To ask if anyone has found menopause just fine?

[ChristmasGutPunch]

Another day another article about how I can expect my brain to fall out my ear any day now. "I forgot how to do my job!" and so forth. I'm sanguine about ageing (saggy jaw aside) but I really don't want to become wrong in the head so young. Please can you reassure me it's ok for some women??

You really aren’t making much sense.
My point is that HRT is protective (not preventative) against dementia and osteoporosis amongst other things. That’s pretty uncontentious. You keep banging on about old skeletons and wondering why menopause threads talk about the effect of menopause on osteoporosis but not low body weight, which is a bit like asking why threads in the Litter Tray aren’t more concerned with dogs.
Anyway, good luck to you too.

You can see just from this topic that this is true for many women, and our mothers before us, and I'd really like to pull back a bit from the rhetoric you see so often on here that menopause is going to be horrible and terrible and only HRT will save you.

Some women, many women, hardly even notice it except for the welcome cessation of monthly periods.

Take heart, OP!

I also think it's to the benefit of big pharma (and i'm not normally a conspiracy theorist) that the menopause is pathologised.

@Sausagenbacon , I have to admit , I’ve wondered the same thing .

That must be why so many women struggle to get HRT prescribed in the first place and just told to take anti depressants. Makes sense.

I'm peri and struggled with insomnia which affected my work, relationship and emotions. The physical hot flushes were unpleasant but OK. Now on HRT and have the implant, I feel better than usual as I don't have periods to contend with.

I have wondered about this too. I live in a different European country and there is none of this discussion and focus on HRT here. HRT is available, but not widely used except for those with severe symptoms. I am prime age for menopause, and I don't know any women who are on it. While when I was last in the UK, pretty much everyone was on it. Women aren't any different here than in the UK, so the difference is remarkable. Maybe there are a lot of women suffering in silence here? I haven't been aware of it, but I wouldn't rule it out completely. Or maybe there is something going on in the UK with this sudden huge focus on HRT?

It was the Davina and Mariella effect that got people having more conversations. Prior to that HRT use had plummeted in the U.K. since the big scare about breast cancer.

There is definitely a north/south split in European terms when it comes to HRT. Lots of Dutch, British, Irish and Scandinavian women using. Far fewer in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece.

I would imagine there is a huge cultural aspect to it, expectations on women, weather, it's not just one factor or the other.

I understand that there is still less than 25% of women over 50 using hrt in U.K. so it’s far from most.

https://www.balance-menopause.com/news/sharp-rise-in-hrt-prescriptions/#:~:text=Uptake%20of%20HRT%20has%20been,is%20as%20low%20as%202%25.

F

Yes, it was fine. Bit of menstrual flooding, one or two flushes, apart from that plain sailing. And my mum had had to go on HRT so the genetics weren't good.

Now in my 60s BTW so not in any way 'peri'

I have a question for those in 60s with no hrt or vaginal oestrogen, is your sex life ok?

menopause has been the best ever part of my life

Five years from last period, not quite 60's though and
I have a question for those in 60s with no hrt or vaginal oestrogen, is your sex life ok?
certainly much better than just ok!!!

Age 63 and 10 years postmenopausal....sex life is good! I do use a lubricant "as needed", but have done that for decades.

Should add that I'm in the US so yearly gynecologist appointments are considered the norm and atrophy is assessed. So far, so good.

That’s good to hear. I’m 2 years post menopause. I’ve been fine on no hrt but have started Ovestin ( vaginal oestrogen) after becoming drier. Nothing severe but had heard scary atrophy stories. Can I ask how atrophy is addressed without vaginal oestrogen @CulturalNomad .

I had no symptoms.

Pretty sure vaginal oestrogen is the standard treatment for atrophy. I don't have atrophy but am certainly open to Ovestin should that become a problem!

It's a litany of annoying little/ big complaints. Hot flushes, low self worth, aching legs, vaginal atrophy (😱). It's annoying but it's not the end of the world and you can get hrt to soften the edges. If you cope well with any minor illness or discomfort that comes your way, you'll probably be fine

I’m post-meno and don’t have any debilitating symptoms but I’m
more anxious and have a couple of physical ailments possibly caused by meno, but not definitely.

@CulturalNomad yes I use Ovestin to avoid atrophy as I’ve read it’s hard to reverse.