Jonathan92280
04-19-2003, 04:49 AM
Hi ladies! :)
I'll start but first saying that I empathize with everyone here. My mom is 57 and still having hotflashes after 8 years (she went into overnight menopause after receiving chemo for early stage breast cancer). She's perfectly healthy but still with a lot of discomfort.
Anyways, I was hoping to actually get some personal feedback here about how everyone has dealt with this experience. Did you embrace it as the beginning of new phase of life? Did you worry that it was the beginning of age-related deterioration? Did you even receieve patronizing messages like it would be the beginning of the loss of femininity?
I do want to say, out of my own research, that I feel a great disservice was done to women in this country by having pharmaceutical companies convince doctors that menopause was a disease that could be mitigated by HRT. People argued that replacing estrogen would keep the heart and bones healthy, prevent Alzheimer's, and even keep the skin young. Hearing this, it seemed that women suddenly believed their bodies were no longer trustworthy and not smart enough to know what they were doing in midlife and beyond!! Very sad...and FALSE!!! Truth is that prevention of disease means living healthfully from youth to old age!! Menopause IS a time to worry about bone loss if you failed to build up an optimal density in youth with proper exercise and calcium intake. More importantly, there was never ever ever one single study that PROVED estrogen decline at midlfe caused heart disease!!! Funny how simple lifestyle modifications can prevent it to a large degree. Why is heart disease the leading killer in America? We're plagued with obesity, smoking, and diabetic complications. This sure doesn't make heart disease look like it's secondary to estrogen loss at menopause, don't you ladies agree?!!
Unfortunately, HRT went into practice and it took 60 years for the actual PROOF to show it didn't work for everything it was believed to. Menopause doesn't cause heart disease! If it did, than HRT would prevent it, and it doesn't. Actually, as you know, it increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, and even retinal thrombosis (clot/hemorrhage in the eye!!). HRT does increase the risk of breast cancer. No two ways about it! Lifetime exposure to estrogen is a known factor in the disease. Childbearing age is also important; earlier = decreased risk. HRT also worsens urinary incontinence, diabetes, and Alzheimer's!! It also raises the risk of gallbladder diease. As a longtime skeptic of this drug, I laugh to myself thinking, IS THIS ANYWAY FOR A HEALTHY WOMAN TO PREVENT A HIP FRACTURE?!!
I probably shouldn't talk b/c I'm not a woman and haven't experienced the debilatating symptoms that can come with this transition. However, I felt a need to point out that women were mislead into thinking that a pill could insure their longevity and femininity. Why has everything that we call "woman" been considered to be something worth tampering with??!! In the US, hysterectomy is the most overly-performed surgery there is, with approximately 2/3 of cases being unnecessary!!!!!! In other countries, female sexuality is feared and so women are controlled with the gut-wrenching grotesque genital mutilation (no it ain't no female CIRCUMCISION, it's MUTILATION!!!). Even the Bible talks about the contaminated menstruating woman who is impure during this monthly cycle. And in our culture, we still have pervasive jokes about the woes of PMS and the caricature of the menopausal woman with a bristly chin, balding scalp, Dowager hump, saggy breasts, and scaly wrinkled skin. It's as if PREMENOPAUSE is good and POSTMENOPAUSE is bad!!! I'm sorry, but there are plenty of beautiful postmenopausal women out there who never ever took a hormone for youth preservation!! Obviously, you guys can see where this paper is going. :) Health and happiness to all of you and thanks for any feedback.
~Jonathan92280
I'll start but first saying that I empathize with everyone here. My mom is 57 and still having hotflashes after 8 years (she went into overnight menopause after receiving chemo for early stage breast cancer). She's perfectly healthy but still with a lot of discomfort.
Anyways, I was hoping to actually get some personal feedback here about how everyone has dealt with this experience. Did you embrace it as the beginning of new phase of life? Did you worry that it was the beginning of age-related deterioration? Did you even receieve patronizing messages like it would be the beginning of the loss of femininity?
I do want to say, out of my own research, that I feel a great disservice was done to women in this country by having pharmaceutical companies convince doctors that menopause was a disease that could be mitigated by HRT. People argued that replacing estrogen would keep the heart and bones healthy, prevent Alzheimer's, and even keep the skin young. Hearing this, it seemed that women suddenly believed their bodies were no longer trustworthy and not smart enough to know what they were doing in midlife and beyond!! Very sad...and FALSE!!! Truth is that prevention of disease means living healthfully from youth to old age!! Menopause IS a time to worry about bone loss if you failed to build up an optimal density in youth with proper exercise and calcium intake. More importantly, there was never ever ever one single study that PROVED estrogen decline at midlfe caused heart disease!!! Funny how simple lifestyle modifications can prevent it to a large degree. Why is heart disease the leading killer in America? We're plagued with obesity, smoking, and diabetic complications. This sure doesn't make heart disease look like it's secondary to estrogen loss at menopause, don't you ladies agree?!!
Unfortunately, HRT went into practice and it took 60 years for the actual PROOF to show it didn't work for everything it was believed to. Menopause doesn't cause heart disease! If it did, than HRT would prevent it, and it doesn't. Actually, as you know, it increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, and even retinal thrombosis (clot/hemorrhage in the eye!!). HRT does increase the risk of breast cancer. No two ways about it! Lifetime exposure to estrogen is a known factor in the disease. Childbearing age is also important; earlier = decreased risk. HRT also worsens urinary incontinence, diabetes, and Alzheimer's!! It also raises the risk of gallbladder diease. As a longtime skeptic of this drug, I laugh to myself thinking, IS THIS ANYWAY FOR A HEALTHY WOMAN TO PREVENT A HIP FRACTURE?!!
I probably shouldn't talk b/c I'm not a woman and haven't experienced the debilatating symptoms that can come with this transition. However, I felt a need to point out that women were mislead into thinking that a pill could insure their longevity and femininity. Why has everything that we call "woman" been considered to be something worth tampering with??!! In the US, hysterectomy is the most overly-performed surgery there is, with approximately 2/3 of cases being unnecessary!!!!!! In other countries, female sexuality is feared and so women are controlled with the gut-wrenching grotesque genital mutilation (no it ain't no female CIRCUMCISION, it's MUTILATION!!!). Even the Bible talks about the contaminated menstruating woman who is impure during this monthly cycle. And in our culture, we still have pervasive jokes about the woes of PMS and the caricature of the menopausal woman with a bristly chin, balding scalp, Dowager hump, saggy breasts, and scaly wrinkled skin. It's as if PREMENOPAUSE is good and POSTMENOPAUSE is bad!!! I'm sorry, but there are plenty of beautiful postmenopausal women out there who never ever took a hormone for youth preservation!! Obviously, you guys can see where this paper is going. :) Health and happiness to all of you and thanks for any feedback.
