Menopause

I took HRT for 18 years and felt fabulous! Then at 58 I was diagnosed with breast cancer which was found to have grown because of the Oestrogen. Since then I have suffered for 8 years with day and night sweats, furious tempers, painful joints and tiredness. So a divorce and 2 failed relationships later I am going to ask to go back on HRT because life is too short to live like this.

I was very fortunate having had, at the age of 50, a total hysterectomy and just two years of HRT,I experienced no Menopause symptoms whatsoever. I do sympathise with you all experiencing such discomfort, women have a lot to put up with.

Esspee
I have sent you a PM.

Great posts Espee. OP, you ask when will it end, for some women, never and that information came from my GP when I asked her the same question. I came late to HRT. After suffering for 12 years I finally started HRT at the age of 64. I am now 70 and still have a patch. Not all symptoms are resolved but I’m very much better and life is worth living again.

I did not do well with oestrogen when I was on the pill - constant bleeding - but I do take hrt. I just couldn't function, couldn't sleep, wee-ing all the time, hot flushes that made me nauseous and terrible anxiety. I'm still working so it was impossible. So I take hrt but I take a tablet every other day. I find this keeps me ticking over. Not sure how long I will need it for.

All I know is I feel horrible, not sleeping, not eating, tired and stressed and I don't know what's the current world we live in and what is my hormones

OK, food for thought. I think when I try to look into it, I see so many horror stories I don't know what to think.

If you do try it Starblaze do not accept pills. When you take medication orally it first reaches the liver which has to work very hard to remove it from your body. This is referred to as the first pass through the liver.
To avoid this it is better to use gel, patches, or implants.

Thank you Esspee I won't rule it out

I cannot understand why the menopause is still shrouded in secrecy. Everyone I know thought that it was simply the end of your potential childbearing life and that some people sailed through it while others had vague problems such as hot flushes.

We should shout from the rooftops that menopause is a time where your body reacts to the lack of oestrogen with mega changes.
Suddenly you may get debilitating hot flushes, night sweats, mood swings, vaginal dryness, reduced sex drive, fatigue, poor concentration, low moods, anxiety, incontinence, vulval atrophy, atropic vaginitis, palpitations, muscle pains, osteoporosis etc., etc.

But do we hear of these things? NO

Menopause is only natural when we live approximately to the age of fifty. But now we are living almost twice as long. We have almost half a lifetime to “exist” after our oestrogen supplies are used up.

Post menopause is a time of deterioration for women but today we have a solution for the great majority of women. If you have no medical contraindications you can replace the oestrogen your body no longer supplies. It is a game changer!

If you suffer from diabetes you are deficient in insulin and you supplement it.
If you suffer from thyroid problems you supplement thyroxine.
If you are deficient in oestrogen you supplement it with hormone replacement therapy.

The benefits of HRT are overwhelming. It protects your heart and blood vessels, it protects your bones from osteoporosis, it protects your brain from Alzheimer’s, your colon from cancer, your eyes from cataracts, your skin stays younger looking, your vagina does not atrophy, you don’t have mood swings, the palpitations, anxiety, macular degeneration, difficult sleep and hot flushes.........

I could go on and on.

You have a choice OP. Take the medically proven route and replace the oestrogen your body needs or spend a fortune buying quack “over the counter” snake oil remedies.

I agree the Chillow is good. The only thing I found that really eased hot flushes were sage tablets, couldn't believe what a difference they made.

You have all given me some amazing advice and a lot to think about.

I went into this with the stubborn attitude that I was just going to ride it out. I don't have any older female relatives nearby and I just didn't realise how much I was going to struggle. I've been to the doctor about menstrual issues etc in the past and hen they couldn't find a physical cause they just left me to deal with it. I used to have to take sore clothes with me everywhere I went. I had periods that went on for 6 weeks at times. It seems to finally to be calming down but coming with all sort of crazy.

Sorry you’re having so many problems.
I can recommend Chillows for in the pillow case at night, for night sweats. I have 2 so I can change them over at night. A fan in the bedroom has already been mentioned.
Replens and Hyalofem work for atrophic vaginitis, and only contain natural products.
I can’t have HRT because of past breast cancer. I appreciate you want to try natural remedies, but I tried everything going but unfortunately nothing worked for me.
A female GP eventually prescribed Gabapentin for intolerable sweats, day and night. It works very well. I appreciate it is a drug, though not HRT. Depends how desperate you are, and I was.
Good luck anyway.

Stomach, sorry

Has anyone experienced hit flushes affecting their stimacand making them actually physically ill on top?

I did want HRT and can't take it anyway because of other health issues, my GP recommended Menopace by Wellwoman and I found them really helpful in greatly reducing the night sweats, anxiety etc. I take the one with Botanicals and also Red Clover. I started having more oily fish and soy (yoghurt) in my diet and I think this has also helped. Good Luck, it not a fun time for a lot of us. Here is the link to the supplements I take, they are normally 3 for 2 at Boots : www.vitabiotics.com/products/menopace-plus
www.vitabiotics.com/products/menopace-red-clover

I used evening primrose capsules and black cohosh tablets. I took them morning and evening without fail for about 6 months. I never had a hot sweat and when i came off them i still didn't. Everyone is different though so may not work for you. On reflection, i wish i had used HRT as i have terrible problems with my skin and joints and i have heard that HRT stops all of that. I hope you find a solution.

I used black cohosh which I think helped.
I also got a cool gel pad which I put on my pillow and fancy it helps too.
My dear mil when asked said she still had the occasional hot flush at 75!poor love! Mine have almost stopped at mid 60s.

Unless you have medical contraindications you need to understand that the symptoms you have are caused by lack of oestrogen and therefore replacing that oestrogen is the logical natural remedy.
There are many methods of replacing oestrogen, patches, gel, implants but steer away from pills as they have to pass through the liver.
I am under one of the top specialists in this country and she is happy for me to continue on HRT for the rest of my life.
Many GPs are not up to date with the subject so based on out of date information they have women stop taking their HRT when there is no need to.

Hi can certainly relate to missdeke I was on HRT for 9 years in my 50s and felt brilliant doc made me come of it after that. All mpause symptoms came on hot flushes
osteoporosis, problems with parathyroid glands (surgery required), calcium imbalance, chronic osteoarthritis cervical spondylitis who knows what's coming next, wish I could have stayed on the HRT indefinitely.

Cut out drinking red wine, It causes you to have night sweats and lack of sleep. Eat healthily and take Pukka menopause capsules -two a day. I had Acupuncture every four weeks for 16 years& it prevented me getting horrendous symptoms however nothing helped with my lack of confidence and emotions. I am through the other side now and also found some of the herbal teas helped too instead of too much caffeine especially at night. I had made my mind up I did not want to go on HRT& am thankful that the other things I took helped.

People call it menopause "hot flushes" I don't have flushes but full on sweats! Wetting my hair, my clothes this has now been 10 years. When will it end? I've tried a few things nothings worked, won't take hrt I've had too many scary lumps. Plus at 61 I think it's more dangerous. If men had to put up with it there would be a quick fix by now!

Lachesis for hot flushes. It is homeopathic

Think I took Vitamin B6 which helped with the hot sweats

I still get hot flushes and feel dizzy etc after nine years post meno. I have a Dyson fan on setting one all night and it helps. It wasn’t cheap but very quiet compared to my other fan it helps my tinnitus too.