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Originally Posted by rmc12 Hi,
Just curious how many of you that are 50 , near 50 or over 50 are on birth control pills to help with perimenopause.. It was suggested to me last year by my gyn when I started to get very frustrated with all these symptoms : mostly increased pms symptoms, intestinal and anxiety.
she did give me a prescription for Yasmin , a low dose birth control pill and told me if I felt I wanted to I could do that and start it whenever I wanted to the Sun after a period. My concern was and is side effects. I know the low dose ones are much better than years ago and I am not talking too much about the inherent side effects that can come about with birth controls anyway, but I am talking about any other side effects. I am not someone that tolerates pills well as it is and I did not and do not want to bring on a new host of other symptoms in addition to what I already have!!
I mainly have a longer PMS as I said, some palpitations, some night sweats and high anxiety at times. The PMS and the anxiety are the two that are more constant and are the most troublesome. I am not sure if the birth control pills would help that. I know it would regulate my period but until this year it was not too bad in that dept. (I have for the past 3 years only got one or two that I got on day 40, day 50 and then this year day 49, other than that they have been in the 23 to 29 day range. Now with this year I had one at day 49 as I mentioned and then today at day 27. So that is very different. If I was not getting symptoms in between time and only at right before my period I am thinking it would be easier to deal with. But would birth control do that?
I also hesitate being 50 , soon to be 51 this year, to be taking them. But do not want 2 or 3 more years of what I have been dealing with this month. Last year the symptoms as I have well documented on here : ) were worse for me in late Feb/all of March and then on and off in April , waning in May and then just normal stuff the rest of year till this Feb. So perhaps it will stabilize again. Not very patient I guess!!
Anyway, just thought I'd see if others near 50 or 50 are taking them for all this and what symtpoms it has helped alleviate.
Thanks!!
rmc |
RMC,
I've been taking various forms of hormones for 15 years or so. I started obvious menopause symptoms when I was 39 and within a couple of years I started a low dosage pill. I'm almost 56 now.
I've tried various brands and formulas over the years -- it's not important exactly which ones because I live in Germany and what's available to me would be different from your choices. They all had side effects, some more than others -- some caused my breasts to become extremely sore, some gave me pms on the progesterone part of the cycle.
A couple of years ago I cut down on the dosage over a few months to wean myself off the pills, but at 1/4 the original dosage the menopause brain fog and tiredness and hot flashes were so bad that I begged for some other options. I started out on a low dosage estrogen (estradiol) patch supplemented by ProGest cream for the side effects. This was sufficient to clear up the brain fog, but then it became apparent that it wasn't strong enough to reach my vagina -- I keep getting vaginal and bladder infections every time I make love with my hubby! Even a vaginal estrogen cream didn't clear things up.
So I've just this week started a higher dosage of patch that will have progesterone in weeks 3 and 4, and now I'm feeling stomach upset. I think that our levels of hormones are so critical to our bodies that we have "side effects" regardless of whether we're producing them ourselves or having them medically augmented.
If you can get the right hormones for you, and you don't have any medical reasons why you shouldn't take them (heart problems, history in your family of breast cancer, and other things your doctor will tell you), then supplemental hormones can certainly clear up the hot flashes, mental brain fog, tiredness, and many of the other things that people in this forum have listed. I don't know how long I will continue to take them, but I probably will until something comes along to indicate that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. It's an individual decision -- the hormones are not appropriate for some women, but for others they can make life much easier.
--Rheanna
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