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[SueRoe]

Once our periods have been gone for a year and our hormones (oest and prog anyway) have dropped to their low post-menopausal levels do we start to feel any better? I don't see how we can. Surely if the hormones that have been the source of so much trouble by swinging around all over the place have levelled out that is where we settle for the rest of our lives. I really don't understand because from graphs of monthly hormone levels in fertile years our hormone levels as we start a period are low, just as they are post-menopausally, yet I felt great when a period started and feel like crap now at supposedly the same hormone levels. Yet if we take HRT to improve things post-menopausally surely we have to take it for ever to feel well. Can anybody who knows about this stuff help please?

[Sarai]

i think we should improve and the way to tell is to look at older post meno ladies, or ask them. I have asked quite a few and most are fine hormonally. They obviously they begin to get illness related to age but beyond that my many friends post meno are fine. I am clinging to that or I will go insane.

[CLKD]

How long is a piece of string  - it's one of Life's Great Mysteries I think, in that all ladies are different.  From the age of 12 I had DREADFUL periods - heavy, clotting, painful, nausea - PMT in my 40s ….. then periods began to wane over 2-3 years when I was 44-ish and now I don't feel too bad.  I've had the odd symptom of late evening after my bath flushes - they went after 18 months.  Vaginal atrophy - medicated.

I was told by NAPS to eat a high carbohydrate diet every 3 hours when PMT was causing problems.  In the 10-14 days prior to a bleed I would suddenly feel sick, get light headed, panic attacks - the 3 hour 24/7 eating pattern helped a lot.  Could you spread out your diet so that you eat more regularly, even in the night?  It takes 3-4 months before the body settles.

[dogdoc]

I too have to believe we will or I also will go insane. The forum is probably not the best place to 'wonder' though..most of the ladies on here have hormonal issues one way or another, that's why we're here.    I ask any older woman I know (who I don't think will be offended) if they feel good. I get my mother to ask her friends. By and large it seems a lot of post menopausal ladies feel pretty darn good ( barring VA, and 'old age' stuff', and libido). If we felt for the rest of our lives how we feel now, there'd be a whole lotta insane old ladies out there. Doesn't seem to be so.
tara

[CLKD]

I would never ask my Mum ……… 

[peegeetip]

Totally agree with CLKD

I would never ask a mum / aunt / older friend.

My mother would say she did not have any problems however speak to my father and he's got a completely different view/experience of my mum's peri and meno years.

Some have posted in the forum that they have flown / eased through the peri and meno years but I really think those people are very very lucky and in a very small minority.

 

[CLKD]

I know I'm lucky.  Hopefully despite my lack of experience I can add support ……  and encouragement …… Mum said a few years ago that she doesn't remember her meno., well she's 88 now  and my sister said "I've been through all that" when I suggested her symptoms might be memo-related ………. 

Any younger friends that seem to be headed towards symptoms I encourage them to look on here 

[GeordieGirl]

My mother would say she did not have any problems however speak to my father and he's got a completely different view/experience of my mum's peri and meno years.

That made me giggle - what our poor fellas have to put up with at times...    (But it still ain't anywhere near as much as we do!!!!)

GG x

[CLKD]

They have different things to cope with …….. 

[peegeetip]

"I've been through all that"

I think that's the problem, a lot us think we are "through all that" but are sadly still in the mix and midst of peri / meno.

My mother in law says the same, no problems, however she's suffered from headaches, stomach and sleep problems for years. I'm pretty sure there are other problems but she's not the that open on things related to health.

These all started around the peri / meno time frame but she's still suffering.

I heard a friend of mums has ongoing long term urine infections but no one else or any doc would attribute her suffering was due to a lack of hormones.
Feel like talking to the friend but my mother would be too embarrassed if I did.
Says it all really 
 

[GypsyRoseLee]

My Mum had a surgical menopause at 42. She only took HRT for about 6 months. Big mistake as she now has heart problems and her bone health is poor.

But she never suffered with any hot flushes after stopping HRT and her mood was fine. Didn't have any urinary problems or sleep issues either.

She has led a busy and active life since the menopause though she reports she only needs about 6 hours sleep a night nowadays and occasionally gets insomnia.

My mother in law reckons she never noticed the menopause. But she also reckons that giving birth didn't hurt either so you can't take her word on anything.

[dahliagirl]

My Grandmother had two babies easily, her periods just stopped when she was 50.......... no problems whatsoever. However, if you listen to her other stories, like the one where she was too ill to do the laundry and sent Dad to school in 'rinsed out' clothes, and do the maths, you think hmmm..   And she had a hysterectomy at 70.

[peegeetip]

My mother in law goes to bed for 6hrs or so but only sleeps for a couple of hours at the most.

My mother in law always swears she had a lovely sleep.
My father in law always complains about the fact she does not beeping sleep and keeps him awake!
Especially when she nods off during the day through lack of sleep!!!???

I'll let others do the maths on that

What they say and what is the case are two often wide sides of interpretation and truth.

I don't think its a case of "do things improve".
I feel for some of us its a case of how long we've got to put up with meno till it either does not matter
or peri/meno gets to a point where we are miserable and need help.

Those blessed with none of the long terms symptoms or chronic problems without using HRT are very lucky indeed (and few in number according to the studies).

[GypsyRoseLee]

My Mum certainly suffered with mood swings and anxiety before her hysterectomy. When she was in her late 30s I can remember her taking to her bed several times 'with her nerves' as it was called back then. I can also remember her having what must have been a panic attack in a restaurant and we all had to quickly finish our meal and leave.

And I later found out that my Dad had to call out the emergency doctor in the middle of the night, because my Mum was just pacing the living room floor in floods of tears and hyper ventilating for no apparent reason.

She claims she can vaguely remember these incidents, but it was over 30 years ago.

I think it must have been horrendous at the time for her. She can remember her own mother regularly threatening to throw herself in the canal when my gran was in her late 30s. I often wonder if that was due to hormones?

[honeybun]

My mother is 93 in August, early meno, about 43 I think. She took nothing and did go through a good few years of anxiety problems....she does remember. She took nothing at all.
By the time she was early 60s all the problems had long gone and was fine. No heart issues no osteoporosis no anything really except now extreme old age.

Anyone remember one of our members called Trey. She would disagree that things do not improve. She was in her early 70s, lives in the U.S. and was a great example of how life gets better.

Either there are millions of women that are mighty good actresses or life does improve and go on.

How about some positivity here.....things could be so much worse.


Honeybun
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