Has anyone ever died from hot flashes?

I ask this only half-way jokingly.

I have kept count today, and since I woke up at 6:35 this morning, I have had no fewer than one an hour. More often than not, I have at least 2 an hour. For those of you who haven't had the joy of experiencing these things, it feels like you're standing in a un-airconditioned tin shack filled with roaring wood-fired pizza ovens in Death Valley in mid-August at high noon. And it comes on very suddenly. One minute, you're fine, the next minute you're miserable. It usually only last a few minutes, but it just knocks the wind out of your sails and pisses you off at the same time. And when you're in Texas in the middle of a very hot summer, it just adds to the fun. I know I'm not the first woman to experience menopause symptoms, but having them come on so fast and furiously has just been super crummy. It just magnifies the experience. Turns it up to eleven, so to speak.

Oh god...and the mood swings. They've gotten pretty bad too. Today I just started bawling because Geem was being so clingy it was just wearing me out. I just broke down and sobbed. And the new Coldplay album...I can't listen to it without crying. Or Elliot Smith. Or Lloyd Cole for that matter. I watched "Finding Neverland" last night and cried like a weenie. I don't guess they're mood "swings" exactly because that would imply that that there are highs that offset the lows, and there aren't. Then again, if there were, I guess it would be "manic-depression," so I guess I'd better be satisfied with what I've got.