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Hot Flashes - relief product question

catlover6
catlover6 CSN Member Posts: 10
in Breast Cancer #1
I've recently started getting hot flashes ( mostly at night ) - normally pulling off the covers works and they only seem to last for about 15 minutes. I've been doing some poking around and found a product called Cool Flash. Has anyone used it? If so, did it work well ?

Thanks! sue
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Comments

  • disneyfan2008
    disneyfan2008 CSN Member Posts: 6,583 Member
    #2
    I have not heard of it
    but i'll be checking back to see if anyone else has and their opinion..
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  • mschwibi
    mschwibi CSN Member Posts: 9
    #3
    I've been using the
    I've been using the prescription drug named Gabapentin. It was prescribed for 3 times a day, but I use it once or twice a day. It seems to help. If you google info on it you'll find it's an off-use.
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  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA CSN Member Posts: 1,994 Member
    #4
    mschwibi said:

    I've been using the
    I've been using the prescription drug named Gabapentin. It was prescribed for 3 times a day, but I use it once or twice a day. It seems to help. If you google info on it you'll find it's an off-use.

    Estrogen?
    Hi, Sue -

    I just looked up Cool Flash's ingredients on drugstore.com. Most of us whose cancers were estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) choose to avoid products containing estrogen -- Cool Flash's packaging states that it contains no estrogen or hormones, but I'm always wary that these kinds of products may work because they contain ingredients that *act like* estrogen in the body.

    I'm no chemist, but Cool Flash's ingredients list contains a lot of unfamilar words that give me pause -- I'd definitely take the container (or the printout of ingredients from drugstore.com) to your doctor to check it out before using it.

    According to my gynecologist, the first line of defense for Tamoxifen-related hot flashes is to try Vitamin E, which really helps my hot flashes, but doesn't work for everyone. Next up is Effexor (an anti-depressant) or Gabapentin (an anti-seizure medication), both of which do help a lot of women when prescribed off-label for this purpose.

    My only other recommendation is that you may want to talk with your gynecologist as well as your oncologist about this -- my experience is that gynecologists have a lot more experience with menopause-related and menopause-like symptoms, are usually more knowledgeable, and may be more sympathetic.

    Hope that helps,

    Traci
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