14 years of hot flashes: now what?

Mary Livengood first started having hot flashes when she was 45.

Completely unexpected at her age and roiling in intensity, theyve been seared into her memory.

That was 17 years ago. And shes still having hot flashes, albeit milder ones, thanks to hormone replacement drugs.

So its not surprising that she received the recent news that menopausal woman can experience hot flashes for as long as 14 years with cool resignation.

I guess things dont stop at a certain time and date, said Livengood, 62, a special-education teacher in Imperial Beach. Yes, she sighed, they continue.

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine confirmed what many middle-aged women and their doctors, already knew, but which contradicted established medical wisdom. Previously, hot flashes the most common symptom of menopause, affecting about 80 percent of women were widely believed to continue for only a few years.

Researchers broke new ground in finding that early bird sufferers like Livengood usually endure hot flashes for longer periods. And because the large and long-term study followed 1,449 women of various races and ethnicities, and from seven American cities for nearly two decades, it also revealed that African-American and Hispanic women tend to have hot flashes longer than white or Asian woman.

The interesting thing about this study is the diverse group of patients, said Dr. Ray Kamali, an OB/GYN at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center and Livengoods physician.

We knew about some of the risk factors before the study, such as obesity, smoking, lack of exercise, socio-economic factors, the amount of stress, but the ethnic factor is new. Is it diet? Genetics? Cultural?, Kamali said.

The study was surely met with groans from women spanning all ages, and particularly from those already living with the regular bursts of internal heat, flushed skin and sweats.

Originally posted here:
14 years of hot flashes: now what?