~Jonathan92280
Sponsor
Gail2
04-19-2003, 01:28 PM
Hi, I have to say that I got mixed feelings and mixed msgs. There is a part of me that welcomes the new stage in my life with a feeling of yes! its almost finished..and then you are also reminded that your life is half done. I feel like the same girl that I was at 20 and that only felt like yesturday.Now Im put in the catagory of the older ones at work by the younger crowd.It wasn't really until I was put in that catagory by someone else, that I started to feel "old". Just a few years ago I was slimmer and people thought that I was younger then I was; then, over a couple of years,I gained weight, Weird things are happening to me ,like a period that use be very on time and regular,now is an unpredictable stranger; I feel warm when everyone else is cool,I sweat so bad at work in the summer on hot days that I go home at lunch and take another shower; my emotions are sometimes chaotic too.I try to keep focused,keep a sound mind through prayer and quiet times. Im trying to eat right and started yoga.I have to WORK on balance in my life. I did notice that I have no time or patience with stupid things I use to put up with before from people..I mean hurtful things....I suppose that part is a good thing. I love msg boards like this because sometimes I don't know what the heck Im going through...and feel very alone,and when you come here and read others experiences or get help from someone here,you feel so much better.Talk about feeling alone.. even my kids and hubby look at me like they don't know me at times. I just pray that they too can understand that I am going through a time that I have no choice but to go through,and remember that I need thier love and support very much. Some marriages break up at this time,thats very sad. Any way I hope I was alittle help. Take care.
tagger
04-20-2003, 12:32 AM
Hi Jonathan,
You'll probably be flooded with replies. What a great way to research! I've been fully menopausal for app a year and probably perimenopausal for a few years before that that I wasn't even aware of. In a nutshell "It's been hell!". I've been on a merry go round of anitdepressants and now wonder, in hindsight, if it wasn't just perimenopause and not depression. About 4 mths ago I went on HRT due to the amount of Osteo in out family (no breast cancer). I began to experience terrible leg pains and found out that they were very possibly a result of the HRT. When my bone density test came back AOK I went off the HRT and am still waitng to "get my legs back". My husband has no understanding or patience with the symptoms of menopause..hot flashes..mood swings (like PMS all the time). My libido is very low which causes some tension between us. It was not very low until a few years ago, could be the antidepressants, could be the menopause?
I'm relatively early (47 yrs old now) as was my mother. She also had a rough menopause. My grandmother, on the other hand, sailed through it without a problem.
My belief is that 100 years from now the docs will be saying "those poor women, if only they'd known more about what their hormones were doing to them!"
Hopefully you and others like you will offer some meaningful research to help the next generations cope m
ore easily with this "time of life".
My daughter (adopted, no medical history) has begun her menarchy at the tender age of 10 yrs. Maybe by the time she reaches this phase of her life it will be fulfilling and satisfying. As for myself, I am hating the "matronly figure" that I am developing, the fatigue due to hot flashes all night, and the scorn of my husband (who should understand) and my children (who don't understand).
I have read that after menopause (which would be when?) you develop a post menopausal "zest". I'm still waiting. Hope I can hold it all together until it arrives....Tagger
You'll probably be flooded with replies. What a great way to research! I've been fully menopausal for app a year and probably perimenopausal for a few years before that that I wasn't even aware of. In a nutshell "It's been hell!". I've been on a merry go round of anitdepressants and now wonder, in hindsight, if it wasn't just perimenopause and not depression. About 4 mths ago I went on HRT due to the amount of Osteo in out family (no breast cancer). I began to experience terrible leg pains and found out that they were very possibly a result of the HRT. When my bone density test came back AOK I went off the HRT and am still waitng to "get my legs back". My husband has no understanding or patience with the symptoms of menopause..hot flashes..mood swings (like PMS all the time). My libido is very low which causes some tension between us. It was not very low until a few years ago, could be the antidepressants, could be the menopause?
I'm relatively early (47 yrs old now) as was my mother. She also had a rough menopause. My grandmother, on the other hand, sailed through it without a problem.
My belief is that 100 years from now the docs will be saying "those poor women, if only they'd known more about what their hormones were doing to them!"
Hopefully you and others like you will offer some meaningful research to help the next generations cope m
ore easily with this "time of life".
My daughter (adopted, no medical history) has begun her menarchy at the tender age of 10 yrs. Maybe by the time she reaches this phase of her life it will be fulfilling and satisfying. As for myself, I am hating the "matronly figure" that I am developing, the fatigue due to hot flashes all night, and the scorn of my husband (who should understand) and my children (who don't understand).
I have read that after menopause (which would be when?) you develop a post menopausal "zest". I'm still waiting. Hope I can hold it all together until it arrives....Tagger
kat721
04-20-2003, 02:38 AM
Well Jonathan, That's quite a mouthfull. For your research information you might want to look into female metabolic disorders of the Endocrine variety.
The problems are not really HRT or ERT as medicinal
therapy but in the way these therapys are used.
A medicine is only as good as it's proper usage.
Improperly dispensed anything is going to cause problems.
Your descriptive>>And in our culture, we still have pervasive jokes about the woes of PMS and the caricature of the menopausal woman with a bristly chin, balding scalp, Dowager hump, saggy breasts, and scaly wrinkled skin<<<
Ehhemmm......the reason why this caricature exists is because it is the unfortunate truth for a lot of women.
It really is the reality.
People make fun. But it is the reality for more women than you probably want to know about.
But it's the reality for reasons that many Doctors overlook.
Think ENDOCRINE SYSTEM not menopause.
posted>>I'm sorry, but there are plenty of beautiful postmenopausal women out there who never ever took a hormone for youth preservation!!<<
Well good for those women.
Some women, many women, simply are not that lucky as to skate through life with balanced hormones.
posted>>In the US, hysterectomy is the most overly-performed surgery there is, with approximately 2/3 of cases being unnecessary!!!!!! <<
Well you could have suprised me with that statistic.
Yes, yes, I've heard it before.
However, I had a hysterectomy last year and it took 5 Doctors and 6 months to get my Hysterectomy approved and done.
I certainly do wish one of those cut happy doctors would have been my surgeon because truthfully I couldn't wait to have all that pain and torture yanked outta there.
