As a Doctor Sees Night sweats
Posted on Dec 21, 2009 under Menopause, Night sweats | No Comment
Virtually all girls get at least some hot flushes and night sweats round the menopause; they’re a by-product of the "make additional oestrogen" chemical messages that our brains send out after they detect falling levels of this hormone.
Our ovaries may work intermittently for some time, so the sweats often come and go, until the brain realises that the ovaries have finally stopped operating for good – this will take many years.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can suppress menopausal symptoms till it’s all over. Current recommendations are to take HRT for brief-term relief of menopausal symptoms. However some unlucky women do continue to have symptoms into their 60s, or perhaps longer.
I’d advocate seeing your GP to check nothing else is going on, as there are dozens of other causes of night sweats , as well as an overactive thyroid, chronic infections, some medicine (for instance, antidepressants) and some rare sorts of cancer.
If your sweats are still because of the menopause, you could take into account taking HRT even now, provided your GP thinks that it’s appropriate for you, although the risks of stroke and heart attack do increase slightly as you get older.