Anyone else menopausal?

[taichiperson]

I'm currently suffering hot flushes, sleep disturbance and mood swings. Anyone else out there want to compare symptoms or offer advice and/or sympathy? I'm going crazy and would appreciate being able to discuss it with fellow sufferers.

[boxtops]

Go for HRT, taichi - I went on it as soon as my symptoms started, and never looked back. I had the patches. After a few years, I changed to less strong patches, and came off them altogether a year or so later. No problems at all - and no symptoms.

[taichiperson]

I don't want to take hormones - I don't like to mess with them and never went on the pill, but thanks for the advice, if I get desperate you never know ;)

[boxtops]

I never had the pill, and there is a weeny higher incidence of breast cancer if you are on HRT - but the benefits are massive - take it from one who knows!

[nungate]

Have the mood swings and the occasional hot flush, I find the worst thing is the night sweats - a two pair of pyjamas night is a good one. I haven't taken anything really, I took black cohosh for a while which helped with the night sweats, but I haven't got around to buying some more, though I saw something for that advertised in our local herbalist which I would like to try though for the life if me I can't remember what it was - meno something?
I've never felt the need to take anything else as I seem to be getting through this reasonably well (touch wood)

[woofgang]

I turned down premarin because I don't like how its produced and the patches turned me into the middle aged hormonal teen from hell so I did it cold turkey. I never found any alternative solution which worked except for the progesterone cream which helped for about three years.

Stuff I found that worked
Wear natural fibres especially underwear
cool showers
fans
an evian spray can
wear layers so you can peel off.
Drink more water
limit caffeine
gave up red wine because it made me feel like carp

stuff that didn't help
giving up alcohol
giving up chocolate
chasteberry
black cohosh
red clover
soy products
menopause bread
ginseng
menopause vitamin tablets

its now about 16 years and I still get the hot flushes but have learned to channel the moodswings. The most fun was the giddy spells that came with the night hot flushes. They made me feel like i was falling backwards...soon learned to roll over onto my back as i felt the onset as the sensation of falling backward upwards if caught by one when lying on my stomach is indescribable and not to be willingly repeated. Believe it or not you get used to the sleep disturbance.

[vegasmad]

Menosan (sage drops or tablets) work well for night sweats and hot flushes. You can get them at health stores.

[daffy654]

You can get a natural hormone replacement cream that has none of the side effects of synthetic HRT.

http://www.progestero...progesteronecream.htm

I started using it about 2 weeks ago so haven't really seen improvements yet but I figured that this was definitely worth a try.

[woofgang]

daffy that's the one I found helpful

[Maydup]

OH and I have no heating in the bedroom and the lightest 3 tog duvet on the bed. We then have a single snug blanket each which we can pull on and off as needbe. It helps to have layers in bed as well as with clothes.

Do you take any natural remedies? I haven't tried any natural or unatural, but find the mood swings difficult and might think about something soon.

[Ann]

I still get hot flushes in the night 13 years on from the menopause! Most of it is because of the bed we bought 4 years ago - a really comfy Silent Night top of the range king size bed with Miracoil memory foam topper. BEWARE anything with memory foam retains your body heat so hopeless for hot sweats! I didn't know this at the time! Can't afford to buy another, besides Hubby really likes it so it looks as if I'm stuck with it (bed AND husband Ha ha )

[nungate]

I tend to sleep on the bed these days and not in it - I also have a fan running most of the night anything to keep cool

[taichiperson]

Wow lots of info there, thanks all :)

It's early days for me, only had the flushes for a week or so, no sweating (yet?) As I implied, I'd prefer to take something natural - I looked in my local Boots and was bamboozled by the range of pills etc, all a tenner a go at least.

Woofgang. I like your list. I never take ginseng as when I tried it, after a week I couldn't sleep and it took a week to come down off it lol.

[saxy_jag]

You sound like me eight months ago. I didn't want hormone treatment either and my doctor agreed it wouldn't have been appropriate for me. She prescribed Citalopram. It's actually an antidepressant and prescribed off-licence for menopausal symptoms. However, it's monitored very carefully, and I'm pretty much back to my old self. I'm sleeping through the night again, staying cool (believe me, a hot flush when you're playing a solo in the middle of a concert is no fun) and I'm so laid back these days I'm almost horizontal. No horrid side-effects and my doctor and I are now working to gradually reduce the dose.

[taichiperson]

Also, tell me about the memory foam! Unfortunately we have a futon which is rather hard and memory foam is the only thing that softens it. I've been waking up anything up to three times a night flinging everything off - though I'm cold when I go to bed so am already covered ankle to wrist.

[woofgang]

I don't have any more problem with memory foam than with a normal mattress but ours has a cotton jersey cover on it and cotton sheets. Tried sage tablets as well, also menopace, neither helped.

[sherrardk]

I am so not looking forward to this stage of my life!

[woofgang]

Its better than the option; no worse than puberty and wayyyyy better than 12 or 13 bouts of PMS and period pain a year.

[welshlibranr]

I went the HRT route, had an early menopause!......was hell, but HRT helped me so much, before that I was just rubbish!.......my memory was awful, I had really bad night sweats, and my mood swings were just terrible!.........I'm with HRT!..........

[woofgang]

If it had worked for me, I would be a fan too.

[nungate]

Oh Sherrard - listen to Woofgang - she's got it right no more misery every month - my best beloved thought he was living in the Hammer House of Hormones! He still is to a certain extent our daughter still lives at home and then there's me - occasionally..................