Symptoms of post-menopausal Options

[jmbutterfly8]

Hi, it's been a while since I have been on the board, but nice to check in and touch base. I am post-menopause, I'm 55 yrs old, and the severe symptoms I had since I was in pre & peri-menopause (began at 46) are passed now. I have some new symptoms with occasional sweating, if I eat a high-carb meal for sure! I have to say a loud "Amen" to most of those symptoms: from beginning with eratic mood swings (full blown depression with anxiety like never before) began at 46 years, went into severe hot flashes, and cold sweats, insomnia, panic attacks, for 6 years (47yrs - 53 yrs old). I was not able to work & had to go in-hospital for medications to get depression & anxiety stabilized (took 3 years). Many of the meds had side effects worse than the raw depression/anxiety!! I have come out of the hurricane now fairly stabilized very few hot flashes, sleep very well (thanks to Effexor and Seroquel), have better energy -- but unfortunately I live with deg. arthritis, systemic in all parts of my body, spine, hips, hands (past 4 years have been with two major surgerys - hand, basal joint and carpal tunnel reconstruction) and surprise right hip (total hip replacement)! I can't keep cartilage in my system. DDD (Degenerative Disc Disease) is rampant in my spine, close to surgery for L-4,5 going into severe degeneration. I wish my story could be more upbeat and happy, but I have had to live with chronic arthritic & nerve pain (neuropathy) for past 10 years. But I am forging through, with alot of pain medication and rest -- my mind is clear, no anxieties/panic attacks taking over even in the worse pain episodes with my arthritis. I am sleeping wonderfully and glad I have the worse behind me now.

[joliejacq]

jmbutterfly8, Thanks so much for that. What's most striking is your comment that although you're living with terrible physical pain, the crushing anxiety of perimenopause isn't there. This is so encouraging! I had a terrible depressive episode in April, and am now stabilized with Lexapro. I've been fearing how I might handle things in the future - will every loss bring the depression back? You've encouraged me to believe I might be able to handle whatever comes. I'm so sorry you're dealing with these awful things, and pray that there are approaches/medications to get you out of pain. Research is always going on, and I remain hopeful that many of today's medical problems will one day have quick cures. Bless you! Jacquie

[zjsurfer]

jmbutterly, I pray your symptoms ease and your arthritis goes into remission...my mom had severe arthritis so I've seen what it can do. Do take care of yourself! Zelma

[Dunnie]

Please help me. Does anyone have white chin hairs since they entered menopause? I have one or two every month that I pluck, I find them disgusting. Is there anything to get rid of them for good?

[matoaka]

Yep, I think it comes with the territory! Ain't meno grand?? I have dreams that I'm totally incompacitated and my husband brings me tweezers instead of flowers! If you're tired of tweezing, I'd call a dermatologist... she'd have other options for you. Keep the faith, Susan

[CSugarGrove]

Dunnie, I had a white EYELASH! I noticed it because something was in my line of vision. I looked in the mirror and saw it! I was so disgusted I pulled out a whole bunch and it was still there, so I tweezed it and pulled even more black ones out. I thought I was rid of it then, but IT CAME BACK! Once again, I pulled out too many trying to get it. But this time, it has not come back (yet).

[otter]

Hey CSugarGrove: So we ALL want to know: Do you have ANY eyelashes left now?? I may have to relinquish my role as President of the Pluckers Club. You have really outdone me!! Otter :cool:

[CSugarGrove]

Otter, yes, they grew back, but no more white ones so far. The darn white ones don't curl up at all, and stick straight down, so you see this little white blur all the time. That's how I found it. I was telling my friend about it, and she got bitchy and said, "Well, I wear so much mascara that I wouldn't notice white eyelashes anyhow." Meow.......

