Hot Flashes

Hot flashes are just one of the unpleasant symptoms you may experience when you enter perimenopause, the transition to menopause that generally affects women in their 40s. Clinton Ashford, MD, FACOG, Rebecca Ashford, MD, and Brookes Vaughan, NP, at The Ashford Center in Athens, Georgia, specialize in minimally invasive endometrial ablation, a procedure that can alleviate hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms. To learn more about endometrial ablation, call The Ashford Center or book a consultation online today. 

What are hot flashes?

A hot flash is a feeling of intense warmth that flows through your body, often causing your skin to redden, your face and chest to flush, and sweat to break out.

The feeling generally comes on suddenly, which is why it’s called a hot flash. At one moment, you may be feeling quite normal, but the next moment a wave of heat rolls over you, and you start pouring with sweat.

Hot flashes can be unpleasant, but they can also be so severe that you feel faint. The feeling of overheating may last moments or for a longer period, and you may have hot flashes infrequently, every day, or almost constantly. If they happen at night, hot flashes can cause night sweats, meaning you wake up and find the sheets are soaked through with sweat.

Hot flashes can also be embarrassing, especially if they strike while you're at work or out and about with others.

What causes hot flashes?

Hot flashes are a symptom of perimenopause and menopause, the stages in a woman’s life when her body naturally starts to produce less estrogen and progesterone, which are the female sex hormones. This drop in hormone levels can cause a range of symptoms in addition to hot flashes, such as:

• Problems sleeping
• Depression
• Mood swings
• Vaginal dryness
• Weight gain
• Dry skin and thinning hair
• Loss of libido

Hot flashes can also be a problem for women if they have chemotherapy before menopause, or for those who undergo an oophorectomy, which is the surgical removal of the ovaries.

How can endometrial ablation help with hot flashes?

Endometrial ablation may help reduce hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause. The endometrium is the lining of your uterus, which you shed each month when you get your period. 

As menopause has such close links to menstruation, permanent removal of the endometrium has significant benefits for women who are experiencing unpleasant menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes.

Endometrial ablation is a 90-second in-office procedure during which Dr. Ashford removes your endometrium, which means you won’t have any more periods or problems associated with menstruation.

Endometrial ablation is a permanent way of ending menstruation for women who have completed their families, so it could be an ideal solution for you if you’re struggling with hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause.

To find out more about endometrial ablation and how it could help you, call The Ashford Center or book an appointment online today.