add your solutions to Perimenopause symptoms!
Posted , 11 users are following.
Hoping to help a few women by starting a discussion on concerns we have with symptoms of Perimenopause. I'm a year into this and have read the average woman has Perimenopause for 4 years on the average. My symptoms keep changing and so I am starting this discussion or group for those who would like to post their successes with symptoms and how they reduced them.
Kind of a discussion/moral support forum.
Please post your experiences and hopefully there will be someone who can help you or someone you can help.
0 likes, 37 replies
susan21149 Trish123
Posted
I do get counciling for my depression and anger issues and that helps too.
I am thinking about doing a yoga class to help reduce stress
This is all i am doing for my sympotoms and i am just trying to stay positive because its the change and i just have to accept that my body is going through the change
I also eat a lot of protien like Chicken, and fish once in a while pasta i am on metformin to keep my sugars down and i try to eat fruit and vegies
I walk a lot and try to get my proper rest i learn relaxation and ways to cope in life its hard but i do it and for a lot of women who suffer from depression and anxieties while in menopause this is what they need to do
Also one thing i am learning, please do not worry about your health because the more you worry the more anxious you make yourself. Just let your body do the changing and don't worry if you have cancer or you think you do or something is wrong because that just putting negative thoughts into your mind and us women do not need that we need to think positive and just let our bodies change with time
Trish123 susan21149
Posted
VauxhallGirl susan21149
Posted
gailannie Trish123
Edited
What a wonderful thread for discussion. I had a horrible time in perimenopause, and while I am completely beyond that at 58 and menopausal, I certainly remember the experience. I thought I might share my experience since I am on the other side.
I was 42 1/2 when all this started. Oddly, when I turned 40, my body was doing something a little different but in a good way. It seemed that I became toned, thin, with full hair, plenty of energy and I felt great. I remember thinking, "If this is aging, bring it on." But I quickly learned to be careful what you ask for, because within a couple years I was begging for help.
My very first odd experience was standing on a csoccer field and I noticed that my left foot got a strange buzzing sensation, then my left arm went completely numb. But the next symptom was a major downer. After a shower one day, I brushed my hair and it was literally falling out by the handfuls. That brush was completely covered with hair. This happened on day 9 of my cycle. At that point I started looking for some answers. The following month, I had the first ever migrain headche, agin on day 9 of my cycle. My periods were bouncing all over the place. I had always been very regular with periods every 28 days. But that was now a thing of the past. Sometimes, it would be 23, then 31, sometimes normal and other times with clots and heavy. I had one that lasted ten days. I wasn't sleeping well and experienced night sweats that would have my gown soaked. None of this was a picnic. Honestly I was completely miserable.
I read like crazy and tried to see the "best of the best" of physicians, who might be able to help get me straighten out. I tried several birth control pills that, all to no avail. Loestrin literally had me shaking like a leaf and crying at 3:00pm every afternoon. I tried bio identical hormones, and again, it was simply awful. I literally flew to Detroit from the midwest, to see a doctor that seemed to have vast knowedge on hormone replacement. He had me taking estrogen injections, and that didn't work well either. As I said, I tried for two years to feel better, but nothing worked. I finally gave up. It took my body a while to get back into a pattern. So for the next 8 years I did it on my own. And actually felt pretty normal.
My periods came less and less when I reached 50. One every two months, then one every six months, unti my last at age 52 1/2. Oddly enough when this occured I barely noticed a thing. No hot flashes, nothing. I did however get into lower back pain, frozen shoulder, and eventually body wide chronic muscle and ligament pain. Then five years after menopause, developed vaginal atrophy an dryness. I am now trying once again to reestablish my hormones.
But what I learned, at least for me, is that in perimenopause, your hormones are bouncing around BIG TIME. Somedays you make plenty and others not so much.
(Try to look at some of the charts that have been done on perimenopausal hormones. It's a wild ride with highs and lows of huge swings.) It's these wide swings that create all these symptoms that make us uncomfortable. If I had to do it over again, what I would focus on is life style, diet, vitamins, sleep and reducing stress, to help myself feel better. At least for me, trying the hormone therapy didn't work well in perimenopause. I was all over the board and they simpy made it worse.
