Suzy you daft girl!
Morning - its quite mysterious how we all have different symptoms and some of us can even be relieved by the end of our periods, especially if we have suffered during our 'reproductive' lives, with PMT, painful periods and pelvic pain. Some have the most dreadful menopause, some don't.
Theres lots of information on here. Several options, as I see it, if you can cope with it, and symptoms not too bad - wait and see if it does settle down and take supplements, excercise. change lifestyle e.g. alcohol, sugar, caffeine all make flushes worse. Once you recognise and accept what is going on, that is half of the battle. Have a look at the forum and see if you can change anything that might help. Half of the worry also is wandering how bad it might get. In my case I slept really badly for about 2 years, waking every hour. I felt hot and still do, but didn't soak the bed. I felt a certain amount of anxiety, but because I couldn't sleep it made me feel awful. Stress at work and also worry about my mother, who was in hospital 5 times last year, made me feel worse. However, you do have to realise that you do get more stress at this time of life because your body is going through vast change, and you have to be kind to your self, by trying to keep calm, difficult, I know!
Sometimes it is worth going to see your GP, preferably a female one! or ask to be referred to your menopause clinic, if there is one in your area. Some male GPs are really good, but a some of them don't make much effort to understand womens problems.These days there is a lot of things you can try varying from suppliments, anti-depressants, HRT. Depending on your symptoms they will prescribe various, if you need it.
I think that there is a lot of confusion about HRT. When I got to peri-menopause, I thought everyone went HRT However, this forum is great for informing women. If you do go on it, you can have trouble then getting off it because you are withdrawing from more hormones and the menopause! My friend was on it for 7 years and didn't have problems comming off. She went on it at 45. I think it is very good for women with bad menopausal symptoms. However, if its vaginal dryness, you can take vaginal hormone cream without taking HRT if your other symptoms are in check. Then again if you sleep badly or suffer from anxiety you can take a short course of anti-depressants until you get over the 'hump'. I never took the birth control for long because it made me bleed in between periods, and also i have had laser treatment to the cervix at 25.
I have suffered all my life with painful periods, and all associate problems etc etc, so I was relieved not to have them, so didn't want to got down the HRT route and start having periods again. I am now 15 months post meno, and my hormones have settled down. The worst of it was two years. According to my gynaecologist, shrinkage of reproductive organs doesn't start straight away, so if it does, and you experience any dryness or itching, them vaginal oestrogen creams are the way to go in my opinion!
x
