In summer right about the time my periods quit for good I was told by the doctor to start exercising or else. Elevated blood sugar and cholesterol, the works. So I did and at the same time stopped the Pill. (You should have seen me on the Pill, even on the lowest dose of Microgestin I got big and breasts ballooned out). Now I am almost a 13 after being almost a 17 size last July. I don't see that I'm not eating a lot but lately I'm not crazy about food, either, right now. It's just okay. I used to fantasize about it and get hungry even during my exercise routine.

So what I want to ask is have any of you lost weight during the change? I guess we've all seen women who seem to shrink in width and heighth and look drawn. Birdlike, even. I don't look drawn, I just looked drained if that makes any sense at all. Tired but not skinny. Course, if I kept reducing like this without much effort (just exercising 4-5 times a week for an hour each time) I would probably be pretty slim.

I'm sort of an apple-shape anyway. Full boobs, fat belly but slim arms and legs.

I wonder if that's all about to change, though, when I start on the Premarin this Sunday and I'll go back to hefty?

When I first started peri about 5 months ago I lost 30lbs in 4 months because I totally lost my appetite. It was only after I started on a stronger bcp last month that I got my appetite back (and about 5lbs!). Personally I feel WAY better with the appetite...I felt like I was wasting away when I wasn't eating.

Beth

I bet what you are experiencing is getting off ot the Pill.... Depending on which one you were on the excess progesterone can make you bloated and crave things...remember progesterone is the pregnancy hormone...

TJ

Cynth........I have lost a lot of weight going through meno.......its not as uncommon as people think.......first I lost my appetite and then started taking better care of myself.........watching that I eat healthy and avoiding junk food (which wasnt easy over the holidays).........I needed to loss weight but now I have lost a total of 70pds since Jan08 and feel like it needs to stop!.......I have had thyroid tested to the max and nothing is wrong the doc says and said that some women's metabolisms (sp) just change during meno..........I would be more happier about this if I was feeling better.......but I do make sure I eat 3 healthy meals a day even if Im not hungry..........Valerie

When I started all this in July 08. I could not eat at all. Had diarrhea. Lost weight. I was scared. Because I felt I looked drawn and not healthy. Now I am on HRT and the appiete thing fluxuates alot. In the morning I just look at food. But by 4 I am feeling like myself so I try to catch up on my food. I know I need to eat in the a.m. but YUK......
I use to love sweets..but It is hard to eat them now for some reason. Boy who knew these hormones would reek this much havoc. I SURE DIDNT
I am sure this is all about the hormones....Hang in there...
Love
sishaircut
Karen

Karen- that's the exact feeling I get. In the morning and early afternoon the smell of food makes me sick! I get hungry at around 4 or 5 pm. I try to eat what I can just to get food in. I lost a total of 30lbs. I won't get on the scale because I'll probably freak out and be even more nervous. I just don't want to get under 100lbs. The hubby is always trying to feed me but he just doesn't understand. All I do is drink water all day. My doctor says I'm dehydrated. I hope this doesn't lead into eating disorder......
Char

Char-
I dont think it will turn into an eating disorder, or I hope not anyway. I was ok in november, but december came around and pow...My husband is so good he will make the food at least...And I will try to eat. Some ps sisters say that they force to eat something because they know it will start their metabolizm..It is just so hard for me to do that. But I can take a bite then walk away from it and then come back. I can't look at a whole lot of food. If I get a few bites in I am happy..I too will not stand on a scale. I am tall 5'11'' I was 165..I dont want to know what it is now...Everyone I see makes a comment about my wieght and oh you are getting so skinny. I hate it....I just want to yell and say, yeah it would be fine if I was in control of it....anyway..isn't nice to know we are not alone..whew.....Why we are like this is a probably because are hormones are so wacky...by the way I am 51 soon 52 in feb...How old are you>
Love
Karen
Sishaircut

