Semi-delicate question for you more mature ladies...

[lvponies]

I'm almost 48 and have not started "the change" yet. Guess it hits people at different ages?? Both my mom & grandmother have passed away and I don't know when they went through theirs. I do know that my grandmother started talking to the "little men in the plumbing" (specifically the ones living in the toilet) when she went through her change!!

 

[backwoodsnanny]

I was 41 and the night sweats were a very small part of the problems I had, depression being the really BIG one. No period for over a year and then bam the night of Jodi's wedding rehearsal dinner I was blessed through all my clothes. Talk about embarassing. After her wedding it went away again this time for good when I was 42. I battled the depression with meds for a little over a year and finally found a really good counselor who probably saved my life. As for the night sweats I am now 58 and still have one every now and then but they have never been the biggest problem for me. I have never taken HRT or any other meds for it except the meds for depression. Good luck!!!!!!

 

[Dona]

For all of you who think it "gradually" fades away........NOT!

I only wish it were so!

I went thru the change fairly young...40 years old. (and I'm 59 now!) Was OK for the first couple years...then the hot flashes started & what was worse (in my opinion) short term memory loss!

Doc put me on HRT & that took care of everything!

I was "normal" once again. Was on HRT for about 7 years, and thats about when all the hubbub started about it not being good to be on Hormones long term. So I weaned myself off of them, thinking that it had been long enough & I probably didn't even need them anymore. I couldn't have been more wrong.....my hot flashes & memory laspes returned with a vengence....and now, at age 59, (19 years after menopause) they are alive & well, and just as strong as they ever were.

I've just learned to live with them. My mother told me SHE still has hot flashes, and she's 83 & went thru menapause at age 38!

My hot flashes can be so extreme, that when one hits....I'll yell out at my hubby (who is usually laying right up against me) GET OFF ME!!!!! I'll kick off the covers & have on several occassions, ran right outside & stood in knee-deep snow (barefoot & in my nightee). I swear, nothing ever felt soooo good! You can almost see the steam raising up from the snow!

 

[Jeannie B]

Do not drink anything with caffeine. No tea, no coffee, no soda, and tread very lightly around chocolate.

This will help those hot flashes.

NO chocolate? Hmmm

I'd rather sit in a tub of ice cubes!

 

[REO]

Thank you ladies!

I don't have hot flashes, but I have something not good going on that I've never heard of and don't know the cause. It started a year ago & gotten worse each time.

 

[Shaladar]

About the chocolate thing........I looooooove

dark chocolate, and I eat some every day, knowing darn well a little while after I eat it, I'll have a HF.....It's worth it....LOL

Oh , and alcohol is a trigger for me too, especially red wine. Never really liked wine anyway.

And I got to thinking.....I started this crap when I was 39, right after my 1st husband and my mother died. And to further reveal details, I had a Hyst. at 28, but they left my ovaries. And I remember my mother had early menopause too. Some of us are sooooo lucky

Sue

 

[Charlene]

i can almost pinpoint the exact DAY i started. i was 49. it came at exactly the same time i was experiencing the excruciating pain associated with hip osteoarthritis. so, i had pain 24/7 that brought me to my knees and reduced me to a quivering mass of jello and along with that, hot flashes, night sweats and the dreaded mood swings that would have made SUPERMAN cry "uncle!!!".

i just remember thinking ohhhh poor gary, how will he ever survive ME??? LOL! bless his heart, he took it like a trooper.

 

[Suzie]

My true hot flashes came once an hour, lasted about 5 minutes and then I was wet and cold afterward. I had a hysterectomy at age 42 and went on hormone therapy...off and on and then I totally came off a few years ago due to health concerns of mine.

I knew I was in the throws of hot flashes when I was stopped for a license check in January and the officer thought I was nuts because I was wearing shorts....at 10 degrees. I was perfectly comfortable. My husband says it really helps that we can cut back on the heating bills now that we are older. -Male humor.....

Time will help. Until then, I cut out caffeine (coffee made mine worse), drank more water-now I am water only. I try and eat a better diet which helps. Fried food makes mine somewhat worse.

I still have times when I am drowned with sweat, but it is less. Welcome to the club. Luckily it seems to come with senior discounts on food for most of us.

I did want to add I take a Bcomplex with C pill every day. For me,this makes a LOT of difference. It improves my mental function 100%. The body does not store B vitamins well and I think sweating makes it worse. Before I started taking that,I really felt like my mind was leaking away.

 

[AppyLover2]

I started Remyfemyn after Charlene recommended it on another thread about 6 weeks ago. I'm seeing some improvement (I think....as mine are totally unpredictable). But I wish all of you GOOD LUCK with them fading and going away after a while. I'll be 66 and still have them. I'm not sure exactly when they started..sometime after a partial hysterectomy at age 40. Guess it's just another one of the joys of being older....and being a woman.

 

[sfmini]

Hey, beats the alternative.

 

[Bluerocket]

Robin -- some people start menopause (pari-menopause) in their 20's and 30's.

My 2 sisters started when they turned 50 --- I began the process when I was 45 - 46 and at 53 was just tested as "menopausal" from blood test. Have not had a period in 3 years - but previous years did not have the right blood results (so was warned that it was POSSIBLE to get pregnant even though I was not having periods

).

I am not on any HRT - none have been recommended -- and I don't seem to have any problems (at least none that I am aware of) other than DEMENTIA

OH!

what I really mean to say is that my short term memory is SHOT - practically non-existent.

