DR MARTIN SCURR answers your health questions
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I am 71 and started the menopause aged 47 but, ten years ago, I developed night sweats that cause me to wake each hour with sweat dripping off my nose and joints. I’m getting depressed about this.
Wyn Brown, Spennymoor, Newcastle.
I feel for you and, sadly, you are not alone in experiencing such troublesome and enduring post-menopausal symptoms.
While many believe these will decline over the years, studies show that 9 per cent of women aged 72 continue to have them.
The average age a woman goes through the menopause (i.e. no longer has periods due to a lack of oestrogen) is 52, so this means that, in some cases, the symptoms are persisting for decades. Hot flushes are the most common symptom, affecting 80 per cent of women.
Our body temperature is controlled by an area of the brain known as