Seriously.
I've had bookoo complications from the surgery and my only regret was that no one got in there sooner to do the excavation.
Criminal. Absolutely criminal the way some women have to push and prod and suffer while trying to get their surgeries done.
There's a book out by Fran Drescher that is about her battle with doctors and Uterine Cancer.
I believe it took her 2 years to get her surgery.
post>>HRT does increase the risk of breast cancer<<
Yes, that was the finding.
It was the Progesterone combined with the Estrogen in that Pregnant Mare Urine.
I didn't think that was such a good idea either.
You know, Urine from tortured horses and all.
They now have new FDA warning lables.
post>>HRT also worsens urinary incontinence, diabetes, and Alzheimer's!! <<
Okay, you need to understand ERT and bio identical Estrogens. The kind that can be measured in the blood.
HRT = old and bad.
Already established thanks to the big study last summer.
We are moving on now to ERT. and SERM's. And how bout those SSRI's?
The proper dose of ERT is actually helpful for urinary incontinence and a few other things.
As for the Hormone Replacement and Heart Disease, that's old hat. None of the Gynecologists and other specialits I have seen have ever supported the theory about heart protection and hormones.
In fact, they will tell you that is old outmoded theory.
And believe me, I've seen plenty plenty Doctors in this department.
Most Doctor prefer Ace Inhibitors for heart protection or Beta Blockers if the need be.
post>> No two ways about it! Lifetime exposure to estrogen is a known factor in the disease.<<
Yeh, well, I think I worry more about the overload of phytoestrogen content in our supermarket foods loaded down with soy additives.
No soy for me please.
As for estrogen and Breast Cancer, that's a rather odd area. It has to do with levels of estrogen and it gets pretty complicated.
My mother had breast cancer too.
My mothers sister had breast cancer.
And I am a woman who has had a hysterectomy.
I live in this world.
I am not fearful of estrogen specifically.
My concern is with too much estrogen.
A situation my Endocrinologist is keeping an eye one through blood work.
Making hormonal decisions for women is not a generic event. Things need to be specialized.
Additionally, you haven't given any reference to genetics when siting the plethoria of illnesses.
Most of the problems you present are often tied in with genetics and even racial genetics to be specific.
To round out your paper, you can't really approach the subject in it's whole without taking race and genetics into consideration.
It's just the fact of the whole female matter.
Last year when I had part 1 of my two part hysterectomy I didn't do hormonal replacement right away.
I used other things to help with my post surgical problems caused by rapid fluctuation hormonal levels.
When I had part 2 of the hysterectomy back in January my endocrinologist put me on a blood monitored bioidentical estrogen.
I have not had any ill effects from the estrogen as yet. In fact, a few things have gotten much better.
And quite frankly, after the lousey rough year I had prior to the third surgery, I've been pretty grateful for the right medication in the right dose. Because quite honestly I was darn sure sick and tired of being sick and tired.
There's a research statistic on estrogen therapy and post hysterectomy and the prevention of breast cancer.
I don't remember all the specifics but it again comes down to specifics found in the blood.
You could try to do some research on that for more clarity but I can't think of the resource.
You could probably just type it into a search engine and pick up some links.
Anyway, I'm not totally pro estrogen.
In fact, I think estrogen misused or not followed correctly can be all kinds of trouble.
But I do think that estrogen needs to be considered with respect to individual dose and blood content.
Good Luck with your research project.
kat
The problems are not really HRT or ERT as medicinal
therapy but in the way these therapys are used.
A medicine is only as good as it's proper usage.
Improperly dispensed anything is going to cause problems.
Your descriptive>>And in our culture, we still have pervasive jokes about the woes of PMS and the caricature of the menopausal woman with a bristly chin, balding scalp, Dowager hump, saggy breasts, and scaly wrinkled skin<<<
Ehhemmm......the reason why this caricature exists is because it is the unfortunate truth for a lot of women.
It really is the reality.
People make fun. But it is the reality for more women than you probably want to know about.
But it's the reality for reasons that many Doctors overlook.
Think ENDOCRINE SYSTEM not menopause.
posted>>I'm sorry, but there are plenty of beautiful postmenopausal women out there who never ever took a hormone for youth preservation!!<<
Well good for those women.
Some women, many women, simply are not that lucky as to skate through life with balanced hormones.
posted>>In the US, hysterectomy is the most overly-performed surgery there is, with approximately 2/3 of cases being unnecessary!!!!!! <<
Well you could have suprised me with that statistic.
Yes, yes, I've heard it before.
However, I had a hysterectomy last year and it took 5 Doctors and 6 months to get my Hysterectomy approved and done.
I certainly do wish one of those cut happy doctors would have been my surgeon because truthfully I couldn't wait to have all that pain and torture yanked outta there.
Seriously.
I've had bookoo complications from the surgery and my only regret was that no one got in there sooner to do the excavation.
Criminal. Absolutely criminal the way some women have to push and prod and suffer while trying to get their surgeries done.
There's a book out by Fran Drescher that is about her battle with doctors and Uterine Cancer.
I believe it took her 2 years to get her surgery.
post>>HRT does increase the risk of breast cancer<<
Yes, that was the finding.
It was the Progesterone combined with the Estrogen in that Pregnant Mare Urine.
I didn't think that was such a good idea either.
You know, Urine from tortured horses and all.
They now have new FDA warning lables.
post>>HRT also worsens urinary incontinence, diabetes, and Alzheimer's!! <<
Okay, you need to understand ERT and bio identical Estrogens. The kind that can be measured in the blood.
HRT = old and bad.
Already established thanks to the big study last summer.
We are moving on now to ERT. and SERM's. And how bout those SSRI's?
The proper dose of ERT is actually helpful for urinary incontinence and a few other things.
As for the Hormone Replacement and Heart Disease, that's old hat. None of the Gynecologists and other specialits I have seen have ever supported the theory about heart protection and hormones.
In fact, they will tell you that is old outmoded theory.
And believe me, I've seen plenty plenty Doctors in this department.
Most Doctor prefer Ace Inhibitors for heart protection or Beta Blockers if the need be.
post>> No two ways about it! Lifetime exposure to estrogen is a known factor in the disease.<<
Yeh, well, I think I worry more about the overload of phytoestrogen content in our supermarket foods loaded down with soy additives.
No soy for me please.
As for estrogen and Breast Cancer, that's a rather odd area. It has to do with levels of estrogen and it gets pretty complicated.
My mother had breast cancer too.
My mothers sister had breast cancer.
