Is anyone else suffering with hot flushes while on chemo? I’m four cycles through 6xFEC and am really suffering with hot flushes. They’ve got worse this cycle and are now attacking non stop through the night, from 1am to 7am, just when I cool down and go back to sleep another one hits so I am exhausted. Also having them through the day although I think I can distract myself with other things so don’t notice as much.
I’ve had two periods while on chemo but the third has gone missing so don’t know if this is a long term effect of shutting down my ovaries or a short term effect of the chemo drugs. I am close to despair thinking that I will be suffering from this for the rest of my life - how will I ever get any sleep?
How do you cope with it and is there anything that can be done to help?
Hot flushes are miserable, aren’t they? There are anti-depressants that can reduce the hot flushes but I didn’t really want to add more chemicals to my Tamoxifen and Zoladex mix. What has made a real difference is a Chillow Pillow (as recommended by my oncologist). You can get them from Amazon for around £20. I still toss and turn a bit, but my sleep is much, much better.
Do you know if you’re going to be on hormonal treatment after chemotherapy. That will have some bearing on whether you’ll continue to have hot flushes, I’m afraid.
Hi Helen,
I have been ‘sort of’ menopausal for the last 4 years resulting in the dreaded Mirena coil which is now out. Hot flushes have been part of the problem and so was excessive bleeding 3 weeks out of 4. The coil did help and I had it for almost 4 years but obviously have had it removed since my dx. Since starting chemo I have had 2 periods but the last one was quite late and I was hoping it wouldn’t happen. No such luck!! I am hoping the chemo and the hormone treatment afterwards will finally give me the menopause and at 51 I shall be glad. I can’t say that I have had much of a problem with the flushes on chemo but I am also taking Venlaflaxine (Efelexor) which I have for anxiety but is also an antidepressant. According to my Onc it is very good at supressing hot flushes and is ok to take with Tamoxifen etc whilst some others are not. It may be that this tablet which I have been on for a number of years is helping and I didn’t know it.
Sleeping for me this week in the cycle is bad enough without having the flushes to contend with too.
Don’t know if this is much use to you, but hopefully your Onc or even BCN may be able to help.
Take care,
Jane xx
i have just completed 4x epi 4x cmf and didnt really have probs with hot flushes on the epi but do on the cmf.
i had previous BC 3 years ago and was on tamoxifen which resulted in bleeding probs which were resolved by a (fabulous) mirena coil, but very few hot flushes.
got a new primary BC this year in other breast and had to stop tamox during chemo… still have the mirena in but the hot flushes since starting the cmf have been dreadful… much worse then i ever had on the tamoxifen.
was wondering if it was coinciding with menopausal symptoms as im 41 but even had 2 periods on mirena and have had none for a year before this so def dont think its menopausal.
due to start rads in 2 weeks so no doubt ill get melted then too LOL.
Just completed 8 cycles of chemo (4xFEC and 4 x TAX) and really suffered with hot flushes through the last 4, now wide awake and it’s 4.20am! I tend to get 6 a night and they are hell. Duvet on, duvet off. Mentioned this to ONC and he says chemo can supress ovary function which can lead to hot sweats. Not sure what can be done, but I am open to any advice. I just wait for myself to cool down and try and sleep again. I have to say they are worse during my middle week of the chemo cycle.
J
i’m also getting hotflushes with chemo - had mild ones on epi but with the cmf i have been a burning inferno! Also still getting periods:( I was advised by my onc to try evening primrose oil and vitemin e supplements and although its not stopped the hotflushes completely they have definitely eased off a little.
Hi everyone
I also have hot flushes at least 10-12 times a day, including regularly during the night. Haven’t had a period since end of Sept and at 51, that’s fine with me. I was told that if I didn’t go through menopause via chemo I would need ovaries removed, so was expecting to. I am surmising the flushes are coming so frequency because of the suddenness of it - I was still having fairly regular periods. I find the daytime ones more of a bother when I’m out and about because its not easy to cool myself down- the night time ones I can deal with relatively easily. I do, however, like the sound of the chillow - will have to look into that!
ps - we are saving a bomb on heating!!
monica
I too are having them they started when i was haveing taxotere and have got worse since starting tamoxifen. My onc says to try evening primrose oil and black cohosh both herbal, if they dont work there is an antidepressant that works apparently. she also mentioned the chillow pillow as well so ive put it on my xmas list.
Hi all, thanks for your comments. It seems there is nothing we can do, we just have to suffer them. I’m just wondering if this is how it will be for the rest of my life now or will it ever get better?
Awake from midnight till 6am with constant flushes - so tired today and so depressed with it all. During the day I am permanently hot and bathed in sweat, my body is disgusting.
And yes, I’ve got five years of tamoxifen to start immediately I finish chemo so things are only going to get worse.
Whoever could come up with a cure for this sympton is going to get very rich methinks, with all the menopausal women in the world signing up for it - or is that what HRT was about!
I may try the chillow, although not sure how that will help, I’m not hot when I go to sleep, just when I get woken up, and I cool down very quickly, so not sure that this will make any difference.
Oh well, not much to do about it all, just battle onwards through the list of side effects.