Topic: hot flashes- how do I know if they are tick disease? hormones? or what!
LisaK
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Member # 41384
posted
before I had any treatment I was told I wsa in perimenopause- at the age of 35. turns out it was a loud of crap . after treatment all my night sweats went away, etc. it has been a good year or 2 without anything sweaty episodes.
now my period stopped about 3.5 months ago suddenly and I started with these all day feeling hot and feverish , with some swells of heat flashes that feel really terrible. worse than the babs or bart ones I had. they come and stay for long periods and I feel sick when they come , like I am going to die. just an overall feeling of weirdness comes over me. it is so hard to explain.
is this the hormones ? if so, how can these feel worse than the tick disease ones??? ugh
-------------------- Be thankful in all things- even difficult times and sickness and trials - because there is something GOOD to be seen Posts: 3558 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Jul 2013
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Jordana
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Oh boy.
I started having "hot flashes" in June of 2013, I was getting close to that time and thought that it was all about my hormones.
But something just really didn't seem right. First of all I had a lot of stomach problems with these flashes. Second, they were absolutely drenching sometimes and they went on day and night.
Also there was this weird sensation that started at the back of my neck and then inflammation would just shoot down my arms to wrists.
I kept asking other women about their hot flashes but they just didn't seem the same as mine. Much less violent, like annoying or even a notch above that sometimes but mine just seemed so much *worse*than what they were describing.
My first symptom. They'd shut off with antibiotics but I didn't connect the two things til much later.
I think if they're *really* bad, it's not hormonal.
Posts: 2057 | From Florida | Registered: Feb 2015
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dbpei
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I am 61 and have been through hot flashes from both menopause and tick borne illness (not sure if babesia, brucellosis or borellia m) The difference for me is that the ones from menopause would cause me to perspire more, feel over heated, my face would flush and get hot to touch, and this would all be over within a minute or two. That was it!
With the sweats or hot flashes I have had from tick borne illness, I often have a feeling of doom as though something is very wrong. My heart races and I feel the need to rest, and sometimes I want to eat something to feel better as though I am having a low blood sugar attack. It takes more than a few minutes to get through this episode.
So with menopause, it is a temperature regulation problem only, but with tick borne illness, there seem to be many other components. This is the difference for me anyhow. I hope this helps.
Posts: 2386 | From New England | Registered: Aug 2011
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LisaK
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Jordana! yes, my stomach gets upset with them.... so what does this mean??? my sister said hers feel the same, but I also think she has tick disease so.....????
am I just being paranoid???? how could I ever really know?!
-------------------- Be thankful in all things- even difficult times and sickness and trials - because there is something GOOD to be seen Posts: 3558 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Jul 2013
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LisaK
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dbpei!!!!
oh no!
you described it so well.... "I often have a feeling of doom as though something is very wrong. My heart races and I feel the need to rest, and sometimes I want to eat something to feel better as though I am having a low blood sugar attack. It takes more than a few minutes to get through this episode"
so what did you do about it? how did you come to this conclusion? I mean, did treatment confirm it as , did they go away with treatment??
how could I ever get any dr to even THINK it could be possible NOT to be menopaus??? I am at that 'magic' age where every single dr is now saying the same to me, "well this all happens when we get older. how old are you?"
UGH
my sneaking suspicion that this all started from me taking the many pills and potions rx by my genetic specialist. at the same time these wierd heat happening started was when my period just completely stopped and the morning head pain started , with extreme nausea lasting 24 hours a day, louder tinnitus, and other sx that just may or may not (totally) be blamed on "mennopaus"..
I mean, why couldn't it be that the buggers or the pills caused my body to go into some mennopause shock or something , just like it did all those years ago when no one (dr) knew that lyme and cos could make me get my period 2x a month for a year.... I kept saying that i thought they were supposed to get further apart, not double up.
my 'hot flashes' last hours if not constantly all day , and feel way more like a niacin flush than a hot red face with sweat.
can anyone else weigh in here? am I just old and drying up? or should I press on about other possibilities? I thought it might be a cortosol/adrenal issue or something and went to endocrine dr and she pretty much laughed me out of the room telling me im old and that I am completely well person and that if I had any issues she was such an expert she could tell if my levels were off just by looking at me when I wasked through the door, but I looked "too good". hmph
-------------------- Be thankful in all things- even difficult times and sickness and trials - because there is something GOOD to be seen Posts: 3558 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Jul 2013
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dbpei
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posted
Unfortunately, LisaK, I am still struggling with tick borne illness. I have tried ABX and herbal treatment along with alternative treatments. I recently had some improvement with IV ABX but had to stop due to complications.
My goal is to find a way to live with just herbs (or Rife) to keep those bugs at bay. I don't think I will ever be rid of them all! Maybe a few more months of IV ABX will help as well. I just don't know at this point.
Anyhow, I don't have these hot flashes very often and don't recall having one in a month or so. If I were you, I would only discuss these symptoms with your Lyme doc/NP. Most good LLMD's understand these symptoms and will help with adrenal support, possibly hormonal support if you would benefit by it.
