Hi all,

I am new to the board and I am extremely thankful for the resources you provide. I am perimenopausal and have had that diagnosis for years. Until I started reading about the symptoms that so many others had I felt that I was just exaggerating the hellishness of my experience. It’s not like you can share with your coworkers why you are so tired and grumpy. I am a church Adm. Asst. So as funny as it sounds I need to be perky all the time. I have no perk and I squirm in my chair as the Itching from hell is seemingly constant. Oh, and I have an overwhelming desire to smak people who annoy me...

I am so tired of all of the symptoms that I have that go with menopause… I have not stopped menses.. But I have everything else that go with it…. my Dr. put me on HRT and life was soooo good. But it is unfortunately not recommended for “forever” use. I was wondering how do you deal with the day to day of it all and still maintain some semblance of sanity…..?

I think that all I want is very simple…. I want to have my energy back…. I want to wake up in the morning with my jammies and sheets dry…. I want to make it through the day without having to squirm cuz of the itchies….I also want all Drs. to be on the same page… I can handle the grey hair and wrinkles… I earned them… It’s the stuff we can’t talk about that is driving me crazy…..

So barring these desires being fulfilled my question is….. Is it to late to get a sex change? The guys seem to have it sooo easy….

Have a blessed day….

Dear T2woman
A warm welcome to this site .It must be awful trying to be perky all the time.Personally I would just smack them all and ask the Good Lord for forgiveness.He together with us ladies is about the only one who understands us.

I started on HRT at 39 and am still on it at the age of 57!My Gyno. is not amused but I told him to try his life without Testosterone for a few years and then report back to me.I am all about the quality of life and have made my own personal decision to stay on the stuff.I have regular check ups and so far,Thank God,all is well.

Please do not misunderstand me.I realise everyone has to make their own decisions about their health and some ladies do very well on various Herbal supplements etc.However,having been through the itchies-thought I had lice,plus the insomnia,the drenching sweat,depression and strange phobias have decided this is my route.

You have a great sense of humour but feel that the Sex change idea,though it has its merits,is a little bit late in the day!The Church is lucky to have a lovely lady like you.Maybe you could start a group for ladies of a 'certain age'.I think you would be surprised at how many would like to really talk about their life experiences including Menopause.It was by chance that I found this Site.Before that it was a lonelier place

Keep us posted
God Bless
Elizabeth

Something I've noticed about all this misery, is that women at work and even friends just don't want to admit they are having issues. It is all a big secret as if women are flawed if they admit they are having health concerns. This board is the only place I know of where women can talk openly about their individual problems with peri and menopause. Perhaps we are flawed in that our bodies are always giving us challenges that men never have to deal with. I tell dh a lot that I wish I could just go about my days without worrying about where the bathroom is or when my period is going to start or not, etc...like he does.

Men have it way too easy!! So that's why it's our job to help them out

OMG!!! Have you hit it on the head.... I live with my adult daughter who works in our local ER and is in nursing school. I am so embarssed to try to explaine why I can't sleep and take ice packs to bed with me.... thanks to this fourm I learned not to use heat to stop the night time ichies.... I feel so alone in my own house... the pain that can double me over.... and when she asks what is wrong I say "Oh it's nothing".... Maybe someday I'll have the courage to say... "Honey, Mom's vagina is extreamly dry and eventhough I am doing everything I can nothing helps and the pain is excruciating" It's not like I can use the ice packs in the livingroom while watching TV.... well not when she is home anyway...

Maybe someday I grow a pair and not be ashamed about "The Change".......

Be Blessed

Welcome T2women,

In case you have missed the thread on a simple helpful cure for those awful "dry area's", some of the gals suggested using Vit E suppositories! I found them at the local health food store, or on line. They are made for the vaginal area, the brand is carlsons ( i believe). I tried them and they do help, they make the "area" feel moist and lubricated. I think you should give it a try and see if it works.

This new time in life is a real shocker to most of us. I had no clue that my mind and body would change so much in my forties. Now at almost 51, I am so glad that I found this site years ago and was able to get educated and help myself through the worst part of it. I hope you find comfort here!

Hugs (and blessings), Juliann

SIGN ME UP!!!!! I have always said that if there is reincarnation----i want to come back as a man!

If men had to experience pregnancy, periods, and menopause then we would have had a cure DECADES AGO!!!

No being a man for me -- they are FAR too insecure.

I have no problem talking about peri with anybody who wants to. I've noticed that a lot of times I'll make a comment about some symptom I have, and the woman I'm talking with will ask why I'm having it. I'll just go "Ya know...I'm at that age, menopause and all", and they'll get this look on their face like I just passed gas in church or something -- embarrassed and horrified at the same time. Lighten up ladies! We all get there sooner or later.

On a funny note, my high school journalism teacher -- Mrs. Fully..cool lady -- once said that if husbands and wives had to switch off back and forth having chldren, no family would ever have more than three kids, because men are such sissies they would never do it more than once.