I’m 36, so it’s not menopause. I’ll get hot flashes from doing nothing but standing. I’ll break out in a sweat. Is this a PsA symptom? It comes and goes with no real cause. I could be just standing and all of a sudden I get sweat rolling down my face.
I never asked that question, but hmmmm that's interesting. I get that, too, but I always thought it was a menopause symptom. But, my menopause and PsA started around the same time. And, the funny thing is, my mom or sister never had hot flashes, nor do they have PsA. I also sweat from the neck up, and it's really uncomfortable and embarrassing. It's definitely worse in the summer, and even when I have the AC set at 72 I'll break out in a sweat. One thing I should mention, though, is Enbrel is working for 80-90% of my PsA symptoms, so I guess if the sweating was a PsA symptom, the Enbrel should stop it, too.
I first started getting hot flashes and night sweats when I was around the same age you are now ... it's worth bearing in mind that peri-menopausal symptoms can start around ten years before you arrive at the menopause and that seems to have been the case for me. When it first started I did see my GP to make sure there was nothing else going on and I think that is always sensible with anything that doesn't resolve itself within a few weeks.
Also, are you on any medications? Reason I ask that is I was on a drug for high blood pressure which made the problem oh-so-much worse .... I mean every 8 - 10 minutes 24 hours a day. Worth checking anything you do take.
I'm almost 44 years old. When I was on MTX two years ago I had hot flashes pretty much the whole time I was on it. I stopped taking it and the hot flashes disappeared. It certainly could be medication related. I haven't had hot flashes since.
I'm 33 and I too have hot flashes. They come and go. I still haven't noticed a pattern so I can't say if they are PsA related or no. I do have an elevated body temperature 24 hours after my biologic injection. Doc knows about it and I have to watch it, but other then that, the hot flashes are a mystery.
Hi all, recently returned here after a break & it's great to be back.
I swear someone asks this same thing I'm about to every time hot flashes come up .... and I'm blowed if I can remember whether there's been a clear result, but anyway - do men with PsA / autoimmune diseases in general experience uncomfortable, random sensations of heat or cold?
I recall a male friend moaning that women just have rubbish thermostats. I think I was slaving over a hot stove at the time. Personally I associate hot flashes now with other niggles such as feeling overly full if I dare to eat a smidgeon more than I need, getting tired too damn easily ... the whole 'fussy body' syndrome. PsA, post-menopause, meds or an unfortunate combination of causes? I just don't know. I find that being very 'good' in terms of exercise, good diet, early nights blah blah blah etc. does seem to help though.
Well I hesitate to wade into this but your friend is right Sybil................... It is a rubbish thermostat and men with autoimmune get bad ones also. But the cause is not what you might think. The cause is actually Hyperlipidemia or Mixed Dyslipidemia
Atorvastatin have been found to help and even prevent early menopause. But here is the kicker those hot flashes have a purpose. They have found a link between hot flashes in younger women and the health of the brachial artery — specifically, its capacity to dilate under certain circumstances — in the upper arm. The dilation is controlled partly by the endothelium, a blood vessel’s inner lining. The endothelium of course can effected by of all things inflammation and cholesterol.
The hot flashes seem to be the bodies way of cleaning things out. We don't whether Hyperlipidemia is a result directly of PsA or something that happens because people with PsA get fat. It probably doesn't matter because one needs to control the cholesterol one way or another.
It probably would not hurt to ask your doc for some follow up and a at minmum a stress test if you are having this problem. Remember one of the signs of an impending cardiac event is a sudden sweat....... Women do not get the typical "heart attack signs" My nephew found his wife dead on the couch with her "hot flash fan" in her hand.......
The medics far too often ignore these issues in women. Don't take an easy answer DEMAND the testing.....
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I have to simplify to digest this great stuff & will probably lose something in doing so. The main things I'm getting:
- bad hot flashes that make you break out in a sweat are not to be dismissed, could be the heart. Demand a stress test
- hot flashes that aren't so dramatic are not such a bad thing - they help clear out cholesterol from the brachial artery
tntlamb said:
Well I hesitate to wade into this but your friend is right Sybil................... It is a rubbish thermostat and men with autoimmune get bad ones also. But the cause is not what you might think. The cause is actually Hyperlipidemia or Mixed Dyslipidemia
Atorvastatin have been found to help and even prevent early menopause. But here is the kicker those hot flashes have a purpose. They have found a link between hot flashes in younger women and the health of the brachial artery — specifically, its capacity to dilate under certain circumstances — in the upper arm. The dilation is controlled partly by the endothelium, a blood vessel’s inner lining. The endothelium of course can effected by of all things inflammation and cholesterol.
