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Hot flashes, hot flashes. I've been dealing with hot flashes for the past two years. I also started to notice that during the late spring and summer months the impact of hot flashes are much more uncomfortable. Not only do I experience these sparks, it's coupled now with itchy skin...ahhh. That said, Pause Well-Aging Hot Flash Mist has been a much needed asset for relief (no, this is not a product placement plug, it's the truth :-). Between the mini-fan I purchased that looks like a smartphone (I have to keep it cute) and the mist I'm good. My current issue is not sleeping through the night--due in part to hot flashes. I recently started taking Magnesium Glycinate supplements and this has definitely made a difference.

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Jun 11, 2020Liked by Jennifer Owens, Sheryl Kraft, MFA

During the summer of 2017, I was driving to the beach and suddenly found myself sweating. I mean really sweating. So, I cranked up the A/C and was ready to crack a joke about the heat when I noticed everyone else in the car was shivering. And then it hit me: I was 48 and this was my first hot flash.

So, I did what any woman would do. I panicked.

I felt like my life was over. Beachside lunches and long walks along the surf would be the sentimental last act before the credits rolled – not the climactic sequence of the life I'd been working towards. For the first time, I really felt my age and the limitations that lay ahead, as well as the turning point in my looks. Because you see, I was a cosmetics executive. I had been expected to represent the brands I worked for and I always stayed close to a mirror to make sure every hair was in place, every line was concealed, everything appeared as it should. That day, I knew things were about to change.

I’ll be honest, my vanity took over. I started thinking about what products could get me out of this so-called mess. But I realized, to my horror, that I was grasping at straws. Sure, there were tons of products for antiaging, but I was aging. And there was nothing on the market to help me and every other woman my age to embrace that reality. During a career spent promoting beauty as youthful radiance, I'd not only neglected the millions of women older than me – I'd neglected my own future.

With no great resources to turn to, something had to be done. I couldn’t be the only one struggling through menopause, right? My panic turned into productivity (possibly the one upshot of menopause-induced insomnia) and six months later, Pause was born. I wanted to focus on Well-Aging™, not antiaging, to inform and equip women to make the most of all three stages of menopause.

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Jun 11, 2020Liked by Jennifer Owens, Sheryl Kraft, MFA, thePause Newsletter

Haven't had a really good one for ages. And by 'good', I mean pretty bad. But I did try to see them as surges. Worst time for me has always been first thing in the morning, just as I am waking up. A great way to make you jump out of bed, because it's actually horrible to be there and that hot. Like a biological alarm clock.

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I remember the first time it happened to me. I have completely flummoxed as to why it was suddenly so hot — and why the person I was having lunch with didn't seem bothered at all. I could feel the sweat down my back and thought, "You can see me drowning, right?!" But she didn't say anything and neither did I. It wasn't until later that I thought, "Ohhhhhh....!"

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Good morning! Today we're trying something new: an open thread discussion on a topic near and not dear to many of us... hot flashes. Had one lately? Had one last night? Do tell!

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