Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: Katymac on February 12, 2019, 09:55:01 PM
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I've got myself thoroughly confused
Peri is when you start having symptoms
Menopause is when you stop having periods? Any more than that?
Post menopause is when you've stopped having periods for at least a year - or is it more complex?
And as I had my ovaries out do I have to wait a year until I am post menopausal? Or do I get a free pass? Or is it longer?
The symptoms can last for life? Right?
I am coming back as a cat I think or a dormouse - none of this crap
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Katymac. I'm in the same position. When we had our ovaries out we immediately became post meno.in medical terms we are post meno.
But I think we still may differ from ladies who are "intact". and Post meno *( no period for 12 months) as post meno ovaries still have some function in some cases still releasing eastrogen but at a very low level and particularly in ovarian androgen production which lessens with age not meno. (Testosterone from the ovaries can convert to eastrogen post meno) whereas we have zero ovarian function.
It seems your question is "how long will symptoms continue.". I'd like to know that too.
I have read that surmeno symptoms are more severe and they are certainly more sudden.
So like you, im wondering if there will be a fallng off of symptoms with time
It would be interesting to hear from any ladies who are further down the past surgical meno line than us wouldn't it?
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I think they have put me on the wrong HRT I think i should be on conti not sequi
If I'm reading that stuff up there about meds right
I am a bit peeved that I had to make decision about me when I felt like crap; now I am feeling more human I find out what I was told may not have been right
Yes knowing how long, and what HRT should work would help & testosterone I'm sure I need some of that things have definitely changed down there
So when the GP asked me when my last period was & I said pre-op that should have rung alarm bells for me I guess
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Hi Katymac.
Yes you're right....peri is when you start having missed periods, and symptoms,
You are considered post meno when you haven't had a period for a full 12 months.
So, if you go 11 months, then have a period, then you have to start all over again. Until you get a full 12 months in......
And yes, some ladies have symptoms all their lives, some don't, so what categorie we will fall into is anyone's guess, everyone is different.
As for your overies being took out , then I would guess your post meno, because with no overies you can't produce eggs, so no periods....
I'm coming back as a man, or an elephant, I love eleee's.......lol
Tc's Explication is much better than mine.......xxx
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You are both lovely, thanks everyone here has been despite my incoherence at times
& I kept asking about HRT pre surgery and they kept fobbing me off so I thought I didn't need it
I bloody did but of course by then I was completely doo-lally and didn't know which way was up
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Yes jillydoll once ovaries are removed you are medically post meno whether you still have uterus or not.
Katy. When doctors ask about your meno status tell them you are post meno due to ovary removal. Your last natural period is now irrelevant.
I too was put on sequi patches straight after.(don't know why either)
I don't feel I'm as well informed about hrt as many other ladies on here (I've been just as confused myself) so I will leave it to others to hopefully answer your question about sequi or conti.
Xx
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The self same thing happened to me 're surgery and hrt. They initially sent me away with nothing and waited for me to crash.
I empathise so much katyxxx
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You'll go home on the day with HRT they said
OK you aren't going home today so we'll sort it out tomorrow
It's OK you are still staying here we will send you home with HRT tomorrow
The doctor hasn't written it up so she will ring you tomorrow
When I rang at 3pm they said 'oh your GP will sort it'
The GP said "well do you really want it" so I said no
I said I was doo-lally!
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Of course you were. I was the same. I was supposed to go home same day but got kept in and you don't know which way is up!!
I went back to consultant 2 weeks later and she was just about to wave me out of the door when I mentioned hrt. It took me another 2 weeks to get the scrip and by then I'd crashed.
So sorry to hear you went through the same thing. X
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It's kind of concerning we both had the same experience really
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Yes. And as I remember we had the same fight to get the topical eastrogen/vagifem.
My gynae actually seemed surprised when she examined me and I had atrophy and my gp at the time was worse than useless.
My mum was sent away with no hrt after a total hysterectomy 30 years ago!! You would've thought things might have changed!!
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I meant 40 years ago!!
She was 40 at the time and those first early years without eastrogen have had a long term impact on her health. It's one of the reasons I'm determined to try persevere with the hrt for at least a few years.
Hope you manage to get some sleep Katy.x
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goodness, I wasn't doing well last night!
I did sleep reasonably, Thank you!
Now, I need to get my head around this stuff - let me reread the medication stuff
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....... and breath.
That's how it ought to be but bodies don't read the Manual :kick: and the medical profession is, in the main, WAY behind bothering to understand exactly how menopause, regardless of causation, impacts.