So my suggestion to any woman in perimenopause is to start taking it as easy as you can. Eat a very healthy diet with plenty of good oils, protein and lots of fresh greens. Take a good multivitamin and drink plenty of water. Crawl in bed by ten o'clock every night and give your body time to relax and recover. Excersice, but don't over due it, as this uses up those biochemicals we can make.
There's no doubt this is a time of great change. I would also suggest that woman get a complete panel done of their hormones. Even though it is common for them to come back all in normal range, this can later be used to help you down the road.
So get your FSH, sensitive estradiol, free and total testosterone, progesterone, and a complete thyroid panel (TSH, T-4, T-3). Days 2 -4 and also 21-13 of your cycle would be most helpful. It will show you how your estrogen is starting at the beginning of the cycle and if you are ovulating (producing progesterone) or not.
Good luck and I hope my experience can be of help.
susan21149 gailannie
Posted
michelle50768 gailannie
Posted
ive been peri eight years and wont bore you with symptoms but ive had them all still do.
This reply is amazing. Just accept what your body is doing and be kind to urself.
I really am so grateful for this site and all the ladies.
So good to hear from someone who has come through the other side and made it.
Sime days I wondered if I woild.
Thanks again for your wirds of encouragement and hope.
God bless you x
susan21149 michelle50768
Posted
gailannie susan21149
Posted
Do you mind sharing your experience. This isn't easy getting
homrones back into the system after all these years, but I really
need to do this.
Any help would be appreciated.
susan21149 gailannie
Edited
I am not on any HRTs at all due to the fact that i have problems with blood pressure, diabetes, and low thyroid and my doctor and i agree it messes up your blood pressure, diabetes and thyroid.
All i am taking right now is two blood pressure pills Losartan, and Amlodipine, Ativan 1 mg in the morning with my two blood pressure pills a metformin for diabetes and a vitamin d3 also in the morning i take my levothyroxine 3 hours before breakfast and a pepcid an hour before breakfast, than at dinner i take Ativan 1/2mg with my multivitamin and a metformin, and at bed time i take 1mg of ativan and trazodone for sleep and anxieties
I am not on any HRTs and with having blood pressure problems diabetes and a thyroid problem I am not going to go back on HRTs
This is the only stuff i need to keep things under control because HRTs do not really solve the problem with menopause it may help reduce the symptoms but we need to learn about how to deal with menopause and our bodies because medication is not the answer to all our problems.
Yes HRTs help reduce symptoms but think of the side effects it can give a women just like other meds give side effects
Think about that. What we need to learn is to not get our selves so stressed out and upset and relax and let your body just change in time
VauxhallGirl susan21149
Edited
gailannie VauxhallGirl
Posted
I had to stop and think for a moment if I wanted to try to add to ths discussion. Please understand that I am not pushing one way or another, but I just want to add another view to this topic. I have always been involved with woman's health care issues and read constantly. Not just authors on the topic but also many medical studies.
The thing that I would want to point out is that menopause is the complete loss f one of our hormones systems. All of our hormones communicate with one another, support one another and work together. While the sex steriod system is not a major hormones system, and therefore it's loss won't immediate kill you, it does mess with other hormone systems. This is why woman in menopause often have problems with thryoid, become type two diabetics, or have adrenal issues. Etrogen, progesterone and testosterone support those other systems. I have read and also been told by an endrocrinologist, that without estradiol in the system, it is offen immpossible to regulate insulin for diabetic woman.
The discussion of menopause and hormone replacement, just isn't as easy as saying it is something we can "get through" and "get over with".
And prolonged estrogen defeniency creates problems that sometimes come years down the road. For me vaginal atrophy and dryness didn't set in until I was about 4 years out. That is not something I want to continue, as it can be more than just slightly uncomfortable. For some woman it can be dibilitating. And this is where woman get into bladder issues, infections, or the insertion of mesh. As I got into menopause, I also watched my cholesterol profile change. I wasn't do anything different with diet and I was moving all the time. But as we lose estradiol, this is what happens. All studies show that with adequate estrogen replacement our cholesterol profile will reverse back to normal. And trust me, I will never take a statin drug. And don't ge me started at what happens to heart attacks in woman past menopause, cause it isn't pretty. We then have heart attacks just like men, once we lose our estradiol.
