Hot flashes post-pregnancy

Hi,
This may be in the wrong section but I thought that my symptoms may be related to PCOS.
I am 32 years old, spent two years TTC, got pregnant and had a little girl nine months ago.  I have not menstrated since I had my daughter and am also breastfeeding.  I am not on any hormonal birth control, fertility drugs, etc.  I only take prenatal vitamins.  Also, am VERY careful with birth control and am not pregnant.
For the last month and a half or so I have been getting serious hot flashes (day and night) and in the last two weeks or so I have also been getting dizzy/fainting episodes.  I have went to the doctor, they ran tests and told me that they would get back to me if something turned up.
An FYI, I got the H1N1 vaccine about two weeks ago and had moderate side effects (shivering the day of and very bad joint pain, mild lethergy, & slight fever the second day).
I am pretty sure my symptoms are caused by hormones, but I am waiting for someone to explain why I would be getting hotflashes.

[Elaine Brown, MD]

Hi!
Hot flashes seem to be caused by extremes of the hormone levels--particularly estrogen. When estrogen levels are low, as in menopause, women experience hot flushes and when the levels are high as in pregnancy women have hot flushes.
In your case your hormone levels could be low as a consequence of breast feeding, or they could be high as a consequence of PCOS,  Now having said all this, I must add that the MOST likely reason for the hot flushes is due to a release of prolactin that occurs secondary to nursing your baby.  Check to see whether the hot flushes correlate with your baby's feeding schedule, and that may give you your answer.
There is probably not anything to be done about the hot flashes if this is the case--you'll just have to live with them until you wean your little one.
Good luck and congratulations!
Dr B

[katieinthepeg]

So, there is a non-life threatening reason.  Thank you,  Have tried to look on-line to see why this would be happening and also tried to talk to my doctor and didn't get very far with that either.  Just as long I know that it is something that is normal for someone in my position, it great.
Thanks.