[fatdanser]

Hi there... I've been reading many posts in the post menopause forum. It seems like anxiety and panic attacks are large around here as well as arthritis, depression, and just getting through each day with pain. But this forum is the only one I have found on post menopause where the moderators don't go nuts with deleting or afraid of sensitive topics. This is wonderful!! It is comforting to find many post menopausal women of my own age going through the same tough issues. I had a hell of a perimenopause. Since the whole menopause process is now documented to be ten to thirteen years I know when exactly I entered the perimenopausal phase and that was around 39. Fatigue, severe exhaustion was the worst for me. Any stress of any kind made me exhausted and this lasted throughout the following 14 years until I had my last period July 2001. I am 56 now and post menopause is much better but there are still problems which I can now handle when in peri I just couldn't. The worst for me has been the Depression and anxiety attacks. Oh yeah, the sleep pattern is all screwed up. Sometimes I can sleep for days and then the insomnia works its deprivation on my nerves. I found that every tiny problem no matter if it is physical, mental, emotional is exacerbated by the whole menopause process. And yet, all those years gave me time (aka the pause) to reinvent myself or rather get to know who I really am as a human being, not just a female. Perimenopause put me through hell but through it I learned so much about life. I had to slow down, no, I was forced to slow down. I couldn't handle stress even if I perceived something to be stressful I would fall apart. I had a full breakdown when I was 45 and it took years to climb out of it. I am still in recovery and believe I will have to manage my mental health for the rest of my life. If it hadn't had been for perimenopause and all of the trials it put me through I would probably had died of a heart attack or stress related disease. I was on the fast track of a artist in a challenging and competitive field and I had to keep-up with the latest and greatest in order to make a living all the time. But that all came to a screeching halt for me when I was diagnosed with progressive hearing loss and the loss of my lifelong career as a result. Anyway, what can I say? Perimenopause does have benefits alongwith all the pain and frightening new things that keep popping up during it all. Reflecting back upon all those years of sleeping, depression, despair, ugliness, isolation, loss, emotional fragility, and dysfunction and weight gain, I learned that all women who survive the menopause process come out better people, wiser, more beautiful than they ever were...and that I am one of them. Many women in the menopause stage commit suicide in large numbers. But this fact is not broadcast like elder and teen suicide. Why? well, maybe it's because menopause is still half in the closet in our patriarchal cultures. I try to talk about menopause whenever I see there is a reason for mention. I love to watch other's reactions to this word and especially to post menopause. There is a blindness which comes over a person's whole demeanor, a blindness of 'we don't want to go there'. It is still so uncomfortable for people to even just consider for one moment. I think it's about aging and that scares us. But talking about it seems to open people up a little more even through their blindness. Hmmmmm Well, now I'm two plus years in post, feeling much better, but there are new things happening all the time still....mostly physically now. I am finding my arthritis is candida (yeast) related as well as a result of heavy weight gain. The loss of estrogen in post menopause really makes the arthritis worsen. Not enough estrogen to keep the joints lubricated. I can only stand up for about two hours a day now and walking is pretty difficult, so my shopping hobby has lightened up alot....do miss the shopping and somehow on-line shopping isn't the same is it? I guess what I am trying to say is that post menopause so far is much better than perimenopause, thank all the gods for this! But that doesn't mean I'm home free as I am learning from the many posts I've been reading here. One of my cousins who is 60 is still having periods, still in perimenopause I guess. She recently had to have a hysterectomy due to a fibroid which was ignored for too long. She's kind of in denial about the whole process. She says that she feels so much better now after the operation and can't for the periods to stop. HA! That's all for now....thanks to all who are posting about menopause, it is helping me so much.... fatdanser

[CSugarGrove]

Hi fatdanser, I was dismayed to read that many women in menopause commit suicide. This is terrible and I did not know about it. I wonder if they are completely through the transition, or still getting through it. You're right on target about the "blindness" in other people when we mention menopause in public conversation. Because of this wonderful website and all of my meno sisters guiding me through the insanity, I have developed a very open attitude and I got used to openly discussing everything about it without any shame. But I've been hit with the very same closed reaction in my daily life, even in other women who I know must be dealing it. Bring up meno insomnia or any of the other 33 symptoms, and the room clears out. I can come to PowerSurge and ask any question in my head, and I get intelligent and thoughtful replies that are enlightening, not to mention solving whatever problem I have. The most healing thing is that no matter what has ailed me, from dry mouth to panic attacks to relationship issues, someone out there always says, "I've been through that, too." I can't think of anything more comforting than this. Last spring my weight had climbed to probably over 200, and I'm only 5'4" tall. I didn't weigh myself, but started Weight Watchers, expecting to have problems losing weight now that I'm middle-aged. Seven months later, I've dropped from women's size 22 to size 12. So I guess the myth that we have to be overweight in middle-age is not always true. I didn't notice that I lost any slower now than when I was young, although I still have a fat roll on my stomach that I can't seem to burn off. I think that's because stomach fat provides a low level of estrogen, while fat in other places does not. So the body does not want to burn this off....another gem of wisdom I learned here. Otherwise, I feel great now. I had probably 33 of the 34 meno symptoms a few years ago, but they have all tapered off and gone away. I still run into difficult periods, when I'll get a few symptoms. But they go away, and life goes on. So there is life after meno. I only wish I could have told that to some of the women who committed suicide, if they did it because they felt so bad and had lost hope.

