A cold chill often follows. Some women never have a hot flash. Those who do can experience them over a period of three to five years. In rare cases, hot flashes continue into the ninth decade of life. These are changes in the vagina or genital area as well as the urinary tract.
Urogenital changes are among the most embarrassing and often are ignored for that reason.
Treatment options do exist. In today's world, women do not need to live in embarrassment or narrow their lives because of this common problem. About two-thirds of all women have hot flashes during perimenopause. After age 55, women are at as high of risk for heart disease as men and twice as likely as men to die from a heart attack. Enough women at midlife complain of forgetfulness to make some experts acknowledge it's a natural symptom of menopause.