Contents:
- Medical Video: Erythromelalgia - The Syndrome of Red, Hot Feet (and sometimes hands)
- What happens when the body experiences hot flashes?
- Risk factor hot flashes
- Cause hot flashes if you are not menopause
- Is hot flashes only experienced by women?
- How to overcome hot flashes
Medical Video: Erythromelalgia - The Syndrome of Red, Hot Feet (and sometimes hands)
For some women, a phenomenon hot flashes synonymous with menopause, aka when the menstrual cycle in women has stopped. This condition is usually felt as a warm to hot sensation, it can even make the skin reddish in a moment. Although hot flashes or hot flushis a natural thing, but often makes it uncomfortable.
What happens when the body experiences hot flashes?
Heat can occur slowly or can arise in a sudden and can occur at various times in minutes, hours or even days. Hot flashes marked by a number of specific signs including:
- A feeling of heat that spreads around the hands, upper body and face.
- Redness of the skin.
- Heart beat.
- Excessive sweating in the upper body.
- The body feels cold afterwards
Symptoms hot flashes appear more often at night and this can persist during the transition period, or last for several years as long as the body adjusts to hormonal changes at the age of menopause. Hot flushoften causes sleep disorders and chronic insomnia, as a result can trigger memory disorders, anxiety, and depression in menopausal women.
READ ALSO: How to Overcome Heat Over Menopause (Hot Flashes)
Risk factor hot flashes
Menopause occurs because of hormonal changes, but not all women will experience it hot flashes at the age of menopause. The mechanism is not known hot flashes can occur but changes in reproductive hormones can affect the hypothalamus gland so that the body becomes more sensitive to changes in temperature.
There are several triggers that cause menopausal women to be more at risk of experiencing symptoms hot flashes, including:
- Eat cigarettes and become passive smokers
- Eating alcohol
- Being stressed or feeling anxious
- Obesity
- Lack of physical activity, especially after menopause
- Consumption of spicy foods
- High consumption of caffeine
- Being in a room with hot temperatures
- Wear tight clothes
READ ALSO: Your 10 Symptoms Are Entering Menopause
Cause hot flashes if you are not menopause
Symptoms hot flush can also be experienced in the body even though a woman has not entered the age of menopause and this is caused by several things, including:
- Side effects of treatment – hot flashes can be caused by several types of drugs such as osteoporosis drugs (Raloxifene), breast cancer chemotherapy drugs (Tamoxifene) and painkillers (Tramadol).
- Dietary habit- Spicy food habits can provide a sensation of heat caused by enlargement of blood vessels and stimulation of nerve endings, causing heat. Alcohol consumption, for some people, can also cause this reaction so that it can cause attacks of heat on the body.
- Secretion of certain hormones - the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine can increase blood flow which results in a warm sensation to heat in the body. This mechanism can occur when someone is stressed, anxious, or as an allergic reaction.
- A sign of menopause transition - at menopause occurs at around 50 years, the transition period of hormonal changes (perimenopause) can occur up to 10 years before entering menopause, and symptoms hot flashes maybe it has started now.
- Hypothalamic gland malfunction - a decrease in the hormone estrogen at menopause can affect the function of the hypothalamic gland. But this is not the only thing, hypothalamic dysfunction can also trigger hot flush. Disorders of hypothalamic function itself can be caused by several other conditions such as:
- Eating disorders
- Head trauma
- Genetic diseases and hyperthyroidism
is hot flashes only experienced by women?
Men can also experience symptoms hot flashes if he has andropause where the testosterone hormone has a significant decrease. Just as in menopausal women, a decrease in the hormone can also disrupt the work of the hypothalamus, causing symptoms of heat attacks. In general,hot flush men have symptoms and patterns that are almost the same as women. However hot flashes it is not normal for healthy men, therefore this can be overcome by testosterone replacement therapy.
READ ALSO: Various Diseases that Start Threatening in Old Age
How to overcome hot flashes
The severity can be minimized by doing the following:
- Maintain body temperature and environment - keep the room temperature cool and wear clothes with natural or cotton-based fibers.
- Regular physical activity - active moves by walking, cycling, dancing, or swimming.
- Applying abdominal breathing techniques - is an effective relaxation technique by breathing regularly by breathing deeply with a frequency of six to eight times per minute. Performed for 15 minutes in the morning and evening to reduce the symptoms of heat.
- Use a cold pillow to sleep - this can reduce the intensity hot flashes when you are trying to fall asleep.
- Hormone replacement therapy - is the last method and requires supervision by a doctor. Such therapy cannot be done in a short time and also has the risk of side effects such as increased blood clots and inflammation of the gallbladder. However, there are alternative ways to reduce the severity of hot flashes with improved lifestyle, such as active moves, a balanced diet, and avoiding consumption of alcohol and cigarettes.