[chriscarol]

A woman in perimenopause is three times more likely to be depressed than at any other stage in her life. As a psychiatrist told my sister, "I've had to hospitalize women in peri." Woman are also more likely to be hospitalized or commit suicide before their periods. I'm slender with arthritis, which is genetic and caused by using my hands extensively all my life. Don't even get me started on my back. I don't expect these problems to abate in post, but I swear oscillating hormones diminish my natural endorphins. I've also had women open up when I'd mentioned the subject, nodding in agreement to the symptoms. Oh, I do think people are in denial about aging. I never had a very good sense of denial. My husband establishes rapport, in sales, by bringing up my meno with middle aged ladies, and then asking about their experience. Hey, whatever works. Good luck on the diets. Actually, my sister found it easier to lose pounds in post when the hormonal cravings disipated. I'm glad you post ladies feel better!

[alice3]

OOh Slinky! CSugargrove! Talking of talking of menopause, I started talking about it to my much younger sister in law. I glanced at DH and noticed that uncomfortable look as if to say "Why are you dragging this up now?" I'll suffer in silence then!

[CSugarGrove]

I'd say "TOO BAD" to the dh, alice. If I want to talk about anything to do with meno to my husband, he has learned that it's easier to shut up and supposedly "listen" to me for a few minutes. Well, so what, I took care of him while he had knee surgery and I gave him medicine and waited on him. He can listen to me if I want to talk about meno symptoms. Chris, my hat is off to you. I've never, NEVER been slender in my life, and I won't be, either. I love to eat everything and I've always had a weight problem, even as a child. I can't understand slender people, but I do admire them. :wink:

[fatdanser]