And I am a woman who has had a hysterectomy.
I live in this world.
I am not fearful of estrogen specifically.
My concern is with too much estrogen.
A situation my Endocrinologist is keeping an eye one through blood work.
Making hormonal decisions for women is not a generic event. Things need to be specialized.
Additionally, you haven't given any reference to genetics when siting the plethoria of illnesses.
Most of the problems you present are often tied in with genetics and even racial genetics to be specific.
To round out your paper, you can't really approach the subject in it's whole without taking race and genetics into consideration.
It's just the fact of the whole female matter.
Last year when I had part 1 of my two part hysterectomy I didn't do hormonal replacement right away.
I used other things to help with my post surgical problems caused by rapid fluctuation hormonal levels.
When I had part 2 of the hysterectomy back in January my endocrinologist put me on a blood monitored bioidentical estrogen.
I have not had any ill effects from the estrogen as yet. In fact, a few things have gotten much better.
And quite frankly, after the lousey rough year I had prior to the third surgery, I've been pretty grateful for the right medication in the right dose. Because quite honestly I was darn sure sick and tired of being sick and tired.
There's a research statistic on estrogen therapy and post hysterectomy and the prevention of breast cancer.
I don't remember all the specifics but it again comes down to specifics found in the blood.
You could try to do some research on that for more clarity but I can't think of the resource.
You could probably just type it into a search engine and pick up some links.
Anyway, I'm not totally pro estrogen.
In fact, I think estrogen misused or not followed correctly can be all kinds of trouble.
But I do think that estrogen needs to be considered with respect to individual dose and blood content.
Good Luck with your research project.
kat
Jonathan92280
04-20-2003, 10:44 PM
Hi Kat!
Thnks for the input. :)
I have a question for you - do you believe there is something specific going on in the U.S. as to how and why women's hormonal rhythms seem so unbearable compared to say women in Japan who go through menopause with relative ease?? When I read that 85% of US women have hotflashes and night sweats I definitely believe it. In Japan the statistic is about 19%.
Do you believe personally that the diet and amount of exercise might be affecting this? For example there is a much higher fat intake here, people are not as physically active, they continue to smoke (an implicated factor), and the diet is insufficient in fruits and vegetables which provide phytosterols (which is believed to ease the menopausal transition). Our foods are so replete here with hormones or hormone like substances (xenoestrogens) it's no wonder women's bodies are on a hellacious rollercoaster! What I did not point out, and I apologize for this, is that HRT is a proven medicine for symptom relief. It's simply that DURATION of use is debatable depending on severity of symptoms since risks started showing up in the first year.
Now, we have a family friend who has just entered menopause at age 52. She wanted to do it without aid but hotflashes and sleep disturbances incapacitated her and she opted to go on HRT. Well, for 4-5 months she said she found relief from the hotflashes, but now a new problem had struck: she became bloated with migraines and she started throwing up occassionally in the mornings. She claimed that this HRT-regimen had literally made her feel like she was pregnant. Again, an individual case. She went off HRT and yes the hotflashes returned but she did not have these other symptoms. Ann (her name :)) now takes Effexor and consumes flaxseeds and soy protein and she feels fine. Her bone density is a bit low (-1.01) in her spine so she says but now she's lifting weights and what not, as is my mom.
Natural hormones vs. synthetic: Yes indeed Premarin itself is a disgrace! To put horse estrogens (aka equine estrogens or equilin) into a woman's body would be a perfect invitation to a little carcinogenic activity. However, I do want to point out that many other clinical trials have tested different forms of estrogen such as estrogen valerate (sp?) or ethinyl estradiol and 17-B estradiol. The WEST trial (women's estrogen for stroke trial) tested an oral 17-B and transdermal estrogen compound. Sadly rather than prevent strokes in women who'd already had them, the women were experiecing an increase in REPEAT strokes and or dying from a severe single stroke moreso than the placebo group. When I think of "natural" I think only about what your body makes and WHEN it makes it. Re-introduing hormones of any kind after menopause is unnatural in my mind. They might indeed be "bioidentical" and of course that sounds better, but I hesitate to assume that it's SAFE. Women's bodies do not produce any progesterone or estriol postmenopausally; the ovaries, fat cells, and adrenal glands continue to produce smalls amounts of estrogen (estrone), testosterone, and androstenedione. So even if hormones taken are identical to what the body made, I don't necessarily think it's better, regardless of route of administration (oral vs topical) or type. Plus, menopause is not fully understood and it cannot be said that the body will recognize reproductive levels of hormones POSTMENOPAUSALLY the way it did before menopause. Why does estrogen not aid in postmenopausal coronary heart disease? Scientists now believe the body shuts down certain receptors for hormones because if it didn't, than those organ systems that were so reliant upon estrogen beforehand would be deprived. The heart in particular is believed to do this...In one sense, heart disease isn't even related to the menopausal transition, especially since the majority of cases are in women over 65, averaging out to about age 74 (31% of women will die of heart disease in this country at some point in their lives). Yes the risk does start climbing in the 50's, but it still isn't something to be petrified of at age 50. Hormone "replacement" I believe means that you supplement with something that you've lost and have to get back. We treat thyroid deficiency and deiabetes with thyroid replacement and insulin and the conditions are mitigated and optimal functioning can resume, estrogen in its basic role as a REPRODUCTIVE hormone does not make a woman premenopausal again. It may mimic the bodily state of being premenopausal but it isn't the same. Now for women who've had ovariectomy or anything else that completely detroyed the ovarian function, HRT makes more sense b/c the ovaries continue producing hormones postmenopausally and so the woman would be "defficient" compared to her other postmenopausal counterparts who have the advantage of still making SOME hormones. How to specifically provide this woman with the trace amount of hormones she would otherwise have is a whole other question.
Now, as far as what you've said about the caricature of the menopausal woman being true in many cases (ie dry skin and dowager hump), I suppose it is true. I guess I was speaking on my terms (meaning my own biases) because I haven't met any older women who were characteristic of this. Yeah most women didn't look at their menopause with fondness, but I guess I've seen a lot of vibrant older women who made me think that the postmenopausal bodily miseries were a rarity.
As for the time-being, I think the jury is still out as to whetehr or not estrogen therapy will provide relief from the dermatological complaints and loss of that feeling of wellbeing. If it is found to do so, in all honesty, I think the choices women make will be even more difficult since the tradeoffs will have to be weighed in. I guess all I can say as someone who hasn't and WON'T ( :)) go through this, is to live well, relax, do what you can to feel better. Thanks for your personal input.
