You can be sure that a drop in estrogen is responsible for those hot flashes women sometimes get at night, Jones explains. Most women have hot flashes, to one degree or another, in the years surrounding menopause. While all women understand what a classic, major hot flash is, they may not recognize the more subtle ones that occur at night, says Cindy's gynecologist, Suzanne Trupin, MD, a clinical professor at the University of Illinois-Urbana. It could feel like an adrenaline rush. It could feel like you drank a whole lot of hot coffee on a hot day.
Women say they wake up and their neck is dripping wet.
Some get a lot of wetness, others don't. For most women, hot flashes are bearable but can seriously disturb sleep, says Jones. Eighty percent of women in this country get through it just fine without any treatment. The next month, estrogens drop, and they're having hot flushes. The unpredictability, that's what can make it difficult.