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[Cider]

Hello Cider and welcome to the forum.

I am also interested to learn how you manage the menopause with your regime so I hope you can keep us updated.

Can I ask, is your diet a vegan one and have you considered adding B12 and Vitamin D supplements as I believe these are recommended for anyone not eating any animal products.

Wishing you well on your quest for a trouble free meno!

Take care and keep posting.

K.

Hi Kathleen and thank you.

I am not totally vegan although I try to avoid dairy and don't comsume a lot of it, I do eat some dairy.  I'm not keen on supplementation and try and get the nutrients from diet if I can. You raise an interesting point with Vit D and B12 though. Vitamin D, I believe is best obtained from sunlight - not easy to get in the UK, but is also contained is some veg including mushrooms and sweet potatos both of which I eat a lot of!  I do keep meaning to try a supplement over the winter though to see if it makes any difference to my terrible winter moods.

B12 is harder - from what I have read, the jury is out on whether it can be obtained from non-meat sources.  Some consider it can be obtained from sea vegetables and spirulina - both of which I do take in supplement form. I was tested for Vit B12 defficiency some years ago (I suffered from ME/CFS for 5 years and the symptoms are similar) and it came back fine, but always worth getting tested again.

[Kathleen]

Hello Cider.

I see you have considered all aspects of your diet and I only mentioned Vitamin D and B12 as I understand incorporating  these can be more difficult.  I know a lady who simply takes a multivitamin once a week as she believes this covers all bases!

Wishing you well and take care.

K.

[Cider]

That's interesting Sparkle.  Do you still have CFS or have you recovered? 

I have been fully recovered for 7 years now.

[Hurdity]

Yes! So many hormone imbalances cause fatigue, muscle and joint pain but often goes unrecognised by doctors! I feel women should have regular endocrinological checks and trial treatments to see if any of these improved - and think how much better women would feel not to mention how much money would be saved if many women responded to these treatments ...

Hurdity x

[Cider]

Its been up and down through peri Cider, it had been much improved until peri kicked off about five years ago.  Today I feel absolutely awful, tight tendons and muscles causing horrible pains, feel really low and headachey too and can't think clearly. I also feel really tired but I can't sleep at night, I wake up after two hours no matter what time I go to bed.  For me poor sleep was a cfs feature but its also a peri feature so I'm not sure what's going to be honest, I just think they're closely linked.

S x

Yes, so many of the symptoms I have are similar to the ones I had with CFS, with one massive difference and that is that no matter how tired or crappy I feel, I CAN get out of bed, (I don't really want to, but I can) and go to work and exercise and it doesn't make me feel worse. In fact exercise makes me feel better.   

[Cider]

Thanfully I was never totally bedridden either. I did go through periods where I didn't spend a whole lot of my day out of bed or lying on the sofa, and every little thing I did sent me right back to bed, going to the bathroom, cleaning my teeth etc. But the majority of the time I could take care of myself, and I even managed to keep my job through it all. When I am feeling similiar symptoms (and the symptoms are so similar to so many other things) the first thing I do is check whether activity makes this better, worse or stay the same.  If it's better or stay the same then I know it's not a recurrence of CFS symptoms. Because without fail, any activity would make me worse, even if sometimes it took a couple of days to set in.

[CLKD]

   I try to eat healthy in that Himself cooks from scratch most evenings.  I exercise as much as possible.  But once I begin to feel ill eating goes out the window 

[Cider]

  I try to eat healthy in that Himself cooks from scratch most evenings.  I exercise as much as possible.  But once I begin to feel ill eating goes out the window 

That is the same for me. While I am eating healthily I feel fine, but it only takes a little slip up in my regime and symptoms soon start to reappear and then it's a downward spiral - the worse I feel the worse I eat, the worse I eat the worse I feel, and it takes a major effort to get back on track.

[CLKD]

I used to have 'safe' foods but even that doesn't work as well these days 

[peegeetip]

Hi Cider

thanks for being so open to your woes.
Its a tough time to go thru and all of us have been there.

You said "I haven't ruled out HRT completely and my doctor and I have agreed that it will be prescribed as an abosolute last resort only. At the moment, the risks very much outweight the benefits to me, especially if I can find a way of getting through this without medication, and that is what I want to do if I can."

What is the last resort?

You mention bad thoughts and other issues your using your DH and Bestie for.
Believe me however good they are now that will only last a limited amount of time.
Even the best have a point where they will tip.
I've been through this and had those same thoughts.
It damaged me and my family. I still shudder about what I've done and said due to this.

In terms of what is the last resort, for me it was when my water works/sex activities started to pack in.
Running to the toilet all the time. Planning toilet stops rather than my days activities became the horrible norm for me.
Took over 6 months to get back to normal after starting HRT.
Loosing the closeness with my DH was probably the worst and most damaging part of this.
A lot of ladies don't get back to normal after starting HRT much later or postponing till the "last resort".
Like any potentially chronic issue - early intervention is best.

I'm glad I didn't leave it longer but I so wish I'd started sooner.

Your body, your choice and all that but we can only share what we've been through and hope that others don't have to suffer the same unnecessarily.