Karen,
I'm 45 and was post meno at 40. So I'm not too sure if what I'm dealing with is meno but I know it's definitly hormonal. My thyroid is fine now but wasn't back then. I was just tested for adrenals and my evening cortisol levels are low. I'm totally exhausted all morning into afternoon. I quit drinking coffee so thats hard. I'm able to eat dinner but not alot. I snack alot at night. Doctor said to eat anything as long as I get in some food. I need to find foods that give me energy and easy to eat. You know whats good is blending frozen fruit and making a smoothie. I try to have cereal in the morning. I drink alot of water. I'm glad you responded. It makes me feel better some one else could relate to me! Let me know how you do.....
Love your new skinny friend Char

Thank you so much for your replies, everyone. Am 52 here as of last Aug.

I had a horrific headache all day today that threatened to become a migraine, (no breakfast, car hassle first thing) and so I might wait and start the hrt tomorrow. I know what you mean about no morning appetite! I head for coffee and toast with jelly slathered on it at best.

I guess, unless you are ill or it's affecting you adversely health-wise, some weight loss is good but unplanned can be kind of a concern. I'm one of those people who keeps in the back of my mind the seven signs of you know what. But I think I've read that involves a dramatic loss of weight in a very short period of time.

I don't remember my mom getting slim during menopause but she and I are shaped so differently. She was always curvy at just above 5 ft and I'm 5'7".

Smoothies are good, the only thing that puts me off is the noise of the blender that early! Tends to jar a body a bit. But you can just sip and know that you're getting something much better than coffee down you.

Sure appreciate this board. I feel better just for having joined and the blue colors of are very soothing to the eye.

Interesting that you guys don't have an appetitie...I guess it does work in reverse order.... I go back and forth between not having an appetite and having one, but it is mostly that I am so tired I don't feel like cooking anything... Hormones are amazing....the affect that they have on the body...the more I read the more I think I shoulda took the synthetics long ago...

TJ

Dear Cynthi8:
I also have been having these severe headaches. I have never had a migraine before..I went to dr, had a mri she thinks they are migraine I think they are tension with alot of hormone still trying to get straightened out. The mri came back perfectly ok. I am calling the dentist today to see if by chance it could be tmj...I have never seen so my dr. in my life.
The smoothy thing sounds great. I just dont like making them or any food for that matters in the morning. IF one was made I would sip on it.
We are the same age. and probably doing about the same in Meno. I am still having I guess what you call periods. Well at least I had one this month. I bleed the whole month of nove....just a little every day...Gyn keeps saying that my blood works show that I am in Meno and that she is surprised I am still bleeding...
So what are you doing to handle you symptoms? You said that you should have taken hrt...I am on Hrt activella .05 but I still feel like my body is still missing something or getting to much of something...I just dont know where to turn at times.
I started all this in july 08. What scares me most is that I don't think this will end any time soon. But if I can get my symptoms to get better, I probably will...It is all a hit and miss.
I am also grateful for PS and the help it gives me...
Have a great day
Karen
Sishaircut

Hey sorry Cynthi8 that was the other post that said they should have taken hrt a while back...I am sorry.
Skeeweeaka: is the one who said that..
Sorry..
Karen

Karen
That's how I felt when I started on climara patch. My doctor put me on the patch because I told her I was having anxiety, heart palps, insomnia. She said that was part of low hormones. So I said ok. I was on the patch for 9 weeks and felt weird. I didn't know if I was getting too much or not enough. I haven't had a period in 5 years so I wasn't sure why I was even on anything. I was also on an AD and xanax so I ask could stop this patch and she said yes. That was about 5 weeks ago. Since then I had 1 period from stopping the patch. I really don't think the patch was doing anything for me. I don't know. The anxiety is still there although I think it's due to my adrenal glands. I'm still trying to eat a little more, and getting on the treadmill. I often feel if this will ever end and be myself again. I know if all my anxiety went away I could function normally. But I guess it takes hard work from myself.....

ladies we will get there!!! Love char

chao, drop in estrogen can trigger migraines, I've heard. I never had a true migraine until in my forties. And I couldn't believe how bad it was. Lasted three hellish days and even afterward, when I went to the grocery store, everything looked so bright. My head was sore from it, too, as if it left that behind. I get an aura sometimes. It's the weirdest thing, looks like a kaleidescope in one eye. Last time, honest to God, it was like an Aztec design of some kind, very strange. The aura is my warning to head for my migraine tablets before I'm slammed by pain. There's a certain amount of fear involved too, of the whole ordeal. One time I was out shopping at a mall quite a ways from where I live and I had to drive home with that aura and against people's headlights.

