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[Rosebush]

Hi Sarah,

Nice to hear you are on the up, how long has it been since your last period, everyone seemed to tell me, after 2yrs period free, things would improve, its been 2yrs 7mths for me, soooo really hoping i follow in your foot steps... 6yrs of these blooming sweats have nearly sent me demented..


Just need to lose 2 stone, get rid of my aching joints, and i will skipping all the way to the sea side   Oh forgot the face lift

[holiday]

Hi all,
I am new to this forum, what a wonderfull  idea.
I have been suffering with Menopause since i was 40. I am now 52.
When i first had symtoms (very heavy & prolonged periods,blurred vision,dizzy spells & more) no one ever suggested it could be menopause.I was sent for blood tests and a hystroscopy, i was told it was hormonal so i was put on HRT. At that time in my life i had no real knowledge of menopause & as no one suggested it. I put on a stone in weight in a month & became so depressed i took myself off the HRT, & basically was told there was nothing more to be done.
Life was pretty awfull for a couple of years as i thought these symtoms, which were getting worse, were a serious illness, my Docter just kept fobbing me off.Then a friend who is 6yrs older than me started having the same things,& it was fantastic because at last i knew what it was.
Seven years ago my symtoms moved on to anxiety attacks, the flushes & night sweats started, extreme tiredness, awful forgetfulness, lack of concentration & i tried to cope with herbs but after a few weeks they would ware off, so i went to a new docter who suggested anti depressant which i was totally against, so i just got worse & worse. Life was just awfull. I went back to the Docter in tears & he persuaded me to go on the anti depressents & my life changed. Within 3 weeks i felt so much better. I didnt want to tell people i used them, but they really helped, even my night sewats seemed to stop.
I took myself off them 6 months ago & had no ill effects mentally, infact the only problem i have is the night sweats came back with avengance. So my point is dont be frightened of anti depressents, they really helped me.
My periods stopped 3 yrs ago & i still have most of the symtoms, sometimes worse than others.
I dont take HRT as mum & grandma had breast cancer, but i use all sorts of herbs in rotation. I feel i have gone this long without it & whats the point, esp if the symtoms come back when you stop it.
I just hope it all ends soon as i have now had 12 years of it!!!!!

[sarah bird]

Hi again Rosebush,

Just to say my last period was almost THREE years ago. I really thought i'd be out the other side by now 

BUT hearing what you have said Holiday I'm filled with dread !

My night sweats started when I was 39 and I suppose its the last 5yrs that have been the worst.... I'm 49 now and like you, Holiday  I also feel there's little point starting HRT now and anyway, I know for some it really helps but for quite a few it just seems to replace one set of problems with another ...hey ho what ARE we to do ?

I've got to agree with you Rosebud on the "demented "  front . Its hard to see sometimes why the sweats do that to us but its just soooooo relentless and after years and years of it even the most robust of us start to buckle under the strain !

love Sarah b x

[Rosebush]

Hi girls, just to say i had a gap of 3hrs 20mins last night, this has never happened before  the following 3hrs were not so good, but something does seem to be changing, spoke to friend yesterday, and her sister went through this faze, for a few months, but sweats fought back again, for a further 6mths then stopped  so it may not be the light i was hoping for yet, but staying with my happy thoughts for a while anyway..

[hotmomma]

I too ended up on anti-depressants recently, triggered by horrendous workplace stress and family problems, but coupled with the terrible meno symptoms I am having, made me unable to cope.
Took them for 3 months, and couldnt personally cope with the numb feeling they gave me. Having stopped them, what I hadn't realised was that they really did control the sweats/flushes. Now they are back worse than ever before. I find them so embarrasing.....sitting in a trendy hair salon, and the glamourous young stylist is running her hands over my hair discuusing what to do to my hair.........and my head starts to boil like a kettle and rivers of sweat start running down my face and through my hair ......
I have had no sleep for the last few weeks as I am burning up all night, still with that fizzy aching feeling all over my body which I have mentioned in an earlier post.
I am going back to the doctors next week, dont know whether to try the HRT, as maybe this will also help my mood, or whether to go down the 'natural route. I read that this takes a month to kick in....and quite frankly i cant take this for another month
Oh help...what to do??? (thats one of my other probs, indecisiveness, even down to what to put on each morning, takes me ages to decide and I can even get palps just thinking of what to wear

[sarah bird]

Hi Hotmomma,

So sorry to hear your tale...its truly awful isn't it. I can very much connect with your experience...it really is the embarressment thats so hard never mind the HEAT 

I also sympathise with that awful feeling of not being able to cope or decide about things its barmy isn't it ! why our hormones reduce us to this is a mystery to me .

However ....do not despair this too shall pass(even though it doesn't feel like that just now) What I would say is ..if you can ..try to reduce your workload and go easy on yourself for a bit. This is a passing phase and eventually you do begin to feel more "normal" ha ha , whatever that is !

Oh and I have found that if you carry a little fan ...the paper ones are nice if you can find them, then as soon as you start to heat up ,don't be shy just whip out your fan and no need to say a word ...YOU ARE TOO HOT quite obviously . For me this seems to reduce the embarressment a bit but you have to be a bit brave at first and reach for that fan.

