Menopause!

[TheGoodEarth]

Oh no, my wife shaves regularly! And she is only moody on days that end in the letter Y.

[Graye]

I think mine happened when I wasn't looking! I have an IUD still in place so there weren't the obvious signs anyway. But it seems it can happen without having any effect on you at all so don't get too worried about it. I DID get the spotty bit though. The doctor decided it was rosacea and prescribed antibiotics on a small dose long term basis. I didn't fancy that and restrict taking the tablets to times when I have a spotty outbreak - about once every few months.

[Graye]

Yes my OH says I'm as lovely as ever too!

I forgot to say mine was a hormone secreting IUD, originally to control irregular periods. The best part was that the doctor said it can stay in place with no problems. I hated having them removed.

[Wicksy]

Hello. I am an acupuncturist and I have a lot of women coming to see me asking for help with the symptoms of menopause. I thought you may like to know how it is perceived from a Chinese medical view.
The body comprises of many relationships between phenomena, some of which can be described as Yang (hot, active, moving etc.) and some which can be described as Yin (cool, passive, still etc.) When a woman attains the age beyond which she would bear a child, the Yin, cooling aspect begins to decline and the Yang aspect seems dominant, hence the hot flushing, night sweats, and skin eruptions.
My treatment principle is to use acupuncture points that strengthen the Yin aspect of the body. I also advise women to seek out cooling foods that naturally promote the Yin, Bamboo shoot, banana, bitter gourd, clam, crab, grapefruit, lettuce, persimmon, salt, seaweed, star fruit, sugar cane, water chestnut, watermelon, lotus root, cucumber, barley, bean curd, chicken egg white, marjoram, oyster, pear, peppermint, radish, strawberry, tangerine, and yogurt, broccoli, cauliflower, zuccini, corn, tomatoes, pineapple, turmeric.
By eating these foods they help themselves!
I think it is very important to remember that the menopause is often demonised in the west, however a more helpful view is to consider this time of change as the transition from "Mother" to "Wise Woman".

[Millymollymandy]

Thanks for all your advice and experiences. Haven't started the hot flushes yet but I might actually appreciate them in the depths of winter.

[theabsinthefairy]

Hi MMM

Sorry to hear that you feeling down at the onset of the menopause, unfortunately there are lots of symptoms including the acne, mood swings, dry skin and cramps that are quite akin to being a teen all over again. I particularly suffered with the hot flushes a couple of years ago but they have really settled down now.

My only problem is that I am 36 this year, and having gone through a very early menopause, now have nothing to blame my mid life crisis on!!!!!



Monika

[lazyspice]

I tend to go into meltdown first thing in the morning and have found that a couple of drops of peppermint oil in my (not too hot) bath water helps to cool me down beautifully - you have to wallow for about 20 minutes to get the full effect

[Cornelian]

The onset of menopause gave me ovarian cancer, so it ain't all good. ;) Please, please, please, if anyone experiencing menopause gets an otherwise unexplainable new round apple shape - large belly, no waist any more - get it checked out. If you start to have to get up every night to go to the loo, get it checked out. The CA-125 blood test will save lives, so insist on having it done once a year once you hit menopause. (The CA-125 blood test will detect rising ovarian cancer markers in your blood.) Ovarian cancer is otherwise absolutely symptomless until it has grown huge and spread everywhere. Even the changed shape comes very late into the disease.

[lazyspice]

The onset of menopause gave me ovarian cancer, so it ain't all good. ;) Please, please, please, if anyone experiencing menopause gets an otherwise unexplainable new round apple shape - large belly, no waist any more - get it checked out. If you start to have to get up every night to go to the loo, get it checked out. The CA-125 blood test will save lives, so insist on having it done once a year once you hit menopause. (The CA-125 blood test will detect rising ovarian cancer markers in your blood.) Ovarian cancer is otherwise absolutely symptomless until it has grown huge and spread everywhere. Even the changed shape comes very late into the disease.

Agreed - I put a lot of "symptoms" down to an early menopause in my mid 30's because my mum started hers about that age. About 3 years later, after losing a fair bit of weight, I felt a big lump in my tummy. I was lucky, it turned out to be fibroids rather than something serious like Cornelian, but because they'd been left so long they were too big to safely remove and I had to have a hysterectomy at 39. If I had got myself checked out when I first experienced changes then I might not have needed the surgery.

[Silver Ether]

Of course men also go through a type of menopause too you know, but we don't make so much fuss ... cos we are MEN.
I have on occasion visited those other threads but can honestly say that I couldn't make any relevant comments, so kept quiet.

men don't make a fuss .. cuss they always moan about summat... and women dont moan ... they pass comment...

[snapdragon]

Thanks for all your advice and experiences. Haven't started the hot flushes yet but I might actually appreciate them in the depths of winter.

When they start try to remember to dress in layers with the inside one being really summer-light, so you can peel off layers as you need to. Having previously worked with women who would insist on opening all the windows in the depth of winter because they were hot I determined I wasn't going to put my workmates through similar suffering. (the 'trying to remember' bit is on and off too )
The thing is that everyone is different, I had slow down in periods and 'bitchfromhell' before hot flushes (power surges ) and of course the mid-life crisis need for a toy boy and a powerful motorbike (I got the bike as it was cheaper in the long run)

[Derry]

im glad i have about 30 years to go ;)

[Millymollymandy]

Oh but Derry, that's 30 more years of periods.

Snapdragon, thanks for your advice. Actually I'm fine at the moment spot wise, they seemed to stop a couple of months ago, likewise the really dry skin. Perhaps it's the sun or it was just a pre-pre-thing.

Well done on getting the bike in place of the toy boy - as I'm not into bikes I think my hubby better watch out!

[JulieSherris]

Just to liven this thread up yet again.....

I 'think' I'm just starting down the road to my menopause...... I've been a bit wobbly with periods - had them 2 weeks apart, now have missed 2 (yay!!) But the one thing that I am REALLY struggling with above all else..... Food Cravings!!!

What on earth??? I want fresh raw peas..... have none in the freezer from the garden, even though I picked & shelled more than enough to last through the winter... I stood out there picking & eating, & picking & eating... not the small sweet ones either, I left them to get almost hard before I harvested them.... and now I am missing them SO much
And cornflakes.... I've never really been a cornflakes fan, but can happily get through 1.5kg of them in a week..... with the merest dribble of milk, no sugar, dry crispy cornflakes...mmmmm...... I went 4 days eating nothing else....

Any advice on this? I even cook a meal for Andy & I, only to find that I can't eat it & go get a bowl of cornflakes instead - it's driving me mad!

[Green Aura]

Julie!!!!!!!!
Where've ya bin?

Sorry about the cravings - just make sure you're not pregnant an old neighbour of mine became a mum at 49 (don't think you're that age yet) she didn't know she was pregnant and had put her missed periods down to menopause. Anyway her menopause is now a barrister