I guess stopping hrt can produce a period.

My hrt will just be the lowest dose of Prempro. Still haven't started it, I guess I will tonight.

Yes, I've read that the estrogen thingy can cause migraines... It is even one of the questions on the Bellevue questionaire. I usually have them the week before my period. They just started though about a year ago!

Sist....the doctors have been telling me that I suffer from major depression and that all of my symptoms are related to that...even though four years ago I had my hormones tested and they were low... The doctor then said that low hormones can exacerbate major depression but none of the doctors would give me BHRT and when I tried Synthetic Estrogen it made me sick... Basically, what I did was do an elimination diet and found allergies that I had that exacerbated my symptoms so I stopped eating wheat, sugar (most of the time but during premenstrual), and adding protein to all of my meals... I also started taking ACV (apple cider vinegar) twice a day and vitamins.... Although nothing changed much, the feeling suicidal all of the time did get better and I only have it during the week before my period...although I feel like death most of the time!

Recently, I spoke with an alternative doctor who told me that the reason the antidepressants and other psych meds don't work for me is because she thinks it has always been hormonal!

TJ

Use caution with prempro - premarin and provera. I couldn't tolerate either - I can take Estrace - which is from plants and designed to mimic human hormones (Premarin is from horse's urine - very little mimics human hormone). Provera is a synthetic progesterone. I can't take it at all - causes depression symptoms. Micronized or natural progesterone is better tolerated by most - but even the weak over the counter is too strong for me! Guess it is one good thing about having a hysterectomy - I don't have to take the progesterone!!!

Zelma

Has your gyn examined you to make sure nothing else is going on to cause such long bleeding?

Zelma

zjsurfer-
I have been to gyn and had a sonogram and they said all is well...HUH..I don't think so..I started bleeding again 8 days ago and it is heavier now. I am calling my gyn and tell them. I am still having all the early morning anxiety and nervousness I know chemically I am not right..I know because I just dont feel right. I have been giong like this for 7 months...I only feel good in the evening time around 4 or 5..The mornings are hard....I am on HRT Actiavella...I need to talk to gyn to see if dr does BHRT I dont know why she wouldn't...But I just want to know,Can I feel better on them? I just know If I ever will be the ole me....I have such anxiety about the wierdest things my heart still palpitaes..UGH...
But thanks for the thought.
SIshaircut
Karen

Maybe it's the drop in PROGESTERONE that's causing the weight loss? Forgive me I'm exhausted and might sound off here but sometimes my most logical moments are in this state too.

I was just reading the post TJ bumped up from a couple years back about estrogen being the answer to weight loss and the decline in it being the contributor to weight gain in peri and meno. That thread actually made sense to me since for so long I've thought thanks to the progesterone camp that I was completely E dominant and progesterone would be my magic bullet in all my symptoms. It did everything opposite of what was promised and my appetite being ravenous with weight gain was just one side effect.

Both E and P are fluctuating moreso in peri still declining into meno so maybe it's the E loss experienced at the beginning phases as we start gaining weight and some continue to as E drops further then for those later in meno the near cessation of P could be the reason for weight loss experienced by others? Is this making some sense? It actually is to me at this moment, but again I'm exhausted thanks to more peri symptoms and not being able to sleep.

Somehow I feel some hope with this though after having such a nightmare experience on P...maybe my body has been begging for E this whole time dropping.

