Menopause..... - Boise,ID

I haven't hit this fun stage yet, but I feel woefully unprepared, so I appreciate you asking this and I hope you get some more great responses.

I stayed away from hormone replacement therapy. Too many bad side
effects. I decided to just live with the hot flashes and anything else that came my way. It really was not a big deal. Heck it saved on my heating bill.
When going thru menopause, in mid January you could find me walking
around the house in shorts and T-shirt LOL. We keep thermostat at about
66. Good luck going thru.

A GREAT BOOK:

"The Wisdom of Menopause"
by Christiane Northrup, M.D.

I take an all natural liquid calcium, I walk every other day, I accept the moodiness, I forget things much more, I have gained some weight... I have learned SO much from the book mentioned above !

Unfortunately treatment for the side effects of menopause isn't one size fits all. Your doctor gave you something that isn't working for you. That's ok. Give his office a call and let them know what's going on because they aren't going to know it isn't working if you don't tell them.

What kind of HRT are you on? You may need an adjustment.

Whatever choice you make about HRT is yours... just do your own research and don't let people scare you. There are side effects to getting out of bed everyday so you can't live in fear.

I went into menapause due to a completel hysterectomy 10 yrs ago. I am on the Vivelle Dot low dose and I've even cut that dose to once a week -week and a half.

I've nothing but good side effects but I was very healthy at the time and I still am. I've never had a hot flash, weight gain, low sex drive, etc.

Although you are not having a surgery, you might find www.hystersisters.com useful. It is mostly about hysterectomy but there are many threads and sections regarding HRT, RX vs holistic, etc.

Whatever you do, make you you and your Dr. on board with the treatment so you continue to be monitored properly.

Good luck.

I went thru menopause pretty early because of my thyroid issues. The hot flashes were the pits and hit me every hour day and night. I gave away all my warm bulky sweaters. Even in winter I had to dress in layers and felt hot half the time. And I had insomnia for the first time in my life. That lasted 2-3 years.

The first hormone replacement med didn't work for me. Then my doctor switched me to Femhrt and it was great. So good in fact that, being medicine averse, I reduced the dose to see what would happen and ended up only needing 2 pills per week instead of one daily. Now I'm off the meds and have an occasional "warm flash" about once a week. And I'm back to sleeping well again. Good luck getting through.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB!!!

I am currently menapausal at the ripe old age of 42.5 and My dr told me NO WAY are you menapausal when I lost all libido, cried all the time and did nothing but sleep for 3 months. He told me I was depressed and put me on antidepressants. Finally after no change I asked him to check me...and sure enough...VOILA...menapause. JOY.

Ok, maybe not joy, but it is nice not having periods all the time (I'm almost at my year mark for the SECOND TIME) and well...that's about the long and short of it isn't it??

So I'm curious why the knee jerk response was to put you on HRT?? I will not take the hormones til I've exhausted all efforts and I'm about to be admitted to the crazy house. It's just not good for you to take them. I've also heard horror stories about the side effect as well.

So I started taking herbs (black cohosh and borage oil and even Estroven Energy) and I started feeling "normal" again (what ever that means).

Give yourself some time. Took me a good 6 months without any hormones (I was on the pill) to get my brain and body back to square and then start all over. I was amazed at how good I felt after the "hump". I'd also see if this is the ONLY course of action for you. If he's hell bent on hormones, seek alternative remedies with a second opinion.

I've got ya back. And I'm sending good thoughts your way. :)

Get the doc to change your meds. You have the wrong kind if they aren't working...

Dawn

I've been taking the "GNC Women's Ultra Mega® Menopause" pills for awhile now and they help me. The "natural soy isoflavones" have helped me drastically with hot flashes!!

Good luck!!!

i had a really early menopause too. i accused my husband for a YEAR of messing around with the thermostat! poor man.........
i didn't do hormone replacement, and yes, menopause brings about some less than fun changes. (premarin is made from pregnant mares' urine, under conditions i will not contribute to furthering.) i suffered through with only mildly effective herbal treatments, kept a bowl of cool water and washcloth by my bed at night, and learned to have lubricant on hand. (sorry, dads.)
the loss of libido was the worst. i didn't feel like ME any more when i quit being all jazzed up most of the time. the good news is that it comes back, somewhat different but great in a new way. not entirely sure how to explain it.
susun weed has a cool book called 'the menopausal years' (or something like that) that helped me a lot.
the benefits to croning are subtle and sometimes take years to recognize, but they're real. there's not much i'd change at this point about it all (easy for me to say as the hot flashes have mostly subsided<G>.) well, i WOULD love to be as constantly, meltingly horny as i was as a young 'un. but what i've gained is yes, even better.
hang in there, young crone!
:) khairete
S.