Hot Flashes or fever

[europa]

So I have been on Tamoxifen for a while now and my hot flashes have been pretty consistent at night. I spend my whole night uncovering and covering myself. The last three days I have been experiencing what I think are hot flashes. My face gets red and I feel like I'm running a fever. So for giggles today I took my temperature and I had a low grade fever. Five minutes later, my temp was normal. This has happened 3 times today. So here's my question, when one gets a hot flash, does your body temperature actually go up or do you just feel ridiculously hot.

[tricia keegan]

I've never taken my temp at the same time so really don't know, I try to ignore them most of the time!

[Jackie07]

Looks like it's a trick on the brain. Real temperature change in our system would bring on a whole bunch of temperature-related symptoms (I used to have peeled lips due to low-grade fever caused by increased cranial pressure from the brain tumor). One would actually experiencing 'chills' (instead of 'hot') when running a 'fever'...

Climacteric. 2011 Oct;14(5):515-28. doi: 10.3109/13697137.2011.608596. Epub 2011 Aug 18.

Menopausal hot flushes and night sweats: where are we now?

Archer DF, Sturdee DW, Baber R, de Villiers TJ, Pines A, Freedman RR, Gompel A, Hickey M, Hunter MS, Lobo RA, Lumsden MA, MacLennan AH, Maki P, Palacios S, Shah D, Villaseca P, Warren M.

Source
Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA 23507, USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
An overview of the current knowledge on the etiology and treatment of vasomotor symptoms in postmenopausal women.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Acknowledged experts in the field contributed a brief assessment of their areas of interest which were combined and edited into the final manuscript.
RESULTS:
Women around the world experience vasomotor symptoms as they enter and complete the menopause transition. Vasomotor symptoms, specifically hot flushes, are caused by a narrowing of the thermoneutral zone in the brain. This effect, although related to estrogen withdrawal, is most likely related to changes in central nervous system neurotransmitters. Peripheral vascular reactivity is also altered in symptomatic women.

Estrogen replacement therapy is the most effective treatment for hot flushes. Of the other interventions investigated, selective serotonin and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors and gabapentin show efficacy greater than placebo. Objective monitoring of hot flushes indicates a robust improvement with hormone replacement therapy but little to no change with placebo. These data suggest that the subjective assessment of responses to therapy for vasomotor symptom results in inaccurate data. Hot flushes have recently been associated with increased cardiovascular risks and a lower incidence of breast cancer, but these data require confirmation.

CONCLUSIONS:
Vasomotor symptoms are experienced by women of all ethnic groups. They are caused by changes in the central nervous system associated with estrogen withdrawal and are best treated with estrogen replacement therapy. Objective monitoring of hot flushes indicates that placebo has little to no effect on their improvement. Subjective assessments of hot flushes in clinical trials may be inaccurate based on objective measurement of the frequency of hot flushes. Based on preliminary reports, women experiencing hot flushes have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and a reduced incidence of breast cancer.

[v-ness]

WOW, i never thought to do that! like you, i am plagued with night sweats. during the day it isn't so bad anymore unless i am out in the heat, and there is plenty of that in MA lately. at night i have no less than the AC, a window fan and a little fan on my bedside table blowing on my face. rip the covers off, drenched, absolutely drenched in sweat. then pull sheets, blanket everything back on, shivering with cold. even shivering when it's just a regular nice evening. this is even with oxybutynin, which i take for the hot flashes. wondering if it could be the mattress pad i put on the bed for back pain earlier this year. anyway, i think i have a thermometer in my bedroom and i would be fascinated to see if and how much my temp spikes during a flash. i just feel so gross this summer, what with the extended heat waves. only 2 more years of tamoxifen left and i am counting the days....