......... and breath :D
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With my mum i think its because her meno was early so she had many more years to go before natural meno age and wasnt protected against osteo.
I have read that hrt started before 60 has a protective effect on the bones. So that's why I said I'm keen to try it.
Didn't mean to alarm you
.there are ladies on here who have taken a long time to get the hrt right but many have so there is hope for us.
I do believe the early days with surgical meno might make it a bit more of an uphill battle for us than if we were going through a natural process. It's so hard to be patient when you feel like crap tho.
There is an understanding that women in their 40s and younger undergoing ovary removal need higher initial doses of eastrogen to counteract the crash.
But at 53 I wast in meno so was realy in the same position. They go by age and not menopausal status when offering hrt after surgery which I think is wrong..
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The GP thinks that because I haven't had a year without periods I have to be on sequi
That isn't right is it?
Because I have no ovaries none of my hormones are causing periods so I should be on continuous?
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Hi Katymac - Oh dear... Gp's an idiot! (Sorry - must try and be nicer :-X) - let's be kind shall we and say "ill-informed". >:( You though are much better at this stuff than the GP ;) - yes you are right.
The date of your last period is irrelevant. You are definitely post meno, there is no question about it. You have had your overies removed and therefore you have nothing left to produce any hormones at all to cause a period.
Tell the "idiot" :-X- should you have to see them again! that you are conti not sequi. You are never going to have another normal period ever again regardless of the date of your last one! Having said that some women even those who have had a surgically induced meno cannot always tolerate a continuous regime, but that will complicate matters for you so ignore it for the time being. You need to try with a continuous regime in the first instance and start to feel better by getting your oestrogen levels up
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Katy. He is wrong. When our ovaries are removed we literally wake up from the operation post meno.
We skipped the 12 months part it has happened overnight.
You will not have a natural period in the next 12 months it is impossible and if that is what the doc is waiting for then he realy doesn't seem to understand surgical meno.
But regarding the sequi patches I was initially given them too and I've just looked at the femseven sequi leaflet and it says suitable post menopause so going by that it would seem our doctors weren't necessarily wrong to prescribe it.
(I personally think for me it was just too lower dose to cope with the initial brutal hormone crash of surgical meno.) But.....
I am confused about sequi vs continuous post meno especially as the femseven sequi leaflet says it is actually FOR post meno women.
Hope your day has gone o.k Katy xx
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Hi lady. Sorry I overlapped your post. We must've been typing at the same time.
What do you think about the femseven sequi leaflet saying it is for post meno women?
Hope you are well.
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I think the confusion for the two of you arises because you both still have a womb right?
That needs to be protected, so you need progesterone to ensure that the oestrogen they give you to replace your ovary oestrogen doesn't thicken the womb lining. Women who have had their wombs removed don't have to use progesterone so there is no choice they get given oestrogen only.
Women who have wombs have to have both hormones but even post meno it is a choice really between a "bleed" or "non-bleed" regime. The conti regime is supposed to be the non-bleed, the sequi regime includes a bleed. The idea behind a conti is that the progesterone and the oestrogen are balanced totally so the lining doesn't thicken nor is there a bleed. Sometimes it is quite hard to achieve and spotting occurs. The sequi means that there will definitely be a bleed. Most GP's suggest that women who are post meno don't want to be bothered with a bleed so prescribe conti but if you are like me and cannot tolerate continuous progesterone which makes us feel ill, it just doesnt work for us. In that case, we chose to have a sequential regime and have a bleed because it suits us better and we have to just put up with the bleed!
Bet that's as clear as mud huh!!! :)
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Thanks lady.
Yes I still have uterus and I think Katy does too. (Correct me if I'm wrong katy).
You explained it well lady
I do find it strange though that both myself and Katy were given sequi as opposed to conti as a first line. I wonder what the reasoning behind that was. I know for myself the issue of bleed no bleed was not even mentioned by the doc.
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Clear as runny honey ;-)
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OK - I have to go back for swollen ankles anyway (never had them before!) so I'll ask why sequi not conti and see what happens
Mind you I def don't feel as good on the patches with the progesterone in.....not sure if it'll get better as it's only my first month
Start Month 2 tomorrow
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Katymac - do you have to take any medication for high blood pressure?
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No - my blood pressure is terrifically low - it always had been
If it approaches 'normal' I'm very very high
WHen I was in hospital they were really pleased it wasn't high - until I explained how low it should have been!