So, My Mother Is out of Town, or: I'm Way Too Young For Perimenopause, Right?

[constance]

People, is there anyone out there who can tell me what a hot flash feels like? I mean, I know my friendslist skews to the young side, but if there is: is it when you're pretty sure it's perfectly comfortable in your house and as a matter of fact you're cold-natured anyway and sometimes you get kind of chilled, but all of a sudden you feel uncomfortably warm (warm enough to wake up, if you happen to be sleeping), maybe flushed, broken out in a light sweat, and you get up to check the thermostat to make sure everything's still working before you remember that your A/C hasn't really run for days anyway on account of the mild weather, but yeah, the house temperature's right on target, it's just your body that's running all amok? And then you sit fuming over your freakish episode for a few minutes before you realize that you're comfortable again? Is it like that? Because if it is. Jesus Christ.

Comments

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it. Welcome to geezer-hood. :)

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Goddamn it. I mean to say. Goddamn it.

[trickpie.livejournal.com]

Mum's just going through it now so I feel like I have a bit of say here, hooray! She said that she doesn't get red-faced at all, her skin doesn't change colour, she just suddenly feels like she's cooking from the inside. So you might be okay?

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know if I am flushed -- I haven't checked in a mirror or anything -- but I feel flushed, you know? Like the fieriest kind of blush. Maybe I will be okay, though. *feels sorry for self*

[trickpie.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, dear. :|

[tofty.livejournal.com]

:((

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wake up in the night all sweaty, but so far it hasn't happened to me in the daytime yet. I'll probably have them bad and long, though; my mother had menopause-related hot flashes for twenty years before they finally faded out after she turned 70.

One of the Table Talk people used to swear by yoga as a cure for hot flashes. Her basic argument was that your body wanted you to get hot and sweaty every couple of days, so you might as well do it in the gym.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Okay, you have just pulled me out of my self-pity and launched me straight into resonant-pity. Man, I would be trying to sue someone if I thought I had twenty years of this to look forward to.

The hot-flash thing, it's been hitting me in my sleep, too, for a month or so, I think. Yesterday afternoon was the first time it hit me during the day. Maybe the workout thing does help, too -- I don't do yoga, just this semi-aerobic cardio thing, but I take Sundays off, so maybe getting all hot and bothered while working out is ensuring that I don't otherwise get hot and bothered during my waking hours. :-?

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

I've only ever had pregnancy-related hot flashes, but what you describe sounds just like those.

When does menopause usually strike in your family? Because although I realize perimenopause can rear its ugly head well in advance of Menopause Proper, you do seem awfully young. Then again, menopause runs super late in our family (no symptoms till mid-50s, and then WHAM) so anything younger than late 40s seems awfully young to me. I'll keep my fingers crossed that this was a fluke episode (Leory, that prankster, turned on the heater just to freak you out!) and won't plague you further for many, many years yet.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

I don't know when menopause usually hits in my family -- I've been counting back and can't quite manage the math, so I mean to tackle my mother the next time she calls to check in, as in, HI MOM HOW ARE YOU I HOPE YOU'VE BEEN DRIVING SAFELY OKAY I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU, all in one sentence just like that.

I'm thinking that my mother did not start before she hit 40, though. That just doesn't seem fair to me.

[coco-palmolive.livejournal.com]

I was going to say, gee, that used to happen to me all the time, no big deal, but then, well, yeah. I guess that makes it a hot flash. :-(

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Man, life just sucks sometimes. :/

[lindyhoppr.livejournal.com]

Yep. Hot flash.

I get one every month with my monthly friend. Cause that's not enough of a problem.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

You know, your saying that... the timing of it makes me wonder if suddenly the same thing's happening to me. I'll have to keep carefuller tabs on this, I guess.

[octoberstory.livejournal.com]

Next stop, MOM PANTS. :-*

[tofty.livejournal.com]

HEY. >:O

Yeah, I'll get me a pair to go with my red and green Christmas Cottage oversized cardigan. They'll look Mos Fab.

[octoberstory.livejournal.com]

You need a red, black, and white sweater vest with Scottie dogs. Also wooden jewelry shaped like indicia of your chosen career (in this case, tiny wooden computers).

Cam, in all seriousness, you really seem way too young to be going through anything even remotely menopausal. I could be way off base there, but still.