What causes hot flashes, cold sweats and vertigo in an elderly woman?

Posted on Tue, 22 May 2018

Question: I'm a 69 year old female and I'm still getting hot flashes. Doctors say it's something like my internal thermostat is not working. Doesn't sound very specific, does it? A few days ago a hot flash came on and this time the cold sweat was accompanied by dizziness and a weak feeling in my legs and I fell to the floor. I had to sit there for ten minutes before I could get up but I felt like I have to have a bowel movement. Once I did, I felt fine. Last night it happened again. What's going on?

Answered by Dr. Mirjeta Guni (53 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
About hot flashes and excessive sweating:

Detailed Answer:
Hello and thank you for asking!
I have gone carefully through your concern.
First you have to recheck the thyroid hormone level to rule out an over active thyroid of the lobe that is not removed (always if the symptoms are developed lately).
What would be to excluded next are two other pathologies that can cause hot flushes and exessive sweating:
-Pheochromacitoma
-Neuroendocrine tumors.
A CHromogranine A and Urinary metanefrines would help to diagnose/rule them out.
Discuss with your treating physician about them.
Hope i have been helpful.

Kind regards,
Dr.Mirjeta

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T