Hi again, I just want to mention a fact I learned from my electrolysist years ago....DON'T PLUCK! shaving is better. Reason: when we pluck the root follicle twists or get crooked for some reason. When the electrolysist tries to zap the root it is harder to do and so you will have to have much more work done, a longer period of healing, and higher cost. Shaving or cutting with scissors doesn't affect the root and is easy for the electrolysist to penetrate and zap. I need to clarify a statement I made about my cousin who is finished with menopause now due to a hysterectomy. I mistyped my last sentence in my recent post because I was thinking one thing instead of what I was really saying....HA! I meant to write that she is very glad that her periods are over. Oh well.... Yes, suicide is prevalent in the whole process of suicide from my readings I have found. Through my own experience of wanting to end it all I can totally agree. What is interesting is that more women try to commit suicide but it is men who succeed. And men are more likely to use a pistol or weapon of some sort to do the job whereas women prefer sleeping pills and drugs. Again I can see this. I am what the psychiatric field labels a Major Depressive, recurring, atypical with ideations of suicide. My "ideations" now that I am in post only happen now when I eat too much sugar and simultaneously can't sleep due to the insomnia of post. When this happens I will use sleeping aids and because of the arthritis I will use IBprofen. So this combination of SUGAR, IB, SLEEPAIDS, and INSOMNIA becomes a lethal dose of chemical disorder in my emotional centers of my brain (amygdala) and I can't help but see life as hopeless and my part in it worthless and so I begin my plot to do the deed. I know now when I get to this point to pop a few more Effexor XR than usual and soon I am able to think rationally and stop the sugar especially. Sleep eventually follows from shear emotional exhaustion and I am renewed and always marvel at how I could ever get down so far. "Depression is a wimp of a word", William Styron writes in his reputable Memoir of Madness, Darkness Visible. YES! Melancholia fits better but it still doesn't sum up all the agony and feelings of a life voided out, burnt out, guts spilled out leaving dried blood everywhere. I could write a book on Depression from what I have gone through in perimenopause but the one thing which is clear is that I had a propensity for severe Depression from a young age...mainly adolescence. Sugar was my drug and my best friend, my only life's pleasure and the mainstay of my diet. Amazingly I am not a diabetic..yet. Lastly, to the Husband who cringes at the subject of menopause: get over it! Menopause happens and if it wasn't for women having ovaries and the whole menses process, he wouldn't be here! It is in his benefit to learn about his female partner's physical changes. Too many women suffer in silence because they are afraid of the people who put menopause down which most assuredly invalidates the whole being of woman. Have we women become so accumstomed to being put down that we are satisfied to let our men living in arrogant ignorance? Is it better to keep our men uninformed and why would that be? The more we inform others in our close environments the better it is for them and you. No matter that they poo-poo the subject; that should not stop a woman from expressing the changes she is experiencing and in fact when others do poo-poo the subject then this is a grand opportunity to educate and open up a line of positive communication. Facts and statistics work wonders on men. Tell your husband that there are more women today going through menopause than ever before in the history of human kind. Make sure you can back up that fact too which is easily done by going to the internet. Then tell him that this fact will affect market costs because companies see numbers rise in this age group and so their products are going to be targeting the menopause group more than others today. (he might argue that fact, but he will begin to notice this truth when he watches TV or reads a magazine or hears others talk about their wives, girlfriends, or whatever he will have an open window in his thinking now). Also, because such a large population is going through menopause---- tell him how long it takes for menopause to happen (10-13 years and that's only what the medical professional has documented so this is not set in stone and could be more actually) because this large group is physically and psychically evolving everything is going to subtly be rerouted, just as a river gently shifts the land around it and manuevers itself into a new direction slowly and deliberately, menopausal women will be making large changes in global attitudes about absolutely everything in our human worlds. Get the statistics from websites on menopause, print them out and hand them to him. Make it fun, cut out facts and stick them under a cookie, on his shaving mirror, on the refrigerator under his favorite magnet, on the review mirror of his car. Men think in linear terms, logic fact beginning and endings competition right and wrong. So approaching the subject of menopause in his terms will positively help you more than you can imagine. Men are children in this area of female reproduction facts and it scares them. Instead of helping him turn off his light switch, help him turn it on and then watch the good that happens and how you and all women benefit just from one man's gaining more knowledge about women. We are the teachers of this time and we women need to be confident in our right of passage and can do so much good right now through informing and letting our loved ones see what we are going through. Fatdanser

[fatdanser]

Hi again,
I just want to mention a fact I learned from my electrolysist years ago....DON'T PLUCK! shaving is better. Reason: when we pluck the root follicle twists or get crooked for some reason. When the electrolysist tries to zap the root it is harder to do and so you will have to have much more work done, a longer period of healing, and higher cost. Shaving or cutting with scissors doesn't affect the root and is easy for the electrolysist to penetrate and zap.

I need to clarify a statement I made about my cousin who is finished with menopause now due to a hysterectomy. I mistyped my last sentence in my recent post because I was thinking one thing instead of what I was really saying....HA! I meant to write that she is very glad that her periods are over. Oh well....

Yes, suicide is prevalent in the whole process of suicide from my readings I have found. Through my own experience of wanting to end it all I can totally agree. What is interesting is that more women try to commit suicide but it is men who succeed. And men are more likely to use a pistol or weapon of some sort to do the job whereas women prefer sleeping pills and drugs. Again I can see this. I am what the psychiatric field labels a Major Depressive, recurring, atypical with ideations of suicide. My "ideations" now that I am in post only happen now when I eat too much sugar and simultaneously can't sleep due to the insomnia of post. When this happens I will use sleeping aids and because of the arthritis I will use IBprofen. So this combination of SUGAR, IB, SLEEPAIDS, and INSOMNIA becomes a lethal dose of chemical disorder in my emotional centers of my brain (amygdala) and I can't help but see life as hopeless and my part in it worthless and so I begin my plot to do the deed. I know now when I get to this point to pop a few more Effexor XR than usual and soon I am able to think rationally and stop the sugar especially. Sleep eventually follows from shear emotional exhaustion and I am renewed and always marvel at how I could ever get down so far.

