Perimenopause is a stupid thing

[lizzieoak]

Just the shits really. I'll be fine for a couple of months, then dizzy, nauseated, disassociated for days and days. Throw in the occasional migraine. Feel like I'm going to get a migraine on the days I don't. Anxiety like you would not believe.

I get so dizzy - dizzy right now. It's kind of alarming & I (weirdly) feel the need to tell strangers as I think I might keel over.

Not a fan of this business, not at all. Would like, please, to stay in bed for a couple of years till it passes - or at the very least be in an alternate universe where I could just not go to work on those days.

There is actually a lot of info out there, and a lot of research has been done, Pagan if you know where to look :)

Your average GP isn't going to be a source of info but there is a lot women can do for themselves.

The website Women's Health Concern is helpful - it's the 'patient arm' of the British Menopause Society.
Menopause Matters website is written by the Chair of the BMS.
There is an excellent book following the journey through peri to post meno- Your Change, Your Choice by a consultant gynae.

Above all, there is HRT which works for loads of women really well and if you don't want that, the websites and books I've mentioned have loads of info on self-help mainly diet, exercise, and complementary types of treatments.

Just wanted to query the suggestion that most women die from fractured hips and heart disease. I thought the highest cause of death by far for women age 55-74 is cancer.

As with any other medication, its a balancing act isn't it. HRT isn't risk free, but it does bring benefits. Even the experts have differing views on what sort is safest, works best, how long to take it for as is always the case in medicine. For me it's a risk worth taking, for now, but educating yourself from a range of sources is a really good idea as has been said.

The figures I found (connected with my work) were 14K women die annually in the UK from complications of hip fractures and 11.5K die annually from breast cancer. Lifetime risk of hip fracture is 1:6, breast cancer 1:9.

This is from the WHO

"Noncommunicable diseases
Noncommunicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases and cancers, are the biggest causes of death among older women, regardless of the level of economic development of the country in which they live. Cardiovascular diseases account for 46% of older women’s deaths globally, while a further 14% of deaths are caused by cancers – mainly cancers of the lung, breast, colon and stomach. Chronic respiratory conditions, mainly COPD, cause another 9% of older women’s deaths."

There is also a graph on that page which shows the results very clearly.
www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs334/en/

For women in high/ middle income income families (ie UK, western world)

The deaths per 100 000 women show heart disease and stroke right at the top, breast and other cancers way down the list.

If you look at the England and Wales stats for women age 55 - 74 - it's cancer and CHD.

Those graphs are across the world and for all ages, and split each each cancer individually. If you add together all the cancers (including the many that arent on the graphs) its a very different picture.

Ps didn't want to hijack or anything, but it does just show what a nightmare stats are!

I'm confused as to where this applies to the original post?
CHD is the main killer of women in the western affluent world. I don't know why pulling out stats for England and wales is relevant. Not being argumentative, but genuinely confused.

We're all going to die at some point, whether from heart attack or cancer or infection or something else. If taking HRT doubles my 1.5% chance of dying from something - well, so be it. I genuinely do not care. HRT makes my life easier, happier, physically and emotionally healthier right now. I am a better parent, partner, person for taking it.

I absolutely agree and so does my dr!
I'm also realising smoothing else...my mum was on hrt for decades after having a hysterectomy very young....she was thirty five.
The Drs forced her to come off it some years ago and since then her health has really deteriorated...she now has PVD and copd...all despite stopping smoking.
Her face is sunken and very wrinkled.
She has lost weight...and was tiny to begin with.
The more I think about it the more I think her stopping hrt was a bad decision.

GGG that sums up my attitude exactly. Thanks

I agree too though being in my 60s now (just!) I'd not like life to be cut short just yet. I've been told by a consultant I have more risk of dying or being injured in a car crash than using HRT.
(And you can reduce your baseline risk of cancer by exercise and not drinking which puts you at a lower risk than women not on HRT who don't have a healthy lifestyle.)