Meno brain fog self help tips?

[colabottlejelliesarethebest]

Having terrible brain fog and struggling to keep up in my very busy job.

Does anyone have any suggestions that will help?

I'm on HRT already and it's been pretty effective most of the time it's mostly just the brain fog that's troubling me.

[quote dahliaaa]@rampantivy does it really get better ? Do you mind if I ask what stage you're at now.

I'm finding the brain fog so difficult. [/quote]
I'm 63 so well past the menopause. I'm still working and I think that keeps my brain sharp as well.

TBH I didn't find it too trying going through it. Warm flushes rather than hot flushes, I didn't get anxiety, I wrote lists to jog my memory, my periods just got less frequent then just stopped. The worst thing for me was migraines, but I no longer get them.

Now my main problem is thinning hair and aching joints.

I'm not on HRT. It never occurred to me that I would need it.

There is one supplement from Boots called The Complete Woman that has literally everything you need altogether. That really helped me . My worse part was forgetting words..the word for something..completely blank and l always had no problem with words. But thinking about it now it has got better . I am now 61 and hasn't happened to me recently.

@junebirthdaygirl
The word thing is the hardest to manage in a work environment. The general fog can be helped by lists and organization but the loss of the correct word is so immediate and happens so publicly. I think I might be seeing some improvement over the last couple of months as I head towards 60. Fingers crossed.

Oh to be as sharp as I used to be. I'm just a blithering idiot when it comes to forming a sentence at the moment

Lady in Holland and Barrett suggested Cod Liver Oil tablets to me. I take one in the morning, one at night (when I remember ) . I still struggle to compose my brain into a logical train of thought or conversation but its definitely worse when my period is due then disappears the week/10 days afterwards. I also take a female multi vitamin and additional magnesium and zinc tablets plus Vit D and also try to eat lots of carrots (raw) and green veg (leeks, brussels, broccoli and courgette are my current favourites). I should eat more oily fish (mackerel, pilchards, sardines) but don't like them. But oh yes to lists!! And lists of lists! I'm a nightmare at Christmas time.

Thanks everyone some great suggestions here which I am going to start using. The HRT seems to be helping everything apart from the brain fog but who knows maybe it would be worse without the HRT.

Just a thought, maybe more exercise to increase blood flow to the brain too,m. I've been really taking care of myself in lots of ways but the exercise has fallen by the wayside over the past 6 months.

I hope we all start to improve soon I feel so stupid sometimes when my mind goes completely blank

I suffered terribly with brain fog, so much that I considered early retirement. Work colleagues told me about HRT, which I just had not envisualised ever needing, and two years on, still using HRT, the brain fog has gone,
.

I’m on HRT. It’s helped pretty much all my symptoms except the brain fog. I am starting a mission to get testosterone added to my HRT prescription. Has anyone else tried that? I think, from what I’ve read, it could be the final part of the HRT cocktail needed.

Can the NHS offer testosterone? Thought they didn’t due to it being off label, not that I understand what that means really.

Check vitamin D levels and low blood levels can cause brain fog too

@dahliaaa

Sorry should have said - I'm not but seems like increasing numbers are taking it and I wonder if I should be. Brain fog is the thing that worries me most at the moment.

As @RampantIvy said upthread, things get better after a while regardless of HRT or not. Lisa Mosconi is a leading expert on the female brain and has recently published evidence the brain finds a new normal I am 8 years menopausal, still working and feel sharper now than I did back then It concerns me a bit that there seems to be a push towards HRT use at the moment and the focus on how awful menopause is seems to be making some women feel quite despondent. For those who have bad symptoms and need it, it is miraculous but there are many who do not need it

@Kummerspeck thank you - I'll take a read of that.

Thank you everyone who has posted positive messages about things eventually improving.

@RoyalMush

Can the NHS offer testosterone? Thought they didn’t due to it being off label, not that I understand what that means really.

I think it’s incredibly difficult to get on the nhs. It’s not licensed for them to prescribe to women in the UK I don’t think, but they can prescribe off licence. In fact following my blood tests a week ago I had call back today saying they would prescribe it! It will be in annoying sachets and you have to have one tenth of a sachet per day. That is not going to be easy to do!

If you get it privately you get AndroFeme (which is packaged for use by women) which comes in a tube and much easier to get accurate dose.

Oh Lord, measuring out 1/10 of a sachet! Sounds possibly worth the faff though? Extremely glad to hear that a ‘new normal’ may emerge whatever happens. Hard not to feel it’s all going to be pretty awful (or is that the peri anxiety speaking.. )