One for the lady's .

Yes, I've got increased insulin resistance and an overwhelming urge to batter anyone who comes near during a hot flush.

I'm not supposed to be menopausal yet, so maybe my murderous inclinations just come naturally.

I get the adrenalin surges though.

At least, I did. It was the same time I had (stress induced, I think) high blood pressure.

Am now on 5mg dose of blood pressure tablets (this is half what they expected me to need). Not sure it has any effect on my bp - but it sure blocks those adrenalin surges.

I am going to ask to stay on it for exactly that reason.

I've had hot flushes on and off for several years. When I started a serious LCHF WoE after diagnosis a couple of years ago they disappeared for half a year or so and I got my period back. Now periods are almost gone, thankfully as I'll turn 53 in a few months but I quite enjoy the hot flushes this time of year.

Never had any dizziness, adrenaline surges or murderous inclinations, not any related to menopause anyway. BG behaves as long as I stay off carbs.

I'm having hot flushes as soon as I start anything at the gym. I nearly had a melt down in the spin class. I steamed my own glasses up.
Hot sweaty mess? Hot psycho mess.
Haven't had an adrenalin surge. At least I don't think so.
I lchf but it doesn't make a difference. I think I'm going to go Ketogenic to see if that makes a difference.
For me there seems to be a bit of a cycle for this insulin resistance.
I like the phrase 'murderous inclinations', it describes it perfectly and makes me still sound sane.
Hot flushing it now sat on my a@@e doing nothing. I've been told I'm too young but it seems to be part of the diabetes stuff.

I've been mainly keto for the last couple of years.
Still got those adrenalin surges.
But then, as i say, i ain't menopausal (yet).

It will pass eventually. It took me 20 years from being dumped in the middle of menopause post hysterectomy to my last official hot flush. The low carbing has seriously helped. I had a thing the doctor called 'hot all the time' - it was like my body thermostat was permanently turned up to very high and there could be sub zero temperatures outside but I'd still be hot. It was cheap though as I couldn't bear to have the heating turned on.

I still get a touch of a rosy glow if I eat too many carbs but at least the murderous inclinations are almost gone. (Perfect description!). I wish I'd found about low carbing earlier.

If you get desperate you could try a soya supplement which did help. I used to get my from a local Chinese supermarket.

Could you describe an adrenalin surge? Isn't adrenalin the fight or flight hormone? I know that I used to feel close to tears a lot or absolutely furious. Thankfully those extremes of emotion seem to be fading.

Hi Sharon Anne - you have my sympathy, I know it's absolutely dreadful. I had dreadful flushes and memory loss and felt in a very dark place. I tried the alternative methods of treatment like black cohosh, red clover etc and they did help for a while but I ended up going on HRT, and within about a month pretty much all the symptoms went. This was however about ten years ago and I wasn't diabetic then, I would seriously examine this as a possibility for yourself. Regards, Jan x

CHOOK 20 blummin years. Deep bleedin joy.
I'm on Hrt at the mo. Just started it and waiting to see if there is a difference.
I have turned forgetful but I think another handy side effect is that the psychosis means I don't care now and if I'm holding anything sharp be really careful.

I had a hysterectomy and immediately got dumped right into deepest menopause - no gentle descent. It was a huge shock. It eventually stopped about when it would have if I'd had it at the right age (well, if my sister was anything to go by). HRT made me suicidal, so I couldn't take it. Soya worked okay though.

Chook that sounds so awful. Im finding the mood swings a pain because I know there is no reason for it but to feel that bad - it must have been a nightmare.

OK, so MY adrenalin surges (can't speak for anyone else) were when i was going through an 18 month long period of ongoing stress at work. About 3 different stresses, all layered on top of each other.

Something would trigger the experience (phone going, waking up in morning and the first thought was to run like a hamster on a wheel through my work To Do list, or surprise bad news), and i would get that fight or flight response, like a surge running through me.

Bp shot up.
Also heartbeat.
Mind started racing.
Could also almost feel the adrenalin squirting through my bloodstream.
Even dreams could set it off, and i had broken sleep for the whole 15 months.

Totally disproportionate response to a phone ringing, i think you will agree?

It was like my stress response was on a hair trigger, and overtime, and bonus pay.

I tried stress managing techniques;meditation (which i do anyway), breathing, hot cocoa, sitting in garden, dog walks (which helped), but i couldn't flick the hair trigger off, all i could do was reduce the size of the surge when it happened.

After about 15 months of this, i was somewhat depressed and rather stressed, and a routine bp test highlighted some alarmingly high bp.

Was given 5 mg Amlodipine for the bp, with the expectation i would need 10mg, and poss additional medication.

And the surges just switched off with the 1st tablet. Sleep improved. I could handle the stress ok (it carried on another 3 months) but what had been ripping me apart was the surges. Placebo effect? Possibly. Don't care. It was SUCH a relief.

So now, the bp seems to be fine, the stress is gone, and if i forget the Amlodipine, i haven't noticed any surges. But i am rather concerned that any life stress could re-arm the hair trigger, if you know what i mean.

I'm hoping that my next medication review is with the excellent nurse (not the NHS parrot one, or thejobsworth one), and she will let me keep the Amlodipine. It is probably a forlorn hope.

Once it became obvious I couldn't take HRT I looked around for alternatives and found out that women whose diet contained a lot of soya rarely suffer menopause issues. I suppose it took about 18 months before I started with the soya supplements (then the drinks). It was only when I ran out of them or decided to give it a try without them that life became a misery. Every now and then I used to experiment with not taking them and quickly realised I still needed it - then a few weeks after starting low carbing I decided to experiment without it once more and - miraculously - the symptoms didn't come back. Except for the occasional tropical moment when I eat too many carbs.

I still don't know if eating lots of carbs exacerbated menopause symptoms or whether the compulsion to eat so many carbs was a symptom in itself. I just know I feel so much better in myself on a very low carb diet. T'other weird thing, I haven't had SAD this winter - which I only started with after my hysterectomy and the subsequent increase in consumption of carbs. It does make me wonder if it's all connected.

@Brunneria. I used to call that my 'cold sweat panics'. I'd wake up in the night panicking like hell in a cold sweat for no real reason or sometimes they'd just start for no apparent reason during the day if I remembered something I needed to do. These were different from the hot flushes.

Weird about your BP - when I went in to hospital for that hysterectomy my BP was on the low side, but by the time I came out of hospital (minus various bits including ovaries) my BP was high and it has been high to very high ever since.

Oh, are any of you enjoying the delights of PCOS at the same time as these other symptoms?
http://www.pcosnutrition.com/links/blogs/what-happens-to-women-with-pcos-as-they-age.html
And
http://www.womens-health.co.uk/effects-of-pcos-on-post-menopausal-women.html

It just gets better and better, doesn't it?

PCOS was the reason I had my hysterectomy.

@Chook

I have had low to normal bp all my life. Which made the high bp such a surprise!

But it is a Thing that happens to PCOSers, typically at about this age...

My change from low 105/60 to high 175/95 took place in the 10 days I was in hospital. The funny thing was the medical professionals kept saying it wasn't connected while at the same time saying they didn't have an explanation for it. Then they blamed the anaesthetic until it was still high a month later.