Hormone rant - long

>I've been having trouble sleeping. I
>fall asleep just fine, I just can't stay that way for more
>than a couple of hours.

I fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow. But staying asleep? That's a whole 'nother story. I can fall back asleep every time I wake up, but I'm up at least every 30 minutes.
>
>You mean crossing your legs when you sneeze isn't normal?
>I've been doing that for three years now.

I cross my legs every.single.time. I sneeze. Yikes.

Allison

http://www.picturetrail.com/allisonj90
 
Yes, Nancy, you don't know how lucky you are to have just now experienced the hormone phenomenon called peri-menopause. Menopause has been worse for me until I found what works for me.

I am now on an Estradiol patch called VivelleDot at the .1 dosage, Prometrium for progesterone and a bit of Testosterone cream from time to time. I am now back to being ME again after two years of suffering: night sweats, constant waking in the night, heart palpitations, fuzzy thinking, losing words in mid sentence, mood swings and muscle aches and at the very worst last year, anxiety so bad the doctor wanted to put me on anti-depressants.

I urge you to get the book: Screaming to Be Heard: Hormone Connections Women Suspect and Doctors Still Ignore by Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet. This is the most comprehensive book on Women's hormones I've read in ten years of research.
 
Amy, I'm going to look for that book. :) I read in "Outsmarting The Midlife Fat Cell" that once menopause hits, a woman typically loses a few inches around the middle. Even better, the breasts keep growing. For me, that's pretty good news (it has taken me about 20 years to get the bustline of a 16 year old).

Allison, to be fair, I cannot blame my stress urinary incontinence on perimenopause (though I suspect it has gotten worse with perimenopause). My bladder was never quite the same after delivering my first child, and I was only 25 then.

Strangly enough, when I jump rope regularly, my bladder gets stronger. Not in the beginning, but a few weeks into it. When I lay off jumping rope, the effect reverses. I found this bizarre because I figured the impact would be anything but good for that area.
 
{{{{{Nance}}}}}

I completely understand! Of course, I'm done with all that business now -- I went through menopause early -- and yes, it's filled with vague symptoms that could be attributed to so many other things. The frustration of it all gets to be too much ;) .

I can't remember the details of my "change", but I recall changing doctors after my GYN, a woman, blew me off when I told her I thought I was going through it. She said that I was too young and my symptoms couldn't possibly be indicative of menopause. I took it up with my internist, also a woman, and she ordered lots of tests -- hormone levels -- and sure enough! Anyway, it can be so frustrating, especially when you feel, as I did, that you're being patronized.

We're here for ya, Nance, and welcome to the club. ;)

Oh yeah, I have tweezers! :eek:
 
Nancy,

I wonder sometimes, why don't the doctors just admit that they don't know? Would love answers, but if you don't know then so be it. I am grateful for the internet though, it helps to try and find the answers.

You think premenopause is inconvenient? Wait until you are menopaused. OY!

It's not fun getting older and it's not going away. So what I do is complain, exercise and indulge in many things every now and then. I'm finding comfort is my priority along with being healthy.

For eating? I'm always hungry too. I've noticed if I eat about 5 or 6 small meals in a day, I'm less hungry. For me it's manageable, but there still are bouts of hunger to deal with. I'm not sure if it's just for premenopausers or menopause, because since my 30's I've always been hungry and tried to manage it.

I think (at least for me) there was a drastic change in my 30's and also (so far) in my 50's. I predict there will be more changes in my 70's...

Hang in there kiddo, every corner has something new for ya. Sometimes wonderful, sometimes challenges.

Janie

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The idea is to die young as late as possible.
 
Ladies, So, is Every woman is different?

We are all going through "something". Just some of have some symptoms and others get other symptoms. But the symptoms are all the same and we TOTALLY feel each others pain!

I have nightsweats (joy), the hunger(another joy), hormonal issues with my skin, headaches, and recently I can have days where I simply cannot keep my eyes open during the day, I have to have a "nanna nap". I cannot cannot cannot loose weight! I HAVE TO EAT SWEETS and CHOCOLATES. I have no control over the cravings anymore (maybe a day here and there).

This is going to continue for YEARS! Until I get to the joys of menopause! Ripper! Bring it on!}( Note the sarcasim.

I think every woman is the same just some of us experience PMS and pre menopause and menopause, with diffrent strengths to the symptoms, or some miss out on a symptom but we ALL ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO "GET" SOMETHING. Oh the joys of being female ;)

Andrea
 
>I urge you to get the book: Screaming to Be Heard: Hormone
>Connections Women Suspect and Doctors Still Ignore by Dr.
>Elizabeth Lee Vliet. This is the most comprehensive book on
>Women's hormones I've read in ten years of research.

Thanks so much, Candi! I will certainly order the book.
 
>Ladies, So, is Every woman is different?
>
>We are all going through "something". Just some of have some
>symptoms and others get other symptoms. But the symptoms are
>all the same and we TOTALLY feel each others pain!