"Depression is a wimp of a word", William Styron writes in his reputable Memoir of Madness, Darkness Visible. YES! Melancholia fits better but it still doesn't sum up all the agony and feelings of a life voided out, burnt out, guts spilled out leaving dried blood everywhere. I could write a book on Depression from what I have gone through in perimenopause but the one thing which is clear is that I had a propensity for severe Depression from a young age...mainly adolescence. Sugar was my drug and my best friend, my only life's pleasure and the mainstay of my diet. Amazingly I am not a diabetic..yet.

Lastly, to the Husband who cringes at the subject of menopause: get over it! Menopause happens and if it wasn't for women having ovaries and the whole menses process, he wouldn't be here! It is in his benefit to learn about his female partner's physical changes. Too many women suffer in silence because they are afraid of the people who put menopause down which most assuredly invalidates the whole being of woman. Have we women become so accumstomed to being put down that we are satisfied to let our men living in arrogant ignorance? Is it better to keep our men uninformed and why would that be?

The more we inform others in our close environments the better it is for them and you. No matter that they poo-poo the subject; that should not stop a woman from expressing the changes she is experiencing and in fact when others do poo-poo the subject then this is a grand opportunity to educate and open up a line of positive communication.

Facts and statistics work wonders on men. Tell your husband that there are more women today going through menopause than ever before in the history of human kind. Make sure you can back up that fact too which is easily done by going to the internet. Then tell him that this fact will affect market costs because companies see numbers rise in this age group and so their products are going to be targeting the menopause group more than others today. (he might argue that fact, but he will begin to notice this truth when he watches TV or reads a magazine or hears others talk about their wives, girlfriends, or whatever he will have an open window in his thinking now). Also, because such a large population is going through menopause---- tell him how long it takes for menopause to happen (10-13 years and that's only what the medical professional has documented so this is not set in stone and could be more actually) because this large group is physically and psychically evolving everything is going to subtly be rerouted, just as a river gently shifts the land around it and manuevers itself into a new direction slowly and deliberately, menopausal women will be making large changes in global attitudes about absolutely everything in our human worlds. Get the statistics from websites on menopause, print them out and hand them to him. Make it fun, cut out facts and stick them under a cookie, on his shaving mirror, on the refrigerator under his favorite magnet, on the review mirror of his car. Men think in linear terms, logic fact beginning and endings competition right and wrong. So approaching the subject of menopause in his terms will positively help you more than you can imagine. Men are children in this area of female reproduction facts and it scares them. Instead of helping him turn off his light switch, help him turn it on and then watch the good that happens and how you and all women benefit just from one man's gaining more knowledge about women.

We are the teachers of this time and we women need to be confident in our right of passage and can do so much good right now through informing and letting our loved ones see what we are going through.

Fatdanser

[LindaSueDallas]

(I may have mistakenly hit the send button twice--a bad typing habit, NOT a post menopause symptom!).

I went off Estratest about 6 months ago because of all the negative press, etc. This was the second time I went off, the first time the hot flashes returned with such a vengeance that I just couldn't see living in such heat hell. This time, much to my surprise...no hot flashes (and I had my last period several years ago). So, I thought, hmmm this is great, I don't need anything (I'm 55 and started menopause at 51). Well, I've noticed that my lifelong tendency to depression and anxiety has seriously worsened over the past several months as has the sleeplessness. Since I'm still functioning well at work, when I discussed this with my psychiatrist (who just dispenses the anti-depressant drugs), he didn't seem to think there was any reason for concern. When I went to a women's conference recently and we had to tell our "lifestory", I literally broke down and cried for an hour in front of 20 women. Not that this would be unlike me necessarily, but apparently my feelings of hopelessness, which I really hadn't shared much with anyone, surfaced with these very caring women and they urged me as a group to get some help. It's occurred to me since reading some of these posts and just some general vanity issues concerning hormone replacement and how it could positively effect my ongoing hair loss, that perhaps I'm not as symptom free as I had thought. Im going to do the saliva tests with Pete and see if I can start feeling better with some combination of NHRT.

[chriscarol]

"Darkness Visible," was a wonderful book. I guess literary success doesn't
innoculate one against depression.

Fatsdancer, You know your stuff.