The hot flashes seem to be the bodies way of cleaning things out. We don't whether Hyperlipidemia is a result directly of PsA or something that happens because people with PsA get fat. It probably doesn't matter because one needs to control the cholesterol one way or another.
It probably would not hurt to ask your doc for some follow up and a at minmum a stress test if you are having this problem. Remember one of the signs of an impending cardiac event is a sudden sweat....... Women do not get the typical "heart attack signs" My nephew found his wife dead on the couch with her "hot flash fan" in her hand.......
The medics far too often ignore these issues in women. Don't take an easy answer DEMAND the testing.....
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/WarningSignsof...
What if your "hot flashes" (to me, they're more than just a flash) are much more bothersome in the summer -- sort of an intolerance of temperatures over 75 degrees F, and also if you only sweat profusely from the neck up. I mean with sweat soaking your hair and streams of it running down your face, burning your eyes and tasting nice and salty on your lips? Plus, I'm not overweight, so that isn't why I get . I read somewhere that thinner women tend to have more trouble with hot flashes as a menopause symptom because they tend to have less estrogen and loss of estrogen is one reason for this symptom.??
I was just coming here today to post about this. lol.
I'm only 31 - but I've been experiencing hot flashes for over a year - always in the morning, never profuse (I don't usually sweat unless I'm already warm or I'm still in bed under the covers). My primary doctor suggested low blood sugar as the cause, since it's always morning when it happens (or almost always) and it does feel similar to a low blood sugar episode except that I don't have the rest of the symptoms I usually get when I need to eat (like right. now. which include the usually dizzy/faint feelings that suggest I should have eaten a snack before bed).
However, there's also the fact that my mom had horrible peri-menopause starting in her mid-thirties (eventually had a hysterectomy in her 40s due to complications of menopause + cancer). So it's entirely possible that my hormones are just short circuiting already (oh goody).
I haven't noticed any uptick in hot flashes before or after taking my meds so I can't really correlate the two. Though I am a little overweight (and probably will always be so - I've always been a bit heavy on the bottom half; but hey I can probably still squat over 200lbs if my joints aren't bothering me). I also have weird partly un-diagnosed (the cause is still undetermined) heart issues that I take beta blockers for (overly fast of a heart rate + bothersome palpitations) so in my case it could be that.
Personally, after reading everyone's comments I think I'm likely to chalk this up to having a twitchy system and look forward to when things start to cool down again. It's nice when you can just walk outside and cool off. (JEEBUS I hate summer - anyone else have more pain in summer? My Rheum seems to think that's a bit odd but I'd much rather deal with the dry cold of winter than the wet hot of summer). It is comforting to know that I'm not the only 30-something experiencing hot flashes.
I'm 21 and i've been on MTX for five years. I get hot flushes, but they don't make me sweat. I just feel a bit like a radiator. It's almost that feeling when you get the flu. It usually happens when i'm having a flare up.
I break out in a soaking sweat when I haven't even done anything.
This is a side effect of some of the medications but it still happens to me and I have not been on anything since early 2013.
Hot flashes are also common. Sometimes I stick my head in the freezer, or I get an icepack and hold it in my palm and it goes away pretty quickly.
Love it, Suzanne--stick your head in the freezer!!! I wish I had a bigger freezer, cuz that's a great idea!
I skimmed through the thread and saw what tntlamb wrote and my conclusion was that hot flashes are good or necessary--or--sign of impending heart attack. I know he said dilation of the brachial artery in the upper arm, but it got me to wonder if sweating under the arms is a necessary thing and shouldn't be blocked with antiperspirants. Because I've used them for as long as I remember to prevent sweating there, but now I'm wondering if that's a bad thing.
I'm also wondering if I stopped using antiperspirants, would some of that profuse sweating from my neck up happen under my arms instead? Sounds like a dumb question, but for me it would be less embarrassing to have sweat under my arms than on my face.