Hello Pamela and welcome to the "meno-society"!

I do not drink any alcohol at all but I do know from many of my "meno-sisters" that red wine does cause increased flushes, even after only a few sips. Most of my friends have complained of this in the past. Some of them have mentioned switching to what we call here in Canada "wine coolers", which contain wine and some added fruit flavour/juice to make it less "warm" in the body (some flavours which seemed popular to my friends were a form of lemonade cooler if I recall correctly ... maybe Sandy has heard of these too?) I think these are made with white wine, and served cold so again less chances of bringing on flushes.

For myself, I find that anything hot in temperature (soups, chili, stews) wil give me an instant flush. I also drink more cold water and far less hot drinks, although I do like a good hot apple cider once in a while (we have apple trees so we make our own cider and it is sooooo good on a cool autumn evening ... but it does give me a flush too so I try to limit it). I have found that by eating my meals a little less hot and more on the lukewarm side, I get less flushes (I serve everyone else's meals first and by the time I sit to my own meal, it is just the right "slightly less warm" temperature)

Hang in there, Pamela. Only a few more years of this "meno-nonsense" !!!

Claire in rainy Canada

Claire I do declare we are quite like twins.

Pam I do not partake of any alcoholic beverage, just a few sips and I am
doing the wonky dance. No seriously since the labs I get quite spinny.
So I just stick to my gingerale and cherry when other folk are enjoying
a nice glass of wine or their coolers.

"Meno-society" quite like that good one Claire.

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"We cannot direct the wind,
but we can adjust the sails"

We strongly advise anyone wishing to start/stop or change vrt or start/change/stop medication should consult their doctor first.

Claire I think you mean the 'mental pause ' That's what it feels like to me sometimes, lol.

I only started having a drop of wine again lately after many years and was gutted to see my face light up so much it almost feels swollen!! We call wine mixed with lemonade 'spritzers' over here and they are quite nice.

Well at least there's comfort in the fact we're in this together Ladies - misery loves company!

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We strongly advise anyone wishing to take up vrt or change/stop medication should consult their doctor first.

Pam, thank-you for the link, very interesting.
I didn't have any caffeine today....though, I am tempted to have a cup of coffee. I'll try to resist.

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Okay, I was having serious anxiety lately, so I cut caffeine out completely, for five days. Coffee being the only caffeine I ever have and an occasional diet soda.

Hmm, I did notice that I wasn't experiencing really bad anxiety, and I kinda felt better, but I recently, after five days without it, started drinking coffee again. It's not really bothering me, but I do think it has an effect on me, caffeine induced anxiety. I used to drink soda all of the time and switched over to Koolaid, sweetened with Splenda, so I have been without coffee and generally any caffeine for a very long time, until about a year ago, when I was working. I used to drink nothing but soda again when I was working, along with energy drinks. I think I may have a sensitivity to caffeine now, since I was without it for so long, then started drinking it again.

I am drinking coffee again now, and when I have a soda, it's Diet 7Up, which is caffeine free. I'm watching it.

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