There are some dangers in classifying hormonal occurences as mental disorders.
The psychiatrists are still arguing whether to classify PMDD as a mood disorder in the DSM 1V. Right now it's listed "under further study." A type of menopausal
depression was in the DSM III, but omitted from the DSM lV. Rather than
being patriarcal, I believe this is more of a feminist issue. Nevertheless, I
had every last symptom of PMDD, which makes for one miserable perimeno.
A previous history of depression or anxiety will also make this one rough ride.

[julief]

Amen - fatdancer ............

I take my hat off to you and your determination and ENDURANCE. Your creativity shines out

Julie x

[chriscarol]

Ummmm, regarding men, my husbands saw a couple decades of worsening PMDD,
before peri hit. When hyperthyroidism and peri collided it was h e l l. Severe
panic and depression are not a pretty picture. Things have improved. Not nearly
enough for my impatient temperment, but I come up for air again.

I realize all cultures are different, but if I can't discuss what I feel with my husband
then I'm with the wrong man.

NOBODY LIVES IN IGNORANCE AROUND ME!!! LOL And nobody poo poos
the intensity of my symptoms.

I also thing menopause is a marker of aging, so women themselves deny it.

Also, some people don't realize the that each individual's experience is
different.

Oh, I'm getting premenstrual, so I don't belong in this postmeno section, yet.

Fatdancer, you've never had AD poop out. I take Effexor. Actually, I use to
take a stiff Zoloft adjunct premenstrually, but stopped. Also, since the
pharmaceutical companies can ditch data and depression has a high placebo
response rate, I wonder. I wonder lots. Wish I was the sort who could follow
blindly. Actually, since resuming the AD's the panic and OCD are better, but it's
FAR from a cure all.

Depression was referred to as the black bile, ages and ages ago. I'm glad
things have improved for you fatsdancer.

[Jenniffer]

Hi everyone, I haven't been posting much for a while, bit still come to the boards regularily to see how everyone is doing and to get help, and remind myself that I am going to be okay and that everything I am still getting is normal. I haven't had a period for 21/2 years, I still get the crashing fatigue every month for 2/3 days where I just can,t get up, this usually follows a pariod of say a week where I wake up every morning at about 3 - 4 am and get totally exhausted. I get the terrible overwhelming sadness and crying at the same time as the fatigue, anything sets me off day or night. I also still get indigestion problems, hiatus hernia gerd related, these come in attacks that last for at least 4/5 days, nausea, pain, can't eat much and only vey plain food. I still get hot flushes in abundance but ony for two weeks out of the monthly cycle, the next two weeks I'm usually cold ie pre-period. The only thing I don't get as bad is the anxiety, this I get very mildly maybe for two days and it's always immediatley after when I would have had a period, and I know how to handle that now anyway. This is still a massive improvement on peri, wow I can't believe it, this is an improvement!!, yes it is.

I really hope that all the other post meno ladies are doing well, just wanted to say thanks for being here to all of you, when I can't sleep these boards are the first place I come to, such a comfort and dear friends.

Luv Jenniffer

[Jenniffer]

Hi everyone, I haven't been posting much for a while, bit still come to the boards regularily to see how everyone is doing and to get help, and remind myself that I am going to be okay and that everything I am still getting is normal. I haven't had a period for 21/2 years, I still get the crashing fatigue every month for 2/3 days where I just can,t get up, this usually follows a pariod of say a week where I wake up every morning at about 3 - 4 am and get totally exhausted. I get the terrible overwhelming sadness and crying at the same time as the fatigue, anything sets me off day or night. I also still get indigestion problems, hiatus hernia gerd related, these come in attacks that last for at least 4/5 days, nausea, pain, can't eat much and only vey plain food. I still get hot flushes in abundance but ony for two weeks out of the monthly cycle, the next two weeks I'm usually cold ie pre-period. The only thing I don't get as bad is the anxiety, this I get very mildly maybe for two days and it's always immediatley after when I would have had a period, and I know how to handle that now anyway. This is still a massive improvement on peri, wow I can't believe it, this is an improvement!!, yes it is.

I really hope that all the other post meno ladies are doing well, just wanted to say thanks for being here to all of you, when I can't sleep these boards are the first place I come to, such a comfort and dear friends.

