Perimenopause Questions

I am 42 years old and I have been told that I have been going through menopause now for 12 years. I got sick of hearing the wrong diagnosis and I never really found a doctor that would do testing on me. They always wanted to put a bandaid on the problem instead of getting to the root. They always wanted to use birth control. I was talking to a friend last year and she told me about a doctor that specializes in bio-identical hormones. I made an appointment and found out that the regular M. D.'s had missed out on the fact that all I needed was progesterone to even out my cycle. Since your cycle is all over the place and you are probably experiencing heavy bleeding and cramping with mood swings, I would say that you just need a dose of progesterone. I am not familiar with the doctors in your area but I would find someone that specializes in bio-identical hormones and does bloodwork for each individual hormone level. A lot of times if you google bio-identical hormones it might help you find someone in your area.

I am in the exact same boat as you -- 41 and in perimenopause based on bloodwork because my cycle became all over the place, too. I have been on Yaz for about six months now and while it is good to have my periods back on track, i am barely getting them which I guess is a good thing but am about to call my dr. to find out if that is "normal" to barely bleed while taking it. Anyhow, I do feel like it has helped me somewhat -- definitely lighter periods and my moods are better yet I also am suffering from adrenal fatigue and am on supplements to help with that. I would also like to check out bioidentical hormones further because I do believe in that route, yet need some form of birth control at the same time because I really can't get pregnant again at this stage in my life so I am very torn as to what to do. I hope that you keep getting more responses because I would like to hear more advice on this subject. But back to Yaz, I do think it has helped me quite a bit both physically and emotionally since I started to take it.

I was on Yaz between my kids. I highly recommend it. It is super low dose. I had no emotional side effects from it and it really helped with my periods. As for taking them over 35, just make sure you minimize your other risk factors, especially during those 3 months that you are on them. Good luck to you.

Lots of people will give you lots of different advice. If you trust your doctor, then do what he says. If you don't trust your doctor, find a new one. I am perimenopausal as well... I have been taking YAZ for 6 months or so. No more hormonally created irrational behavior. No queasiness. No bloat or cravings. It's working for me--I'll keep using it.

I'm 39 and had a surprise baby in April. I told the doc I didn't want to play Russian roulette again and he put me on Yaz. He was headed toward Ortho Tri Cyclene Lo, but I've used that before and honestly, "b**ch" is not strong enough a word!

The Yaz seems to be doing ok. I still get moody around "that time", but my kids' heads are still attached to their little bodies! So, that's different!

The Yaz has only 1 level of estrogen and then the 4 sugar pills. I'm doing pretty well on it.

I know there is an ad out now for people who have used Yaz and all these side effects. They are the same side effects as any other birth control pill. So, if you've seen that, don't let it freak you out.

This is the first B/C pill I've used where I haven't been a total monster. Like I said, still crabby - but at a tolerable level.

I'm 36 and was prescribed yaz for PMS. It was awful! I felt sick on and off the whole time, chills, sweats, fatigue... If you do take it, be very aware of changes going on in your body and personality! Stop taking it if you just don't feel like yourself!

I have no experience with either perimenopause, or Yaz. But I'm pretty sure I've seen those ambulance chaser lawyer commercials on TV lately involving birth controls, one of which I think was Yaz. But if they've found some adverse effect and have had enough time for the lawyers to be exploiting it, then maybe they've fixed the problem already? I don't know. Just maybe something to ask the DR about or look into.

I get so sick of doctors thinking all they have to do is prescribe birth control (in any form) and it will fix the problem. Yes it is an hormone issue. But these can be fixed in a much natural form. Myself, my mom, my sister & my clients have all found great results NATURALLY from Natural hormone balancing creams. Prolief (progeterone) & Phytoprolief (added phytoestrogens), botanically derived, TOPICAL hormonal creams.

We all know the effects of the "traditional" hormone replacements. That is why cancers have SKYROCKETED!!! These creams are a SAFE alternative with amazing results. I encourage you to do research. My friend who had a hysterectomy in her early 20's was put on Lupron??? to put her into menopause,Almost killed her. We heard from another gal the other day who went on it to because she was sick of dealing with hot flashes so she willingly went on Lupron (sp?) to throw her into menopause!!! Crazy. We told her about the cream.

I have some great resources & in fact I do natural hormone balancing classes. We have a couple coming up. 1 in Sept. & 1 in Oct. i'll message you my info. You can get results safely & feel great naturally. Take care! G

OK, Yaz would scare me because lately I have been hearing commercials saying if you have taken Yaz (or other contraceptives) you may be eligible for cash from a lawsuit, call this attorney. Personally I would rather have my body be healthy. Secondly I would personally rather take herbs than any drugs and if you can do it that way it would be great and perhaps even improve your overall health. I like Dr. Christopher's formulas, like hormonal changease, etc. You can do your own research at herballegacy.com or www.drchristophers.com or go to an herb store and find an herbologist that really knows their stuff. Through taking herbs I have founds ways to be much healthier. My moles are going away and my tonsils are smaller than they were several years ago. Eating a healthy diet will also help. Reducing milk, eating lots of fruits and vegetables and grains, replacing much of protein with nuts, like brazilnuts all can help. A lot of people in America are not eating and living in a healthy way, which is causing a lot of problems for our health. It takes some effort to be out of the norm, but it is very worth it.

