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[Jari]

Hi all. I wanted to start this thread to get an idea of the time span of the menopause.
I guess it's like asking, how long is a piece of string, but I think there's a danger of women thinking it goes on for decades and therefore opting hrt for decades, when it's not needed.
I think it would also be good to hear different experiences for those starting with the menopause to give a very real idea of what they can expect.

My own experience was, last period at 48, then quite intense and frequent hot flushes and night sweats. In despair, tried hrt, which gave me different, but worse symptoms of anxiety, palpitations and breathing problems. I came off that after 2 months and then increased excercise and changed my diet. This has really helped.
I'm now 18 months since last period and the hot flushes and night sweats over the last year have become much less intense and less frequent. I feel like they're on the way out...

Coincidentally, a friend also had last period at 48 and said her menopause lasted 2 years and hasn't had any symptoms since.

Would love to hear other ladies experience with the length their menopause lasted.

X

[MicheleMaBelle]

Hi Jari- I understand that it can vary considerably in the same way that menopause symptoms can vary.
I was still perimenopausal at 54 when I went on HRT. Tried to come off 2 years later at 56 and had to go back on. Now 58 and consultation yesterday with a professor reckoned my current oestrogen levels aren't sufficient as all the old symptoms had started to creep in. So, short of coming off it again to see how I get on, I reckon Im still in it! Bearing in mind the symptoms started around age 52, this would make it 6-7 years in my case.
I do believe that it's now considered to last longer than has previously been thought and some women can experience problems well into old age. So, I think your friend has been very lucky! 

[Sheanie]

However long the more overt symptoms of (peri)menopause may last, hormone levels continue to drop as we age, and that has an effect on every aspect of our being. For example, women lose 1% BMD per year after menopause as a consequence of lowering oestrogen levels, which is why as the population lives longer while the onset of menopause remains relatively static (though it can obviously vary between individuals) levels of osteoporosis increase, and oestrogen supplementation in the form of HRT can and does counteract that. HRT has enormous physical and psychological benefits beyond the basic relief of overt menopausal symptoms. Friends of mine who've been on HRT and then taken off it by their GPs for no well evidenced reason have experienced various sudden reactions, for example exhaustion and depression. As I said to my GP recently, if you can present me with robust research evidence that the risks associated with the *specific* type of HRT I am taking are greater than the benefits, I'll come off it. If not, you'll have to fight me for it, and bear in mind, I'm on testosterone! 

[Shadyglade]

I had my last period at 56 and a half. 

I was definitely having peri menopausal symptoms in my early forties so I would put that time period at about 15 years.  However, apart from one short lived blip, I would say that my symptoms largely went from the time of my last period.   I had a long bothersome peri but that was it.

I do know that some other women are fine until there periods stop, so it's swings and roundabouts.  I am glad to have it behind me though. 

[Ladybt28]

Well I started hrt in peri at 45 and I'm now 57!  I don't actually know when my "last period was"  Its a long story which I won't write again but I'd feel the same as Sheanie...my GP is going to have to prise it from my cold dead hands!  I had a really bad time though and took a long time to get it right but we are all so different.  I just know there are women in their 80's still on it and if that works, well I'm all for it, if it works for you.  I have absolutely no worries about side effects and cancer etc..my quality of life without it was beyond poor. In fact it is only because of hrt, (and a stubborn disposition ) I am here at all.  Rather have a shorter good life than a long miserable one!

Your friend was lucky on 2 years and no symptoms! There are plenty of women who sail through (smug b***s ) but what I will say is you are likely to find the difficult stories here on the forum because this is where we come for advice and support when we can't get it elsewhere which is usually when we are having a "tricky" (hah..tricky is an understatement word!) menopause.

[Tc]

I had no peri symptoms at 53 and was still having regular periods.i then had ovaries removed and got the whole lot!!  So my symptoms didnt even start until I was post meno, albeit from surgical intervention.

[Rosie63]

I started when I was 50 and this is when I went on HRT. I'm early 60's now. Have tried to come off it several times but symptoms always come back so I'm thinking I will be one of those who are on it until I'm ‘kicking up the daisies' !

One doctor told me the Queen was supposedly on it so if it's good enough for her it sure is good enough for us 

Rosie x

[Shadyglade]

I have never used HRT and my symptoms went soon after my last period.

I have no idea if HRT would have changed that but it's an interesting thought 💭

[CLKD]

Good thread: like the length of string though.  They would have to drag me kicking and screaming B4 I went swimming - who knows what's lurking beneath the weeds    .  Exercise is essential for most of us - it's how we are built after all but I lack motivation 

I had my last period in 2002 - now I have to work out how old I was.  Bleeds had been intermittent for several years prior, with PMT dreadfully.  I was already on anti-depressant medication and beta-blockas with an as-necessary anti-anxiety drug so I think this is why I missed those symptoms.

