I have been going thru menopause for 5 years now. I have been on such a yo yo that i was not prepared for. I may have a period maybe 2 twice a year now and that is it, this weight issue thing even though i have been going thru it for 5 years now, i still can't get used to it and i try so hard to lose it.
I know there are thousands of women going thru the same thing as i.
I exercise and i have lost weight, just to gain it right back over a course of a few weeks. This can really depress you when you aren't eating everything in sight but i still put it right backon again. I live on a farm so i am always busy outside feeding animals, mending fences... ther is always something that has to be done. It has got to where my kids treat me like i am getting old, now i know i am but i still hate it cause me and my kids have always done things together but now they act like i may hurt myself if i just move.
I have got to where i stay sore all the time and my feet and legs swell too, i went to the dr and she just tells me it is a symptom of my menopause. I hate this! I feel so darn ugly! Not to mention the feeling i have that i am not doing my wifely duties. Well, i guess you can tell this is not one of my good days but i was so happy to find this place and i can talk to other women who are going thru this too. Oh, i want to ask you this too.... has anyone else, since starting menopause i started having trouble swallowing pills, my dr tells me this is all in mind and i have no trouble in my throat causing it but since i started menopause nothing surprizes me anymore.
If anyone else can relate to my post, what did you do to get thru this? What kind of diet did you start to lose, what about herbs? Are there any herbs that help the symptoms? I even grow my own garden every year with fresh veggies in it but when i go out to work in it i come back in in the evenings with sore, swelled feet and legs Any kind of support would be appreciated. Have a great day.
Cynthia

Hi Cynthia,
Welcome to menopause hell! Yeah I can identify with the weight gain that you can't control, and you no longer look or feel like the person you had been your entire life - until now. What drew me to respond to you is the pill swallowing - 2 months ago, I was taking a vitamin tablet and it lodged in my esophagus. I had to go to the emergency room and pay $3525 to have it extracted!!! Needless to say, I had NEVER had problems with pills in my whole life!

I use herbs: Black Cohosh; DIM Plus (Diindolymethane) by Nature's Way to balance estogen metabolism - It REALLY helps...But there are days when nothing at all helps! I take a lot of vitamins - B, menopausal formulated multi vitamins, E, and New Chapter Estrolone creme...There's a bunch of other stuff which I can't even remember cause I just have it on the counter and essentially pop pills all day (now I chew them first).

This has been about 3-4 years; although my periods stopped 18 months ago, there were a lot of symptoms I didn't recognize at the time...When does it stop - who the hell knows! For me it's been a living breathing, waking, sleeping hell.

But at least we now have someplace to go and ask other women who can be open and honest about what they are going through!

Best to you
Lee

Cynthia: I have the pill swallowing thing too...my therapist told me it's called 'globus hystericus' and it's actually an anxiety/panic thing. I sometimes will take a sip of something and literally cannot swallow it. It's so embarrassing; I'm always afraid of spitting up in front of people when this happens (how attractive; I can add 'public vomiting' to my growing list of peri- symptoms.)

Can we talk about weight, please? I have gained 15 pounds in the past twelve months without changing a thing about how I eat (in fact, I've switched to whole grains, eat little to no saturated fat, and work out EVERY DAY.) It's maddening! The weight just crept up, in little 1-4 pounds increments, until now I'm so disgusting looking I can't stand to wear a bathing suit, and none of my old clothes fit. My husband, god bless his beautiful soul and distorted perceptions, keeps telling me I'm sexy and great looking, but I feel like a big swollen tick. I wish I had several thousand dollars to just take off and go to one of those fat farms for a month. Sigh. My goal for the holidays is just to maintain, not lose. One thing I've found is that just eating normally will make me put on pounds. I have to conciously eat less than I feel like I want to. Dinner, especially. If I eat a very small dinner, and am not full at all in the evening, then I won't gain weight. But I'm not losing either.

I tried one of those OTC diet pills, I think it was Cortislim. It cost me almost fifty dollars for one bottle, and all it did was make my blood pressure spike. If anyone has any suggestions on how to take off this hormonally induced weight, I'm eager to hear it.

Hang in there Cynthia...it's got to only get better...

I have lost about 40 pounds in the last 10 months. I did it by eating low fat everything, I pay no attention to calories just try to eat as low fat as I can. It really doesn't take long before you get use to eating this way (even fat free hot dogs start to taste ok). I also exercise about 60 minutes 4 times a week. I did this because my cholesterol was at 226 and the doctor was thinking about medication. I didn't want to take medication so I decided to do it the old fashion way. I have not had my cholesterol rechecked because if I do and it has dropped alot I will get back into my old eating habits and put the weight right back on.
The bad thing about losing weight is now I look 10 years older. The first place the weight leaves is you face. I saw a picture of myself and I thought OMG when did I get so old looking. If I could just take some fat from my butt and put it back in my face I would be happy.

I think you are right about losing weight in the face first. I read years ago that we lose weight from "top to bottom." (Eventually, weight balances out, pretty much, depending on where we carry it the most.)

An acquaintance of mine lost 70 pounds in about six months--I hadn't seen her in about four months and oh, my! She has long folds hanging from her neck (but she is a beautiful woman regardless). I don't think there is any way to get rid of excess skin except surgery.

Possibly she just lost the weight too fast. I lost 15 pounds over a period of an entire year, so I don't see any difference in how I look, except another year older. The slower, the better, and it stays off longer than the quick weight loss.

P.S. Kayla, I, too, would like to put some butt fat onto my "other" cheeks!

Yikes, you guy make me afraid to lose weight! My mom always told me that fat women aged better than skinny ones...(at least in the looks department...)

Thank you all for responding! Yes i really need to start eating everything low fat, i have got to lose weight, my legs really swell and feet and sometimes they just hurt. Do any of you have this trouble? It is like when you start to get moving they hurt like the devil and then after the loosen up they quit. I think i can deal with the folds on my face if i could just get my legs and feet to stop swelling. I had bought a 6 week body makeover a while back and threw it in my bookcase and today i pulled it back out again, thank goodness it is all still together. I also pulled back out my Kathy Smith exercise videos too... now i need a good swift kick in my behind!
As far as the pill thing goes, i went and bought a pill crusher, why do women have to go thru so much!? Why cant life just be easy for a change? I know it made feel lots better to read others have this trouble too, thank goodness i am not alone on this one. Yes i had went in the past to have a test where i swallowed some stuff that was like crystals and it got all bubbly when i swallowed it and they took an xray of me swallowing and there was nothing there. Everything went down fine, but when i try to take a pill it is like my throat grabs it and holds on like "oh no you dont" I hate it when that happens.
Thanks for responding!!!! Cynthia

I don't know - before I lost 105 on WW, I apparently looked older. Met some neighbors on a walk after my husband and I lost the weight. They were surprised to learn which house we lived in - they thought an "old" couple lived there! They had only seen us before we lost the weight!!!

Zelma

Cynthia,

Before I got on ERT that worked, I had trouble with pill swallowing. I also weighed way too much. I was told the weight cause snoring because the throat muscles were too lax. Both the snoring and pill swallowing is much better now with weight loss and ERT. Have you considered ERT or HRT?

Zelma

What ert are you on that you have been able to lose weight? I think that's great. Did you also do a low carb diet too?

Okay,

I have to respond....there IS a procedure to suction fat off of other parts of your body and inject it into your face! It is considered very safe because it is simple and uses your own tissues. I am looking into that one!

Tia

I would rather look old!!!!!!!

Ill pass that one too, cuz then my kids would call me "ButtFace"