Night sweats and hot flashes?

I'm 4 weeks post-TAH now. Feeling better some days, and tired and achey others.

I had my first hot flash at 2 weeks, and have had a couple of others since. They soak my head and I feel like a human furnace. I have recently begun having night sweats, so much so that I smell like I ran 5 miles during the night when I wake up in the morning. I've always been "like a little oven" (as DH puts it lovingly) when I sleep, but not to the point of sweating. The absolute heat my body puts off wakes me up and makes it difficult to go back to sleep. I throw off the covers and even slept with a little fan on last night. My room has no heat vent so it tends to be very cool and in the winter, pretty cold without a little electric heater to take the chill off. Others would bundle up in this room - not me right now. I actually would love to have the air conditioner on.

I kept my ovaries, and wonder if this means they still aren't working correctly? When I was feeling the anxiety and having the crying issues, at least I felt my hormones, you know? Now that I'm on meds, I don't know. Does this seem normal?

Just had my vag hyst (kept ov/tubes) 6 days ago.
Already had two "night sweat" experiences. The first one I didn't expect - now I keep extra clothes in the bath and wet ones to wipe down.

I suspect these were due to the prescription suppositories I took before bed to relieve constipation - I'm off ALL meds now to see if this relieves my nighttime issues.

I'm on a strict fiber diet starting today, no tomatoes or citrus, as I seem to have a bad case of acid reflux. Not sure, but the diet should help if so. I have terrible stomache cramps and back pain, and finally some relief after a BM. I think getting off the meds helped my BM come back to life. We'll see - had back aches before, but never this bad. My daughter has acid reflux and said these sure sound like what she has (minus heartburn).

I kept my left ovary, right one removed. My doc said sometimes because of the surgery, your hormones get out of wack (my word, not hers lol) and your ovaries can shut down or "sleep" for a while. In rare cases they don't wake back up, but typically they get working again. Not sure of the time frame she mentioned - couples day to a couple months I'm thinking. I didn't have an issue with that so not sure.

Did you happen to get the swelly belly band they sell here on the site? If so, maybe wrap it around your neck at night to help keep you cool. Not sure how great that would work because it doesn't stay cool for a super long time. There is the Chillow - also sold on this site. There's a link at the bottom of this thread. They tested the Chillow out on the Rachael Ray show a couple weeks ago and it got rave reviews.

Good luck!

Yep, I have the swelly belly band. That's not a bad idea. I just never expected this kind of thing to happen.

Hi Ladies:

I had a TAH about five weeks ago and I am having issues with night sweats and hot flashes too.
From fellow sisters on this site: they recommended moisture wicking PJ's, having a glass of water bedside so that you can drink and put your hand on outside of glass, use a fan, and a cool washcloth for your face etc.
These all have worked for me.

Hi Lori

I kept my ovaries, too, and they didn't start acting normally again for quite a few months. Meanwhile, I experienced many signs of hormonal changes. My hot flashes were so bad one day that I stood outside barefoot in six inches of snow just to try to be comfortable.

I went to my gynecologist and she said that although I was ovulating (and we did blood tests just to check), I was exhibiting quite a few signs of low estrogen. She put me on a low dose of HRT, which I am still taking. It helped tremendously, and I haven't been barefoot in the snow ever since.

I hope you start to feel more normal soon!

I've been having night sweats too. I was wondering how long it will last. I had TAH and kept my ovaries. I am looking forward to waking up without being soaking wet. It doesn't happen every night though. But frequent enough.

My hot flashes and night sweats seems to be settling down now...thank goodness. I am going to check with my doctor at my 6 wk check to confirm I do not need HRT--I do not feel I do.

I am using a pair of moisture wicking PJ's and an isocool pillow--it works really good.

Thanks for sharing your issues with sweats. I am 10 days post op LSH (kept ovaries and cervix) but have had 2 mornings when I have woken up completely drenched. Once I got up, though, I felt like I had a fever because with the drenched clothing, I got the chills. I cannot find my thermometer to check, but reading this post, I think it is simply the night sweats. I have an appt with my doc on day 13 so I will ask her about it. I know she told me that one of my ovaries was swollen up with fibroids and she drained them, so that could be the reason that one has decided to go into shock at least. I am hoping to not have to go on HRT therapy, but will have to see I guess. I am going to try the isocool pillow and wicking PJ's. Any suggestions of where to purchase? Only place to get them is on this site????

Shari
LSH_2-17-10

Shari:
The isocool pillow I got off of E-bay but I noticed you can get it off the Wal-mart's website for about $40.

The moisture wicking PJ's I also got off of E-bay but the tag has a website of www.wildbleu.com where you can either buy from them on line or look for a local store near you. I have not tried the PJ's yet since I just got them today.