Menopause Thread

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WhiteDove

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Hi everyone, especially Sisters in Christ! Looks like my body’s gearing up for the the big chango. I was having irregular periods, with some heavy clotting. They were coming more frequently. Now, it looks as if I’m having a late one. It still hasn’t come.

Anyways, I’m 47, nothing unexpected here. The only other thing I notice is, er, a small goatee developing. :o I was thinking of electrolysis, it’s not that I’m overly vain or anything, but I keep losing my tweezers. 😃 I don’t want to scare any little kids or confuse anyone as to my gender, really. 😉 Actually, it’s not a very impressive beard by menopausal standards, rather below average(I hope) :cool:

So, I thought I’d start a menopause thread. We can share tips and experiences. Any sage advise would be most welcome. 🙂
 
Reporting in with nine! years of hot flashes. Can’t take estrogen because of fibroids.
 
Ah, yes, hot flashes! I work with a lot of nurses in an age catagory slightly above my own. Those fans drive me crazy. 9 years, eh? Have you tried any natural remedies?

What about natural remedies, ladies? Has anyone had any experience with those??? 🙂
 
A nurse I work with takes phyto-estrogens and claims they work. My doc suggested last week that I try them. Haven’t had a chance yet.

Every night I sleep with the airconditioning blasting and the ceiling fan going and no covers. My poor husband always has icesicles(sp?) hanging off of him.
 
I have not yet hit this glorious stage of my life, but I am sure I can not be too far off.

I am hoping to be able to go through it without medication. From what I hear I shall have an endless source of discomfort to offer up.

Oh, I talk a good story:D - here’s praying that I can tough it out.

What I am most worried about though is the unbalance that women seen to suffer mentally. I don’t want to be a raging tyrant that I have heard people complain about and I have seen some pretty nutty things that women have done and than blame it on menopause.

Can this be avoided! Any insight, anyone!
 
I have had a number of problems associated with menopause but I am as sane as ever.LOL! For a while I was really forgetful, like I’d walk into Kroger and then wonder what I was there for. But that could be because I’m a blonde.
 
anybody with advice on surviving surgical menopause. tried 3 different natural estrogen therapies, cannot take it for various reasons. taking evista for bones, would like to hear about natural therapies. taking black cohosh for hot flashes which helps somewhat, seem to have developed a soy allergy so that is out.
 
Hello Sisters!

I am 49, and was in peri-menopause, nearing the real deal, when I was told I needed a total hysterectomy. Before the surgery, my doctor had recommended a natural remedy, called Remifemin, which really did seem to help with the hot flashes, much to my surprise.

One week post-surgery, the hot flashes came on with a vengence! These were very violent, lasting at least two-three minutes and I was having several an hour. These were another galaxy away from the hot flashes I was having before surgery. The Remifemin, all the soy, etc. has done nothing to help. My doctor kept asking me if I didn’t want to use some estrogen replacement for a while to help, but no, I was sure I could “gut it out.” But I finally broke down and said yes, because I could not sleep at night. I mean, one can make it through the hot flashes, no matter how awful, but I myself can only go about 2 days without sleep!

The estrogen patch has helped some with the sleeping, and lots with the hot flashes. I’ve been using for 1+ month, with the goal of beginning to taper off of them in about 3 months or so.

My best advice: I found a neat gadget called a Chillow. It’s a nifty thing you put under your pillowcase, that keeps you cool at night.
Here’s a link to their web site, but I got mine at the local Walgreens. soothsoft.com/

If anyone knows of a Saint for menopausal women, please post!

Brenda M.:o (this is the semi-permanent color of my face now!)
 
I hope it is okay for a man to contribute his 2 cents here:eek:

Being in our mid-forties (actually her, I am in my late 40’s), I have one thing to look forward to as she nears menapause. No more arguing as to whether or not we put on the AC in the summer time. I like she, she doesn’t, I’m thinking maybe that will change. 😃
 
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Mandi:
What I am most worried about though is the unbalance that women seen to suffer mentally. I don’t want to be a raging tyrant that I have heard people complain about and I have seen some pretty nutty things that women have done and than blame it on menopause.

Can this be avoided! Any insight, anyone!
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Mandi,
I was prepared for becoming a raving lunatic, since my PMS was so bad every month…
Well, I lost a husband to cancer when I first started, I married again in the middle and here I am without any real problems other than my anxiety disorder which I’ve had most of my life. God is good… Annunciata:yup:
 
Surgical menopause here! I fought hard to keep one ovary, and it stopped working immediately after the surgery - what a waste. I am unable to take HRT because I take tamoxifen (the breast cancer drug) for another weird condition (idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis), and it’s unknown whether the anti-estrogen property of the tamoxifen is what makes it work for RPF. Sooooo…my doctor (bless his sweet, sweet heart) prescribed an antidepressant for the hot flashes. It was Celexa, and it worked like a charm. In addition to being cool and comfortable all the time, I became the happiest, most optimistic person in the world!

