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[bathbombe]

Is there anyone out there who would like to say how good they feel when it all finally stops? Although my symptoms have not been as bad as some ladies on this site, it has been years of fatigue, poor sleep, anxiety and mood swings and I'm still not at 12 months without a single period (and I'm nearly 60).

I'm longing to sail into calmer waters, have energy and confidence and take on the world again!

[CLKD]

Are you taking any medication for any of your symptoms?

Anxiety is my biggest problem, the panic attacks floor me.  Then I have to take an emergency pill 

[Dancinggirl]

Hi and welcome to MM bathbombe
I doubt anyone can truly answer that question - we are all different and how we feel through and beyond menopause will vary greatly.  I personally doubt energy returns once all the meno symptoms subside.  The average time for symptoms to settle is around 7 years so from the start of peri meno to symptoms subsiding can be a very long time - this is why so many of us rely on HRT and intend to continue until, at least, we have to stop working. I personally think the lack of sleep is the worst symptom followed closely by vaginal atrophy with bladder problems - I can cope with flushes during the day though they are a nuisance.
I suspect one may feel calmer out the other side but at 59 and back on HRT I don't know when that calm will happen once I do stop HRT and wait for things to subside.
If anxiety and mood swings are a real issue for you , then trying one of the SRRIs might be an option and could get you through to the other side more smoothly.  DG x

[bathbombe]

Thank you CLKD and Dancinggirl. Every time I consider going on HRT things seem to improve, so I think 'oh, I've probably come through it now' ... but then it all goes haywire again. I agree about the lack of sleep - I've never been a great sleeper but this has been a fresh hell. I take amytriptiline, which helps sometimes (basically, as long as I don't have a glass of wine). However, today has been a good day, with an hour hacking at the undergrowth in the garden in bright sunshine! x

[Hurdity]

Hi bathbombe

It is pretty unusual not to have reached menopause at your age so just wondering if you've been along to the doctors to get checked out that there are no other problems that could be causing your continued bleeding?

However if you are still having mood swings then sounds like your hormones are still active - because once you are post-menopausal and oestrogen drops to its all time low, mood swings should not occur (well - not hormonally induced ones anyway). Anxiety and low mood can remain though.

If you have been suffering that long then why not give a low dose HRT a try - since once you reach the magic age of 60, doctors will be much more reluctant to prescribe it? It should certainly help with fatigue too. However I would also ask for blood tests if possilbe to test for thyroid and other things - this is routine with fatigue - although blood tests can be unreliable!

Post-menopause the waters are definitely calmer - but for me (at 61) energy has never returned to the same level as it was, and I have been on medium dose HRT since almost 54.

Having a good night's sleep is so important to how you feel - but good to be out in the sunshine 

Hurdity x

[Meg]

Everyone seems to be so different even though we are all women with the same basic reproductive tackle!  I have spoken to women who are practically unscathed by menopause and then their are others who are genuinally torn apart.  This is difficult to understand but it must be down to hormone output or sensitivity to it.  Many women suffer terribly and it is not a weakness in them it is just that they have been not as fortunate as some biologically. For a substantial number hot flushes with associated symptoms that they trigger can go on for a long time, some women are very lucky and never experience them what a mystery.

Meg

[pepperminty]

Hi Bathbombe,

I can't speak for myself , as I am peri, but my friend who is mid fifties has gone through menopause (just come out the other side). She had the mirena coil for years. She had awful ill health for about 4 years , dizzy spells , just feeling ill , panic , etc and no one including her GP realised it was peri menopause , so she just lived with it. It was only when they checked her coil for replacement that they did a test and found she had hit post meno. Anyway she is now fine and very active. She has got new energy and confidence. So I look at her and think there is hope!!

Pepperminty

[Annie0710]

Hi Bathbombe,

I can't speak for myself , as I am peri, but my friend who is mid fifties has gone through menopause (just come out the other side). She had the mirena coil for years. She had awful ill health for about 4 years , dizzy spells , just feeling ill , panic , etc and no one including her GP realised it was peri menopause , so she just lived with it. It was only when they checked her coil for replacement that they did a test and found she had hit post meno. Anyway she is now fine and very active. She has got new energy and confidence. So I look at her and think there is hope!!

Pepperminty

Oh god this gives me hope, they say I'm post meno (by blood tests as I have no uterus) but I remember having sore breasts last September (never every month) so reckon I'm in that all important year, hope so anyway and really hope these symptoms start to subside


Annie

[Machair]

I am 55 and still going through it all. I had hoped I had seen my last period but now have PMT again so obviously not.
I am also wondering when this will all end!

What sort of bleeding patterns have you got - are your periods following on from high oestrogen signs such as sore breasts and vaginal mucus increase? I only ask as this is indicative that you still have your own hormonal activity. If the bleeding is more random I would be inclined to have it checked out at some point if it continues just to make sure all is ok.

[GypsyRoseLee]

My Mum had to have a hysterectomy at 43 (fibroids) but they left her ovaries in. She went straight on to HRT after the operation. Not surprisingly all her previously 'nervy' symptoms that she'd suffered for the past few years (such as random anxiety, intermittent depression/crying and insomnia) disappeared almost overnight 

I only found out years later how badly my Mum had suffered with anxiety in the couple of years before her hysterectomy. Apparently, once or twice her anxiety was so bad that my father called the doctor out in the middle of the night 

She took the HRT for about a year. But then came off it. Didn't suffer any further anxiety/low moods. Felt very well and was very active through the rest of her 40s and 50s etc. She used to go line dancing 5 times a week! She's now in her 70s and she can barely remember how dreadful she felt prior to her hysterectomy.

I suspect coming off HRT at only 45/46 wasn't good for her bones though. She had a fall in her mid 50s and broke her wrist quite badly. It's never healed properly and is slightly crooked.

[bathbombe]

Thanks to all who replied.

I'm guess I am fortunate that my GP is great - she's a similar age - and she says that I'm well within the age range of what is normal for menopause these days. I don't expect I'll have the same amount of energy as before because I'll be so much older than when it all started. I like to think that the women who have come through it have now put it all behind them and are off travelling, starting new businesses or just enjoying life without all the hormonal indignities. x

[Machair]

This is so interesting. If you don't mind me asking when did your periods stop being regular? I was regular until 53 almost 54 and now am having long gaps but am still very hormonal and am 55. I think I remember you saying you were regular until at least 56 so you may still have a little way to go to see the other side.

[bathbombe]

My most recent period was just before Xmas, so five months ago, just before my 59th birthday. Until then, they were still more or less regular along with PMT, period pains etc. Now fervently hoping that was the last one. As I said, my GP says I've nothing to worry about. It feels like I've been 'hormonal' for about ten years... I had no idea it could all go on so long.

[Spadger]

I'm very interested in this question too and have been wondering recently as I don't know anyone personally to ask! I had my last period at 49, I'm now 53 and still having dreadful flushes/night sweats etc and can't see any light at the end of the tunnel...knowing my luck there's a train coming