Hot flashes at 19?

[PuzzlePieces]

On and off for the past few weeks I've been getting these really strange hot flashes. First my face feels tingly, then it gets uncomfortably warm and my cheeks go red, noticeably so. It's embarassing when it happens around people. I don't sweat or have any other symptoms along with it, except sometimes feeling like my head is... buzzing? sort of. It lasts anything from 10 minutes to an hour, and I'm experiencing it right now as of about 30 minutes ago.

My house is freezing at the moment, but the weather was warmer before and that doesn't seem to affect anything. I also had a bad cold last month, but the hot flashes started before then. At the time I assumed that it was an early onset fever but now that I've been over my cold for 3 weeks I'm not sure.

As I said in the post title, I'm 19, so I doubt this is menopause. I am on birth control but I have been on the same ones for 3 years - would I start having issues with the hormones in it now?

Any advice is welcome.

[kit_n_caboodle]

Have you recently started taking vitamin B? Niacin can cause your face to get red and tingly.

[PuzzlePieces]

No, I don't take any vitamins. I don't think I've been consuming it excessively in food either.

[Auntie Witch]

I had hot flashes during the entire first trimester of my last pregnancy. Any chance you had a BC failure?

[PuzzlePieces]

God I hope not. I haven't missed any pills in the last couple of months or anything. I might get a test to rule it out though, if you think it's a possibility. Although I'm in a long distance relationship at the moment, so I'd have to be 3 months pregnant and not have noticed.

[blucanary]

I've notice that happens to me when my blood pressure goes up. Are you doing anything active at the time? Taking antihistamines or something that would make your BP go up?

[Nick Theodorakis]

You should get it checked out, because there are a couple of (rare! -- don't mean to worry you) tumors that secrete hormones and can cause those symptoms.

Nick

[PuzzlePieces]

So my face is a bit hot and it could be a baby or a tumor, isn't the world scary. It also might be nothing, but yeah. I think tomorrow I'll pick up a pregnancy test to rule that out, I think it's fairly unlikely, and then make an appointment at the doctors if it's negative. My face is still burning after a couple of hours now - did it last that long for you, Auntie Witch?

[Auntie Witch]

Originally Posted by PuzzlePieces

My face is still burning after a couple of hours now - did it last that long for you, Auntie Witch?

They'd come on gradually and stay for several minutes, IIRC. It's been a while. I do remember rushing outside in winter to fan myself, and a menopausal woman commenting that she sympathized fully.

[Moku]

I think going to your GP might be a good call. I know that when my thyroid went whappy I would get hot flushes, I'd be sitting sweltering in the office while everyone else was finding it chilly. Though I don't think they had such a sudden onset as you describe. I didn't ever go tot he GP about it because I somehow thought it wasn't a big enough deal. When it got picked up by the staff on a medical trial I was on my levels had got pretty serious and they sent me to my doctor. When he didn't get me to the hospital fast enough for their liking the trials staff put a bit of a rocket up him and got me there the next day!
All of which is just to say 'get it checked out!'

[para1]

I had this occur, too, and it turned out to be a gyno issue. (Not pregnancy and not world-changingly awful, either). well worth the visit to have it checked, sez I.

*Typical disclaimer, I am not a doctor nor do I play one on TV, YMMV, etc.

[Errata]

Facial flushing could be an allergy or similar. Or rosacea. There are a lot of things it could be, and many of them aren't too serious, but if it's been happening persistently it may be worth checking with a doctor.

[Astra]

Don't get too panicked when the first things that come up are "menopause," "tumors," and "pregnancy." The common factor in all of them is hormone imbalance. Even though you're 19 and you would think your body had all that stuff straightened out by now, there can still be some spikes into your early 20s. I had my last growth spurt at 20 or 21. It wasn't much of one, just another inch to my height, but it happens. Make a doc appointment and get it checked out. Better to know it's nothing than worry it's something

[franjava]

I agree that it's probably some weird hormonal thing. I have been on thyroid meds for about 7 years. Recently, I didn't get my prescription refilled quickly enough and ended up missing three doses. I had my first hot-flash. Felt a heck of a lot like a panic attack except I felt much calmer.

[Ellestar]

Originally Posted by Astra

Don't get too panicked when the first things that come up are "menopause," "tumors," and "pregnancy." The common factor in all of them is hormone imbalance. Even though you're 19 and you would think your body had all that stuff straightened out by now, there can still be some spikes into your early 20s. I had my last growth spurt at 20 or 21. It wasn't much of one, just another inch to my height, but it happens. Make a doc appointment and get it checked out. Better to know it's nothing than worry it's something

This.

I had hot flashes starting at age 20. They were similar to the OP's, but I sweated really terribly when I had them. I often would roll out of bed in the middle of the night and sweat on the floor so I wouldn't have to change my sheets. It was really embarrassing when it happened in front of people at work. I went to the doctor and she said that my estrogen was off (too low). I went on birth control pills, some of the heavier ones, and they eventually went away. I'm off of estrogen now, and every once in a while I feel like I'm trying to hot flash, but they never quite get to that temperature.

[SmallTownKid]

Originally Posted by Moku

I think going to your GP might be a good call. I know that when my thyroid went whappy I would get hot flushes, I'd be sitting sweltering in the office while everyone else was finding it chilly. Though I don't think they had such a sudden onset as you describe. I didn't ever go tot he GP about it because I somehow thought it wasn't a big enough deal. When it got picked up by the staff on a medical trial I was on my levels had got pretty serious and they sent me to my doctor. When he didn't get me to the hospital fast enough for their liking the trials staff put a bit of a rocket up him and got me there the next day!
All of which is just to say 'get it checked out!'

Thyroid is what I was thinking too. When my thyroid went wacky I had hot flashes. I would strip down to my bra and sit in front of the fan drinking ice water and still feel hot.

I'm just going to echo the advice to not freak out and plan a visit to your GP.

[llewtrah]

My personal thermostat went haywire when my BP got too high. The pill was a contributory factor to my high BP. Now I've started going through it for real ....

[NayShel]

I agree that it could either be your thyroid or you may need to change up your birth control. Either way, it's going to take a conversation with your doc.

I was on the same bc pill for about seven years and all of a sudden it started throwing me in to mood swings where I was either overly sensitive and weepy or having tempur tantrums about nothing. So I talked to my doc about it and she first put me on ortho tricyclin which made things worse then put me on Yazmin, which was like a god-send. I finally felt like a normal human being again!!

Any chance you've changed your bc from a brand name to generic or vice-versa? A friend of mine found out she couldn't taken the generic of her bc because whatever was in the filler made her moody.

[Gayle]

You may all hate me now: post-menopausal before 50. Hot flashes went bye-bye. But I remember them, and what you’re experiencing isn’t what mine were like. A true YMMV moment, but they weren’t just in the face and there was a whole lotta sweat involved. In fact, when I first experienced them, I thought I had wet the bed.

[PuzzlePieces]

Well I couldn't pick up a pregnancy test today, I didn't manage to find a minute on my own to get to the pharmacy but I think I should do that some time this week just to rule it out. I couldn't get hold of the doctor's surgery either, I think I called too late, so I'll sort that tomorrow morning. In the meantime thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Thing is, everyone seems to be describing something different to what I've been having. I don't sweat when I get these things, and I don't feel the need to strip off and cool down. It's only my face that gets really hot, the rest of my body is still normal temperature. It's really confusing :s