I see a lot of the same questions posted again and again. Menopause seems to be a never ending travail, once those natural hormones dribble away a host of never ending problems follow.

When I discovered menopause a year and a half ago, it crippled my life psychologically, sexually, physically. I was wrecked. I feel that I have now recovered 80% of my old me. Not all, but enough. What did I do?

I went the med route. I began taking low dose birth control pills. That helped. I have the good fortune to be living in Europe right now and I'm also taking the medication Livial (not available in North America yet, but currently being tested there). It's a steroid that works, I don't exactly know how, to bump the system into boosting the hormone balance into what it used to be. Between the two of them I'm still post-reproductive, but feeling pretty good. No anxiety, no sweats and hot flashes, not as much brain fog, better energy, increased libido.

I know the bad news industry has women terrified about medicating menopause. Don't let all the hue and cry keep you from finding treatment that works. Don't be terrified of hormone replacement or other medications that can help. I made a choice: I'd rather take the risks and feel good than be miserable and 'natural'. It has worked for me. Sure, I'd rather be 25 or 35 again, but that's sure not gonna happen, so I'll take what I can find that improves my life as it is now.

All of you nay-sayers can waggle your fingers and tell me how I'm going to have a heart attack or grow tumors, or that horse mare urine isn't human and doesn't belong in my body---but I say phooey. We're all going to die some day and I'm living now and feeling pretty good. I say the meds are doing exactly what they are supposed to do, and I consider the treatment a success.

I'm 51 and a half and have been on this therapy for nearly 2 years. I plan to take the stuff for the rest of my life. I'd never even consider going back to the hell of 'natural' menopause. Never.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. 100 years ago, more than half of us would be dead at age 50. Living past 50 is what isn't natural. Therefore, I am taking whatever I need to feel as good as possible.

If I could find something that works for me, I'd stick with it,too. I've had symptoms for 7 years now(I'm 53), and I'm still trying to find a treatment, natural or otherwise, that will work with a minimum of side effects. I refuse to give up. My night sweats are worse than ever and I'm losing so much sleep. I just started back on estrace(out of desperation) although I know I'll have to put up with sore breasts. But I also just changed doctors and I'm hoping to try a vaginal cream containing estriol("the forgotten estrogen") after reading about it. It sounds promising. I wish you continued luck with your treatment!

I agree with you wholeheartedly. 100 years ago, more than half of us would be dead at age 50. Living past 50 is what isn't natural. Therefore, I am taking whatever I need to feel as good as possible.

Yeah baby, isn't that the truth. What was 'natural' for women of 50 for most of history was--death. At the turn of the 20th century the average life span for an average American was about 45. You stayed alive just long enough to see your children grown *if* you were lucky. And 35 or 45 years of life have been the human norm for millenia. Until now.

So now that we're living twice the historic normal human life span we've run into a whole new set of problems. There are maybe only one or two generations of women who came before us and lived to their 70's or 80's in any great numbers. It's no wonder that menopause relief is so primitive.

But I am not primative. I intend to take full advantage of any kind of treatment available, natural or otherwise. Heads up ladies, don't let the media with it's bent toward "the only news is bad news" contol your decision making. It's your life. Do you want to suffer in 'natural' martyrdom or go out and do something about it? Some of these meds DO WORK! But the papers and CNN need headlines every day so it's the bad news that makes the cover stories.

Ask your doctors about Livial. Sure, it has risks. So does aspirin. And vitamin B and too many root beer floats. Stop letting yourselves be scared to death. Make noise in the medical industry. Science can be our ally.

Overseas your post made me smile. Like so many women I tried to go through perimenopause the "natural" way, but after 2 years of "natural" along with daily panic attacks, anxiety, mild depression, wretched mood swings, etc...I opt for a better quality of life. I'm now taking a low dose bcp and Wellbutrin. I'm still experiencing peri symptoms while on the bcp so now I'm wondering what tweaking needs to be done. My doctor is checking to see if I'm receiving enough estrogen from the bcp. I know that I need something else, but what...?

Do you thing the Livial or the bcp made a greater difference in how you feel?

Hopefully-I think the Livial made the greater difference. The bcp stopped the hot flashes and the sleep disturbances but did little for the miserable mood problem. Between the two of them it took about six months for my emotions to stabilize and the libido to make it's tenuous return.

Interesting that this thread slumps to the bottom of the page....I have proposed a possible solution and it is ignored by those who would rather complain of period irregularities and sore boobs....perhaps we would rather suffer than solve?? I have posted this same information on other boards and recieved the same lack of interest. Something about it all tells me that women would rather commiserate than be healed. Just an observation.

Hi to all, :wave:
I posted recently that I thought I was finally able to stop taking estrogen....BUT, I spoke too soon. :rolleyes: I had been taking estrogen dailey for approx a year plus. When I eat lots of carbs (good and bad) I need less estrogen. I know when I need estrogen because I feel depressed, moody, irritable, anxious......fatigued. I really wanted to stop estrogen because it was making my breasts so sore......but I felt great. I was able to stop recently. BUTTTTTTTTt......then I changed my diet to a healthy low carb way of eating.

