Night sweats are so bad, woman turns to a dog bed

Before menopause hit, Christine Sheer always seemed to be cold. To stay warm at night, she slept in pajama pants, long-sleeves, socks and then covered herself with heavy blankets. Then perimenopause hit, and everything changed. 

“I was struck with night sweats so extreme that I would wake up with soaking wet hair, wet pajamas and bed linens and would have to get out of bed, change my PJs and sheets before being able to go back to bed,” she said. “It was horrible!”  

She found herself wearing as little as possible or nothing at all, the AC turned up, a fan directly on her to try to calm the night sweats. Meanwhile, her husband shivered next to her covered in blankets and complaining about the frigid temperatures.

 “There’s me, just nude with AC on, that’s how bad it is,” said Christine, 58, a retired flight attendant who lives in Richmond, British Columbia.

 Christine did what most women do, she talked to a girlfriend. The advice she got: Sleep on a dog chilling mat.

“She enlightened me about a product she was using and which I now use and swear by!  I sleep on a dog chilling mat,” Christine said.

She slips the gel-filled mat inside her pillowcase.

“For pet use, the instructions say that you don’t have to put the mat in the fridge or freezer, but I personally like to have mine extra chilled, so I store it in the fridge during the day,” Christine says. “These chilling mats have been a blessing along with changing to cotton pajamas and cotton bed linens. No more polyester blends or microfiber for me!”

 Christine opted to go through the change naturally and avoid Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), because of all the potential negative side effects. While she has plenty of symptoms of menopause – night sweats, hot flashes, increased level of anxiety and brain fog, this former airline attendant, says for her enduring those annoyances outweighed the risks of HRT.

 She has found some relief with yoga and meditation – along with her dog-chilling mat.

“No one prepares us for these changes,” she said. “It’s a challenge for sure.”