I get it that everyone got scared with the Woman's Health Inititive study. But the only hormone "drugs" used in those studies were Premarin and Prempro. Both of those are not the hormones our bodies used to make, they are synthetic. It isn't fair to compare what a bioidentical hormone can/will do based on horse urine that is a foreign substance to our bodies.
Do I think that every woman should take hormones after menopause? Heavens no. But I do believe that you should understand that every woman's body might have it's own risk factors that might make hormone replacement important to protect their overall health. But I'm not talking about the cookie cutter approach that we have taken in this country.
What I am saying, is that there seems to be philosophy that all hormones are bad, and that we should just get through it. No one challenges a woman taking the hormone insulin. No one suggests that a woman shouldn't take another hormone, thyroid. No one suggests that an Addison's or Cushings patient shouldn't use hormones. So please don't feel you are being brave or just following the natural course, if you find that the loss of your estrogen is causing havic in your life. I have known many woman who feel that bioidentical hormones, used correctly, are the best thing they have done for their health.
I don't mean to offend anyone or to take issue with your personal choice. Just something else to think about.
michelle50768 gailannie
Posted
While im not diasagreeing with what you say I do find all this fir and against advice confusing. ....... after all menopause is a natural transition that every woman has to go through so therefore are our bodies not designed to deal with this change?
I have been in perimenopause eight years and have had really awful symptoms. Im 48 my gp has suggested I dont have hrt just yet.
But it still confuses me as to why we need to treat a natural occurrence in life with drugs.
Again im not suggesting we shouldn't I was forced to go on an AD as the anxiety and depression got too much.
Would love to hear someone elses view. Can we survive this transition naturally? ????
jayneejay gailannie
Posted
totally relate to what you say ..
i my mid peri phase i was told i had higher cholesterol and borderline type 2 diabetes .. Which shocked the doctor as i am very slender 125lb and was fit and ate well and exercised ..
but now post meno these are okay again..
but ... Now i am Vit D deficient and have to take supplements ( again vit D is also a hormone )
i only use estriol vaginal ovules ( ovestinon) for my vaginal dryness which also reverses it and keeps urethra also healthy ... gyno suggested this and been using a year almost with great results ..
jay x
jayneejay
Posted
the premarin and prempo and also premique, prempak C etc are actually equine HRT made from pregant mares urine ( horses)
Pre = pregnant mare
jay x
jayneejay
Posted
I have weekly ones as i get reoccurring shingles 😩
Jay x
michelle50768 jayneejay
Posted
Have you gone through without using hrt?
Would love to know as im eight years in.
no hrt as yet cause no matter how bad it gets im still trying to do it naturally.
So much evidence for and againstx
VauxhallGirl gailannie
Posted
I am more of a "wait and see what happens" type of person....if all ticks along ok, I am going to keep going without HRT. It is possible to get through it fairly unscathed. so will try that route. If my body has other ideas, I will have to see what can be done without too much drug intervention.
michelle50768 VauxhallGirl
Posted
jayneejay michelle50768
Posted
i started peri age 39/40 had ten year peri no HRT
took supplements still do
i am two years post meno in couple of weeks ..
i have annual well woman checks here in spain private ..
have smear, 3D breast scan, colposcopy ( look at cervical cells close up)
transvaginal scan ( look at ovaries and uterine areas and bladder.
It was confirmed i have non functioning ovaries ( no follicles) post menopause ..
l am aged 51 ..
a good vit B complex helps ... Like Mega B from H&B containing 100mg of B6 ..
also i take chelated magnesium and Vit E and others.
and rainforeat food Maca 5.1 ( 2500mg capsule) they were great and i still take them..
jay x
michelle50768 jayneejay
Posted
Good to know you can get through it without hrt x
jayneejay
Posted
this seems to trigger shingles for me ..
so i have B12 injections ..
also i am Vit D defficient to my surprise .. Take 2200iu D3 daily ..
also Kelp 1000mg for hair health as mine sheds if i dont take them.