Now my hormone levels are off again. :confused: I'm feeling all those same old symtoms, so I started back on the estrogen. I feel worse........MORE depressed, MORE irritable...(I want to scream and bite everybodys head off)... :eek: ......I'm wondering if its the estrogen.

I know this is a long story, so bear with me ladies. I'm hoping someone else has been here and can help me.........WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.....(a crying whiney face) lol...........

I do want to add that I have been under LOTS of stress. I experienced my first panic attack last month..........I feel like I want to stop the merry-go-round of life and get off........for a break. :yawn: I hate feeling this irritable. It feels like I drank 10 pots of coffee.

I have been taking the HRT for 7 years now. I went into menopause at age 42. I have to be careful what I take since I have kidney failure and HRT is one the few things I can take, so needless to say I take it. And I agree with Overseas, we probably wouldn't eating or drinking or taking any meds as just about everything on this earth has side effects. I do not take it every day though, I think I take mine about 2 to 3 times a week. Which seems to be ok for me with keeping the hot flashes etc away. So I will keep this at a minimum amount for now.

I have been given Livial for my terrible night sweats. Been looking at the box for days, plucking up the courage to take one! All the horror stories ..... Your posts spurred me on. Just wondering .... do these tablets cause weight gain?

I would never condem someone for their choices in treatment for themselves. The biggest shock for me was finding out what HRT was made from! I would bet the farm that were men the one taking it, much more would be done to find better treatment options.
I have been using bip indentical hormones for almost 3 months and I am a true believer! I too, live in a very small town. My sisters live in another small town and they are getting the hormones through a compound pharmacy without a doc! You can search on the net for a compound pharmacy in your area. I was amazed to find the only pharmacy in our tiny town, was a compound pharmacy. As more and more women make this choice, more pharmacy's will get on the bandwagon.
Though life spans were not as long at the turn of the century, both my great grandmothers lived to be almost 100. One of them had the dowers hump, which was caused from no treatment after menopause.
I have found that some doctors perscribe certain medications based on the perks they get from drug companies! Recently our insurance company changed and my husbands bp meds went from a 30.00 a month copay to a 60.00 a month copay! The insurance company told him the name of a substitute drug that would only cost us ten dollars! It took an act of god to get the doc to change it! A nurse in his office told me in so many words that it was because he gets something for writing so many scripts of the high priced drug! Doctors are not high on my list right now.

Hi,

Interesting post! I for one, am so very grateful that the women on these boards do continue to post the same questions over and over again. I hope that they continue to do so, and to vent, and talk about how they are feeling, and make lists of their symptoms, and use these boards as a place for information, comfort and support.

When I found these boards I was having some very scary and strange symptoms that I just did not link to menopause. It wasn't until I started reading these posts that I began to figure out what was wrong. I felt like this was a safe place for me to cry and whine and vent if I felt I needed to, because the women here understand.

I think that "treatment" is an individual choice. I went natural. But natural for me didn't mean "doing nothing". Natural for me meant cleaning up my diet, exercising, taking vitamins and supplements. keeping a journal, and yes...doing some crying and venting to family and friends. I resolved to try going natural first, really sticking with it and giving it my all. And FOR ME, it worked. It was hard, but it worked. I also lost some weight, lowered my blood pressure, and feel better overall then I have in years. My mood has stabilized, and I'm sleeping pretty well. Do I feel 100% like I did when I was 25? Nope. But for 46, I feel pretty great. And, I don't have to worry about any possible side effects down the road, like cancer, or heart disease. That was a huge risk that I just wasn't willing to take.

I guess my point is that if someone tries going "natural" and after some sustained effort it really doesn't work, then by all means try some medications that may help. I'm not anti-meds by any means...it just wasn't the right choice for me. So I am certainly not "waggling my finger" at anyone, and I don't "phooey" any approach that might help. But I do advocate at least trying some natural remedies that might help first.

Peace!

Wink.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. 100 years ago, more than half of us would be dead at age 50. Living past 50 is what isn't natural. Therefore, I am taking whatever I need to feel as good as possible.


Some years ago, I would have agreed with that statement....however when you get well past 50,( I just turned 65) & still feel "young" inisde, you are not ready to play "Russian Roulette" with your body just yet. I went through surgical menopause at 43. I took Premarin for 17 years, the after all the stories of how dangerous it was, I changed to bio-identical hormones, which did a great job, until last April... I DID have a heart attack & now they have taken me off of all kids of HRT & I am still suffering from all of the symptoms that I had when I was younger...it is MISERABLE & so far, I haven't found anything natural that helps at all. I would almost chance going back on the natural HRT, but the Dr. won't prescribe them anymore because of my heart.

Eve

A friend was recently diagnosised with breast cancer in her mid 50's. She had taken HRT for about 6 years then bio-identical hormones for 2 years. Her dr. said BOTH were probably the cause for the cancer. After her radiation and chemo, she can be on nothing ever again. Her symptoms are terrible, hot flashes, insomnia and more. She is more worried about facing life without any hormone relief than the radiation and chemo. What is a women supposed to do? Go it alone and battle the symptoms, or take your chances with HRT, and even the bio hormones have risks. I guess everyone has to do what they feel comfortable with for their body. Ann