Hot flashes - causes, treatment and self-help

If you suffer from hot flashes, you feel like out of the blue a feeling of heat, especially in the chest, in the head or neck, which spreads in the body. The affected feel this as unpleasant. It can last for half or even several minutes, and often followed by a sweat, occasionally a slight shivering or a feeling of exhaustion.

contents

• Depression and allergies
• Sugar and hormones
• diagnosis
• treatment
• self-help

During menopause, such hot flashes occur frequently, but they can also trigger external influences. This includes alcohol consumption as well as the consumption of spicy foods. Chili, in particular, is as famous as it is notorious for provoking a sense of warmth.

Sudden onset of hot flashes are often the result of hormonal fluctuations, such as menopause. (Picture: Picture-Factory / fotolia.com)

In menopause, the cause is the change in hormone levels. The production of estrogen decreases and, in addition to hot flushes, leads to insomnia, increased irritability and dry mucous membranes. About 8 out of 10 menopausal women show these symptoms.

Depression and allergies

But hot flashes can also have many other causes, such as depression. Depression causes cognitive, psychomotor and other dysfunctions such as fatigue, lack of concentration, loss of sexual desire, limitations in almost all occupations, sleep disorders and feelings of depression. Those affected feel guilty and lose their appetite. Some people who suffer from depression show irregular hot flashes.

Hot flushes, however, can also be a symptom of an allergy. Anyone who is allergic to insect bites, for example, then feels heat waves throughout the body - the body region around the puncture also heated, reddened and swells strongly.

Sugar and hormones

Typical are cold pig-strokes for hypoglycaemia in diabetics. Antihormone therapies can also cause hot flashes, such as in some cancer therapies. The carcinoid syndrome, caused by a serotonin-producing tumor, also leads to hot flashes. Diarrhea and red spots on the face are other potential symptoms here. Last but not least, histamine intolerance leads to hot flashes in histamine-rich foods (cheese, red wine, chocolate, canned fish, etc.).

First, the symptoms should be discussed at the doctor in detail. This allows in most cases already a first estimate of the causes. (Image: UBER IMAGES / fotolia.com)

diagnosis

The doctor should first have an intensive conversation with the patients to get an overview of the symptoms. After that, he can roughly estimate what could be the cause of the complaints. It was followed by a physical examination, which usually clarifies the cause.

If the patient is in menopause and symptoms include insomnia and mild irritability, then it is suspected that the hot flashes have hormonal causes. A blood test determines the hormone levels and provides certainty. Thereafter, the doctor decides whether hormone replacement therapy is appropriate. If the menopause can be excluded as a cause on the other hand, it requires other investigations.

Depending on the type of illness (diabetes, thyroid, etc.), blood tests can be used to determine the thyroid and blood glucose levels, allergy tests, ultrasound examinations, stomach and colonoscopy.

treatment

If the hot flashes are a symptom of a disease, it is important to fight the basic disease. If medication is the cause, then switching to another drug often helps. Here, however, the physician has to weigh the severity of the hot flashes and the need for medication. In the case of cancer therapy, discontinuation of therapy is out of the question. Those affected will be better advised to focus on self-help tools to relieve symptoms.

On a vegetable basis, the hot flashes can be countered with, for example, yarrow, lady's mantle, red clover, sage, fennel and St. John's wort. (Image: behewa / fotolia.com)

self-help

If you suffer from hot flashes and sweats, you can prevent this in several ways.

• By clothes. Always wear several garments on top of each other. After a sweat break you can lay down so individual garments, without sitting in underpants there.
• Wear breathable clothing. The absorbent cotton is well suited, but also modern materials for outdoor use.
• Avoid sweaty foods. The rule of thumb: What tastes hot and hot, promotes hot flashes.
• Avoid alcohol and nicotine.
• Make regular showers.
• Reduce stress, for example in the form of yoga or autogenic training.
• Move a lot in the fresh air.
• A major cause of hot flashes is obesity. So, if you are both overly sweaty and overweight, then you should try to reduce your weight.
• Use herbal remedies that work against heat waves. These include yarrow, lady's mantle, red clover, sage, fennel and St. John's wort. The best herbal remedy is the American black cohosh.
• Likewise, acupuncture can be very helpful, because from a traditional Chinese point of view it is rising heat because there is too little yin to balance the yang. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)

Specialist supervision: Barbara Schindewolf-Lensch (doctor)