Post meno i was getting severe 20plus a day flushes again..
so .. My doc put me on Escitalopram anti depressants BUT low dose not for depression treatment .. These have stopped my severe flushea and also taken that anxiety edge off too..
i always refused AD's not realising very low dose helps meno problems
and considered an HRT alternative ..
for me i have had no side effects just improved life ..
doc suggested 10mg a day ( Escitalopram) but cautious me halved them to start to 5mg a day and i stayes with it as that amount helps me ..
jay x
jayneejay VauxhallGirl
Posted
see how it goes, stay positive and take action if required along the way
jayx
michelle50768 jayneejay
Posted
gailannie michelle50768
Posted
While im not diasagreeing with what you say I do find all this fir and against advice confusing. ....... after all menopause is a natural transition that every woman has to go through so therefore are our bodies not designed to deal with this change?
While it is true that EVERY WOMAN will go through menopause, and therefore it is a natural occurance in life, no one can deny that there are direct and unpleasant (to say the least) symptoms related to the lack of these sex steriods. Sometimes these annoying symptoms later become syndromes, then further down the road can then be diseases. It is very common that after we lose estradiol from our systems, woman become insulin resistant. Left untreated, this may later turn into diabetes. (As just one example.)
Each woman is different! And it is difficult to predict how her particular body will respond to the lack of these chemicals. But there is NO BACK UP system in our bodies to losing our sex steriods. The very best we have is that the body will attempt to give us estrogen in the form of esterone (E1) by producing it in fat cells. This is why woman get fat on their bellies after menopause, with that ever expanding waist line.
So that question, "Can we survive this transition naturally?" is a mixed bag in my mind. Yes, the loss of our sex steriods will not immediately kill you as the loss of a major steriod system would. But............would some woman be healthier and in better shape all around by using replacement therapy? Probably.
One prime example of this is that after menopause, our adrenal glands attempt to compensate, therefore our adrenal glands produce more steriods, specifically cortisol. High cortisol is very damaging to the body.
When I had mine tested, I was running very high and outside of range throughout the day. Any wonder that woman get anxiety and don't sleep well when we are over producing the flight or fight hormone? Not really.
I guess I've always looked at this from nature's point of view. We are not meant to live forever, no one does. So after we complete our reproductive years, nature sees us as "useless". We can on longer contribute to the survival of our species. Therefore, it makes since that our bodies decline in all ways. We lose our strength, stamina, the normal functioning of our cells, and our over all health heads south. Those symptoms, turn into syndromes and then disease. It is the circle of life.
michelle50768 gailannie
Edited
I suppose like you say it's a waitand see approach.
I have to add though im a carer in the community and have a few ladies in my care 90 and over. None of them have used hrt and vety healthy for their age. So I suppose one size doesn't fit all. If only things were simpler and there was a magic menopause pill.
Mu aunt had breast cancer so hrt was out of the qquestion so for ladies like that they have mo choice.
Decisions decisions xx
VauxhallGirl michelle50768
Edited
Of course, not one size fits all, and some women have awful symptoms of the meno. They need some sort of intervention just to function reasonably well.
I am counting my blessings that, so far, I am ticking along ok.
michelle50768 VauxhallGirl
Posted
We shall see
jayneejay michelle50768
Posted
but got there in the end ..
just listen to your body - relax if it asks and do what you can when days are good
jay x
VauxhallGirl jayneejay
Posted
I think being healthy when you approach this time of your life gives your body a helping hand to cope better.
I had a hysterecomy five weeks ago...so head first into meno...but so far just getting flushes and night sweats. Can handle those. Keeping fingers crossed that I can fly under the radar with other symptoms.
michelle50768 jayneejay
Posted
Im am very hard on myself a bit of a perfectionist. Recently been diagnosed aneamic due to frequent heavy bleeding. On iron tabs now so feeling bit better.
I struggle with the palpitations I hate them.
All heart tests were fine.
Thanks again x
VauxhallGirl michelle50768
Posted
susan21149 VauxhallGirl
Posted
amy341731 gailannie
Posted
Hi there- i know this is a couple years old but i found it to be very helpful and reassuring. I’m in the midst of a perimenopause “episode “ now and it’s awful!! I had only heard about hot flashes but the insomnia, anxiety, aches, pains, emotions are something I never expected and can barely handle! I hope you are well and I look forward to finding out all I can to reassure myself that I will be okay. 😊