Thanks for the reassurances! I’ve never had excruciating periods like I hear about so I hope it means menopause will be more mild. (famous last words) I have been more emotional and had a irregular period recently but that happens once in a while anyway. I would like to get through this Change thing because as you say, not worrying about my period would be sweet!!
P.S. At least the whole vaginal dryness/painful intercourse* won’t be an issue for this celibate woman.
*Geez, the things they put in TV ads these days!
I became quite dangerous during menopause. I would feel a flash coming and tell my kids “Get away from me-get away NOW!” After the first time they would flee to a friends house or to Grandmas… No,I didn’t ever hurt them,but they were frightened… I went to the Dr as soon as I could,and I was put on estrogen replacement and things settled down… Now in my 70s and still have some night sweats,even after uturin cancer related hysterectomy surgery
I went into perimenopause at age 40, which is early in my family. At age 42, I had to have an ovary removed due to cysts and pain. At the same time, the doc discovered I was loaded with endometriosis, which she cleared up. At age 46, the other ovary had to go so I hit full on menopause after six rocky years of what started as feeling a bit warm and having weird periods.
While the menopause itself caused incredibly strong hot flashes, it was a relief to be rid of the other problems that perimenopause caused. It is also a relief to not have to worry about ovarian cancer. Or running out of supplies.
I still have that doggone balloon cyst in my breast though.
I have followed in the family tradition of menopause at 57, and it’s been pretty non-eventful. Darned hot flashes can’t be bothered to show up on a day when I’m freezing at work while wearing long johns and four shirts, but in general they are pretty mild…just feel like I’m wearing too many clothes. No itchy feet…that seems really odd. No mood swings, a to-me normal level of sleeplessness, nothing really too bad. Like I mentioned in a thread once before, they won’t be writing any musicals about my menopause.
I just started getting them last year - right on time so that every photograph of me at my excellent 50th BD party shows me looking red faced and shiny. Nice.
My Dr recommended I try Estroven, which is some kind of supplement mix. I’m using the CVS generic version and it’s been great - ZERO hot flashes if I take it regularly, and the murderous psycho bitch episodes seem to have been dialed back as well.
Incidentally, my Dr is awesome - we had a great conversation when I went to her complaining about this new problem (at the time I was most concerned with the sudden psycho bitch flareups). She told me she completely understood because she is in the middle of all the same problems herself; emotional craziness, random tears, flashes etc. She shared an amusing anecdote about another patient who didn’t want to believe she was experiencing menopausal symptoms. So, the Dr started listing them: temperature fluctuations, insomnia, moodiness etc, then asked her, very gently and carefully [imagine this in her beautiful Nigerian accent] “Do you sometimes feel like you…want to kill him?” and the patient answered “HOW DO YOU KNOW MY HUSBAND?!?” like the Dr had ESP or something. Mucho laughing.
My Dr is all “MMm, mmm, mm, girl, it’s not just your man. It’s ALL OF THEM.” Heh. Or all of us, more likely.
Good luck, y’allz. I’ll take this shit over the Fibroids from Hell and the accompanying Death Bleeds anyday.
My experience is this: not one single woman in my family on either side ever had ‘big deal’ menopause. I’ve occasionally talked to a woman who had issues, but these I could count on the fingers of one hand.
What I did have was that as I got older I lost my heat tolerance and couldn’t stand to exercise in the summer, so I took up figure skating. My heat tolerance came back, but I stuck with the skating.
I’ve had numerous hot flashes, very similar to what is described in the OP, just sans the itchiness. I’m a 35 year old male however. :eek: Mine ain’t hormone relate though, mine are spinal cord injury-related.
I’m 43, and I’ve been having hot flashes in “batches” for the past year or so: I’ll have several a day for a month or two, then they go away, then they come back. The irregular periods started a couple years ago, too, but my doctor said she won’t consider a perimenopause diagnosis until I’ve gone at least 12 weeks without a period (a mark I hit last week).
Anyway, my face doesn’t get flushed or particularly warm, but the rest of me suddenly sweats. I’ve been sitting on a couch next to someone when I get one, and have been told that they can feel the heat coming off me for those few seconds. I tend to run warm in general, so hot flashes can totally kiss my ass – especially when they wake me up in the middle of the night, which always means waking up twice because after I throw off the sheet/blanket I’ll wake up again when I get too cold.
My last period was at Thanksgiving. I was having regular hot flashes during December and January, but they seem to have calmed down now. Not sure if that means my period will be returning soon. I was pretty regular before, and I HATE not knowing what’s going on/when things are going to happen. All of this menstruation stuff is complete bullshit. :mad:
(Like others in this thread, I have no idea when other women in my family have gone through menopause: my mom had a hysterectomy in her 30s, and both of my grandmothers are dead [and my mom has no memory of when her mother went through it].)
I would love to have your experience. You can see that a number of us in this thread don’t.
As for itchy feet, I did some Googling and it appears histamine may be the culprit. I’m not sure what to do about that, but I’ve found that lighter socks so my feet don’t get overly warm do help.
I asked my mother about her perimenopause/menopause, and she made it out to be no big deal. But I think she’s forgotten how she was during that time. I have memories of her crying for no reason, and her having to wear Depends to deal with the super heavy blood flow. She may not have had hot flashes, but the other stuff she had was bad enough.
I’ve always been especially sensitive to my hormones. My periods themselves aren’t bad. Inconvenient, but I’m not wracked by debilitating cramps or anything. But I do seem to deal with more intense PMS than “normal”. For a week each month, I become a stuttering, clumsy, brain-addled fool. I withdraw from others because I feel so stupid and overwhelmed.
My guess is that I don’t make a whole lot of estrogen to begin with. So when it drops just a little, I feel it bad. I’m going to start eating more soy to see if this helps.
Please read thisand if it rings as true for you as it does in describing how I felt every month for two decades (cost me friends, jobs, boyfriends), go to the grocery or drugstore and pick up a bottle of evening primrose oil. It might be $10. At 2.5 weeks after your period starts, take one every 4-6 hours daily through the second full day of your next period and if it doesn’t help those symptoms then you’re out $10 (plus it can be good for your heart anyway). If you were my neighbor I’d walk over and bring you a bottle from my stash.
