Now that this thread has come up again, I'll add what I've learned lately. I'll never get caught up, but it's a start.
I decided to try KY Liquibeads after all (based on Maria's recommendation). Gift of the gods. Thank you, thank you.
I don't know if I'm having menopausal hot flashes or not. Everyone says, "You would know," but I've been having hot flashes and cold chills all my life because of my stupid thyroid, so how can I really tell?
With that said, I have burning ears, which I have read can be a symptom in lieu of or in addition to hot flashes. They get warm and tingly. They even look inflamed some of the time, although I didn't realize that until my internist asked me why my ears were bright red.
So, in addition to all the other supplements I pop daily, I added pine bark extract (pycnogenol), although my motivation to do so was not alleviation of menopausal symptoms (because I couldn't possibly have hot flashes, right?).
My preliminary results indicate pine bark alleviates the ear burning, some of the overly warm episodes (so I guess they must be hot flashes, after all) and (hallelujah!) tinnitus. It is not a phytoestrogen, and I can't find any contraindications for hormone positive breast cancer patients. It is an antioxidant, so it should be avoided during chemo.
Here's MSKCC monograph:
http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/pine-bark-extract
Medline also has a few words:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/d...ural/1019.html
If anyone has an interest in trying it, I'll download and post the NS monograph, which has far more information.
Oh, and here's the sage monograph I mentioned in an earlier post:
dropbox.com/sh/efvo0bbrmf9fi5h/oLVf-Yg3jT/Sage.pdf