Sincerely,
Jonathan
Thnks for the input. :)
I have a question for you - do you believe there is something specific going on in the U.S. as to how and why women's hormonal rhythms seem so unbearable compared to say women in Japan who go through menopause with relative ease?? When I read that 85% of US women have hotflashes and night sweats I definitely believe it. In Japan the statistic is about 19%.
Do you believe personally that the diet and amount of exercise might be affecting this? For example there is a much higher fat intake here, people are not as physically active, they continue to smoke (an implicated factor), and the diet is insufficient in fruits and vegetables which provide phytosterols (which is believed to ease the menopausal transition). Our foods are so replete here with hormones or hormone like substances (xenoestrogens) it's no wonder women's bodies are on a hellacious rollercoaster! What I did not point out, and I apologize for this, is that HRT is a proven medicine for symptom relief. It's simply that DURATION of use is debatable depending on severity of symptoms since risks started showing up in the first year.
Now, we have a family friend who has just entered menopause at age 52. She wanted to do it without aid but hotflashes and sleep disturbances incapacitated her and she opted to go on HRT. Well, for 4-5 months she said she found relief from the hotflashes, but now a new problem had struck: she became bloated with migraines and she started throwing up occassionally in the mornings. She claimed that this HRT-regimen had literally made her feel like she was pregnant. Again, an individual case. She went off HRT and yes the hotflashes returned but she did not have these other symptoms. Ann (her name :)) now takes Effexor and consumes flaxseeds and soy protein and she feels fine. Her bone density is a bit low (-1.01) in her spine so she says but now she's lifting weights and what not, as is my mom.
Natural hormones vs. synthetic: Yes indeed Premarin itself is a disgrace! To put horse estrogens (aka equine estrogens or equilin) into a woman's body would be a perfect invitation to a little carcinogenic activity. However, I do want to point out that many other clinical trials have tested different forms of estrogen such as estrogen valerate (sp?) or ethinyl estradiol and 17-B estradiol. The WEST trial (women's estrogen for stroke trial) tested an oral 17-B and transdermal estrogen compound. Sadly rather than prevent strokes in women who'd already had them, the women were experiecing an increase in REPEAT strokes and or dying from a severe single stroke moreso than the placebo group. When I think of "natural" I think only about what your body makes and WHEN it makes it. Re-introduing hormones of any kind after menopause is unnatural in my mind. They might indeed be "bioidentical" and of course that sounds better, but I hesitate to assume that it's SAFE. Women's bodies do not produce any progesterone or estriol postmenopausally; the ovaries, fat cells, and adrenal glands continue to produce smalls amounts of estrogen (estrone), testosterone, and androstenedione. So even if hormones taken are identical to what the body made, I don't necessarily think it's better, regardless of route of administration (oral vs topical) or type. Plus, menopause is not fully understood and it cannot be said that the body will recognize reproductive levels of hormones POSTMENOPAUSALLY the way it did before menopause. Why does estrogen not aid in postmenopausal coronary heart disease? Scientists now believe the body shuts down certain receptors for hormones because if it didn't, than those organ systems that were so reliant upon estrogen beforehand would be deprived. The heart in particular is believed to do this...In one sense, heart disease isn't even related to the menopausal transition, especially since the majority of cases are in women over 65, averaging out to about age 74 (31% of women will die of heart disease in this country at some point in their lives). Yes the risk does start climbing in the 50's, but it still isn't something to be petrified of at age 50. Hormone "replacement" I believe means that you supplement with something that you've lost and have to get back. We treat thyroid deficiency and deiabetes with thyroid replacement and insulin and the conditions are mitigated and optimal functioning can resume, estrogen in its basic role as a REPRODUCTIVE hormone does not make a woman premenopausal again. It may mimic the bodily state of being premenopausal but it isn't the same. Now for women who've had ovariectomy or anything else that completely detroyed the ovarian function, HRT makes more sense b/c the ovaries continue producing hormones postmenopausally and so the woman would be "defficient" compared to her other postmenopausal counterparts who have the advantage of still making SOME hormones. How to specifically provide this woman with the trace amount of hormones she would otherwise have is a whole other question.
Now, as far as what you've said about the caricature of the menopausal woman being true in many cases (ie dry skin and dowager hump), I suppose it is true. I guess I was speaking on my terms (meaning my own biases) because I haven't met any older women who were characteristic of this. Yeah most women didn't look at their menopause with fondness, but I guess I've seen a lot of vibrant older women who made me think that the postmenopausal bodily miseries were a rarity.
As for the time-being, I think the jury is still out as to whetehr or not estrogen therapy will provide relief from the dermatological complaints and loss of that feeling of wellbeing. If it is found to do so, in all honesty, I think the choices women make will be even more difficult since the tradeoffs will have to be weighed in. I guess all I can say as someone who hasn't and WON'T ( :)) go through this, is to live well, relax, do what you can to feel better. Thanks for your personal input.
Sincerely,
Jonathan
kat721
04-21-2003, 06:45 PM
Question>>I have a question for you - do you believe there is something specific going on in the U.S. as to how and why women's hormonal rhythms seem so unbearable compared to say women in Japan who go through menopause with relative ease?? When I read that 85% of US women have hotflashes and night sweats I definitely believe it. In Japan the statistic is about 19%.<<
This was a statistic that was one of the foundations for the pro soybean debate on the agricultural product being used as an alternative medicine for women with hormone problems.
The specific going on in the United States is basically the land and agricultural practices and the fact that the soy bean used in the aeons old soy bean study was the wild soy bean which has, I believe, something of 9% phytoestrogen content as opposed to the home grown crops that have something like 25% phytohormone content.
Add to that the little GMO's and we are just waiting for those soy bean babys to sprout tails.
Additionally, I would like to see a study with the relative range of land mass and geographic conditions that would be something to match to the US land conditions.
Japan is a pretty small place and you are looking at a lot of factors other than a bean.
Ya know, when they started importing those Fresian horses to the United States they had trouble getting the first Fresians acclaimated to the land in the U.S because specific minerals that were in the soil from their native homeland were not found in U.S. soil.
So, if such is true with horses maybe such would be true when comparing the health of women of vastly different geographic locations.
I've heard that Eskimo women also do better with the hot flash and hormone problem too. However, I don't think following the traditional Eskimo diet would be all too wise for the general population of the U.S.
Especially the southern and desert regions.
So really, I'm one of those old crankey broads who simply does not see the comparison due to some very basic realities....location, location, location...
no matter how simplified and unenlightened that may be.
