Managing Hot Flushes and Night Sweats

by Myra Hunter, Melanie Smith

This revised edition of Managing Hot Flushes and Night Sweats offers up-to-date and evidence-based information about the menopause and about hot flushes and night sweats, which are the main reason that women seek medical help. The four-week self-help guide uses cognitive behavioral therapy, providing information and strategies for managing hot flushes and night sweats, as well as stress and sleep. The guide is interactive with exercises and homework tailored to women’s individual circumstances and lifestyles. It challenges myths about menopause and aging and provides better understanding of flushes which in turn reduces stress and improves post-menopausal well-being. The various chapters discuss processes of identification and modification of triggers of hot flushes and offers tips to women on dealing with hot flushes in social and work situations. The guide can be as effective as eight hours of group CBT and will help women who want to try a non-medical treatment that is brief and effective without side effects, or just want to be better informed.

210 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Michaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic! Using the approach in this book, I dealt with insomnia and hot flushes that were affecting my daily life. I am at higher risk with HRT, so have chosen not to use it, at this point, although I do use topical oestrogen cream (this was life-changing for me), as I had genito-urinary issues.

The CBT was not a quick fix for me - I did have to persevere and particularly with the sleep issues, it did take a few months of persevering. I did also use an additional body scan relaxation method before I went to sleep (Another thing that helped with the insomnia was stopping taking herbal remedies, which I think I had been relying on, but weren't actually helping me sleep, but were giving me brain fog the next day! That was due to a great podcast I listened to on Sliced Bread, BBC sounds, on whether herbal sleep remedies help. :-) )

I think this book would be a helpful addition alongside HRT, and it is great for helping reframe the negativity around menopause.

It is very matter-of-fact and I think that you need to bear in mind that just because CBT does work - it doesn't mean or imply that menopause symptoms are all pyschological. CBT works, the same way it does for chronic pain, it is about trying to minimise the impact of symptoms - not to imply that the symptoms are all in your head, that is obviously not true at all.

I find now, if I have a hot flush, it is more bearable, because of the techniques I've learned, and I don't avoid doing things because of them. Also, I have noticed, for instance, that no-one can actually tell that I am having a hot flush (I know, because I asked), other than me taking a layer off.

Also a reminder, if you are in the UK, you can get a course of CBT on the NHS. Internet search 'talking therapies' or 'IAPT' services, in your area, and you can self-refer to get help from a professional. I do need to add, I didn't need to use this, for me I used the book, as well as a body scan relaxation method I found on-line, which I do each night before I go to sleep (also use it if I wake up in the night and this helps me get back off to sleep quickly.)

Finally, if you have suffered menopause because of breast cancer, the book caters specifically for breast cancer sufferers, who cannot have HRT, which I think is fab.

[Julie R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic understanding of CBT for hot flashes.