Happy Menopause

Yes indeed, I had a surgical menopause at 40. My lovely lady surgeon inserted an oestrogen implant before sewing me up and within 24 hours I felt wonderful. It took a while then the penny dropped. I must have been low on oestrogen before the op and with the implant I was back firing on all cylinders.

I have continued on oestrogen, just one tiny pellet every six months and I am protected from the negative effects of menopause such as osteoporosis, vaginal atrophy, incontinence, even Alzheimer’s has shown a link to lack of oestrogen!

I will always be grateful to my surgeon who gave me a new lease of life. That was over 30 years ago and I have been in excellent health since.

I had night sweats for about 2 weeks and that was it.
I’m 69 on Saturday and I guess I’m well and truly over it by now, but apart from Osteoporosis, that may or may not be happening without my knowledge, I’m fit and well.
Apart from Asthma of course and I doubt that that has anything to do with the Menopause. ?

Menopause was symptom free, apart from occasional flushes, I know I was lucky.

Years later a couple of bleeds caught me out ( once in France on holiday which meant a visit to the local pharmacy). J‘ai une problem de femme..etc not an easy one for them to guess, as I was in my 60s at the time.

I had a hysterectomy at 51 and apart from a few months on HRT afterwards, I'm on no medication. I came off the HRT because it caused severe breast pain, after several tweaks of dose etc I decided to drop it altogether.

Amazingly (after all the dire warnings), I had mild hot flushes for a while, my bones are fine, I sleep well, I'm not wrinkled, nor am I "all dried up".

As others have said, the benefits of being liberated from having periods and all that goes with it, are ?.

It’s the best part of getting old. ?

My last period was at 51, I had a brief period of HRT, maybe a year. I don’t recall any issues at all, the odd hot flush, but ten plus years on no problems that I’m aware of, libido is fine thanks.

Fibroids and a short period of heavy bleeding and that was it. Even having my most stressful year ever, I shan't even begin to list the number of events that hit me the same year, didn't trigger any menopausal symptoms.

DD is going through a similar menopause at the moment. In her case, her fibroids were more extensive and have occurred in her mis 40s not at 50, so she has had a slow release hormone containing IUD inserted that will see her through the transitional period and, effectively, she has had her menopause.

I was ecstatic to see the back of menstruation, personally! I always suffered terrible stomach cramps and muscle aches. The freedom is wonderful.

At 43, I was surprised to find myself going through 'the change'. The weather was hot, so I never knew if those few sweaty nights were climatic or hormonal. After that, no more trouble at all.

Yes, a few years of various ailments coming and going. Never really know if it was menopause. Hot flushes, but not severe. I tend to feel hotter now than I ever did, but that’s a bonus if anything. Never fancied HRT. Don’t like the idea of tampering with something natural, but understand if you’re really struggling, trying anything. I suppose I’ve got off fairly lightly.

After years of PMT the feeling of reliable, steady, mellowness is heaven. My mum told me the menopause made her feel 'redundant as a woman'. For me it's been a blessed relief and I feel utterly, contentedly myself now and not possessed by hormones once a month.

The grim milarky related to periods (listed so well in the OP) reminded me what a burden it is in one's life. I'd genuinely forgotten how horrible it was having gratefully let it go without a backward glance.

I cannot remember how old I was when I had the menopause; a few years of hot flushes and uncertain periods but no cramps or aches, and I managed to be bad-tempered without the aid of pre-menstrual tension.
A perfectly happy time.

Yes, I think the bad press the menopause gets is all related to women only being seen as valued if they are fertile/attractive to men. Speaking personally, it is one of the best things that has ever happened to me!

I agree GagaJo. The menopause is always presented as though it's the end when in fact for many of us it's a whole new beginning.

Sometime in the 1980s, when I was on the cusp of my 40s I heard an interview on Woman's Hour. They visited a region of India where the menopause meant that women could come out of purdah and uncover their faces and join normal life. As a result incidence of menopauseal problems was exceedingly low indeed. Most women saw the menopause as something to look forward to.

It coloured my own approach to those transitional years. I am fortunate I had two grown children, fit and well, and from the time the second one was 5, as far as I was concerned the sooner my periods stopped the better.

I had very heavy periods in the run up to the menopause but that was all. I had no hot flushes or other distressing symptoms and I feel better post menopause. No monthly PMT and headaches.
I do feel for those I know who have had bad symptoms, sometimes for years.

Likewise, I can’t overestimate the pleasure and relief of not menstruating any more. The physical pain, the hormonal imbalances, the physical mess. How stoical women are, and always have been. I wonder if getting old is worse for men because they don’t have an equivalent relief, only what they feel is a deterioration?

I was lucky and breezed through mine ?

Yes Floriel. I remember in peri-menopause I had periods so painful I would be on my knees, rocking backwards and forwards with the pain. Only opiates would help. Miss that? Hell no.