People often say to me that it looks rather nice ! !

anyway you take care now and hope you soon get some relief

love Sarah b x

[Taz2]

Hi Hotmomma - I can sympathise totally with what you are saying. A few months ago I would be drenched every twenty minutes day and night. I would literally drip from my forehead right down into my socks. I had to take spare clothes into work (I am a TA in a school) and I was forever forgetting my words and what I was going to say. My sleep was non-existent and I was barely functioning. I finally gave in to asking for HRT only to face a battle with my particularly unsympathetic lady GP. I changed to another one who, together with a gynae who I was also being seen by at the time, decided that I should try Evorel Sequi patches. Within a day of putting on the first patch my sweats disappeared totally. My sleep improved 100%, my brain function is almost back to pre-meno days, my hair stopped falling out, my nails have grown. My depressed mood has gone - maybe due to actually sleeping for longer than half an hour at a time! I have put on half a stone since I started in December but I think that my quality of life has changed so much that I can cope with that.

I am sorry that I tried to "beat" it for so long before finally admitting that HRT would improve my life. I know that I may have to go through the same symptoms again eventually and that I have increased my risk of breast cancer but I have also hopefully helped my heart and bones together with keeping my urinary and vaginal system healthy.  For me it has been like being transformed.

It would seem that natural remedies can work for some people for a while but for the really severe hot sweats then I really do think that unfortunately HRT is the only answer. There is no way of knowing how long this will last either - I put up with the sweats for almost two years and it really pulled me down. Me? Go on HRT? No Way!! is how I used to think and it gets me rather annoyed now when women say to me "Oh, I would never go on that I have managed just fine without" because, until you really experience the most unpleasant side effects of the meno then you really have no idea of what it feels like.

Sarah - your idea of a little fan is a good one and I found for the first year of the flushes (before the sweats kicked in) then it did help but against full blown, hair and clothes saturating sweats, it really did no good at all      The sweating is not to do with being too hot for some reason so the fan did no good at all, whereas, for the flushes it did cool me down. Does that make sense?

Hope this helps.

Love Taz x

[sarah bird]

Hi Taz2

Just on the subject of the fan..its not so much the cooling effect 'cos as you quite rightly say and believe me I know only too well 
when you get the saturating ones, well theres not a lot you can do really to maintain your decorum. BUT for me at least just using my fan seems to send out the signal that I'm well aware of whats happening and I'm in control of the situation, thus allowing those around to stop wondering if I'm ill or having some sort of breakdown !

I do understand what you mean and I'm glad you have been able to get some relief with the HRT.

Ive had very severe sweats for 5yrs ! ! now ....surely the end must be in sight aaaaaaaaaarrrgggghhhh

love Sarah b x

[Rosebush]

If HRT helps i say take it, if you feel its for you, some members swear by it, if i had been younger i would have pushed for another HRT that worked for me, but after 6yrs of sweats and coming now up to 59, i am to old for it, so praying like sarah the symptoms are starting to die down a bit now, If when you stop HRT they return you could be at a different faze of you life, and able to cope with them.

Who would be a woman ...so many decisons to make... and too tired to make them

In have a small spanish fan, its years old, and when i get a hot sweat, i just start waving it around, saying its hot in here dont you think, and everyone seems to agree...

[Rosebush]

Well my break from constant hot sweats, didn't last very long, had a dreadful night last night

[hotmomma]

Well, just to let you know that I went back to the docs today....asked for HRT in place of the anti-d's.....AND SUCCESS....CAME AWAY WITH THREE PACKS OF KLIOFEM.
Am praying for the miracle....and have just taken the first one in the hope that it might kick in by tonight.....(well I can live in hope can't I) and the flushes and sweats might just diminish slightly so that I can get a wink or two of sleep......
watch this space....will keep you informed

[Rosebush]

Well HM you do sound a happy bunny, really hope they start to work quickly for you, who knows, you may over sleep tomorrow.

[hotmomma]

 

Oh help.......I'm getting worse NOT better!......day 3 of the HRT......
I'm sure I read on here somewhere that as soon as peeps go on the HRT a massive improvement happens...am I expecting too much? Had the worst night ever last night, boiling sweats 3 times an hour, drenched to the skin.
Whats worrying me now, is that my doctor DID say to me that if the sweats are caused by my anxiety....then the HRT may not necessarily work......
Anyone know the usual length of time before the HRT kicks in?

[Rosebush]

Oh No! all i can say is HRT did not stop my sweats, i tried it for 4/5mths, that was 5yrs ago...... I am sure when other HRT users, come on line, they will be able to give you up to date info.

[Taz2]

Hi Hotmomma - are you on patches or pills? I think that the patches work more quickly - mine stopped my sweats completely within a day - and I was having between 40 and 50 in a 24 hour period.

It takes at least three months to find out if the particular type of HRT you have been prescribed is going to be effective for you I think. I was lucky and have had no side effects, apart from the usual pmt and heavy periods for the first two months, but each month I wait for the sweats to return...

Taz x