>Andrea

Andrea, I guess a lot of the "symptoms" are the same. But I remember reading that Suzanne Sommers was so itchy she could hardly stand it. And my skin is drier than ever recently. And on it goes. Compared to PMS, this seems to have a longer list of possible "symptoms". Or maybe it just seems that way, right?
 
All, I haven't seen anyone complain of the increase in the heaviness of TOM in perimenopause. Finally after many years of suffering I had Novasure done (aka endometrial ablation). I hardly have a TOM anymore, it's wonderful. I had it done at 42, I'm now almost 44, wish I would have had it done sooner.
 
I'm plucking my chin as I read this thread. Seriously. I felt the little buggers while I was in a meeting, got back to my office, pulled up the forums, saw the post about facial hair, and remembered that I needed to get to work on my follicles. Of course, my tweezers were right where I always keep them: under my monitor.
 
Ann Louie Gittleman has a great book called "Taking Charge of your Perimenopause". She really understands the female body and has some great tips and supplement ideas.

As for your vertigo...I just finished taking an audiology course and was amazed to learn that an audiologists really can help with vertigo. Most doctors say that there is not much that they can do and unfortunately are not open to much outside of their own scope of practice.

Audiologists can give you excerises to do when the vertigo flares up. My sister struggles with this problem almost on a daily basis and found if she totally eliminates salt from her diet it really helps.
Good luck, Nancy, with both issues.

Cheryl
 
I'm 37 and don't know if I have perimenopause or if it's just PMS but I also have a raging appetite for about 2 weeks out of every month. I pretty sure I would be skinny if it weren't for stupid PMS!

I've tried calcium.....don't notice a difference, exercise...6 days a week doesn't seem to be doing the trick.

The only way I can get through it without a gain is to eat loads of veggies. Usually I'll make stir fry veggies or a zucchini mixture. I usually cook extra the night before so I can bring them to work or eat a bowl before dinner.

Sometimes I get cravings for protein...like a big fat hamburger patty. I have no idea if my body is in need of protein or if it's just in my head. It's just so frustrating!! How can I go from not caring what I eat to wanting to eat the house!!

I think women got the short end of the stick :7
 
>Ann Louie Gittleman has a great book called "Taking Charge of
>your Perimenopause". She really understands the female body
>and has some great tips and supplement ideas.
>
>As for your vertigo...I just finished taking an audiology
>course and was amazed to learn that an audiologists really can
>help with vertigo. Most doctors say that there is not much
>that they can do and unfortunately are not open to much
>outside of their own scope of practice.
>
>Audiologists can give you excerises to do when the vertigo
>flares up. My sister struggles with this problem almost on a
>daily basis and found if she totally eliminates salt from her
>diet it really helps.
>Good luck, Nancy, with both issues.
>
>Cheryl

Thanks Cheryl! I just saw the doc about the vertigo and she was very helpful. She told me several things I needed to know:

1. They can't treat the cause, only the symptoms.
2. As you said, there are exercise that help and I can go to an ENT for that if I want to. (She wants me to go at least once).
3. If it's not happening too often, it's fine to just take the meclizine, which works very well.
4. There is no danger to my health from either the vertigo or the meclizine.
5. It is very common, especially in women.

I told her I don't go anywhere without meclizine and she said that is perfect. :D
 
Sunshine, Dr. Nancy says it's PMS. Also, Dr. Nancy says it's fine to give in to the cravings, just choose wisely. If you feel like a hamburger, have a veggie burger piled high with lots of tomato, lettuce, onion and mustard. At least you get two weeks off each month. ;)
 
Nancy, Itchy skin too? Now that you've said that i do remember Suzanne SOMERS saying something about that in an interview I saw. Did your itchy skin start off with very dry skin?

She managed her menopause using natural/herbal products didn't she?

Heres another piece of 'great" news for all of us. (sorry) They've just released results of studies that links the HRT (hormonal replacement therapy) to breast cancer. :7

Due to the fact that I have such awful PMS and have now pre menopause, is in full enjoyable (HUH?? Sarcasim again) swing I had decided I would be a definate for HRT. Not anymore!

Fun Fun Fun

Andrea
 
Suzanne Somers is not on natural HRT. She is taking the bioidentical Estradiol which is confused with "natural" because it's chemical base is from soy, just like the Prometrium (progesterone) is of peanuts. It's also confused with being natural because it's the most similar form of estrogen our body makes. The chemical chanages that take place in processing the plant based material converts it to a synthetic but not as strong as the synethetic derived from a chemical base form of estrogen like Mare's urine. Some doctors say it's safer, some say it's no different than a synthetic.

As far as the breast cancer studies, if you do your research, you'll find that most of the studies have been done on estrogen processed from Mare's urine, like Premarin.

Also, according to Dr. Vliet and my GYN, the possibilities of breast cancer occuring increases with age, not just being on HRT. As a matter of fact, Suzanne Somers is a breast cancer survivor still taking HRT.

By the way, when the progesterone balance in a women's body is higher than the estrogen, the appetite can surge. This is the balance that occurs the week before a woman starts her period when most women have an appetite increase.
 
Candi, that is very helpful. I had no idea it was the progesterone making me hungry. Thanks so much (she said while chomping on a Larabar...)!
 
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