MENOPAUSE OR NOT?

[Lissiluffman]

I am about to turn 48 in a few weeks. My periods have always since day one been regular as clockwork, 28 days on the dot and normal flow with usual cramping.....and nothing has changed, they are still spot on!
BUT....I am extremely bloated, I look about 6 months pregnant all the bloody time and my boobs are sooooo tender and swollen (I dont mind the swollen bit, that can stay!) and all the veins have popped out, they are unbearable and my granddaughter seems to think they only there to help her to get up, which she does by digging her elbows in them really hard, and all the time....OUCH!
So, everyone is telling me AND i am reading it everywhere online that first menopause symptom is stopped periods. So what is going on? Am I menopausal or not and if not what the frick is going on with my bappy's??? Any ideas? I don't do doctors.....

Menopause simply means no periods for the last 12 months (I am 54 not reached that yet amazingly). So you symptons cannot be menopause but they might be peri-menopausal.

I think your reading is confusing you. You are not at menopause as you have had a period in the last 12 months. You might well be peri-menopausal which includes symptons of different intervals between periods. I would certainly not take anything either as like you I don't tend to take pills. I've never even been on the pill.
If you keep doing a lot of exercise, eat only good foods etc it tends all to be fine.

No, it doesn't 'tend all to be time's. What a ridiculous, minimising comment.

It varies how people experience perimenopause. For some, the symptoms are debilitating, for some it indeed is fine.

I strongly believe that women need to become more aware of perimenopause . I didn't even know it existed until it happened to me. The awful raging, negative thoughts, clumsiness, weight gain have changed me as a person. As I said, it's utterly shot. For me.

Meant to say it doesn't 'tend to all be fine'.

You can buy sticks you pee on in Wilkos to see if you're menopausal for £3.

Can't recall, menopause predictor test maybe? It was just like a pregnancy test.

www.wilko.com/womens-health/menopause-mid-stream/invt/0348495

Here is a link to 66 symptoms that may be experienced during peri/menopause. And it's from patient.info not quackery.

patient.info/forums/discuss/66-peri-menopause-menopause-symptoms-you-may-experience-which-may-help-some-ladies-271903

Other suggested sites are: Menopause Matters (run by a menopause expert); British Menopause Society; Nice Guidelines for Menopause/HRT Nov 15.

Are those pee sticks any good? My GP just said I didn't need a blood test. I'm 47.

Not Every unwelcome body change at age 45 is due to perimenopause or menopause. . The impacts of "ageing" are real, too, and separate. We aren't supposed to be like 20 year olds any more. Human bodies are supposed to change as we age.

Adrenal exhaustion is a myth, btw.

I was told by my dr years ago that absolutely everyone experiences the menopause in different ways. No two women are exactly the same. My only suggestion is that you see a dr yourself to put your mind at rest, as others have said.

The blood tests for thyroid and fsh/ oestradiol are real, and available!

Who is saying gps don't do blood tests? That's not correct at all.

If you need help with the perimenopause, go to your GP and get a blood test, no matter what age you are. Ask to be referred to a gynaecologist if needs be, and have further tests.

If your in perimenopause your fsh levels will be elevated, and oestradiol low.

Hrt is proven not to cause any more cancer than having a glass of wine a day or being half a stone overweight. NICE recommends it for cardio vascular health.

If you take it it protects bone density, and is essential if menopause is reached before 52. Hrt supplements your body with hormones you would be making anyway.

I take a bio identical oestrogen and progesterone as my levels have dropped off a cliff and I was suffering from insomnia, flashes and exhaustion.

The risk of taking bio identical hormones is negligible as I would have been making them myself anyway, except that I'm not.

I Use a transdermal gel for the oestrogen and take an oil based progesterone, so no "pills" of foreign chemicals. I got a prescription for this type of hrt, and it's filled in Boots chemist, but it's made from yams, not artificial chemicals. It's the one most used in France.

My life is immeasurably better since I've started to use bioidentical hrt. I feel normal again: I sleep better, the mental fog and exhaustion is gone, flashes gone, aches and pains gone, skin looks great, energy and libido is back.

Pop over to the meno board and find out a bit about it. There are some very well informed women over there, and knowledge is much better than fear and outdated opinion and hearsay which is too often bandied about

Who is saying gps don't do blood tests? That's not correct at all.

NICE advise is that if women over 45 have symptoms of menopause (e.g. no periods) it can be diagnosed without blood tests. Tests for FSH should be considered only in women aged 40 to 45 years with menopausal symptoms or in women aged under 40 years in whom menopause is suspected.

Hrt is proven not to cause any more cancer than having a glass of wine a day or being half a stone overweight. NICE recommends it for cardio vascular health.

That isn't correct. For example, NICE state that "HRT with oestrogen and progestogen can be associated with an increase in the risk of breast cancer".

I'm not sure where you get the information that it is actually recommended for cardiovascular health. At best it doesn't increase cardiovascular disease risk.

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng23/chapter/Recommendations#information-and-advice

Ultimately the risks and benefits vary from person to person. For example, my symptoms are not that bad (just some hot flushes), I'm not at high risk of osteoporosis but I am at risk of breast cancer. Therefore for me the benefits certainly do not outweigh the risks. They didn't for my mother either as she got breast cancer after being on HRT for a few years.

I did get the same abdominal swelling as OP describes, about three or four years ago, which in my case was a symptom of perimenopause. I took photos and they look just the same as when 6 to 7 months gone with the DDs.

I also had odd bleeding so visited GP and had various tests and scans which showed nothing of concern. Now at 46 I have only had 2 periods about 15 months apart, so definitely headed towards menopause if not pretty much there already. Swelling is gone and abdomen pretty much back to normal.

OP do visit your doctor to get checked out. It's best for peace of mind. Good luck.

Karma I started hrt at 48 as my periods were driving me bonkers.
Flooding and then nothing for months, bloating, sweats, flashes, disturbed sleep, no energy, joint pain and feeling hopeless and grumpy.

Three weeks on hrt and I felt like a teenager again. It was absolutely amazing the difference it made.

I had to go to my GP a few times in the years up to that, but she eventually went on hrt herself and so was very keen eventually to do the tests and prescribe as it made such a difference to her. She had also been to a meno conference which presented the most recent research results and assured me that my risk was negligble for any cancers as I don't drink and I exercise, and no one in my family has had hormone dependent cancer.

Pop over to the meno board for more detailed advice from those who are in the know. AIBU and chat are fine to sound out something, but there are posters on meno who really know their stuff, and know how to navigate an ignorant, dismissive and out of date GP and to get the care you need.

The Menopause matters website is pretty detailed for info as well, and there's a handy quiz which I printed out to bring with me to my GP.