Hot Flashes

Suffering from hot flashes or night sweats?
Black Ice just may have a solution for you.

Just what are hot flashes anyway?
Well, the symptoms can vary in magnitude from person to person, but people who suffer from hot flashes experience anything from a mild feeling of warmth on the face or neck to a very intense heat that spreads across the entire body. There can also be a slight change in the appearance of the skin. Hot flashes have been known to cause anything from red, blotchy patches on the skin to a red flushing tone across the face, neck and chest area. As hot flashes intensify, it’s also possible to experience a wave of perspiration–and perhaps even chills as the hot flashes subside.

The very term “hot flashes” tells you something about how these symptoms may arrive. Many times they seem to come from nowhere, last anywhere from seconds to several minutes, and then they simply vanish. Hot flashes may occur in rapid succession, or they may occur a few times a day, a week or a year. The intensity of hot flashes can vary as well, so one minute you may just feel a little warm, while the next round of hot flashes drenches you in perspiration.
Night sweats are best described as severe hot flashes that occur while you sleep, and they are pretty much defined as heavy or excess sweating that occurs without any seeming provocation while you sleep. Sweating caused by high room temperature or overly thick sleep wear or bedclothes is normal, and does not fall under the definition of night sweats. Fever due to illness would not be attributed to night sweats.

So what actually causes hot flashes and night sweats? Hot flashes and night sweats are generally caused by hormonal changes–the most usual of which are caused by the onset of menopause. But hot flashes and night sweats can also be affected by environment, lifestyle, stress, medications and a number of other influences. Though we don’t really understand why it happens, the mechanism that creates hot flashes and night sweats is fairly simple to understand. Low estrogen levels cause the hypothalamus (the gland that controls, among other things, body temperature) to “believe” the body is too hot. Because we humans require a regulated body temperature of about 98.6°F to survive, if the hypothalamus erroneously senses the body is becoming too hot, it takes the same steps it would take to eliminate the heat if you were standing in the hot summer sun–even if you happen to be standing in an air conditioned room. It does this by increasing your heart rate, which, in turn, increases circulation, which carries additional heat to the skin. The result? Hot flashes or night sweats–A rise in skin temperature, heavy sweating and one very unhappy human being.

Though we don’t really know why the hypothalamus can become “confused” by hormone levels and cause hot flashes and night sweats, we do know hot flashes and night sweats can also arise or be influenced by a number of other things–pregnancy, smoking, diet and even lifestyle. Because some of these factors can be controlled, there are a number of things you can do to try and help reduce the likelihood of experiencing hot flashes and night sweats: stay active, don’t smoke, try to reduce your stress level, locate and reduce triggers like hot and spicy foods and avoid hot environments. Of course, there are dietary supplements that many people use to combat hot flashes and night sweats–black cohosh, soy, red clover, vitamin E–but according to the Mayo Clinic, studies have shown that these remedies may have very little effect upon hot flashes and night sweats. Some other remedies for hot flashes and night sweats–isoflavins, for instance–may bring a slight cancer risk with them. If you are curious about using these substances to treat hot flashes or night sweats, please consult your doctor before adding them to your diet.

There are hormone therapy and pharmaceutical options that may help treat hot flashes and night sweats as well– estrogen or progesterone therapy, Gabapentin, Clonidine and even some antidepressants, but, as with most drug therapies, there are always concerns about side effects and adverse drug interactions–and there is no guarantee that any of these medications will have any effect upon hot flashes and night sweats. It is up to you and your doctor to decide whether you should try any of these treatments to control hot flashes or night sweats.

So given all we know–or don’t know–about hot flashes and night sweats, is there anything you can do that will have an immediate, positive effect, yet won’t bring along the risky baggage other potential remedies may provide? In a word–Yes! You can keep cool. Medical documentation shows that just a slight increase in your core body temperature may trigger hot flashes or night sweats. So anything you can do to keep cool has the potential to ward off the onset of hot flashes or night sweats. Sometimes just turning on a fan, or turning down the air conditioning can stop hot flashes or night sweats before they start. Doctors suggest that even consuming a cool drink may fend off hot flashes or night sweats.

But if you’ve already had three glasses of ice water, and you don’t want to turn the AC down and risk freezing the kids or turning Fido into a pupsicle, what can you do about hot flashes and night sweats?

The Black Ice Cool Collar CCX is the perfect solution for hot flashes and night sweats. Thanks to the safely regulated 57°F temperature output of Black Ice, you can cool down without turning the house into a frozen wasteland. By placing the Cool Collar CCX around the back of your neck, you’re applying a burst of refreshing cooling right where a number of hot flashes start–at the base of your neck. And because the Cool Collar CCX is ergonomically designed for maximum comfort, you can even wear it to bed to help deal with night sweats.

Black Ice acts as a two-phased approach in dealing with hot flashes and night sweats. Because keeping cooler can actually avert hot flashes and night sweats, wearing the Cool Collar CCX may just help prevent them from starting in the first place. And because Black Ice maintains a cool and refreshing 57°F temperature output for up to an hour and a half, it can help absorb all that excess heat caused by hot flashes and night sweats. That means you can look forward to comforting relief that lasts–without the health concerns other options may bring.

And because Black Ice can be stored in the freezer–or even the refrigerator–instant relief for hot flashes and night sweats will always be right at your fingertips. Just open the fridge and grab your Black Ice. And if you want to be armed and at the ready to fight off night sweats without even getting out of bed, you can even keep a couple of spare charged MegaPacks in a small cooler right at your bedside–just in case.

There are many personal cooling products and dietary supplements available that claim to bring relief from hot flashes and night sweats, but if you’re searching for an effective, drug-free, supplement-free approach to dealing with hot flashes and night sweats, Black Ice might just be the product you’ve been hoping for. Designed, tested and made in the USA, the Black Ice Cool Collar CCX is convenient and easy to use, and with its safely regulated 57°F temperature output, it’s a comforting, effective and affordable alternative for dealing with hot flashes and night sweats.