AIBU - to want more menopause success stories ?

[MamaNorth]

It's great we are now discussing the menopause more. But it's all doom and gloom. Those who 'sailed through' are generally told to shut up.

So BOAST TO ME about how you sailed through the meno, and why you think you did?

I'm 47 without any signs so far.......

I already do daily exercise, meditate, eat low carb, take vits. I drink too much but am trying to cut back.
Anything else I should add now?

I'm 57 and my periods pretty much stopped four years ago.

The only symptom I've had are quite mild hot flushes about six times a day, but they don't really bother me.

TBH I don't know many people who've had a bad time with the menopause, but that might be because those that do maybe don't talk about it with those that don't.

Everyone commenting that they are 'through' the menopause like its a set time frame. It's not. Menopause is when you are a year clear of no periods. You then remain in menopause till death. It isn't a stage.

It is a stage! After a year of no periods, you are through menopause and into post-menopause. Then your body, all your blood vessels, etc, gradually adjust to the different levels of hormones circulating - your ovaries continue to release small amounts of estrogen, as do your adrenal glands. It is as much a stage as puberty, only in reverse.

My understanding is approximately 20% of women have no worrying symptoms leading up to and going into and through menopause.

All my life I had painful periods and after I had my children I had fibroids in my uterus which caused my periods to be really heavy and irregular and I passed huge clots and liverish gunge.
They fitted a Mirena coil. The periods stopped mostly. i just had a slight flow and then when i was 49 the periods stopped.

No hot flushes, no night sweats. Nothing at all.

I reckon I had all the shit when I was fertile, and the menopause for me was a blessing

My menopause was fine: HRT for night-time hot flushes for 18 months. All done and dusted.

What this means, of course I that I was fortunate in having only one set of symptoms, easily managed and a very short time span.
A lot of it is just what your body does, and how it responds to treatment.

I love@CheerfulBunny 's cheerful post ! Maybe the two are linked.

So far: Seems to be luck of the draw, like with fertility, childbirth and breastfeeding. at the complaints that some comments are 'suspect' as they don't toe the misery line.

Like with the three things above, you have to hope for the best but plan for Armageddon.

I had a few hot flushes, intermittent periods then they stopped, that was it! So lucky, really happy i sailed through especially when i hear of the struggles some women have.

I used to get very bad PMT with a lot of brain fog. So for me I have greater clarity of thinking now and way less brain fog. I have also lost weight and am not entirely sure why. I have made some small changes which might account for some of it but not all. I do get the rage a bit but I think i am totally justified as there is usually a good reason.

There are a few issues though which I won't bore you with but on balance it ain't been too bad.

@Iamthewombat

I’m pleased that you started this thread, OP, because I’m sick of hearing stories of doom and woe about the menopause. I’m 49.

The last thing women in their forties, fifties and sixties need is a reputation for ‘brain fog’, ‘hormones’, lack of energy and god knows what else! I thought that when I left childbearing age behind I’d be able to dispense with prejudice in my career (employers being loath to choose a thirty something woman over a man because she might, you know, have children and be less dedicated) but now bloody Davina McCall, Meg Mathews and the other exposure seekers are desperate to present menopause as an affliction from which all women in the last 20 years of their working lives must inevitably suffer from. An affliction that makes them over-emotional, forgetful and liable to take lots of time off, to boot. Just what an employer wants. All because the menopause sob sisters want something to talk about on the telly and have a little cry about to show how relevant they are etc etc.

Well, I don’t want Davina McCall and Meg Mathews representing me, thank you. Maybe I will have dreadful symptoms, maybe I won’t, but I don’t want to be co-opted into this ‘all menopausal women are in a dreadful state and need special gentle treatment’ narrative.

There are plenty of women in this age group working very successfully in senior roles and demonstrating that this particular change in your life doesn’t have to be a disaster.

I agree with this

SOME people struggled with puberty. Many of us coped ok

SOME people struggled with pregnancy. Many of us coped ok

SOME of us struggled with babies/ toddlers/ teenagers. Many of us coped ok

SOME of us struggled with peri / menopause. Many of us coped ok

It's fine to raise awareness and acknowledge that some people may struggle at different times of life, but let's not pretend that ALL of us find ALL of it difficult

I am 52, l don't have periods because l have a mirena coil.
I am fit, healthy, sleep well, no menopausal signs, long may it last.
Sometimes l feel a bit forgetful, a little tired but busy life so to be expected.
My pregnancies however were a different story, never felt so I'll in all my life, felt like l had been severely poisoned.