Severe hot flashes, whole body sweats, any suggestions on how to cope?

Having a difficult time with menopause. I had an early one due to complete hystorectomy with ovaries removed at age 29, and now at 41, its starting over again, only worse! I am on HRT, the lowest dose of estrace. Because of the new theories linking cancers to long term use, the docs aren't open to more of it, and are hesitant to even prescribe it anymore. I have to change clothes several times a day, summer and winter, due to complete soaking of my clothes. Because of a neuromuscular disorder, air conditioning isn't really an option for me, because it triggers very strong muscle spasms if I am exposed to cold air or water. Any ideas????????Thanks!

Wow! I know just how you feel!
I suffer with hot flashes and get completely sweaty. I have tried everything the doctors recommended and have found that while there really isn't a cure there are some things that can help. I found a source for pj's that evaporate the sweat really quickly. I can even wear the tank tops to exercise class and am much drier than the others there. On top of everything else, I live in a sweltering climate and wear the tank top out. I used to wake up every night soaked and now there are nights when the pj's dissipate the sweat fast enough that I just sleep through it. I tried a few different brands of pj's and the ones that worked the best and were the most comfortable are available at www.cooljamaz.com
Good Luck... I wish there was more for us. But at least this is something.
Also, some people swear by black cohash but I don't really like to take anything...

call your family doctor

You poor thing, that sounds awful.
Have you tried any of the natural menopause remedies?
I'm no expert but isn't there something in soy that can help.
I wish you the best of luck, may it pass quickly.

I don't have an answer but I just want to say how sorry I am that you are going through this. A friend of mine went through the same thing but due to different circumstances. I, too, had an early hysterectomy-complete-because I suffered symptoms very early 20's. They put me on hormones and a few years ago they took me off of them. There was a medication that they gave me for 6 months to
wean me off the hormones. I'm a 66 year old senior citizen and still get some hot flashes which are not fun. Bless your heart, I hope they come up with a solution
before too long. Take care.

Have you looked into herbal sources of estrogen, and herbal remedies? The Chinese herbs such as dong quai (there are more) as supposed to be helpful.
Also, consume lots of soy products and yams (not sweet potatoes), or look for them in supplement form. Soy capsules have helped me with this, though my symptoms were quite mild.
Best of luck to you.

you poor thing I can empathize, have you tried soya products, don't like soya milk yuk but desserts made with soya are nice, what about black coshe (take the stuff myself and I still cant spell it) it seems to be working for me.
Most doctors I know would only prescribe HRT for up to 5 years and a lowish dose at that, the theory being that being on it for a max of 5 years protects our bones whilst not having a too significant impact on breast cancer aspect, personally I put up with relatively minor symptoms for as long as I could manage, tried HRT for 12/15 months and now I'm on the black coseh, I suppose that with your neuromuscular problem its going to be a matter of seeing what suits you best...........best of luck I'll keep my fingers crossed that you find something soon

I am also going thru menopause (age 49) and cannot take soy. I am allergic to it. I sort of know what you are going thru. I was having hot flashes and night sweats but not as bad as what you are describing. I started taking co Q10 supplements and it has helped. There is no data saying that this helps with hot flashes but I started taking it because they say it is good for your heart and that your levels start to decrease as you get older. But after taking it for about a week, I noticed that my hot flashes were gone. I am currently taking 300mg once a day. I was on 100 then they started coming back alittle bit so I upped it to 200 and now up to 300mg cause the night ones were coming back. I find that even though they have come back a little bit they are much more tolerable. Try it and good luck