Yours could be a combination of natural hormonal changes occurring in the years before menopause as well as your body coping with the damage done by tick borne illness. LLND's may be best for this. Or a LLMD in an integrative practice.
Posts: 2386 | From New England | Registered: Aug 2011
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LisaK
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my altenative dr says I am cleared of all tick disease that is known to man. maybe there is something in me that isn't 'discovered' yet????
OR maybe I am just OLD. I am 52.
the trouble is, I don't have a real lyme dr. couldn't afford one until now. so I am currently seeking one.
thank you!!
-------------------- Be thankful in all things- even difficult times and sickness and trials - because there is something GOOD to be seen Posts: 3558 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Jul 2013
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sparkle7
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Member # 10397
posted
You may want to try some black cohosh. It's helpful for hot flashes. I don't know why you are having them but it doesn't hurt to try it.
I got this one at the supermarket & it was pretty good - Nature's Bounty Complete Menopause Support Complex. It's not a cure all but it helps.
I actually know a man who has had hot flashes most of his life. I think it can be from a number of causes. Menopause does a number of things to the body. I'm just finding this out - LOL...
Everyone is different so what helps one person may not help you. That's why it's good there are many different plant medicines to try if something doesn't work for you. Personally, I try to avoid pharmaceuticals.
Posts: 7772 | From Northeast, again... | Registered: Oct 2006
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dbpei
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Member # 33574
posted
Women's International Compounding Pharmacy makes some wonderful estrogen (and other hormones) supplements as well. Worth looking into. You would need a prescription for these but from what I have learned, they are much safer than the big Pharma hormone therapy drugs.
Posts: 2386 | From New England | Registered: Aug 2011
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ukcarry
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Member # 18147
posted
Yes, I get them too, with the same sort of feeling that dpei describes. I have them an awful lot at the moment, whilst I am trying to deal with the Demodex mites that have clearly been hitching a ride on the Lyme. They are exhausting!
They don't feel the same as the ones I have had that may have been menopause-related: they are more unpleasant, but less sweaty, if that makes sense.
Posts: 1647 | From UK | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
I think you are way too young to be menopausal. Babesia causes hot flashes in me. I went through Menopause a long time ago (I was 55) so I know it comes from Babesia because I also have another Babesia sx - the sensation of water running in the skin of my legs --- unless I take Sida Acuta, Alcornea and Crytoplepsis as per directions on the Buhner Healing Lyme website which is the treatment for Babesia.
I agree that doctors would be at a loss to figure out what's causing it and would probably think of menopause.
Posts: 653 | From Northern Virginia | Registered: Oct 2014
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posted
I just thought of another thing that might be helpful to you and I've had personal experience with this. Anytime a woman is under stress which is either physical or emotional, her periods can stop. It happened to me several times but later, after whatever it was that was stressful for me was resolved, my periods came back.
I hope this is helpful.
Posts: 653 | From Northern Virginia | Registered: Oct 2014
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TF
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Member # 14183
posted
This all sounds like what I experienced when I had babesiosis. I got weekly episodes of total exhaustion (just laid there unable to move, talk, etc. going in and out of consciousness) with DOOM!
I felt like I would never get better, this horrible feeling was going to last forever, etc. And, I could not reason with my brain that this happened every week and it would go away after 48 hours.
My lyme specialist told me that babs flares every 7 days and also every 14 days. So, he said I was experiencing babs flares.
So, after so many months, the flares DID switch to every 14 days. They always came with an overwhelming need to go to sleep, no matter what.
Once, I had to pull over into a parking lot and lay down in my back seat and go to sleep.
And, babs can cause sweats day and night.
Burrascano says babs symptoms cycle rapidly and flares can occur every 4 to 6 days. (page 26)
So, I suggest you mark on the calendar each time you get one of these episodes. See if there is any pattern to them. If so, it is tick-borne illness.
Also, when I had lyme, it gave me a false menopause. So, I was told I was in menopause and took hormone replacement for 5 years before I got good lyme treatment and my ovaries started functioning again.
Then, all of a sudden, I was pre-menopausal again.
I have known other women whose periods stopped due to lyme and started again once they got good lyme treatment. Lousy lyme treatment, however, will not make the ovaries come back to life.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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LisaK
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posted
Thank you everyone.
if I had hormone issues or was in menopause, would that show up in bloodwork?
im trying to see if there is a cycle to any of this too- i don't notice any, but I am not remembering to write it all down either. i get heat flashes every day. soem days all day- some only a couplle of times.
-------------------- Be thankful in all things- even difficult times and sickness and trials - because there is something GOOD to be seen Posts: 3558 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Jul 2013
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
If you are in menopause or even peri-menopause, it will show up in bloodwork checking your hormone levels (estrogen, testosterone, etc.)
If your hormones are low, you still don't know if lyme is causing it or if it is real menopause. But, at least, you could take hormone replacement to help you with the hot flashes.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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LisaK
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posted
that is what I thought TF, but no one will give me the bloodwork... they just tell me im at "that age".
gggrrrrrrrrrrr
-------------------- Be thankful in all things- even difficult times and sickness and trials - because there is something GOOD to be seen Posts: 3558 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Jul 2013
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