“Hot flashes are more dangerous than previously thought, so prepare now”

What a fucking headline

I started this menopause blog journey just over 3 years ago and have been in menopause for 6 years. Since then, and mostly in the last year, I have been seeing more and more information on Menopause. So, when I see new articles on Menopause, I find the need to read them and see if they are worth anything. The last article was on #medicalgaslighting. This CNN article is on Hot Flashes. My comments are in bold. Take a read:

Full CNN article: https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/27/health/new-hot-flash-science-wellness

“The rush of heat comes out of nowhere, so fierce for some that their faces burn and sweat streams from every pore of their bodies. Welcome to the hot flashes and other symptoms of approaching menopause — an experience experts say about 75% of women will share if they live long enough.

Unpublished studies presented Wednesday at The Menopause Society’s annual meeting in Philadelphia found intense hot flashes are associated with an increase in C-reactive protein, which is a marker of future heart disease, and to a blood biomarker that might predict a later diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Unpublished.

“This is the first time science has shown hot flashes are linked to blood biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Women’s Health Specialty Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, and medical director for The Menopause Society. First of all, anything that comes from Florida is tainted by their draconian laws and should not be believed or trusted. Their medical community has been compromised. Second, did the participants ALREADY have that marker?

“This is another piece of evidence telling us that hot flashes and night sweats may not be as benign as we have thought them to be in the past,” said Faubion, who was not involved in the studies. So, this doctor was not even involved in the study yet feels they know enough to make comments? We, as women in menopause, know damn well hot flashes are not “benign”. They affect everything in us. EVERYTHING. Hearts, brain, sex life, memory. Really, this doctor thought they were benign. Dumb ass. Dr. Stephanie Faubion should keep their mouth shut till they hit menopause.

Alzheimer’s risk

Nearly 250 women between the ages of 45 and 67 experiencing menopausal symptoms wore a device to objectively measure the quality of their sleep for three nights. The women were also fitted with sweat monitors to record their hot flashes on one of those nights. Researchers then drew blood samples from the study participants and examined them for a specific protein biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease called beta-amyloid 42/40. Seriously, were these women checked for this Alzheimer’s biomarker BEFORE the study? I personally think that is important, yet it is not mentioned anywhere in this article.

“Beta-amyloid 42/40 is considered a marker of amyloid plaques in the brain, which is one of the components of the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease dementia,” said lead study author Dr. Rebecca Thurston.

“We found night sweats were associated with adverse beta-amyloid 42/40 profiles, indicating that hot flashes experienced during sleep may be a marker of women at risk of Alzheimer’s dementia,” said Thurston, a professor of psychiatry, epidemiology and psychology who directs the Women’s Biobehavioral Health Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh’s Pitt Public Health.

The biomarker does not identify whether a person has clinical Alzheimer’s disease, Thurston said, only the possibility of developing the disease in the future. So, again, grasping at straws, making us concerned for no reason. Why? Is there a new drug coming out the doctors want to push on us?

“In other words, hot flashes at night aren’t causing this risk. They’re just a marker of people who are at increased risk,” Faubion said. “Similarly, we don’t know if treating night sweats would diminish the risk. We don’t know that.” Where is the test for the participants Alzheimer risk BEFORE the study? If they don’t have it, this was a complete waste of time and money. Who pays for that? You and me in higher drug costs.

The study also looked at two biomarkers for tau protein, the other hallmark sign of Alzheimer’s disease, but did not find any association, Thurston said. “These biomarkers are still undergoing rapid development, and while they’ve been validated at this point there’s still more we need to learn.” What other factors were taken into account? They gave us the ages, what about each participant’s race? Eating habits? Family History? Smoking? Drugs? And so forth.

Due to the objective sleep measurements, researchers were able to rule out the role of poor sleep, a well-known risk factor for dementia, in the findings. Prior research that also controlled for sleep found hot flashes and night sweats were linked to poor memory performance and alterations in brain structure, function and connectivity. This is incorrect and backwards. Our memory loss IS due to lack of sleep, caused by hot flashes and night sweats. Not the other way around.

“All of the findings are converging to underscore there’s something about these nocturnal vasomotor symptoms, aside from sleep itself, that is affecting the brain,” she said. Ah, VMS...another new term we don’t need.

Heart disease

Another study presented at the conference by Thurston’s team looked at inflammatory markers for heart disease. Prior research by Thurston found women who said they had frequent or persistent hot flashes during early menopause had a 50% to 80% increased risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, stroke and heart failure. Was their cholesterol tested before and after. You cannot say with any degree of certainty that hot flashes have cardiovascular risks. Let’s go back to race, eating habits, exercise, family history ETC, ETC, ETC. You cannot run a study like this, every single woman and her history is too different. Plus, people lie to get into studies.

Frequent moderate to severe hot flashes can often last seven to 10 years, on average, and less frequent or severe hot flashes can last even longer, according to experts. Say that again please? You sound confused.

In this new research, scientists used sweat monitors on 276 women who were part of the MSHeart study to measure the frequency and intensity of hot flashes more objectively during day and night.

“A lot of people actually underreport their hot flashes, saying they’re not having many when they really are,” Faubion said. “Using this monitor is an objective way to quantify them.” I am sure underreporting of hot flashes is quite true.

Researchers compared the frequency and intensity of hot flashes with blood measurements of C-reactive protein, a protein that indicates inflammation levels in the body that is used to determine the risk for heart disease and stroke in people who don’t already have heart disease. Doesn’t mean they don’t have a family history or high cholesterol.

Results showed hot flashes during the day were associated with higher levels of C-reactive protein, even after adjusting for other potential causes such as age, body mass index (BMI), education, ethnicity, the hormone estradiol and race. Ah, finally some diversity. A pinch. The study probably had more white women than any other race in it. AND, it still does not take everything into account. Eating habits, exercise. You want me to believe a result? Prove it to me better than you are here.

“This is the first study to examine physiologically measured hot flashes in relation to inflammation and adds evidence to a growing body of literature suggesting that hot flashes may signify underlying vascular risk,” said lead author Mary Carson, a clinical and bio-health doctoral student in the department of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, in a statement. I want to see that they teasted 276 women who were EXACTLY identical.

What you can do

Since heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the world, doctors should begin asking patients about their experiences with hot flashes as a risk factor for future disease, Faubion said. If Dr. Faubion thinks doctors are going to be that pro-active, she has been out of the daily practice for quite some time. Did they take into account the accelerated heart rate before each hot flash?

“Women who may be having night sweats in particular may need to assess their cardiovascular risk in general,” she said. Sorry, I am laughing too hard. Kinda seems like a no-brainer even without this study.

“As for what to do, the recommendations are going to be the same as for heart and brain health: better sleep, proper diet, regular exercise program, reducing stress, staying socially connected and doing something that stimulates your brain.” Who do these people think they are? Not everyone can get away from their hot flashes so please tell me how to get better sleep? A proper diet? I am lucky to eat when I can due to the nausea associated with my menopause but I do eat mostly healthily. I do exercise semi-regularly, when I am not too tired, or the voodoo pains aren’t acting up. Reduce stress? Move me to my own island. Socially connected? Only with other women in menopause...no one else can take me right now!

What are your thoughts on this article and my responses? Feel free to disagree, we each have our own opinion.