Talking Hot Flashes With Menopause Expert Delayna Watkins 'It's Like There's a Furnace Inside'

FOR THE BALTIMORE NURSE AND WOMEN LIKE HER, SYMPTOMS CAN BE DEBILITATING. BUT TREATMENTS CAN EASE THE SUFFERING

- EILEEN FINAN

Delayna Watkins was in the midst of a presentation to hospital executives in Maryland when suddenly she couldn't think straight. "There was an intense moment of panic. I could tell the hot flash was coming," says Watkins, a nurse who also works as a health consultant. "All these thoughts were going through my head: 'Am I sweating? Can they see the drips?""

That moment was five years ago, but "just talking about it takes me back emotionally," says Watkins, 53. "It created this level of anxiety. It makes you feel like you have no control." Like most women, Watkins suffered for years from hot flashes (also known as vasomotor symptoms or VMS)-at their worst during perimenopause, she would have three or four each day. One of the most common menopause symptoms, hot flashes usually last between two and five minutes and are often more intense in the two years leading up to menopause itself (defined as 12 months with no period), says Dr. Makeba Williams, an ob-gyn and associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis. But despite their prevalence, "we are still learning a lot about why these occur," she says. The good news? "We're in a promising space right now with treatments-for so long we've had a very narrow set of options."