back to sleep pretty easily thanks to CPAP. One thing it did was erase my "sleep latency" which was hours since I was a kid.

My worst menopause symptom was the hot flashes, and it really wasn't that bad considering (maybe because I'd had years of experience dealing with hormone treatments for infertility). I LOVE menopause otherwise. I think I literally had PMS without a break for 40 some odd years, and it is such a relief not to feel crappy all the time any more, no more killer cramps, no more panty surprises (sorry if it's TMI for males!). I watch my daughter going through the same symptoms and all I can say is "don't worry, you'll feel better in 30 or so more years" . UGH, poor thing.

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:34 pm

Night sweats can have many causes besides "that one."
Even men can have them.
See your doctor if they have overstayed their welcome.
(as if they are ever welcome)

Like so many other things, I was weird when I hit menopause: I had very few hot flashes, and as someone who was chronically cold pre-menopause, the few that I had were actually welcome: It was such a novel feeling to be soooo hot instead of freezing cold.

I lived in cold country when I went through menopause. I frequently took the dog out for walks at night in the snow. My Tasha the german shepherd was always willing. My male pit would go lay in front of the pellet stove and stare at us like we were nuts. If dogs could roll their eyes he was. Lol

I too still get hot flashes but I have thyroid issues so I doubt the hot flashes will ever go away completely.

I never had them, due to a hysterectomy at 46, followed by several years of Premarin.
Then the doc stopped writing scrips. Probably just as well.
My breast cancer was highly positive for both progesterone and estrogen,
and the biopsy showed it starting to necrotize--starving?
Maybe why it was in stage 0 when discovered . . .
The Chinese say frogs are lucky--I cannot disagree.

I'm so desperate for sleep that I'm sitting here working from home with the CPAP on 10 with no ramp, hoping I'll get used to it.