Luv Jenniffer

[CSugarGrove]

Hi Jenniffer,

Thanks for your message. You must have had a really bad time in peri, because it seems that you still have quite a few symptoms. I'm at the same place as you, 2-1/2 years without a period, or maybe not quite this long yet. I passed my two year mark last October. I'm happy to say that I feel great now, almost no symptoms anymore. I have times when I have some insomnia, and I always still have hot flashes, but they aren't as bad anymore. I still get gum problems from time to time, too, but they clear up faster. No more headaches at all, no more anxiety and not too much irritability either. I wish I had known it would get this much better, because in peri I thought I'd never be the same again. But life does go on after meno.

[GoldenFrost]

Hi Jenniffer,

I'm at the same place as you, 2-1/2 years without a period, or maybe not quite this long yet.  I passed my two year mark last October.  I'm happy to say that I feel great now, almost no symptoms anymore.

Don't know what you guys are talking about. I haven't had a period for (Hmm lets see) Last one was June of 2000 (4 yrs.) So does this mean I'm Post. Should I be over all these symptems

GoldenFrost
(who can't spell)

[MaryO]

Yes, Golden. You're considered "post" if you've gone for a full 12 months with no period.

Unfortunately, some of the symptoms linger, though

[GoldenFrost]

Unfortunately, some of the symptoms linger, though

Linger for how long? To me it's becoming a perment way of life Yeck!

GoldenFrost

[Jenniffer]

Hi CSugarGrove, thanks for your reply, I'm so glad that you don't have many symptoms now, the worst part for me in peri was the extreme anxiety and panic attacks, that's what i found the most unbearable and difficult to deal with, so although i do still have some horrible symptoms i can deal with them and the anxiety has pretty much gone, I'm very grateful for that. I seem to lean now more towards the overwhelming sadness, I cry a lot, but my GP says that I'm not really depressed in the true sense of the word, if that makes sense! I've always had a response to stress in the stomach, pretty much like my best friend gets headaches in response to her stress. You've given me hope that all my symptoms will go, wouldn't that be great? I've always been a fairly optimistic person, so i keep saying it WILL get better.

Hi GOLDENFROST, yes as Mary O says you are definately post, but I think some are luckier than others and the symptoms pass more quickly, maybe it's a lifestyle thing, or someting to do with daily stresses in other areas of life, i don't know, wish i had all the answers, coming to these boards is like putting on your old comfy slippers all warm and cosy, I sometimes think that if only I could have some quiet time on my own, and I don't mean just a few days, i mean more like a few weeks, then my body and mind would have time to repair itself, but there are always demands from grown up children and husbands. I thank god every day for good friends both on these boards and at home.

Hope everyone feels lots better soon.
Luv Jenniffer

[Jenniffer]

Oh and I nearly forgot, the joint pains are bad too, wrists, elbows, and knees, god i sound a misery don't I? sorry but this is one symptom that seems to be getting worse, anyone else? I take masses of exercise every day, have horses and ride so it's not lack of movement.

Luv Jenniffer

[CSugarGrove]

I used to ache all over every day, but I lost quite a bit of weight and I've noticed the aches are not as bad. I do take aspirin once in a while, though, if I'm hurting. Horseback riding is great exercise! Good for you. What helped me the most is the Revival Soy. I don't use HRT at all, and I do feel pretty good most of the time. I could stop the Revival to see how bad I'd feel again, but I don't want to do that! I can't think of a good time to stop it in case all my meno symptoms come crashing back.....no thanks!

[GoldenFrost]

Hi GOLDENFROST, yes as Mary O says you are definately post, but I think some are luckier than others and the symptoms pass more quickly, maybe it's a lifestyle thing, or someting to do with daily stresses in other areas of life,Luv Jenniffer

LOL Hmmmmmm could be! And that would be putting it mildly
I hang with young people and I try to do all the young people stuff. Party, snowmobile, work, drive long distances, party, party....LOL
I have found you also don't heal as fast as you used to. Last Jan. I broke 4 ribs snowmobiling and they still hurt. Dr. said they would take 6 weeks to heal. I went back in April and had them re xray and they still had'nt knitted completely yet. They are all right now but I still feel them from time to time.
Oh, to be young again!!

GoldenFrost

[rumoret]

I love reading everyone's posts.......but......I have one suggestion......more paragraphs......my eyes are starting to hurt..... (I hope know one is offended by this post )