menopause

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Melissa if you delete this I understand.OK,well I am in my early 40's and i am starting menopause so what I want to know is how you senior ladies that have already been here handled the mood swings, night sweats, hot flashes,etc.My doctor wants to put me on nedicine but I have to have surgery first because I have varicose veins so I'm wondering do any of you of some herbs or old home remedies or whatever that releive these symptoms?I fear the mood swings most because I dont want to be hateful with my family.I have been praying that the Lord will help me and I know He will.He always does.Willa.

-- willa (goodall6@hotmail.com), February 12, 2002

Answers

Willa, After a year and a half of being a witch with a B, I started on Prempro. It is both estrogen and progesterone. He has me on the lowest dose. My mood is MUCH MUCH better.

I am still having spotting and far apart irregular periods. Will be glad when it STOPS instead of this sputtering like a car running out of gas.

Luckily, I don't have the sweats and flashes, but I do recommend the meds. When our bodies evolved, humans didn't live this long, and our endocrine systems haven't learned to age as well as the rest of our systems have. GET HELP!

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), February 12, 2002.


Sorry about the spelling and leaving out words,hopeyou can understand me,I had to chase a two year old and I forgot to proof read.willa.

-- willa (goodall6@hotmail.com), February 12, 2002.

I started premenopause right after my last kid was born 7 years ago. I can tell ya' it's not fun having hot flashes and chasing toddlers at the same time!

What I did that really helped was ad soy to my diet. Tofu, soy flour mixed into my baking flour, soybeans ground and added to meatloaf. Just one of those little boxes of soy milk per day is all the soy you need to alleviate menopause symptoms.

I reacted very badly to birth control pills when I was much younger so I do not want to get in a position where I will need hormone therapy as I get older.

I think if I need extra estrogen I can get it through osmosis. I finally got through 15 years of diapers and Mother Goose and realized I was in for 15 years of teenage girls!

-- Laura (Ladybugwrangler@hotmail.com), February 12, 2002.


ooooo,,I HATE menopause

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 12, 2002.

You might ask at your closest (and most reliable) health food/dietary supplement/herb store. My mother-in-law started something a few years ago that is a natural product which really seems to help her, and keeps her off the synthetic stuff.

-- Christine in OK (cljford@mmcable.com), February 12, 2002.


I will be 54 in a month and am so happy that I have not experienced any mood swings, or night sweats or anything untoward at all..just clear evidence that nobody new will ever call me "mom" again. I have had many, many pateints over the years who have had all of some of these symptoms and have found a great deal of relief from taking soy supplements as well as vitamin E..there are studies upon studies that estrogen supplements alone are not the best because of the higher incidence of uterine cancer in women who only receive estrogen. A much safer combination for menopausal symptoms is a blend of estrogen and progesterone. I recommend the soy and vitamin E first for about 6 months, if that doesn't help significantly, consider the double hormone replacement therapy.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), February 12, 2002.

Willa--- I'll be 55 next month----Oh my Gosh & I admitted it on a public forum!!!!!! ha!

Mood swings are still there but not as bad as they were----I can still tell each month when I would have been haveing my period!!! It feels like my whole body will explode at any time!!!! I can't do the chemical route---as I couldn't do birth control pills---either----

I take a lot of vit B & B complex when I feel like killing someone!!! I eat soy nuts like candy-----vit--E--- but I still wake up many times every night with hot flashes----& still have them a lot---it seems to be worse when it would have been PMS---then when I would have normally had a period---is when I feel like my body will explode at any time----& also have the desire to kill!! ha!

I have learned to cope better than I did at first---as when my body first started this about 10 years ago or more---I would have panic attacks & my heart would beat until I thought it would come out of my chest-- & all sorts of great things----& all the time---I was also at that time careing for my Dad who was dyeing of cancer & takeing care of my MIL who had Alzheimers & running a motel 24 hours a day!!! It was terrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only God could have gotten me through that & not killed someone!!!! ha!

I guess---it is being able to learn your body's reactions & what time of month they seem worst---& doing your best to cope with things--- the more I learned that-- I was not the only one /who had all these things going on in their body-- I was better able to realize what was going on & I was ok!! I really would live! The book the "pause" I swear every reaction every woman in that book has had ---was written about me!!!! ha! My hubby will agree!!!! ha!

My natural-type doc--said that lots of times that women who are chemically sensative have more problems going through the change-- I'm alerigic to all chemicals---sooooo-- Keep praying Honey----read the poem about the woman & the purple dress & red hat & "You go girl"----but most of all/ try hard to keep a good sense of humor & be able to laugh at yourself & anything else that upsets you!!!