I think it was a great marketing plan though. Brilliant. Eat More SOY!
The Soy industry got approval from the FDA to boast about it's health benefits and as soon as the approval came out two of the very researchers who worked for the FDA came out with a plethoria of appalling warnings on all the terrible stuff Soy really does. Like shrink the brains of men in Hawaii and mess with ones thyroid balance.
Yippie!
Now one simply can not go around comparing Japanese women if one is going to ignore the plight of those poor Hawaiian men! Hardly seems fair.
I don't know if those soy choices are better than the choices of the ever poisonious estrogen hormone but I just don't put soy anything into my little mouth these days.
Question>>Do you believe personally that the diet and amount of exercise might be affecting this? For example there is a much higher fat intake here, people are not as physically active, they continue to smoke (an implicated factor), and the diet is insufficient in fruits and vegetables which provide phytosterols (which is believed to ease the menopausal transition<<
Oh well heck. I have absolutely no clue because in my reality all us old fogies do eat a good diet and we do exercise and we don't drink and we don't smoke and some of us ancient relics actually do grow our own fruits and vegetables and herbs and some of us actually do know how to cook with out having to operate a can opener or defrost the vegetables.
You may not know this rather obscure fact, but the modern day trend for trendy and natural foods probably got up a good head of steam when many of us old fogies were still in junior high school.
We were the flower of the natural fruits that sprung the reality of the whole foods markets.
We are the baby boomers who boomed into mid life chanting and doing yoga and exploring the wild and open cosmos while stalking the wild epicurian mushroom.
My child forever thought he was a child of low means because there was nary a loaf of white bread to be found in his child hood home.
He was appalled with his birthday cakes which often turned out to be carob.
He defied parental authority by bringing koolaid into the house and vegging out in front of the television with beef jerky and a tall red berry kool one.
The world of the overweight lethargic american woman is a myth in my world.
I'm still a petite size 4 thank you very much.
Before the whole horrible endometriosis nightmare stole my health I used to scuba dive and ride horses.
Young horses who spook and jump and who are all kinds of fun to make ready for the trail.
Does that count for exercise?
Question>>foods are so replete here with hormones or hormone like substances (xenoestrogens) it's no wonder women's bodies are on a hellacious rollercoaster<<<
Oh, don't you know it boyfriend!!!!!!
I am appalled I ever even used to trust buying my bread at the generic grocery store.
I now only buy my bread at bakerys that do not use soy additives.
I'm there with ya on that one.
It is a roller coaster.
I really could tell right after my hysterectomy.
It became real obvious.
statement>>She wanted to do it without aid but hotflashes and sleep disturbances incapacitated her and she opted to go on HRT. <<
HRT might have been the problem. You need to think ERT.
Additionally, your friends reactions would depend on the hormone levels in her blood. the rate of hormone production and the kind and dose of the estrogen her Doctor might chose for her.
Your friend might not have needed estrogen at all and she might have had symtomatic benefit for those hotflashes and other symptoms by using one of the SSRI's or Tricyclic antidepressants for several months.
The lowest amount did it for me for a good while.
No side effects and great for the condition of my incessant migrains which I've had ever since I had a head injury.
but the product of choice would be some form of ERT if she were to choose a hormone to help her through menopause.
Because each woman is different it would be impossible to say for sure what the problem was for your friend.
statement>>Yes indeed Premarin itself is a disgrace! To put horse estrogens (aka equine estrogens or equilin) into a woman's body would be a perfect invitation to a little carcinogenic activity<<
No, you missed my point. I personally would not have a problem with a horse byproduct in my body if horses were not being tortured and foals killed and the whole horse nightmare.
That's the disgrace.
Simple as that.
statement>>However, I do want to point out that many other clinical trials have tested different forms of estrogen such as estrogen valerate (sp?) or ethinyl estradiol and 17-B estradiol. The WEST trial (women's estrogen for stroke trial) tested an oral 17-B and transdermal estrogen compound. Sadly rather than prevent strokes in women who'd already had them, the women were experiecing an increase in REPEAT strokes and or dying from a severe single stroke moreso than the placebo group<<
Oh that's a really long debate. I think we can hone it down to blood level hormone and dosage dosage dosage.
statement>>Why does estrogen not aid in postmenopausal coronary heart disease? Scientists now believe the body shuts down certain receptors for hormones because if it didn't, than those organ systems that were so reliant upon estrogen beforehand would be deprived. The heart in particular is believed to do this...In one sense, heart disease isn't even related to the menopausal transition, especially since the majority of cases are in women over 65, averaging out to about age 74 (31% of women will die of heart disease in this country at some point in their lives). Yes the risk does start climbing in the 50's, but it still isn't something to be petrified of at age 50<<
Okay, here's the scoop. The whole menopause shift, either surgically induced or natural DOES cause the heart to go through a shock wave of palpitations.
No one has figured out exactly why this happens as yet.
Nope, not even the cardiologists know.
For what ever reason this happens, the possibilities are this: While there is no proof that estrogen protects the heart, there is proof that women do go through this phenomena.
If the heart races fast enough for a long enough period of time, the heart goes into heart failure.
When a heart goes into heart failure it doesn't mean that the heart stops working.
It means that the heart is failing to do it's job right.
Heart FAILURE.
So when the heart does not do it's right job the other organs suffer. The body suffers. It begins to retain water and there goes the whole domino effect of how coronary problems begin.
The woman might not know she is ill.
She might not even know her heart is off except for maybe feeling anxious or neurotic(which a fast beating heart does)
She may get diagnosed as having anxiety or panic attacks.
And then one day everyone is surprised when she falls over sick.
So the care a woman takes at 50, no, heck 40!!!
is the health she will give herself at 60 or 70.
If you don't know that the kind of care we give ourselves at a young age is the foundation for the rest of our life, you ought to know it.
You ought to know it and you ought to put on that sunscreen when you are out running for your healthy exercise for your heart so you will grow up to be a 50 year old great shape dude in the future.
Care.
It's a now sort of thing.
statement>>Now, as far as what you've said about the caricature of the menopausal woman being true in many cases (ie dry skin and dowager hump), I suppose it is true. I guess I was speaking on my terms (meaning my own biases) because I haven't met any older women who were characteristic of this. Yeah most women didn't look at their menopause with fondness, but I guess I've seen a lot of vibrant older women who made me think that the postmenopausal bodily miseries were a rarity.<<
Visit the ladies SALON!!!!! We have that unsightly mess plucked and lasered and waxed and other wise torture ourselves so young men like yourself never have a clue!!!!!!
