When I last saw my endocrinologist he told me that very high levels of Luteinizing hormone and Follicle-stimulating hormone are what causes hot flashes. My levels, as found from my blood test, are high normal. These hormones are secreted by gonadotropes in the anterior pituitary gland. These are the triggers that tell the testicles or ovaries to produce testosterone and estrogen. When the production is not being accomplished, more LH and FSH is made. If the levels get too high, they cause body to react in the form of hot flashes. I am one of the lucky ones. My levels are not high enough to cause hot flashes. For those that do get them, it would be nice if there was a way to control the triggers without having to take T or E, that many don't want. Maybe some of the smart folks here know more about this.

Hairless,

If an altered man has hot flashes that persist, and the LH levels start to go even the slightest bit beyond high normal, especially if accompanied by noticeable breast development, he should be sure that his doctor has checked him for a Prolactin producing pituitary tumor. For intact males the symptoms would be impotence, weight gain, and breast development. For a woman, breast tenderness and having her milk come in when she has not been pregnant.

They are not rare, as quoted in medical texts until a few years ago, and can hit anyone, man or woman, altered state or not. (About 22% chance of having one during your lifetime.) Fortunately, they are very slow growing and the symptoms show up long before they are serious. If you have one, tt's better that your endocrinologist finds it before your opthamologist. When caught early (before you have vision problems) they are relatively easy to control.

Coinflipper

That’s how DR .kimmel explained it

That what I did to my self by injecting caused a blockage inside the test. And that after my operation the hot flashes would either cease or be very minimal

I have went from 5 too 6 a day some consisting of sweat before my operation

To 2 since the 14th of jan.

Is there anything that will block or retard the stimulation of LH or FSH? Do the Gonadotric Hormone Releasing blockers have any effect on this?

I do know that the dopaminergic effects of the antidepressant drug Effexor is also very useful in suppressing hot flashes. That is what got me through much of the early years of loads of them.

I had cold flashes on Lupron, so i dont think that's the angle to fix this. Ive never had a hot flash, but that may be because of my f-ed up body chemistry.

coinflipper_21 (imported) wrote: Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:58 pm Hairless,

If an altered man has hot flashes that persist, and the LH levels start to go even the slightest bit beyond high normal, especially if accompanied by noticeable breast development, he should be sure that his doctor has checked him for a Prolactin producing pituitary tumor. For intact males the symptoms would be impotence, weight gain, and breast development. For a woman, breast tenderness and having her milk come in when she has not been pregnant.

They are not rare, as quoted in medical texts until a few years ago, and can hit anyone, man or woman, altered state or not. (About 22% chance of having one during your lifetime.) Fortunately, they are very slow growing and the symptoms show up long before they are serious. If you have one, tt's better that your endocrinologist finds it before your opthamologist. When caught early (before you have vision problems) they are relatively easy to control.

Coinflipper

Interesting thread. My wife had (maybe still has) a pituitary tumor. We knew nothing about it until we started trying for a child back in 1990/91. She didn't get pregnant and tests revealed that she was overproducing prolactin, which was suppressing ovulation. She didn't produce milk but her breasts and her (pierced) nipples were large. Her enodcrinologist put her on bromocryptine to control the tumor and she was pregnant within a couple of months. Her hormone levels stabilised after she gave birth but she never conceived again. We reckon we just got lucky the once. Her endocrinologist continues to monitor her hormones. These days he's mostly interested in treating her osteoporosis, which is being made more difficult since she got breast cancer and is taking arimidex to suppress oestrogen. Of course it suppresses her libido as well, and she lacks energy. Still, along with the herceptin, it seems to be keeping the cancer away, so we shouldn't complain, although we both wish there was some way of restoring her sex drive. In the circumstances, it's no surprise that we started to take the idea of castration more seriously in the last few years.