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A registered nurse who specializes in treating menopause says she hears a hot flash-during-a-meeting story almost weekly.
JUNE / JULY EXCLUSIVES
No Sweat
By Mary Welch

Across the nation, women tell what happens when a hot flash hits in the boardroom. Plus ways to fight raging hormones.

The beads of sweat that seem to form out of nowhere, the uncomfortable feeling that everyone can tell what´s happening to you - Karen Giblin knows first hand the feelings that come with a hot flash in a meeting at work. "It´s scary the first couple of times," she says from her office in Ridgefield, Conn. "You don´t know what to do, so you panic, which of course makes it worse."

Each day, 4,000 women nationwide start menopause, some as early as age 30. About 75 percent of all menopausal women experience hot flashes, or heat waves that occur when peripheral blood vessels dilate causing flushing and increased skin temperature. A hot flash can last from a few seconds to half an hour, but most average three to six minutes. Regardless of their length, hot flashes are unpredictable, and therefore can be unnerving to even the most self-assured high-powered businesswoman. It can be even worse when it hits during an important business meeting.

"Going through menopause is a very odd feeling because you have no control over your body," says Donna Teper, a registered nurse who heads Midlife Moments, a menopause support group in Lake Hills, Ill. She says she hears a variation of the hot flash-during-a-meeting story almost weekly from her clients. "It´s like you´re constantly having PMS except you don´t know when it´s coming and going."

Unable to get enough information about her symptoms – let alone how to control them – Giblin founded Red Hot Mamas Menopause Management Education Programs in 1991. Today, Red Hot Mamas offers seminars in 26 states and more than 65 hospitals, and is the nation´s largest provider of menopause education programs.

Giblin´s advice to women trying to conduct business while reeling from a hot flash? "Don´t think of it as a hot flash, with all the negative connotations. Think of it as an energy surge!" she declares. She encourages women to remain calm, take deep breaths and peel off layers of clothing.

Teper agrees. "Just take it in and don´t allow it to cascade into panic, which causes a bigger adrenalin rush," she advises. Otherwise, you create a vicious cycle. "If you think a hot flash may be coming, you´re full of anxiety, which brings on a variety of negative behaviors and emotions. Some are so frightened of an incoming hot flash that they can´t speak or they get dizzy." Not a good thing to happen in the middle of a major meeting.