Jari: Do tell your friend to look out for vaginal atrophy  'cos it creeps up a bit even for those of 'us' with fewer symptoms 

As oestrogen levels drop so the body may become dry: inside and out, as well as muscles becoming lax = aches and pains. Some people may not associate the latter with meno so simply take pain relief which helps. 

That'll be 49 then.  Periods had been stop start with some large gaps for 2/3 years - fortunately never has heavy was when I was mensturationg.

[Ladybt28]

Jari, I think it probably does delay it, but on the other hand having read a lot about it I kind of think that you are more likely to "sail through" if you only have a few symptoms that are not debilitating and they are more likely to stop quickly than if you have a really bad time with underlying hormonal problems like postnatal depression, bad PMT etc which means it seems to follow that we have bad meno…. it all ties together...well that's my conclusion from anecdotal evidence that gets posted on the forum. 

On the subject of interesting thoughts, the thing about the question.... is hrt a good thing or a bad thing or how long should you take it? that seems to promote the idea that if you have to have it or choose to take it, you have somehow "failed" and promotes this idea that it is "normal" and only "old age" but it being "normal" can't be right?...they used to put women in asylums due to what we now know were hormone problems and the menopause.  It used to be called "the vapours" or "suffering with you nerves".  I often wonder why we still allow ourselves to ask that question when some of us suffer so badly?

[Shadyglade]

To be honest I think my worst problems were caused by the fluctuating hormones during peri. Once I'd had my last period everything seemed to settle.

For the record I think it's very difficult and insensitive to try and judge other women's meno journey. It's individual and personal and only we know how bad, or not, we have felt.

[CLKD]

I can't see why treatment for menopause or mental health issues should be separated from other specialities other than old-fashioned persistent ideas!  If you are hungry, do you not eat?  If you have a headache, do you not take pain relief ......... if something is wrong with the car do you not go to a garage, why not see a GP/Pharmacist/Practice Nurse when your health is off kilter 

We have to face facts though that with both the above, the medical profession doesn't support it particularly well. [same with old age care].  At a time when we can feel really ill with hormonal upheaval, we really shouldn't have to fight for treatment.  A bit of acceptance that we know our bodies best would be a starter ......

I took the contraceptive Pill for over 11 years B4 depression took over but I don't think it was entirely down to The Pill.  Then I was sterilised.  Then I had thrush  .  I realised that I could smell roses etc., whilst on The Pill I could smell garbage  .  I also had desperate nausea B4 each bleed and dreadfully painful periods ....... which is why I took The Pill initially.  PMT started as I went into peri - probably - though I didn't associate it with that time of Life.

NAPS helped enormously be advising how to eat correctly. 

[CLKD]

I thought that The Change was end of periods and hot flushes.  Nothing about anxiety.  Insomnia.  Cold flushes.  Dryness ........

I developed sudden surges of nausea, so much so that I knew exactly where every bin was in the stores that I used regularly.  I had to ask for a loo in a Pharmacist one day, she started to direct me to the public convenience which I knew was disgusting and the look on my face was enough for her to take me to their facility.  I didn't require it fortunately but OH that surge  .  It happened prior to each bleed, so NAPS advised eating every 3 hours ....... to keep blood sugar levels even which eases that surge of nausea.

There were probably other symptoms but the above was the worse for me. 

[Tc]

I think it's interesting  that my symptoms were so many and so severe  upon surgical removal of ovaries even though I was 53 and must have been approaching it anyway. Although I didnt have any symptoms prior to that,  statistically I mustve been close to it happening naturally so you would think that the sudden drop wouldnt have been so pronounced.. But it was. The meno nurse seems to think my eastrogen levels might have remained high despite my age (shes assumingvby lack of symptoms and no change in periods)  due to ovarian cyst either producing eastrogen of it's own accord or causing the ovary to ",kick out" more than usual for a woman that age. I guess that might be one explanation as to  why the drop was so pronounced. Maybe.

Incidentally when younger my periods stopped for 2 years due to eating disorder and again due to over exercising. Obviously eastrogen was low enough to stop periods (with eating disorder levels can drop as low as post menopausal) but I had absolutely no symptoms of low E whatsoever. In fact I felt better for not having periods. Maybe down to the progesterone lowering too. Or maybe down to testosterone being a bit more dominant, I can only guess,  but I had far more stable mood and boundless energy  even the last time it happened at 47!!

Maybe the reason that before surgical intervention I was statistically  late to start even peri menopause was down to the fact  I stopped ovulating a couple of times for a long period in my life and so  had more eggs left than normal for my age  Dont know if it works like that.
I think I'd make a good case study. In fact many of us on here would 
I wish we could all go to a conference and put our questions to the panel. What a day out that would be!  They might learn a thing or two!!

.great thread xx

[CLKD]

Would 'they' listen enough to learn though