Night sweats

[Cobbystock]

Since starting Atkins my night sweats & hot flushes have really increased. I cannot take HRT due to a problem with pulmary embolisms a few years ago. I'm taking evening primrose & soya isoflavone but these don't seem to be having much effect. What else can I do?
I seem to wake 8/9 times a night either for the sweats or to go to the loo with all this water I'm drinking. I could really do with a solid night's sleep!

[JordanII]

These are the things which have helped me...


1. nothing to eat past 6 PM...and I usually go to be around 11:30 - I find that whenever I have a late meal....like when we go out or have guests, I end up waking up several times during the night with night sweats.

2. sleep by myself.....this allows me to do the sheet-on-sheet-off thing without waking the DH. This way I also sleep cooler.....sharing a bed with my DH is like sharing a bed with a nuclear thermal reactor....he radiates heat clear across the room, never mind the space between two bodies on a queen size bed!

3. stop drinking by 8 PM - this reduces my getting up to only once during the night....almost always between 3 and 3:30 AM.

Hope this helps.

[book]

I am not menopausal yet, (don't I wish) but I experienced considerable night sweats early on when getting started doing Atkins. They were similar to the night sweats I had after childbirth with each child. I credit them to the changes in my metabolism, clearing of toxins and hormonal changes as well, just as the post childbirth ones are a reaction to the body's big change. Mine went away after a bit. You are new to the plan, I believe, I would wait it out and see if they improve.

Good luck!

book

[Cobbystock]

No, I'm not new to Atkins. I've been doing it since January.
Also although I share a king sized bed with DH we have single duvet covers & mine spends more time on the floor than on the bed. I also try not to drink after 8 pm & no food after 6pm too.

[JordanII]

Before I say anything else, Cobbystock, I want to tell you how impressed I am with your weight loss.... 60 pounds....WOOOHOOO :joy

Regarding the night sweat thing.....my "meno" has not only paused, but has ceased altogether for the last 2 and 1/2 years. After the 6th month of "ceasing" I was started on HRT and was on it for about 8 months when I decided that it was not for me. So, I still do wake up with the night sweat thing from time to time and the "loo trips" during the night. I have a feeling that this will continue to happen for quite some time and is just something that I will have to ride out.

However, I have also noticed that the above discomforts have increased since I have started on Atkins...plus added some new ones.... including hair loss and nausea in the mornings.

From everything that I have read, these are symptoms of my body complaining that it is required to work overtime pulling calories from stored fat instead of using "easy energy" from what I feed it. These symptoms apparently occur whenever you force your body to use stored fat as energy...... REGARDLESS OF METHOD...i.s. this is not just an ATKINS SYMPTOM.....it happens no matter how you lose body fat.

Once I am on "maintainance" , no longer losing weight, just maintaining a stable healthy weight, all, but the 50+ age related symptoms, will disappear.

I know that this is probably not very helpful because I have not given you a magic "something" to make the annoying symptoms disappear NOW! All I can tell you is hang in there....it will get better....and better yet, as you come closer to your goal weight, the health benefits you gain will far out weigh the annoying symptoms.

One thing that I have found that has helped, and I stumbled on it as a result of my arthritis, is that I get an initial four hours of undisturbed sleep if I take two Arthritis Formula Tylenol (8 hour time released) before I go to bed. I don't recommend taking it or any drug habitually that is not necessary to maintaining your health or well being, but when my hips hurt and I cant sleep, or I am so exhausted because I have not been able to sleep without waking every two hours for nights on end, I do take it and I find that I get enough sleep in order to function the following day.

Hope this helps.

[Cobbystock]

Thanks for that. Very informative. I guess I'll just have to grin & bear it then. NOTHING is going to stop me doing this WOE!

[JordanII]

Go Cobby Go!


You know that we are all pulling for you. :nod

[Granny53]

Me, when a hot :burn flash hits, I just throw off the sheet and move a little closer to the left side of my bed! My "sleeping companion", a big oscillating fan", is on that side! When I get :boom chilled, back goes the sheet and my body pillow comes *between* me and my "companion"!

This companion is easier to "maintain" than a man! Just have to wash it's blades every-once-in-a-while, feed it with electricity. If it *bothers* me I just turn it off! Can't say that about a man, CAN WE?!!!!!

Rhonda

[JordanII]

Don't I wish it were that easy to "manage" a man.....unfortunately they are far more recalcitrant and difficult that that!!!!


I must admit, there are days when I am prepared to trade mine in for a fan!

[Janice]

This companion is easier to "maintain" than a man! Just have to wash it's blades every-once-in-a-while, feed it with electricity. If it *bothers* me I just turn it off! Can't say that about a man, CAN WE?!!!!!Rhonda

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!

Rhonda, you're a "hoot"!!

Cobby, I'm beginning to think I'll have "night sweats" the rest of my life. They have not gotten any better but at least they haven't gotten any worse. It just interrupts my sleep when I get hot and have to throw the covers off. I can't even remember the last time I slept through the night without waking up. We do sleep with the ceiling fan on low all night but that hasn't helped much. I think it's just been so hot down here in the deep south this summer that I want to blame it on the 98-100 degree temps. I will be curious to know if it gets better this fall and on through the winter when the temps are much lower. Surely relief is in sight soon, but that could mean December down here. lol

Just know you are NOT alone!! Looks like several of us are "suffering" right along with you. lol

Janice