Dry skin?!? We take wonderful unestrified vitamin E and fish oil caps and then we drop 100.00 at the Estee Lauder counter for that magic serum that works.
Complete with the spf protection.
We better not have dry skin for those prices.
And god bless the plastic surgeon too. For those who need them. If one is not blessed with good aging genetics, then there should be no shame in doing what one can to feel good about themselves.
It happens. don't be appalled.
We didn't work our fannys off for all those years to age ungracefully if genetics were not so kind.
So estrogen........what were we saying?
Oh I forgot.
The brain fog has now settled in.
That's all she wrote.
Time for my massage.
kat
P.S. you wrote>>I guess all I can say as someone who hasn't and WON'T ( ) go through this, is to live well, relax, do what you can to feel better<<
No Jonathan, you won't go through the whole female hormone event living in your own body.
However, one day down the road you might just be awakened in the middle of the night with a horridly moaning shape shifting hormonal woman by your side growing a beard getting the sheets wet with the midnight hot flash as the metamorphosis happens.
So stock up on those home remedys and be the one to run to the rescue with a pair of slant edged tweezers and a nice over the bed ceiling fan.
Your future woman companion will think you are a Prince. ;)
[This message has been edited by kat721 (edited 04-21-2003).]
This was a statistic that was one of the foundations for the pro soybean debate on the agricultural product being used as an alternative medicine for women with hormone problems.
The specific going on in the United States is basically the land and agricultural practices and the fact that the soy bean used in the aeons old soy bean study was the wild soy bean which has, I believe, something of 9% phytoestrogen content as opposed to the home grown crops that have something like 25% phytohormone content.
Add to that the little GMO's and we are just waiting for those soy bean babys to sprout tails.
Additionally, I would like to see a study with the relative range of land mass and geographic conditions that would be something to match to the US land conditions.
Japan is a pretty small place and you are looking at a lot of factors other than a bean.
Ya know, when they started importing those Fresian horses to the United States they had trouble getting the first Fresians acclaimated to the land in the U.S because specific minerals that were in the soil from their native homeland were not found in U.S. soil.
So, if such is true with horses maybe such would be true when comparing the health of women of vastly different geographic locations.
I've heard that Eskimo women also do better with the hot flash and hormone problem too. However, I don't think following the traditional Eskimo diet would be all too wise for the general population of the U.S.
Especially the southern and desert regions.
So really, I'm one of those old crankey broads who simply does not see the comparison due to some very basic realities....location, location, location...
no matter how simplified and unenlightened that may be.
I think it was a great marketing plan though. Brilliant. Eat More SOY!
The Soy industry got approval from the FDA to boast about it's health benefits and as soon as the approval came out two of the very researchers who worked for the FDA came out with a plethoria of appalling warnings on all the terrible stuff Soy really does. Like shrink the brains of men in Hawaii and mess with ones thyroid balance.
Yippie!
Now one simply can not go around comparing Japanese women if one is going to ignore the plight of those poor Hawaiian men! Hardly seems fair.
I don't know if those soy choices are better than the choices of the ever poisonious estrogen hormone but I just don't put soy anything into my little mouth these days.
Question>>Do you believe personally that the diet and amount of exercise might be affecting this? For example there is a much higher fat intake here, people are not as physically active, they continue to smoke (an implicated factor), and the diet is insufficient in fruits and vegetables which provide phytosterols (which is believed to ease the menopausal transition<<
Oh well heck. I have absolutely no clue because in my reality all us old fogies do eat a good diet and we do exercise and we don't drink and we don't smoke and some of us ancient relics actually do grow our own fruits and vegetables and herbs and some of us actually do know how to cook with out having to operate a can opener or defrost the vegetables.
You may not know this rather obscure fact, but the modern day trend for trendy and natural foods probably got up a good head of steam when many of us old fogies were still in junior high school.
We were the flower of the natural fruits that sprung the reality of the whole foods markets.
We are the baby boomers who boomed into mid life chanting and doing yoga and exploring the wild and open cosmos while stalking the wild epicurian mushroom.
My child forever thought he was a child of low means because there was nary a loaf of white bread to be found in his child hood home.
He was appalled with his birthday cakes which often turned out to be carob.
He defied parental authority by bringing koolaid into the house and vegging out in front of the television with beef jerky and a tall red berry kool one.
The world of the overweight lethargic american woman is a myth in my world.
I'm still a petite size 4 thank you very much.
Before the whole horrible endometriosis nightmare stole my health I used to scuba dive and ride horses.
Young horses who spook and jump and who are all kinds of fun to make ready for the trail.
Does that count for exercise?
Question>>foods are so replete here with hormones or hormone like substances (xenoestrogens) it's no wonder women's bodies are on a hellacious rollercoaster<<<
Oh, don't you know it boyfriend!!!!!!
I am appalled I ever even used to trust buying my bread at the generic grocery store.
I now only buy my bread at bakerys that do not use soy additives.
I'm there with ya on that one.
It is a roller coaster.
I really could tell right after my hysterectomy.
It became real obvious.
statement>>She wanted to do it without aid but hotflashes and sleep disturbances incapacitated her and she opted to go on HRT. <<
HRT might have been the problem. You need to think ERT.
Additionally, your friends reactions would depend on the hormone levels in her blood. the rate of hormone production and the kind and dose of the estrogen her Doctor might chose for her.
Your friend might not have needed estrogen at all and she might have had symtomatic benefit for those hotflashes and other symptoms by using one of the SSRI's or Tricyclic antidepressants for several months.
The lowest amount did it for me for a good while.
No side effects and great for the condition of my incessant migrains which I've had ever since I had a head injury.
but the product of choice would be some form of ERT if she were to choose a hormone to help her through menopause.
Because each woman is different it would be impossible to say for sure what the problem was for your friend.
statement>>Yes indeed Premarin itself is a disgrace! To put horse estrogens (aka equine estrogens or equilin) into a woman's body would be a perfect invitation to a little carcinogenic activity<<
No, you missed my point. I personally would not have a problem with a horse byproduct in my body if horses were not being tortured and foals killed and the whole horse nightmare.
That's the disgrace.
