Is there a thread here anywhere for menopausal women? I checked but couldn't find anything.

Is there an interest? I would love to have someone to talk to about different symproms, complaints, etc.

Such as...

Hot flashes? Every morning between 5 and 7!  

Weight gain?  Uh huuuhhhhh!! 

Irregular periods? Can't we be done alfreakinready?? 

Moodiness?  Look at me like that again and I am gonna rip your heart out! 

Depression?  Just last week I had an hour long cry!

Oh yeah, it's just boat loads of fun!

Lol Cindy!!

That's exactly what I mean! I told my dh I never know what I'm going to be like when I wake up in the morning, and what I'm like when I wake up in the morning is usually far, far away from what I am at noon, 3, 5, etc.!!

I just thought maybe there were other women who were going through what we are and wanted a place to talk....

Yes!  Please.

I'm glad I'm not the only one suffering from terrible mood swings.  Ugh.

How do you get your husband to understand that you're not responsible for the mood you're in....it's just hormones?

LOL Cindy

I believe I've been perimenopause since around October.  My periods changed for the better and worse.  My 5 days of cramps and back pain have vanished.  YEAH!  But now my once really regular almost to the day cycles vary from 18 to 28 days.  I'm willing to accept that without the constant pain though.

I haven't noticed the mood swings yet, though maybe my family has :)

No mood swings, YET.

But the once a month migraines have become, well, sometimes almost daily.

Everything else (weight gain, night sweats, fuzzy thinking) pales by comparison.

I didn't realize I was in perimenopause until I read a book that stated I don't have Alzheimer's--just perimenopause!!  I have to take my teenage son just about everywhere with me to use his brain/memory.

My hormone levels have been dropping steadily since 2003 when I was only 39 years old.

My doctor has been right on the ball with helping me with my symptoms.................prolonged periods, severe cramps, hot flashes, cold sweats and mood swings. My husband is so happy I'm being medicated and so am I. I couldn't even stand myself most days.

As for the weight gain, which was significant in the past 5 years (40 pounds) I've joined Weight Watchers and have taken off 17 pounds in 7 weeks. Best thing I've done!!!! I feel better and better every week.

Let's not forget the utter lack of motivation - probably tied to the lack of sleep.  It's killing me!!

I did discover, early on, a very helpful med.  Effexor is an anti-depressent, but taken at much lower than theraputic dosages, it does wonders for our kind of mood swings - AND....  all but eliminates hot flashes!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Heavenly!!!  No more crying at sappy commercials or cute puppies, no more "I love my blankets / I hate my blankets."

The hardest part for me is, anytime something new comes up, not knowing is it actaully something to worry about, or is it the menopause, or is it just normal aging? 

I'm 39 and just finished reading a book on pre-menopause.  I'll be making an appt with my gyn in the next few weeks to see what he thinks. 

I don't have anything on a regular basis (except for nightly feeling like a fire is coming out of my upper body.)  But I get really bad headaches, am moody --to the point the the other day I swear my head spun,! forgetful.  I'm still regular, which is pretty funny since I have PCOS and have only been regular for the past 2 years or less. From age 13-22 I probably only actually had less than a dozen periods -- so I figure I'll get all the menopause symptoms, except I'll continue to have periods until I'm, 96!!  That's my luck!

When I first started having trouble conceiving (trying 16+ yrs) I once joked that I'd probably have one of those 'change of life' babies.  Now I can only hope!

Is it possible to be perimenopausal at 38? Gyn said "you're not that lucky!", when I mentioned that I thought that's what I was experiencing...

Hi all,

I am 43 and have had symptoms for about a year now.  I dont have the night sweats or the hot flashes yet but I have the moodiness, the heavy flow and the weight gain.  I have gained about 15 lbs in the last year even though I eat healthy and am a regular exerciser.  The tension and the weight gain are the hardest for me.  I have been such an even keel person my whole life and like someone else mentioned I am not sure which person I will be when I wake up.  One day I am full of energy, my happy go lucky self who loves my life and the next I can cry on the way to work, want to quit my job and just keep driving to where I dont know.  I have such a great life, family, career that these feelings seem so strange.  It is nice to know that others are feeling these symptoms too.

I had a hysterectomy at the age of 28 and I can remember the first month after that as if it were yesterday.  It was December and I swear my DH could not do anything the right way to suit me.  I can remember just wanting to rip his eyes out for blinking the wrong way, his tongue out for swallowing the wrong way, and his nose off for breathing incorrectly!  I hated the weather, the holiday, people, sleeping, eating, etc.  I was absolutely miserable and didn't realize ANY of this until it was over.  Every thing I had always heard about menopause just came up and slapped me in the face and at 28? Boy, was I @#$^$!!!!  The week after Christmas, I started my prescription of Premarin and have been taking it since then (1982)  It was like someone had flipped the lightswitch.  Life was wonderful again!  This week my doctor tells me in the Spring, we're going to taper off of it!!!  YIKES!!  He wanted to do it now, but I am so not a winter person he figured we should wait until April.  If it were up to me, I would like to wait until at least a week or two after I'm dead!

The Wisdom of Menopause: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing During the Change :: Christiane Md Northrup

Is it possible to be perimenopausal at 38? Gyn said "you're not that lucky!", when I mentioned that I thought that's what I was experiencing...

Yes, it's completely possible.  Perimenopause can last up to 10 (or even 15) years.  My gyn blew me off about it as well. 

Another great book to read is Sexy Hormones by Lorna Vanderhaeghe.

I am 39, and I figure I am starting peri-menapuase.  My mom went through menapause at 35, my sister is 42 and started menapause at 40.  My periods are changing, I used to have ultra heavy flow and now it is a lot milder and the consistancy/quality of the flow is way different. (mucousy and clotty)  I am not ovulating every cycle either.  I used to ovulate every month no fail, now it's about once every three months or so.  (How can I tell?  Cervical mucus changes and when I ovulate I mug my husband nightly for about a week. I have my tubes tied so I am completely self regulated hormonally)  The insomia is just about killing me, either that or I now only need 5 hours or less of sleep each night.  The migraines are now becoming hormonally linked.  Which really sucks as my other triggers are way more controllable.  I started taking Estroven and that is helping alot.  :-)

Dona

Feel free to PM me if you'd like to chat.  What helped me:  black cohosh, Maca (gelatinized), and Evening Primrose Oil.  I also found a wonderful bioidentical natural hormone cream online. 

And once you have achieved that state known as "POST-menopause", be sure to treat yourself to Ursula K. LeGuin's essay on what an honorable thing it is to be a Crone.  It's entitled "The Space Crone" and it's the first piece in Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places.   Enjoy, ladies.

15 yrs and still counting. At least the flashes are just when I am upset. For a year, they were every 15 min. And I gushed heat and sweat. The good thing was my best friend went through the every 15 min flashes, too.  I refused to take hormones, due to the breast cancer in immediate family. Hopefully, I have dodged that bullet.