Shar I can tell you this, at the time that I bumped up that thread, I was searching for answers about my weight. I think the LOSS OF E is what creates the weight gain in some of us and PREVENTS WEIGHT LOSS! That was right before I started the ESTROGEN trial in the luteal phase of my cycle. That was approximately 21 days ago and since that time I have lost 6 pounds...prior to this it took me months to lose 6 pounds, actually 7 months to lose 20 pounds! The huge belly that I had is now down 3 inches and I am down 4 inches in my hips whereas before that even with the 20 pound loss my body composition did not change very much at all! Now my jeans are starting to get baggy in the butt and hips...I am, of course, astounded because this has happened with only ONE CHANGE ESTROGEN. Also, my appetite has greatly decreased with the use of estrogen, I am almost NEVER hungry and have to make myself eat...huh...again I am so surprised by this....the power of hormones!

Best Wishes,

TJ

TJ did you just start estrogen recently? You are only using it in the luteal phase too? What kind of E are you taking...just estradoil, biest, estrogel etc? And how much are you dosing it? Are you also doing P cream with it and how are you working that in? That sounds so awesome you lost that amount of weight quicky!

I think there's something to this all too I just thought all along it was P but the P cream made me so ill and now I'm in the luteal phase and even being off of it I'm still feeling effects of P with depression, night terrors, blurry vision, ravenous hunger...it's just a horrible feeling as you know. I wonder if since I'm peri now that the BCP might be the best way to go in keeping things more steady. Vliet mentions doing a higher E pill to P like Ovcon or Ortho Cyclen.

If you don't mind answering these questions and definitely update with how it continues to go!!!! I'm so glad you found an answer with the E!

I found that the E helped me to lose weight. After being on it awhile, I noticed I no longer felt like eating more food than I needed. I was satisfied with much less, didn't have the urge to snack anymore, and even lost my desire for foods that I previously craved, like chocolate. When I stopped the E several weeks ago, I notice my appetite gradually increasing along with my tendency to eat too much.

I was going to do a post just on this phenomenon of E but hadn't gotten around to it. I know several other PS sisters have experienced this also. But this effect is negated by P. I always remember when I was cycling regularly prior to peri that the first 2 weeks of my cycle I would eat sensibly and exercise and lose a couple pounds, but during the last 2 weeks when the P kicked in from ovulating the appetite went nuts again and all the gains I'd made before went down the tubes, and I'd start the whole cycle all over again.

Now Im confused ......I have lost so much weight (needed too!)........so I thought it was from no E or P........and now since adding E Im more hungry.....so maybe Im just backwards lol.........I tell folks I have cold flashes and have lost 70 pds in my first year of menopause (now 20 months without),......its amazing how women are affected so differently during meno..........Valerie

Hey Shar,

I'm taking compounded estradiol in a sublingual tablet but will soon try the cream to see if it stays in my body longer... My dose is very low at the moment...when I first tried it I broke up the .5 mg. sublingual and only took 1/4 of it at a time...by the end of the luteal phase I was taking 1/2 twice a day... In the follicular phase I am taking 1/2 twice a day...but I just started this...so I'll up the dose slowly based on how I feel. I'm noticing that when taking the E in the follicular phase that if I don't supplement with P I can't sleep but I'm only using a small amount of the sublingual P so that I can sleep...1/4 twice a day... I know it sounds confusing but I don't have a doctor helping me with it...

As Sariah suggested, and other womens comments, and after reading Vliet's weight loss book I thoroughly think that the weight gain that we contend with, the hunger, the cravings, are all hormonally related! I believe that now more than ever! I think what happens is that when estrogen drops the estrogen progesterone ratio is skewed and so the progesterone makes it difficult to lose as well as causes weight gain...estrogen seems to have balanced that out for me! I seem to be losing fat and gaining muscle. I plan on adding in other supplements once I get the doses of E and P correct!

If you decide to do the BCP, definitely use one of those with higher E, I think there are a few newer ones out with the higher E's as well as the ones you mentioned!

Ultimately, I think the answer for EVERYOONE is really in getting the correct dosage and ratio which can take time! I know that some of us haven't found that yet, but I think that if we are persistant we'll get there!


Best Wishes,

TJ