[Cider]

Hi Cider

thanks for being so open to your woes.
Its a tough time to go thru and all of us have been there.

You said "I haven't ruled out HRT completely and my doctor and I have agreed that it will be prescribed as an abosolute last resort only. At the moment, the risks very much outweight the benefits to me, especially if I can find a way of getting through this without medication, and that is what I want to do if I can."

What is the last resort?

You mention bad thoughts and other issues your using your DH and Bestie for.
Believe me however good they are now that will only last a limited amount of time.
Even the best have a point where they will tip.
I've been through this and had those same thoughts.
It damaged me and my family. I still shudder about what I've done and said due to this.

In terms of what is the last resort, for me it was when my water works/sex activities started to pack in.
Running to the toilet all the time. Planning toilet stops rather than my days activities became the horrible norm for me.
Took over 6 months to get back to normal after starting HRT.
Loosing the closeness with my DH was probably the worst and most damaging part of this.
A lot of ladies don't get back to normal after starting HRT much later or postponing till the "last resort".
Like any potentially chronic issue - early intervention is best.

I'm glad I didn't leave it longer but I so wish I'd started sooner.

Your body, your choice and all that but we can only share what we've been through and hope that others don't have to suffer the same unnecessarily.

Hi, there and thank you for your very open and honest reply.

The last resort for me is when nothing else works.

At the moment I can feel 110% well through diet and exericise, so long as I stick with my regime, which has been difficult since going back to work after a period of sick leave, as I have long days and it is easy to slip up when I am tired and don't have much time. Even when not being a complete saint about my diet and only being strict 80% ofthe time, this elimiates the bad thoughts, the rage attacks and pretty much all other symptoms apart from my emotions being all over the place.  By which I mean crying at everything - not mood swings. I think I can live with that. And if I do feel bad, I exercise and it gets better.

I am wanting to write a longer post on diet/exercise vs HRT because it's all new to me and I am still learning. I have lots of questions. I haven't had the time so far, but I will get around to it.

My husband and bestie support me 100% in this decision. It is hard for them of course, but over the course of long relationships there are good times and bed times. My bestie has bi-polar - there are times when she is not the best version of herself either. We strengthen each other.

I don't want to put myself at risk of cancer (even the smallest slightest risk), uneccesarily. If I can control this without medication, then that to me, seems the best and most logical way to do it. If I can't then I will consider medication.

[peegeetip]

Hi Cider

I'm not going to assume your name is related to alcohol or your penchant for Cider

However one of the most dangerous things we do without thinking is consume alcohol.

If you are in the least bit worried about HRT  (even the smallest slightest risk)
as you put it
then we should all stop drinking alcohol.

This is whats so silly in the urban legends that follow HRT.

To suddenly blame HRT after a couples years use after a lifetime of taking alcohol is unwise and unfair for all those suffering both sides of this problem.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/alcohol-and-cancer/alcohol-facts-and-evidence#alcohol_facts2

I wish you well as you go forward.

 

[Hurdity]

Hi Cider

I just wanted to say  from me too because I don't think I have yet!

Also you seem a bit like a woman after my own heart - well almost - when it comes to diet and exercise - SO  important - you are doing the best thing you can for your health as you start this new phase of your life! I also try to get most of what I need nutrient wise - from food.

I won't say I eat similarly but there are similarities in that I normally now do not eat sugar except in fruit or meals out now and again or perhaps the odd square of choc - but it doesn't feature in my diet, and I eat tons of vegetables, nuts, pulses etc. However I also eat a lot of fish - usually caught locally (by my husband) as I live not far from the sea (or trout caught from a reservoir!), and lean meat, lots of eggs and natural yogurt and cottage cheese. I love avocados too.  I also like alcohol (mainly at weekends - but can't tolerate much now) and I love my tea and coffee  . (you said you didn't drink?). I'm 63 and have been on HRT for 9 + years - but I only started when almost 54 and was very late peri - which was an ideal time to start it as my own hormones had stopped fluctuating madly. Like you I managed without anything until then - with periods missing for several months and hot flushes and night sweats keeping me awake, and having 2 young teenage boys at home at the time and working full-time.

I also do a fair amount of exercise - I was doing 3 classes per week but have cut down to two due to summer and gardening and I still work part-time.

What I want to say is that I do feel well most of the time - with a combination of the right diet, exercise AND HRT!

At your stage you probably don't need it - although if you start going 2-3 months or longer between periods before the age of 51/52 - which is the natural average age of menopause - then this is classed as an early menopause so HRT is advisable to help prevent osteoporosis and to protect your heart. HRT taken before this age does not count in terms of cancer or stroke risk (unless you have a genetic predisposition through family history that suggests otherwise).

If you need contraception then an option is to take the latest BCP called Qlaira which contains oestrogen that is bio-identical to our own - although the progestogen is synthetic. This evens out the hormone fluctuations that cause so many problems in peri-menopause.

Anyway I admire you for getting your diet health and lifestyle under control - which is what we should all be doing . If it helps you feel well for longer then that's fantastic

Hurdity x