ok.. hot flashes..occasionally I take an Ambien to help me sleep

[likesmountains 52]

and I have to wonder...am I sleeping through the hot flashes (normally 4 or 5 per night) or..am I just not having them when I take an Ambien? Anyone else have a similar experience?

[Ilsa]

1. No, but my Lexapro, an antidepressant, really reigned in my hot flashes.

I mentioned it to my doc, and she said yeah, it is a nice side effect (compared to the lousy ones of more gas and diarrhea for the first month on it.)

[politicat]

2. Would increasing my fiber intake help that?

I just started Lexapro for situational anxiety and anxiety attacks, and this side effect wasn't mentioned.

Thanks!

[RaRa]

3. My mom has hot flashes

and can't sleep with them. Maybe your's aren't so bad. Ask your doctor. FYI for anyone here with problems with hot flashes here's mom mom's story.

While most women lose them after a while, my mom (now 70) still has them now that she's no longer on hormone therapy. She was ready to insist on taking them again, since she couldn't stand it any more (couldn't get decent sleep) and found a very young doctor who had just completed chemo for breast cancer. She wouldn't give them to my mom and was the first doctor to tell her about 2 alternatives. I don't know the names, but one is an anti-seizure medicine and the other an anti-depressant. Both have been around for years and years and have no dangers or side effects. And, they seem to be working. My mom is taking the anti-depressant (she doesn't feel any "happier", so it's not affecting her that way) in the lowest dose (she is allowed to take more) and occasionally feels the beginning of a hot flash, but it then immediately stops. So, she's thrilled.

[likesmountains 52]

4. thanks for the info...but I can't imagine 20 more years of hot flashes

and insomnia...ugh...glad your mom got some relief.

[mzteris]

5. oh boy -

is that what's going on??

If you note the time - it's nearly 3:00 am (my time). A couple of nights ago I woke up at 1:00 am - what the h? I mean, one minute I'm SOUND asleep, the next - BOING! Wide awake - and too warm. Not "hot" just very warm. I'm usually kind of cold- natured. I also keep my thermostat set low (who doesn't anymore?) so I have lots of covers - throw those off. My body's TIRED - but my MIND starts racing racing racing . . . so I get up.

Usually it's the TV - flip flip flip channels. But the thought of doing that for the next few hours makes me want to scream. My dogs want to know WTF is going on. They want to go out, now they want to eat . . . just my luck the kids'll start waking up.

I've been prone to insomnia for years - usually just a few nights a month - but this waking up in the middle of the night is a new thing. I used to take Ambien occasionally but it made me sleepy during the day - so I'd have to nap and I didn't like that. Of course being up half the night makes me sleepy so I have to take a nap anyway . . .

I can't imagine doing this for the rest of my life. Thank goodness I don't have a "job" I have to get up and go to every morning - I don't think I could function. One of "god's" little jokes on women, eh? Why couldn't I be this awake in the middle of the night when the kids were babies, eh?

[likesmountains 52]

6. That's it...

Sometimes I wake up just before a HOT flash, and usually I go back to sleep...the suddenly wide awake at 3AM is a different thing, but no doubt hormonal...When that happens to me I can guarantee that I will be wide awake for 2 hours..it really does impact the next day. Some of my friends are thinking of having a little group to chat with during those 2 hours....it's that common.

[LuckyLib]

7. Insomnia and middle of the night flashes are commonplace for

many of us. It affects work, relationships, and sanity. My doctor told me to take 5 mg. Ambien nightly and to hell with becoming dependent. You need sleep. Insomnia can go on forever and so can hotflashes -- though those have diminished after 5 years for me. Ain't it a bitch? MY SO announces he's going to sleep and 13 seconds later he's out. Me? Getting to sleep and staying asleep are major accomplishments!

[MuseRider]

9. Isn't it lovely?

I can remember my Grandmother and my Mother used to call each other at 4AM. Neither could sleep past 4 AM no matter when they went to sleep. I remember being horrified and hoping and hoping I would not be that way. At least I am not that way all the time but I am only 52 so who knows? They are both dead so I will just have to do the TV thing. If I read I fall asleep but for little 10 minute intervals. Damn, not such a little joke.

[LiberalinNC]

8. My doctor put me on Bellamine-S for a few months after my

hysterectomy. I'm a breast cancer survivor and was afraid to go on any hormones, but eventually had too, no sleep, hot flashes all the time, then freezing, moody as hell, ugh!!! Been a 1 1/2 years since surgery and doing much better.

BTW - are you taking or eating soy? I find that eating a few soy nuts a day helps w/ the hot flashes.