Fast forward to five years later, early this spring, when I decided I ought to be able to do without the Celexa. I tapered it over a month, thinking that would be long enough (it’s not), and fell into a terrible, terrible depression. I would sit at work and cry all day long. Fortunately, I work alone in an office! The depression was getting worse every day. One day, I decided to deviate from my controlled carb diet and have a piece of cake, and within a half hour, all the crying stopped, and I began to feel almost normal. I kept treating the depression with sweets, and gained a bunch of weight. I still struggled with the dark cloud, and one night, I mentioned it in Confession. The very next day, the dark cloud lifted and has not returned! A real healing!

I’m still having hot flashes, and their evil twins, night sweats, in spite of the fact that it’s about 55 degrees in our bedroom! My poor husband sleeps with 2 blankets, and I can barely stand a sheet. I’m afraid to try anything with soy, because of the phytoestrogens, for the same reason I don’t take regular HRT.

I have a question for my fellow “flashers.” When you have a hot flash, does it also feel a little like a panic attack? Just a tiny one as the flash develops? What’s with that? I hate it.

Well, here’s to shortening our time in Purgatory!

Betsy
 
Sometimes I feel prickly all over or like an electric shock is going through me. Weird. And I never have a hot flash that is not accompanied by dripping sweat. I am 57 this month! This has to end soon!
 
A very good friend of mine reduced/eliminated her hot flashes by reducing/eliminating DAIRY PRODUCTS from her diet. And I mean eliminating, down to the butter.

I find that avoiding certain medications reduces mine, which have been infrequent anyway, but always seemed to coincide with a couple of sinus medications (!).

I find waxing a good enough alternative to wearing a goatee. Actually, my chin whiskers don’t get too long or too dark, but I’m very much aware of them. I’m not looking at electrolysis because my ex-mil, who had some serious hormonal problems and accompanying facial hair, did not get good results from it and said it was also quite painful. The waxing isn’t nearly as painful as I expected it to be, and it lasts several weeks. A few stragglers, I tweeze between times.

This is rather an adventure, isn’t it? I’m wondering whether anyone else is/has experienced personality changes. I used to be so passive, so almost fawning to get along with people; recently I just don’t care so much any more; life is too short to spend trying to make up to people who want to exploit and abuse, so poo on them! I finally figured out I was not created by God for mediocrity or for other people to use, and I can hardly believe myself sometimes! I feel so strong!
 
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baltobetsy:
I have a question for my fellow “flashers.” When you have a hot flash, does it also feel a little like a panic attack? Just a tiny one as the flash develops? What’s with that? I hate it.

Well, here’s to shortening our time in Purgatory!

Betsy
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Hi Betsy,
I’m sorry for the things you had to go through, Wow! I still have night sweats on and off but the panic thing you are talking about…does your skin get prickley and then a wave of what seems to be a panic attack happens? Annunciata:)
 
I know if I eliminated wine and coffee my hot flashes would improve somewhat. Because I always get a hot flash after drinking either one. But darn, next to God, my cats, and my family these are two things I love the most!
 
Natural therapy:

Progesterone cream. My sister got hers in a measured squirt bottle from a health food store. I still need to find a supply around here. The night sweats have started!!
 
Wow, great responses! What a wealth of information. I hope I don’t get hotflashes, they sound terrible! I think I’ll try waxing, what dept of the store carries the stuff?
 
I don’t remember what the name of the book was, but Suzanne Sommers (the Three’s Company lady) wrote a book about menopause and some natural remedies that worked very well for her, and I think for women in Europe too.

I’m not in the menopausal age range yet, but a lot of these symptoms feel like pregnancy. I’ve heard about it lasting for several years, but what’s the average length of time?
 
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WhiteDove:
Wow, great responses! What a wealth of information. I hope I don’t get hotflashes, they sound terrible! I think I’ll try waxing, what dept of the store carries the stuff?
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Hi, waxing is usually done in a salon. It is pretty cheap, too–I have my eyebrows waxed and it only costs $7 at my nail salon.

I have been getting hotflashes for about nine months now. I am 49 and according to my doc I’ve been premenopausal since I turned 40…it is all very confusing! I have had some night sweats but not a lot of them. It does seem like I am sweating all the time these days though…I am not taking any HRT or anything else, just vitamins with black cohosh in them. I do take Celexa, an antidepressant for lifelong depression, but I don’t notice it helping my hormones any, although it may be, and I just don’t know it…I am having horrific mood swings, however. I find myself very weepy…

My menses have become somewhat irregular, compared to how they used to be. They are nothing like they used to be!! They will be either really heavy or rather light and do not come as regularly as they once did. I used to be like clockwork, now who knows when it’s gonna come?! I have endometriosis and fibroids so that seems to complicate things some.

Thanks for starting this thread!! I think I needed this outlet tonight!!

God bless!

Geraldine
 
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Annunciata:
…does your skin get prickley and then a wave of what seems to be a panic attack happens? Annunciata:)
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I’ll have to pay attention to the prickly thing next time. What I notice most is like an urgent, panicky need to get out of wherever I am (including bed) and into cool, fresh air. That feeling usually passes in about half a minute, so mostly, I don’t flee. That and the fact that in Baltimore in August, there isn’t any cool fresh air! I have been known to go outside in the winter, though.

What happens to you, Annunciata? Do you panic, too?

Betsy
 
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