Ch-Ch-Changes

For years I have been joking that I can’t wait for hot flushes, being so nesh it might be nice to be warm for a change.  Well they say “be careful what you wish for” and it’s come back to bite me in the arse!  They started very gradually after New year.  So gradually that I wasn’t sure if that’s what was happening.  One night in early February David and I went out to the local folk club.  We saw a great band, Uiscedwr, and had a nice night out.  I’d had a couple of ciders and was pleasantly mellow.  Unfortunately the cider meant I woke up about 3am, busting for a wee.  I slipped out of bed and went to the loo and as I headed back to bed it was like someone had turned a flame-thrower on me.  I had just enough time to thing “I think I’m going to faint, I need to get back to bed quickly” and that’s the last thing I remember until I heard David calling me.

I felt very comfortable and like I was being woken up out of a deep sleep.  I actually felt very irritated with him for waking me up!  It took me a few seconds to realise that I wasn’t lying in bed, I was actually laid out on the landing and it was very cold (this was suring the freezing weather we had in February).  Even though I was lying down, I still felt very wobbly.  David told me later that he’d half woken up when I got up and then heard a big bump.  He thought I’d tripped and was waiting for me to come back to bed  swearing and cursing but when I didn’t he got up and found me slumped on my knees, jammed up against the wall at the end of the landing.  He didn’t know if I’d fainted or tripped and hit my head knocking myself out.  He’d moved me so I was laid on my side but when I still wasn’t coming round he’d shouted for Megan and told her to call for an ambulance.  Apparently it was a couple of minutes before I started to stir.  I think the main thing going round in my head was what a pillock to pass out!   Megan went and got a blanket and a cushion as I really didn’t have it in me to move, I just felt like my legs were jelly and my head was quite woozy.

The ambulance arrived in no time at all.  I did feel very sheepish, I was convinced I had just fainted but still felt very crap.  They suggested that as my BP was very low, even laying down, they would feel happier taking me to A&E to get checked out.  As our garden path and the drive out to the road were like a skating rink they preferred I walked if my legs were up to it; they were so we all gingerly made our way out to the ambulance.  It was about -5C outside and, dressed in only a light nightdress, slippers and a dressing gown, I was very glad to get into the ambulance which was very toasty indeed!  To cut a long story short I got checked over at A&E and, apart from the still low BP, everything was fine.  My BP has always tended to be on the low side so I wasn’t worried about that.  Thankfully we didn’t have to wait long to be seen, the Friday night rush of drunks was over by the time we got there and I was back in my own bed by 05:30.

Since then, the hot flushes have hit with a vengeance.  They tend to be fewer in the day time and then build up late afternoon.  Most of them come on and build up in around a minute but I get the odd one like that night where within a few seconds I feel like I’m going up in flames.  They actually make me feel quite ill although I haven’t fainted since.  I do look around for the nearest chair though!  The biggest problem with them is how much they disrupt my sleep.  For the last few months I haven’t had more than 2 hours continuous sleep.  I find it hard to get to sleep because I’m a snuggler and like to burrow under the covers.   If I can get to sleep before the next flush hits it’s not bad but usually I have an hour of throwing the covers off, then pulling them back on again.  I wake up bathed in sweat and throw them off, turn over and fall asleep.  An hour later I wake up freezing and so it goes on all night (and all day when I’m on nights).  Basically, I’m absolutely knackered!

I went to see my GP on Monday and she has prescribed Clonidine.  I want to avoid hormones if I can, mostly because they have never agreed with me.  I also had an endometrial abalation 2 years ago which stopped my periods (yay!), she wan’t sure if being on a hormone would make the endometrium start to grow back.  Frankly I’d rather have hot flushes than periods!  Apparently Clonidine is one of those things that works for some people and not others for no apparent reason; if it going to work it should do within a few weeks at most.  Early indications are good.  I am having flushes but I think I’m having fewer, especially at night.  I’ve just finished a stint of night shifts and had fewer flushes than usual.  Recently on night shifts I’ve been having dozens in a night but this set only had maybe half-a-dozen.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed.