My Experience with the Menopause

Serenity · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:41 pm Post subject: My Experience with the Menopause

I've been diagnosed as Peri menopausal, and have been for about 2 years now. I am going through an early menopause, my mum went through hers early too.

I had a group of symptoms that included, loss of menstrual cycle for 7 months which then returned. Sleeplessness, skin irritation, irrational moodswings, rather like being premenstrual all the time, much to everyones horror lol. I also had frequent urinary problems.

I talked to my doc who then sent me along to the HRT clinic at our local doctors. After speaking to a nurse there about various symptoms, she diagnosed me as peri menopausal. This means my body is getting ready for menopuase.

Because of my mood swings and other symptoms, she suggest I started Hormone Replacement Therapy. Which was basically a tablet I take each night, which replaces the hormones my body isn't making naturally. Thankfully for me, they helped, though a lot of the time, women say they saw no change when taking them. It also helps stop the onset of Osteoporosis, brittle bones.

I'm to take the HRT for approx 2 years, they give me a menstrual cycle, then I will go onto HRT that will stop it completely. I think the hardest thing was listening to my body and understanding what was happening. Because I was so young for the meno' it wasn't so clear.

Does anyone else have any experience of the Menopause, they would like to share?

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knewlove · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 11:24 pm Post subject:

wow me too Debbie...I've been peri-menopausal since my mid 20s also partly because I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). I liked not getting my 'monthly' for about 10 years but my new doctor recently put me on progesterone pills which bring on the bleeding every 3 months. ugh. I guess I shouldn't complain tho as it's dangerous not to shed the lining of the uterus that takes place during menstruation as tumors and cancerous cells can develop. I sometimes follow my doctors advice but I should be taking it more seriously.

PCOS also causes mood swings, weight gain, facial hair, and infertility. During my 20s I tried several fertility drugs like Chlomid but to no avail. They only made me 'look' like I was pregnant.

I am also leery about HRT as the FDA have pulled their drugs so many times due to adverse side effects which often outweigh the benefits of the drug.

It's no wonder tho I feel like a man half the time lol (I know I've always been a tomboy) but I can't have kids, don't get a period naturally, and can grow a mustache

I started Laser Esthetics for my hair removal - on my upper lip, chin and sideburns which has been working great altho it is quite expensive but it beats shaving, waxing, enduring the embarassment of 5 o' clock shadow, etc. I recommend it to anyone who has unwanted hair. It has also made me feel a lot better about myself

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Serenity · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 6:56 am Post subject:

Thats the only trouble when prescribed drugs, there is always the worry it's doing more harm, but because of the Osteo worries later in life, I was more in favour than against taking HRT.

It's always good to hear that other people are going through what you are, if you know what I mean lol. The facial hair is something any woman would be troubled over. My mum suffered from excessive hair, and I'm on the lookout for any signs, so far I'm ok, but like you would seek laser treatment for it. I'm glad it's working for you and your confidence is restored

Is there a reason for getting PCOS? Or is it just one of those unfortunate things?
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knewlove · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:38 am Post subject:

I dunno... becoz of men? j/k! The cause of PCOS is unknown. Some experts say it may be due to genes, heredity, lack of insulin in the body but that is all theory and heresay. There is not a virus or totally genetic link that causes it and none of the theories apply to me. My grandmother had 6 kids, my mom had 2 kids before having her tubes tied.

Perhaps it's due to too much male hormones in processed milk? who knows! PCOS and Endometriosis are very common in women and hardly talked about enuff yet MANY women suffer from it.. for whatever reason....

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knewlove · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:09 pm Post subject:

(March 5, 2008) CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- The first follow-up of a landmark study of hormone use after menopause shows heart problems linked with the pills seem to fade after women stop taking them, while surprising new cancer risks appear.

Geraldine Boggs participated in a study about new cancer risks appearing in postmenopausal women.

That heart trouble associated with hormones may not be permanent is good news for millions of women who quit taking them after the government study was halted six years ago because of heart risks and breast cancer.

But the new risks for other cancers, particularly lung tumors, in women who had taken estrogen-progestin pills for about five years puzzled the researchers and outside experts.

Those risks "were completely unanticipated," said Dr. Gerardo Heiss of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, lead author of the follow-up analysis.

The analysis focused on participants' health in the first two to three years after the study's end. During that time, those who'd taken hormones but stopped were 24 percent more likely to develop any kind of cancer than women who'd taken dummy pills during the study.

"There's still a lot of uncertainty about the cause of the increased cancer risk," said analysis co-author Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The cancers included breast tumors, which also occurred more frequently in hormone users during the study.

The researchers noted that the increased risks for all cancers amounted to only three extra cases per year for every 1,000 women on hormone pills, compared with nonusers. Watch Dr. Sanjay Gupta explain the latest findings on hormone replacement therapy. »

Still, Heiss said the results suggest that former hormone users need to be vigilant about getting cancer screening including mammograms.

"Vigilance is justified," he said. "No alarm, but vigilance."

The initial study of 16,608 postmenopausal women was designed to examine pros and cons of taking pills long thought to benefit women's health. It was halted in 2002 when more breast cancers, heart attacks and related problems were found in hormone users versus nonusers.

There were some health benefits -- decreased risks for hip fractures and colorectal cancer -- but the follow-up found those also faded after women stopped the pills.

Some data suggest that U.S. breast cancer rates have declined since the study's end. But that likely reflects fewer women starting on the pills rather than any decline in breast cancer risk among past users, said Dr. Michael Lauer of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health, which conducted and funded the landmark research.

The authors said the new results send the same message they've been advocating ever since the study ended: Health risks from estrogen-progestin pills outweigh their benefits, and they should only be used to relieve hot flashes and other menopause symptoms, in the lowest possible dose for the shortest possible duration.

The new analysis appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

A spokesman for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, maker of the Prempro estrogen-protestin pills used in the study, voiced a criticism frequently cited by scientists, too -- that participants were in their 60s on average, at least 10 years old than typical hormone users.

The latest results thus may not apply to typical users because older women have different health risks than younger ones, including more cancers in general, said Wyeth's Dr. Joseph Camardo.

Prempro's packaging information already recommends routine breast exams and mammograms for users, and Camardo said the follow-up results are "not anything that's particularly new that should change guidance."

Manson, the co-author, said it's possible the initial study results prompted hormone-using participants to see their doctors more often than nonusers after the study ended, which could have resulted in more cancers detected.

It's also possible hormones either triggered new tumors or fueled the growth of existing ones, the researchers said.

"Once a tumor gets started, you might think of it as a train is out of the station and it might be more difficult to stop it," Lauer said.

The follow-up involved 15,730 participants tracked through March 2005.

The authors said the decline in heart problems was not surprising, since harmful effects of hormones on blood vessels could be expected to fade after women stopped taking the pills. Also, heart risks during the study were highest soon after women started taking hormones.

Dr. Sherry Nordstrom, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said the lung cancers were a surprising finding but called hormones "still very appropriate therapy" for women with bad symptoms.

Health Library
MayoClinic.com: HRT -- benefits, alternatives
Study participant Geraldine Boggs, a Washington, D.C. nurse with three daughters and four granddaughters, said women should pay attention to the new findings.

"I initially joined the study to make sure that my daughters and granddaughters had informed choices about taking them when they got to be my age," said Boggs, 64.

Boggs, in her early 50s when she enrolled, was assigned to take hormones. Still, she said she developed no health problems during the study or afterward, other than hot flashes for about a year after quitting the pills.

Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a New York University women's heart specialist, said the study underscores that in addition to cancer screening, women who stop taking hormones need to find other ways to keep their bones strong, including getting more calcium and exercise.
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Serenity · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:13 am Post subject:

Scary reading Kris

!! I'm glad I check for lumps regularly and I wouldn't hesitate to go to the docs if I found anything suspicious. I found a small lump a couple of years back and immediately booked into my docs, he referred me to the hossie, and within 2 weeks I'd had a mamogram which confirmed a cyst type lump, which went after a month or so. Women really should keep check on these sorts of things.

As for heart problems and other cancers connected with HRT, what are we supposed to do?
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