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[KarineT]

Hrllo,

Hormones don't only cause issues in the menopause but why are they regarded as the most troublesome at this stage in a woman's life? For me, they have always caused problems such as tension, low mood & anxiety in my reproductive years. I've never had kids but I was told that they can be problematic during & after pregnancy as well.  Hormones also cause problems during puberty.  They can be particularly troublesome if your are sensitive to hormonal change.  Now that I am postmeno, I'm sort of beginning to reach an even keel.

Karine

[CLKD]

I agree.  For me I had regular cycles: would bleed for 10 days, then off for 10.  The bleeds would be extremely painful and heavy  .  I had PMS in the 10 days prior to a period.  The night B4 I would sob, even if a bleed wasn't due, the period would begin the next morning.

I think that because we were 'girls together' in school we had others to sympathise? 

[Paz23]

You are correct KarineT, hormones can be a nightmare at any time of life - mine certainly have been.
However, this is a website dedicated to the menopause which is why that’s what you will mostly find discussed here! Not sure I understand what you are trying to get at?

[CLKD]

I think that we need to be fore warned about The Change.  Mum mentioned it, as well as "don't ask Aunty J why she suddenly goes red, you'll find out soon enough" and being 15-ish, I simply didn't be bothered about it.

Fortunately, I've not been too badly bothered thus far.  Itchy skin waxes and wanes, VA is under control, flushes didn't last long ..........

[monicap]

I get where you're coming from, as someone who's suffered with very low mood due to PMS. I think it was probably reproductive depression to be honest, but I never got adequate treatment. I think that's the real problem underlying a lot of this. That women's health has not been taken seriously. To this day most medicines are trialled on men and our bodies are very different. There's a lot of ignorance about the female body. Even the Daily Mail agrees!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6925775/Can-women-trust-drugs-tested-men.html

When my periods went for the first time I felt so stable. I didn't miss them at all. Even the hot flushes were bearable, but I couldn't accept the loss of my sexual self that came with that, which is why I started looking into systemic HRT. I was already on local oestrogen for the vaginal atrophy. Then of course I discovered all the other health benefits that came with HRT.

I don't enjoy taking progesterone because I'm very sensitive to it but it's the price I pay to have a sex life. I completely understand women who decide it's not worth it.

 

[Hurdity]

Karine T - yes once you have reached post-menopause then hormones cease to fluctuate - and it is the fluctuations especially that can cause problems throughout our reproductive life including during peri-menopause - as you point out. However it is not only the fluctuations that cause the problems but decreased oestrogen per se - and once we are post-menopause, even though our hormones are on an even keel - various symptoms can develop or worsen.

Some women for example continue to experience flushes for many years post-menopause, and also conditions like GSM, and osteoporosis may develop - sometimes many years later ( eg osteoporosis) - so it is not simply a question of how you feel, but an assessment of how oestrogen deficiency might impact your future health, given that some women will live for a third of their lives post-menopause - or even nearly half their life (eg menopause at 45-50, live until 90).

Hurdity x

[KarineT]

Paz23, i was trying to explain that I've always had problems with my hormones on the emotional side of it.  I would get very low & anxious on or around my periods.  Some women haven"t had any of these issues until the menopause set in. I do know what this site is about but we tend to emphasise the issues caused by our reproductive hormones during tbe menopause. The point I was trying to make is that these issues can be just as bad emotionally/mentally during our reproductive years.  Hence, some women can get postnatal depression.  I am wondering, if, like me, some women have always struggled emotionally because of their volatile reproductive hormones.

[Postmeno3]

It is new and developing symptoms, specific to this time only (due to the unique circumstances of increasing depletion of hormones), that provide the specific material only a menopause forum could address. How to protect future health in response to this depletion becomes an integral part of that material's clear focus. As far as I am aware, depletion on a continuum is not the reason for issues with hormones at other points in hormonal histories. Here, we have a vital collective of women in community and solidarity responding to how things are for themselves and others as they experience the current impact of this specific hormone depletion stage.