Today's topic
Today on A.Vogel Talks Menopause, I take a look at three menopause symptoms that often get worse in the summer.
Most of us love summer. We love the heat. We love the sunshine. We love to be able to get outside in the fresh air. Unfortunately, for a lot of menopausal women and peri-menopausal women, this summer enjoyment is sometimes marred by symptoms getting worse in some way.
Menopause symptoms that may worsen during summer
So let's go over three of the more common symptoms that can often become more troublesome during summer and things you can do to help yourself.
1. Hot flushes and night sweats
If our temperature is a lot hotter, if it's hotter during the day, if it's hotter at night, then our body is going to find it much more difficult because of all the hormonal changes going on to keep our temperature control under control. As a result of this, you can get more hot flushes during the day, and you can get more severe and prolonged night sweats.
They are caused by some factors that maybe we don't think about when we're in the middle of the summer. We get dehydrated. And we know that dehydration is a big trigger for flushes and sweats, and flushes and sweats will make dehydration worse. So this can be a really big, vicious cycle going on all the time.
So it's really important to make sure that you're drinking loads of water, extra water if it's really, really hot, and maybe try an extra little shot glass of water just before you go to bed, and that might be enough to keep you a bit more hydrated. And because it's not a lot, hopefully, it won't stress your bladder, and you won't need to get up during the night to go to the toilet.
It can be alcohol. You know, the nights are longer, and it's nice to sit out with a glass of wine or have a little aperitif before dinner. But, unfortunately, those extra drinks of alcohol can very often trigger night sweats.
It can also be high-salt and sugar foods. And for a lot of us, we may have barbecues in the garden. I know at the minute, it's not so easy with all the lockdowns going on, but things are beginning to happen. And it may be that more and more of you are going to have barbecues outside. And barbecue food tends to be very high in salt.
They also tend to be very, very high in sugar. So again, it can be these little day-to-day things that can impact our symptoms during the night.
So, consider what you are eating or drinking. Are you having more salty and sugary foods? Are you having that little bit of extra alcohol?
If the night sweats are really getting you down, and you've not tried it before, we have a herb called sage, which is specifically for hot flushes and night sweats.Our Menoforce Sage tablets contain extracts of fresh sage and only need to be taken once a day.
A.Vogel Menoforce Sage Tablets for Menopausal Hot Flushes and Night Sweats, One-a-Day, 30 tablets
£15.99 (30 tablets) In Stock Get it tomorrow, 26th November.
2. Skin Problems
During summer your skin can get drier. You can get prickly heat. You can get rashes. It can become much more sensitive. And, again, a lot of it is to do with falling oestrogen.
During menopause, your skin becomes thinner, and because of that, the sun can have more impact on it.
Your skin can also become much more sensitive. So even your normal day-to-day soaps, and washes, and skin creams can start to cause problems. And if you're outside in the sun, and you're putting on a lot of suntan lotion, again, you might have been using this suntan lotion for years, and all of a sudden, you find that your skin is starting to get itchy.
And heat itself can be a big problem. When we get too hot, especially if we're suffering from anxiety, we can get a big hit of histamine. And histamine will cause that nettle rash, the itchy skin, or we call it prickly heat, just because of the extra heat that's going on.
So what can you do to help yourself with this one?
Remember the water to help you and your skin to stay hydrated. You can also try a supplement called Sea Buckthorn Oil - this is a lovely one for helping to keep the skin nicely hydrated and plumped up.
You can look at our Neem Cream. This is a nice one for sensitive skin. So, this is one to try if you're getting a lot of itching and rashes.
If you're getting a lot of the histamine hits, where you're suddenly coming up in rashes, and lumps, and bumps, you can look at Nettle, which is a nice natural antihistamine. You could try drinking Nettle tea or taking a Nettle tincture. You can also look at Milk Thistle Complex, which we often use to help with all-over situations.
3. Hayfever
You might find that your hayfever symptoms have started to get worse as you go through the menopause. And it's interesting because a lot of menopause women find that they start to get hay fever for the first time. What's happening here is falling oestrogen can affect our immune system, making it that little bit weaker and more sensitive to any allergens that may be around us.
So, again, you can end up with skin rashes. You can end up with hayfever symptoms including sneezing, runny eyes, and just feeling very, very uncomfortable.
For hayfever and other airborne allergens, you can look at our Pollinosan Hayfever tablets. We also have a hayfever nasal spray that can be very helpful for some people.
Also, vitamin C and Nettle are wonderful natural anti-inflammatories. So, vitamin C, little and often rather than one big dose once a day, and a couple of cups of nettle tea or a little nettle tincture in some water every day, can often work wonders.
Remember, stress can also impact all of these symptoms
Stress of any kind, at any point, can make all these symptoms worse as well. So, if you find that stress is a big factor, then, you know, look at some stress remedies such as our Avenacalm, just to help to calm your nervous system down, and that can have a positive impact on your summer symptoms.
So, I hope you found this one helpful. If any of you have had really good results with remedies, or herbs, or supplements that you have tried for your summer symptoms, then please share them with us because we would love to know all about them.
Until next time, take care.