I have hot flashes -- but they are not really bad ones -- usually happen at night - wake up sweating and kick off the covers --- lasts a few minutes (15?) and then I am chilled -- (probably just normal again) and the covers feel good again. This may happen several times in one night -- then won't happen again for a while. All the cats sleep on my husband's side of the bed because I am so restless.

Another thing -- I wear short sleeve shirts in the winter -- can't wear a sweater -- my internal thermostat seems to be higher than everyone else around me. Grant it that I don't live in a very NORTHERN climate -- but it does get down to close to 0F here some times and is mostly in the 20 - 30 range. I think this is part of menopause for me as well -- sort of a permanent hot flash.

This is a very interesting thread -- to hear about everyone else's experience.

JJay

 

[REO]

Wow I'm sitting here doing this

What you ladies are going/have gone through.

Thank you for being here to share with & help others.

Me, I'm not stopping "it". Mine just went 28 days ON and now it's started over again heavy. (one lasted so long it ran into the next one) My last one was 33 days long and this one is on day 29 so far. They have gotten longer and longer each time. I wish mine would pause or even slow down!! I'm getting just a wee bit tired!

 

[minih]

Do not drink anything with caffeine. No tea, no coffee, no soda, and tread very lightly around chocolate.This will help those hot flashes.

ugh, not me, coke every morning and chocolate every afternoon. I will just have to keep the fan on in the office at my desk.

I just turned 45 this year and for me it has just started this past year. Mostly just the being warmer than any one else in the office at times. They burn me up and the thermostat says it is 70 and 71. I have had my fan on in my office several times this past winter. This is the only thing different I have noticed, that and the fact I have always had hormone oriented migraines, and they are getting more difficult to control.

 

[sfmini]

I was so lucky, just sputtered a few times and quit. A friend of mine kept on the doom and gloom and warned me to have supplies everywhere, car, purse, luggage, desk. So, I did that, never needed them again and I am at 13 months free with minimal symptoms, other than a really big one, depression that I seem to just forget to mention when I go to the doc.

I took the online tests several times, keep coming up with severe depression, but instead of doing something, I find another test to take, and flunk. sigh.

My friend with the dire warnings hates me! She flashes so bad she has to totally change clothes a few times a day, and a few times at night as well. Oh well, so sorry, NOT!

I am reading an excellent book called The Wisdom of Menopause : Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing during the Change

by Christiane Northrup

 

[Bluerocket]

OK -- was not what I originally posted - but why waste space --

Biggest surprise to me was HAIR LOSS -- :-( everywhere.

This is a good website for some facts if you need them: http://www.menopause.org/positivepassage.aspx

My mother had a hysterectomy (sp??) when I was 4 (she was around 35) so she never went through menopause. She had the same results -- but not the gradual changes.

JJay

 

[Miniv]

It hit me fast and furious about a year ago. I was getting both daytime hot flashes and night sweats. Tried the holistic stuff for them for awhile...... Then just started living with it all.

A couple of months ago, I started noticing that I wasn't getting them every day anymore. Only occasionally do I have the daytime ones....... I still get a night sweat time every night where I throw off the covers for a short time and my Night Shirt gets damp. Then after awhile I return to normal and feel chilled.

On a positive note -- I used to have ice-cubes for feet at night and I rarely do anymore!

 

[Dona]

I was so lucky, just sputtered a few times and quit.

I love how you put that, Jody......that's exactly what I did too. That part was easy.

 

[Sue_C.]

Tor about a year now, I've been taking an Herbal HRT, and it works wonders. It is a "Swiss" product, and I seriously couldn't function without it.

My Dr. explained to me that women who "become women" earlier...STAY fully functional...LONGER. Just doesn't seem fair to me.

 

[Equuisize]

To give some hope to those that have not gone thru this yet......

Everyone is different....although in talking to assorted ladies

it does seem, that there might be some similarity to what other

women in your family experienced.

I 'started' at 13 - pretty normal, was regular as the sun, moon

and stars my whole life.....had two sons, easy as pie.

Had my last 'special time'

2 months after my 55th birthday

same age as my mom and older sister.

One month it was there, as always, the next it was not and that was

that.......... no hot flashes, no chills.....nothing - it's just over.

Don't get me wrong I'm not disappointed LOL just don't have

anything to share when I talk with my friends, in the same spot LOL

 

[Dona]

This is the only thing different I have noticed, that and the fact I have always had hormone oriented migraines, and they are getting more difficult to control.

On the "up" side.....in many cases, after women go thru menopause, the migraines will stop (or at lease be less severe & happen less often) I had SEVERE migraines for years....even meds didn't always help. These were the type that left me totaly incompacitated for days!

After I went thru menapause....they slowed down & I haven't had one for years now!

Another thing that I found is a mis-conception. Did you know you can go thru "the change" more than once?

I don't mean stopping of the period...I mean all the nasty side effects that go along with it.

My mother went thru the change very early....she stopped menstruating in her mid 30s. Never had another period .....or any problems either. No hot flashes, no nervousness, no memory problems, no irritability or trouble sleeping. Nothing. Piece of cake! Then when she was in her 50s.....she started experiencing hot flashes & memory & nervous problems, etc. She went to the doctor thing something was definitely wrong. And he just chuckled at her & said, "why you are just going thru the change". My Mom laughed right back at him & said...you are wrong! I went thru that many years ago. Then, what he said astounded her. "Didn't you know you can go thru that more than once?" He put her on HRT which stopped all the problems.

Nice to know...huh! OH!