You truely are not alone & no two people are alike---& we are here if ya need us!!! Sonda

-- Sonda in Ks. (sgbruce@birch.net), February 13, 2002.


Black Cohosh!

-- Cindy (SE. IN) (atilrthehony@hotmail.com), February 13, 2002.

Oy vey! I've had hot flashes for over ten years now and my mother told me that my great-aunt,Nettie, had them into her 70's. Leave it to me to take after her in that way! I can't take hormone therapy as almost every relative on my mothers side of the family passed away from cancer! I'm allergic to soy, so that's out. For hot flashes I carry a battery operated fan and a small foldable one for church. Also layering clothing helps since you can take off a layer if your too warm. Hot flashes in 90 degree weather is pure &%**! I don't know if I have had mood swings, but there always is St. John's Wort for that only I can't take it as it interfers with my heart medication. Personally, I'd like to have every man who has made jokes about PMS, etc, have a few cycles, experience natural birth and menopause! LOL!

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), February 13, 2002.

Ardie, I'm with you, but most men (Stan?) would flatly state that they are already coping with monthly cycles, mood swings, etc!! Anyhow, I can't take estrogen because of migraine headaches, so I had to white-knuckle it for awhile. Then I discovered soy. That has helped alot, and you really can get used to the taste, or lack thereof, of tofu. It's actually very versatile, as it takes on the flavor of whatever you mix it with. I am also lactose-intolerant, so soy milk was a great discovery for me. But Willa, above everything else, it's time to be good to yourself. Take a walk, read a book you've been wanting to read, soak in a long bath, go to lunch or on a shopping trip, whatever you consider pampering. And above all else, enjoy the fact that you are now in a stage of life that can be the most creative and fulfilling you will ever know. And read Gail Sheehey's book "New Passages".

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), February 13, 2002.


Please, Willa, if at all possible read the book "What Your Doctor May NOT Tell You About Menopause", by Dr. John R. Lee with Virginia Hopkins.

In this book, he explains that in Western industrialized countries, due to all the plastics we're around and the hormones that are fed into the meats we eat, we are estrogen DOMINANT, and we're really lacking progesterone (not progestin). We do NOT need to take MORE estrogen, we need to balance it with natural progesterone.

This book (and natural progestrone) made a BIG difference in my life, my body, and my moods! I didn't go to a doctor, I followed the instructions in Dr. Lee's book.

-- Bonnie (51940@aeroinc.net), February 13, 2002.


read books by a female ob/gyn going thru it herself - Christanne Northrup - she has a website.

I agree with black cohosh !!

-- carol (kanogisdi@yahoo.com), February 14, 2002.


I agree with Bonnie, it's a great book. Also, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About "Premenopause" by the same authors. The natural progesterone has worked great for me and I definately plan on also using it all through those big "M" years. It helps you maintain your bone density too.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), February 14, 2002.

I totally agree with Bonnie and Terry, Dr. John Lee's two books were literally lifesavers for me, I had been to several doctors with vague and unsettling symptoms for many years before I finally read those two books, got a jar of natural progesterone cream from the co-op I belong to (Frontier Herb) and sleep through the night for the first time in years! Helped with the migraines tremendously, helped with the joint pains, and made me feel like a real person again!

I later found out through blood testing I was really in pre-menopause ( at that time I was only 39), with sky high FSH levels, and all the other synptoms that go with that. If only the ob/gyn's would warn us of these things, it would be so much easier!

I take red clover capsules for my symtoms as well, and after I am in true menopause I will take the black cohosh, but right now the red clover works for me, with the progesterone cream.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), February 14, 2002.


I concur with Bonnie, Terri, and Annie about Dr. Lee's book. I just read it last month and got the progesterone cream, slept like a baby FINALLY after years of waking up on/off all night. Had NO PMS this month either, what a relief as it had been getting worse and worse. Estrogen dominance was the culprit there, and in regards to breast cancer, uterine fibroids, osteoporosis, hyper-thyroidism, and most any other female problem according to Dr. Lee. Get this book, it'll really teach you a lot. I have read every book I could get my hands on about menopause and this one had some answers and is easy to read and understand.

-- (juanamustang@yahoo.com), February 16, 2002.


Thanks to all of you who answered.I know you all have helped me and proably others too.willa

-- willa (goodall6@hotmail.com), February 19, 2002.

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