| We all know that hot flashes are one of the most | | | | study in the Journal of the American Medical |
| common symptoms of menopause, but are they | | | | Association found that they affect 53 per cent of |
| always due to menopause? Here's the information you | | | | African-American women but only 29 per cent of |
| need to know to choose whether to ask your doctor | | | | white women. |
| to test for something else. | | | | Flashes also strike women of all ages, but they are |
| Hot flushes are most common in women in the period | | | | most common between the ages of 40 and 56. And |
| of life called perimenopause, the two to seven years | | | | men can get them too, but for entirely different |
| before full-blown menopause when the menstrual | | | | reasons. |
| period becomes irregular. They also occur in women | | | | If there is any doubt as to whether a hot flash is a |
| of any age who have had their ovaries surgically | | | | symptom of menopause, the doctor can run a test for |
| removed. | | | | a hormone called follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). |
| Most women sense a flash coming on before it | | | | Other kinds of hot flashes are also distinguished by the |
| actually happens. There can be a feeling of veins | | | | timing. |
| popping in the face and neck as they actually do open | | | | The flushing that men and women can get due to |
| up to admit greater blood flow to the head. Waves of | | | | diabetes occurs usually during eating or up to 30 |
| heat strike the head and then radiate out to the torso | | | | minutes after, especially when the food is high in |
| and arms. The heat is wavelike and can last for a few | | | | carbohydrate. Tidal fevers of malaria occur |
| minutes up to an hour. There can be dizziness, nausea, | | | | approximately the same time every day, while periodic |
| headache, or mood disturbance during the flash. | | | | flashes due to hormones occur at random intervals. |
| Hot flashes strike women of all races, but for reasons | | | | And hot flashes can be triggered by eating spicy |
| scientists do not entirely understand, they tend to be | | | | foods. The corresponding symptom of diabetes and |
| more problematic for women of African descent. A | | | | malaria is not. |