TMI: Hot flashes abound!

Oh em gee... if this is what normal menopause is like, then women of the 40-55 age range, you have my utmost respect.

Holy jeebus... I've been having hot flashes every day this week. And night sweats. I'm not sure which is worse yet. Add to the unseasonably warm weather in New England (it got up to 92° yesterday), and the complete lack of ventilation in my office... I am sweating up a storm! And they happen so randomly. I am practically chugging water at my desk to keep from feeling faint. Last night I got paranoid and thought maybe I've just been running a fever (yanno, that whole swine flu thing... can I just add how annoying the word "swine" is? Can we just call it pig flu?), so in the middle of a hot flash, I grabbed the thermometer. Nope, no fever. Just a hot flash.

I've also had 2 migraines in a 7-day period- not cool. Not cool at all. I'm not sure if Monday night's migraine was hormonally triggered or not- I did have a bit too much aged cheddar at lunch and again as a pre-dinner snack, so that might have done it.

Arieh wants me to call Dr. Gross and see if he can prescribe me any hormones right now to ease the symptoms, but I'm reluctant to add things to my system while I'm still in a diagnostic phase. The only supplements I'm taking right now are a women's multivitamin in the evening, and a Vitamin D pill with my Levoxyl in the morning. Dr. Gross did acknowledge that HRT is the way to go eventually, and we'll have to work very closely to determine the lowest dose of estrogen I can take so as not to trigger a) migraines or b) a stroke. I will find it strangely hysterical if I get put on the pill. Hell, I think it's hysterical that the pill could get me to ovulate if I end up having just adrenal issues. What's even funnier is that the birth control pill I had taken for 8 years may not have actually done what it was supposed to at all, and I actually carried a higher risk of getting pregnant this whole time.

Go fig. ;)

Interestingly enough, the hot flashes have been 90% of my symptoms. More headaches, a few more migraines than normal, and general insomnia, but that can be written off as stress. Anyone out there have any good recommendations for dealing with hot flashes?