im average size but a little top heavy from breasts

As I try to write this I am Flashing. I had a Hysterectomy 2 and 1/2 years ago. I am 55 years old. Ever since the surgery I have massive mood swings,hot flashes and night sweats. I can't sleep without a sleeping pill and now I add a muscle relaxer because of my resistance to the sleeping pills. I take Estratest but does not seem to help much. I have been on anti-depressants for 20 years my dosage had to be increased since the surgery. I read your article in the newpaper today and copied it at work.

Hot Flashes and Night Sweats Resources

“Getting a Good Night’s Sleep is The Biggest Problem for Women Entering Menopause,” Physorg.com, 2008

“Tips for Night Sweats, Hot Flashes, Chills?” breastcancer.org website article

Night Sweats Resource

Natural Remedies Ineffective to Ease Menopausal Symptoms: Study,” Bio-Medicine, 2006

Although this is not a life threatening disease, hot flashes have invaded my bed, my bathroom, my car, my dinner, MY LIFE and I don't want to share my space with them any more. After my lumpectomy I was told by my surgeon, my Gynecologist that I should NOT use any kind of hormonal therapies, even homeopathic cream like yam cream because it masks estrogen producing hormones and that would be bad for me. So do bug sprays, and the contents that the exterminator uses in the house for bugs. So do chemicals used in the making of cabinets in my kitchen... What can I do?

What if you learned that there was a drink that would make your skin bright, your digestive system feel great, keep mild depression at bay, make you stronger, and could help you lose weight? What if you learned that not having this drink could cause gastro-intestinal problems especially with elimination, make your organs malfunction and possibly cause irreparable damage to your skin, hair and heart?

Have you ever heard the expression “men sweat, but women glow?”

Obviously, whoever coined that phrase wasn’t a woman dealing with menopause and night sweats.

Looking back, my night sweats were clearly part of my going through perimenopause in my early 40s. But at the time, neither my physician nor I were making that connection. He believed that it was a side effect of the medications I was taking for irritable bowel syndrome, also known as IBS.

For years, my cholesterol levels had been very good. When I’d go in for my yearly check up and blood work, the number would always come back right in the 110 range. My physician and I were always pretty pleased with these results.

Then one year, seemingly out of the blue, my cholesterol shot up to 320.

No, that’s not a typo—in the space of 12 short months, my cholesterol reading went up by over 200 points.

(This is me, right after I had a complete hysterectomy. It's been several years, but this time in my life is indelibly imprinted in my mind....)

On the outside it appears as if I have everything a woman could possibly want. I'm living a fairy tale life with a wonderful husband, extraordinary daughter, and a beautiful home. But on the inside I am crumbling.

(This is me, right after I had a complete hysterectomy. It's been several years, but this time in my life is indelibly imprinted in my mind....) On the outside it appears as if I have everything a woman could possibly want. I'm living a fairy tale life with a wonderful husband, extraordinary daughter, and a beautiful home. But on the inside I am crumbling. Disintegrating. And slowly. I'm trapped in a body that I no longer know, as if my mind and heart have been plucked from my old, familiar body and thrust into a new one that is not only foreign, it is falling apart.