Wow Jimbo...You said "When my body goes in temp fits (that's what I call them) I get freezing cold chills." I thought I was the only one that got the cold chills! They get so bad sometimes that no amount of clothes or covers can stop them.

My burning cold (as I refer to it as) turns to extreme hot at 1 AM every morning like clockwork. I can tell what time it is from my foot (initial site of injury). The heat at 1AM starts in my big toe and goes down the row of toes then up my right leg and I wake up after a few hours of sleeping burning hot like lava is all over me. I usually go to bed under six blankets (I counted them last night and then laughed) with pants, socks, shirt and sweater and lately I found the best secret for the chills esp living here in PA...leg warmers!! I had a cast years ago on my foot/leg and the doctor gave me the box of cotton thingies that they put under the cast so plaster doesn't stick to your body and I cut them off like leg warmers. They work great since we just got some cold weather here and my knees and joints were hurting badly. So when the heat hits me at 1:00 AM I can rip the socks off and still have my feet out the side of the covers if needed and my legs don't get warm. But in the morning when the heat is bad I am ripping covers off, clothes off in order to cool my body down. Now, since it is colder here I love it in am because I go out and wear light pants and no socks and the cold air is heavenly. I have learned not to put my hot foot on the cold cement (even though it feels great) because when I come back in the house it is like my foot realizes how cold it was and screams out in pain for hours. I will never do that again. Once we had about 3 inches of snow and I stuck my sockless foot in the snow and thought I had gone to heaven...the snow around my foot actually melted haha. It was crazy and then I went in the house and about hit the roof with pain. Those moments of joy turned into hours of agony...and I learned my lesson the hard way lol.

I had to laugh at the ladies talking about menopause (I've been going through that for several years now (the fun never ends). I hardly ever get hot flashes instead I get what I call "cold flashes" (like Jimbo explained) where the chills run crazy through my body and I cannot get warm again until 1 AM.

I did talk to my neuro doctor about the cold flashes because they got so severe about a year ago that she gave me an iv of quinine and then I took the pills they sell them in the pharmacy. They did help (and are good for leg cramps too). yes, it is the medicine they give to people with malaria. It did work well for the chills but I had to stop using them because I had a reaction to them (can't remember now what it was). I agree with everyone that trying to stay cold when you are hot and hot when you are cold is a full time job. We have to worry about any little draft that might cause a problem. Well thanks for listening to my little two cents.
kathy d