What is a Hot Flash?

A hot flash, also called hot flush is a sudden feeling of warmth and often a breakout of sweating. This is usually confined to the upper half of the body like up to the chest, face, neck and head. Face head and neck may turn red when there is an intense feeling of heat.

Hot flashes are called night sweats when they occur at night. Hot flash is difficult to tell apart to a low grade fever such as flu, a cold, a urinary tract infection or a more serious cause of fever such as tuberculosis or cancer.

Fevers usually cause the sweating to last longer than the typical few seconds or few minutes that hot flashes will last. Non fever caused hot flashes can occur rarely.