One more thing, you can probably pick up from your grocery store and start taking right away is PMS tea. It has a lot of good general herbs that will help balance things, just don't stop there. :) I usually mix it with Stephens mint hot chocolate to mask the taste.

Another good book to check out is 'The Pause' by Lonnie Barbach. I liked it because it was reassuring, a lot of what goes on seems unrelated but may be the whacked out hormones.

Christine Nothrup is very good and definitely worth the read. Check the references in the books and you may find more that are helpful. Personally I preferred the 'natural' new agey answers over the doses of hormones that the doctors like to prescribe, I also had bad experiences with BC pills uears ago and did not want to go through it again. Those alternatives worked for me, even doubting that they would work didn't stop them from helping.

I really want to encourage you to start doing some research if you have time. There are lots of options out there these days! I read the book 'The Wisdom of Menopause' by Christiane Northrup which is full of great info. (It also has a few new-agey things which I chose to bypass.) She is an M.D. and has done tons of research on hormones, synthetic and natural -Yaz and the like are synthetic- and her findings are very helpful! It's a bit of a big book, but worth the effort. I keep mine handy as a referance guide. There is so much controversy around the whole hormone thing, and more and more people are asking questions instead of just accepting what the Dr. says to do. Yes, they are highly educated, and I'm glad we have them. But many just learn the traditional approach, and use it as a blanket. More and more Dr.s are beginning to explore options beyond traditional medicine which is fabulous, but not all are on board. Good luck, I hope you find your best options!

I'm currently taking yaz. I think it works quite well as I have PMDD and it really takes the edge off all the symptoms of PMDD (which includes depression, mood swings, cramps, and the like that interupt or otherwise affect your life). I think that it's even one of the only BC RX's to control PMDD so I'd hope it'd be better than your last experience. :) hope it helps. Also it definitely regulates the timing each month. If I don't start by noon the right day I get worried. ha ha.

Hi K.,
I have had a simular experience. Turns out, when I went to a Naturopathic Doctor we discovered my digestive system was way out of wack. I never knew this, but your hormone and immune function are based in the gut! Once I cleared my gut up, things started functioning like normal again. Since I am very sensitive to medicications, it was a relief to discover a natural route.
Good luck!
L.

K.,

I went through this at 31 yrs old. I opted not to go on anything at the time and figured amy body would balance out on it's own. When the hot flashes became unbearable, I tried all the natural remedies I could find, black cohash, combinations of different herbs, Arbonne creams (Prolief and the other one) Nothing worked for me.

Now, almost 10 yrs later, I'm on a VERY low dose hormone just to relieve the hot flashes. I couldn't stand it anymore! :) I talked to my Dr about the risks and the benefits and decided to go with it.

I didn't want to go on BC pills because my period could potentially start up again. If I'm not having babies - the last thing I want to do is bleed every month if I don't have to!

The best advice I can give you is to find a Dr you trust, talk about your options and the risks and benefits and go with what you feel is best for you.

Good luck and God Bless-
C.

Yaz is not a bad BC to be on. I was on it for about 6 months for the same reason.

Hi K.,

I highly recommend a couple of products that work wonders for these types of symptoms. We've actually done case studies around PMS and Menopause... they are really effective for anything hormonal. They're natural and definitely worth a shot, as there is a 45-day money back guarantee so you can really test drive the products and get all of your $ back if they're not effective.

The first one is Body Balance:

http://lifeforce.net/body-balance.php

And the other is OsteOmegaCare:

http://lifeforce.net/osteomegacare-vanilla.php

I'd be happy to give you more info if you'd like, or introduce you (over the phone) to the woman who has done the case studies...you can reach me @ ____@____.com or ###-###-####.

Hope this helps,

A.

If you're looking for an alternative, I've been reading this book called "Mastering your Metabolism" by, of all people, Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser. I didn't think I'd like the book because I don't necessarily care for her all the time, but it is a really good book. Even though the title is about metabolism, it's actually mostly about hormones and how we eat, how we are exposed to toxins, how we do life, creates hormone imbalances that cause all kinds of symptoms, especially for women. Just so you know, she does not advocate synthetic hormones, because of the risks you mentioned . . . and after 3 months on Yaz, then what, more hormones? (I'm not putting you down by any means, I'm actually in the same boat and am trying to decide what to do!) Check out the book, I read quite a bit in the aisle at Walmart before buying it. And, while some people want to balance hormones in order to lose weight, if you don't have any weight to lose, it's not really about weight either. I will warn you, however (being in the middle of this book and wanting to change things for the better and realizing it's a big task!), the stuff in this book is a complete lifestyle change for most people. We had already gotten rid of alot of toxins/hormone disruptors in our house a few years ago which really helped with my son't asthma, but we still have a long way to go with food at our house! Good luck!