Simple as that.
statement>>However, I do want to point out that many other clinical trials have tested different forms of estrogen such as estrogen valerate (sp?) or ethinyl estradiol and 17-B estradiol. The WEST trial (women's estrogen for stroke trial) tested an oral 17-B and transdermal estrogen compound. Sadly rather than prevent strokes in women who'd already had them, the women were experiecing an increase in REPEAT strokes and or dying from a severe single stroke moreso than the placebo group<<
Oh that's a really long debate. I think we can hone it down to blood level hormone and dosage dosage dosage.
statement>>Why does estrogen not aid in postmenopausal coronary heart disease? Scientists now believe the body shuts down certain receptors for hormones because if it didn't, than those organ systems that were so reliant upon estrogen beforehand would be deprived. The heart in particular is believed to do this...In one sense, heart disease isn't even related to the menopausal transition, especially since the majority of cases are in women over 65, averaging out to about age 74 (31% of women will die of heart disease in this country at some point in their lives). Yes the risk does start climbing in the 50's, but it still isn't something to be petrified of at age 50<<
Okay, here's the scoop. The whole menopause shift, either surgically induced or natural DOES cause the heart to go through a shock wave of palpitations.
No one has figured out exactly why this happens as yet.
Nope, not even the cardiologists know.
For what ever reason this happens, the possibilities are this: While there is no proof that estrogen protects the heart, there is proof that women do go through this phenomena.
If the heart races fast enough for a long enough period of time, the heart goes into heart failure.
When a heart goes into heart failure it doesn't mean that the heart stops working.
It means that the heart is failing to do it's job right.
Heart FAILURE.
So when the heart does not do it's right job the other organs suffer. The body suffers. It begins to retain water and there goes the whole domino effect of how coronary problems begin.
The woman might not know she is ill.
She might not even know her heart is off except for maybe feeling anxious or neurotic(which a fast beating heart does)
She may get diagnosed as having anxiety or panic attacks.
And then one day everyone is surprised when she falls over sick.
So the care a woman takes at 50, no, heck 40!!!
is the health she will give herself at 60 or 70.
If you don't know that the kind of care we give ourselves at a young age is the foundation for the rest of our life, you ought to know it.
You ought to know it and you ought to put on that sunscreen when you are out running for your healthy exercise for your heart so you will grow up to be a 50 year old great shape dude in the future.
Care.
It's a now sort of thing.
statement>>Now, as far as what you've said about the caricature of the menopausal woman being true in many cases (ie dry skin and dowager hump), I suppose it is true. I guess I was speaking on my terms (meaning my own biases) because I haven't met any older women who were characteristic of this. Yeah most women didn't look at their menopause with fondness, but I guess I've seen a lot of vibrant older women who made me think that the postmenopausal bodily miseries were a rarity.<<
Visit the ladies SALON!!!!! We have that unsightly mess plucked and lasered and waxed and other wise torture ourselves so young men like yourself never have a clue!!!!!!
Dry skin?!? We take wonderful unestrified vitamin E and fish oil caps and then we drop 100.00 at the Estee Lauder counter for that magic serum that works.
Complete with the spf protection.
We better not have dry skin for those prices.
And god bless the plastic surgeon too. For those who need them. If one is not blessed with good aging genetics, then there should be no shame in doing what one can to feel good about themselves.
It happens. don't be appalled.
We didn't work our fannys off for all those years to age ungracefully if genetics were not so kind.
So estrogen........what were we saying?
Oh I forgot.
The brain fog has now settled in.
That's all she wrote.
Time for my massage.
kat
P.S. you wrote>>I guess all I can say as someone who hasn't and WON'T ( ) go through this, is to live well, relax, do what you can to feel better<<
No Jonathan, you won't go through the whole female hormone event living in your own body.
However, one day down the road you might just be awakened in the middle of the night with a horridly moaning shape shifting hormonal woman by your side growing a beard getting the sheets wet with the midnight hot flash as the metamorphosis happens.
So stock up on those home remedys and be the one to run to the rescue with a pair of slant edged tweezers and a nice over the bed ceiling fan.
Your future woman companion will think you are a Prince. ;)
[This message has been edited by kat721 (edited 04-21-2003).]
MrsKramden
05-03-2003, 04:20 PM
Jonathan ~ What A Beautiful post !
Society's image of aging , as a whole, has always been negative, regardless of gender. Much of what shapes our images are the messages received through the media and the media gets stronger each decade.Youth is promoted as good and aging is shown and referred to as bad. This is not necessariy the truth.It's all up to what a person accepts.
One of my favorite moments in life was when my gynecologist told me, "You are in full blown menopause". This was two months ago, by the way !Yes, I embraced it as a new step in life.I feel great about it.And, I am 43.
I think that it begins with a healthy personal self image. Than, the ability and desire to reject the images which are perpetuated in the media.People well into their 80s can date, marry and have fullfilling sexual relationships.The ones who mock the elderly should pray they can be fortunate enough to one day reach their age. Good emotional and mental health play an importanat role in our image of aging. Some depressed 19 year olds feel "like an old person".
My concepts of why peri-menopause and menopause carry so much physical and possible emotional symptoms has to do with :heredity, nutrition and physiology. This is why each woman's experience is different.
I once read that there are something like 100 symptoms of peri-manopause. We don't all get all 100. Each woman gets whatever symptom based on certain factors.
In the United States, we are indoctrinated by Wall Street and Madison Avenue, that's the bottom line. We also have the privelage of being free thinkers, so , as I said, it's all in what one is willing to believe for their own personl image as well as in general.
Society's image of aging , as a whole, has always been negative, regardless of gender. Much of what shapes our images are the messages received through the media and the media gets stronger each decade.Youth is promoted as good and aging is shown and referred to as bad. This is not necessariy the truth.It's all up to what a person accepts.
One of my favorite moments in life was when my gynecologist told me, "You are in full blown menopause". This was two months ago, by the way !Yes, I embraced it as a new step in life.I feel great about it.And, I am 43.
I think that it begins with a healthy personal self image. Than, the ability and desire to reject the images which are perpetuated in the media.People well into their 80s can date, marry and have fullfilling sexual relationships.The ones who mock the elderly should pray they can be fortunate enough to one day reach their age. Good emotional and mental health play an importanat role in our image of aging. Some depressed 19 year olds feel "like an old person".
My concepts of why peri-menopause and menopause carry so much physical and possible emotional symptoms has to do with :heredity, nutrition and physiology. This is why each woman's experience is different.
I once read that there are something like 100 symptoms of peri-manopause. We don't all get all 100. Each woman gets whatever symptom based on certain factors.
In the United States, we are indoctrinated by Wall Street and Madison Avenue, that's the bottom line. We also have the privelage of being free thinkers, so , as I said, it's all in what one is willing to believe for their own personl image as well as in general.