hot flashes and headaches during AF?

mj_romo · 10-07-2005, 02:33 PM

My DH actually put this together because I'm clearly not bright enough during AF to do any deductive reasoning, or to even think to look back at previous charts, which is what he did. Ever since I got off BCP, I kept thinking that I was getting a bug or the flu once a month, except that DH pointed out that it always happens during AF.

So, here's what happens and I'll use this month as an example. I had some spotting on Monday, but my temp was still up (98.2). It dropped (97.5)on Tuesday, and by late Tuesday afternoon AF had started. On Wednesday and Thursday, my temp spiked to 98.6, I had a terrible headache, hot flashes and dizzy spells. AF isn't heavy - it's light to medium and consistent for those two days. And then today, my temp dropped back down to 97.7, my headache is gone, but I've been sneezing all morning like I'm catching a cold. But, if the cycle follows like the previous months, by tomorrow I'll feel fine.

Please tell me that someone else out there experiences this, or something similar. And how do you cope? The headache prevents me from reading, and as a composition instructor, that's a problem.

And while it would be nice if I could just take a pill, I can't because of a mild heart condition, so please don't suggest that. I'm looking for natural, herbal or homeopathic ways for dealing with this. Or, even just the comfort of knowing that I'm not the only one this happens to.

choirmissy · 10-07-2005, 10:22 PM

Okay, I don't know what to tell you, but I'll give this a bump. I always get a migraine the first couple of days of AF. My temperature drops a lot though, usually in the low 96's. I have had dizzy spells, but they are generally related to the fact that I don't eat very much the first few days of AF. I have hot flashes all the time, so I can't help you there. It's very likely that all three symptoms are definitely hormonally related. It may be that your estrogen levels drop too fast for your body to keep up. You might want to keep a log of your symptoms for an entire month, especially during the time of AF so you can discuss it with your doctor. I had a lot of headaches last year before I was diagnosed with PCOS. I kept a headache log & found that I had 4 days in the month of January without headaches. I now take Amitriptyline and am generally down to just the one headache when AF starts.