Who gets HOT FLASHES?
Eighty-five percent of the women in the United States experience hot flashes of some kind as they approach menopause and for the first year or two after their periods stop. Between 20 and 50% of women continue to have them for many more years. As time goes on, the intensity decreases. The faster you go through the transition from regular periods to no periods the perimenopause or climacteric the more significant your hot flashes will be.
A. Eighty-five percent of the women in the United States experience hot flashes of some kind as they approach menopause and for the first year or two after their periods stop. Between 20 and 50% of women continue to have them for many more years. As time goes on, the intensity decreases. The faster you go through the transition from regular periods to no periods the perimenopause or climacteric the more significant your hot flashes will be. Hot flashes are severe after surgical menopause, and they can also be quite difficult after a chemotherapy-induced medical menopause. Dietary and environmental triggers that can start a bout of hot flashes include alcohol, caffeine, and cayenne or other spicy foods, hot food, hot tubs, saunas, hot showers, hot beds, hot rooms, hot weather or smoking.
