Talk to me about the bone crushing tiredness of menopause

[TheMarbleFaun]

I seem to be permanently knackered - never get enough sleep & I feel like every afternoon I need to take a nap - is this normal?
Are there any supplements I could try ( or any other tips) ?
For info I’m 47 and been on HRT about 3 months (Elleste duet 1mg)
Thanks in advance!

Jingl;ing She was so emphatic when she said no that I took that as a blanket refusal. It was unusual in that they try to medicate you for lots of things here, but not others that we would medicate for.

As I say, I move back to the UK for good in October, so will go and see a GP there when I've re registered, with whom I can have a conversation.

Belgium has its own menopause society- same as the British Menopause Society (BMS) and there is info in it.

I don't get the impression there is a blanket ban on HRT in Belgium and think you just had a dr who 'doesn't believe int it- same as some UK GPs!

@Jingling Just seen another doc in the same practice. reluctant to prescribe HRT as I am still producing oestrogen, as I still have periods. Belgian medics think there is a link between HRT and breast cancer. In Belgium, she tells me, they stick you on the pill til you're 52 if you start perimenopause at 49, and hope that it will all be over when they take you off the pill at 52.

I am too old for that at 53(and the pill gives me migraine anyway), so she wants to treat symptoms, so have some Valerian sleeping pills, and will start to take magnesium again to see if that helps with the sleep.

I think I'll revisit the HRT question when I am back in the UK in October and registered with a practice there.

well, sounds as if they have dinosaurs as drs over there. Old fashioned views and totally at odds with recent research and prescribing in the UK.
Yes there may be a small link with BC with some types of HRT (not all have equal risk) but there are risks in not taking HRT, and quality of life is the issue for may women.
In the UK the NICE guidance is drs tell women the facts and stats around risks, and women make their choice.

I guess she didn't bother to tell you that 2 units of alcohol a day, being inactive, being overweight and smoking have a far greater risk factor than estrogen? No, didn't think she would.

Just found this thread... it’s an eye opener!

So the fact that I forget words often...I’ll say a sentence but have completely mislaid the most simple of words... that might be a symptom and not the fact that I’m losing my marbles as I feared?

I've been on HRT since October. I'm 45 and 3 years into 'it' (menopause!).

I've been feeling kind of flat and meh even with the HRT. I haven't been exhausted, but I also haven't been jumping for joy and full of energy or motivation for much. I went to my consultant to ask about testosterone for low libido. She said to have some blood tests and we'd go from there.

Long story short, blood tests showed that despite using 2 pumps of oestrogel a day, my oestrogen is still really low - like under 100pmol/L (when the normal range is 77 - 2400).

She told me to up it to 3 pumps for 6 weeks and have more blood tests before she'd go with the testosterone.

5 days of 3 pumps and I'm like a different person. I've been to the gym every day, yesterday I was swimming and felt SO GOOD that I kept going for an hour. I've smiled, I've danced, I've slept better... and excitingly I had the first fleeting glimpses of 'the horn' yesterday. Couldn't work out what it was, so long has it been missing!!

So, oestrogen increase for tiredness?

Having RTFT, I think I belong here. I'm almost 47, still having regular periods. In the last few months I've started having terrible anxiety, which I've worked out is hormonal as it's always the 2 weeks preceding my period. I've also been feeling really tired in the afternoons (that kind of tiredness that I'd only previously known in pregnancy). I have various other symptoms too (irritability, bloating, brain fog...), and last week I joined the dots together and realised I was peri-menopausal. Just in time, as this morning I woke to find that my period had arrived with a great flood (never happened before; it's always announced itself very politely).

scaryteacher: just curious, as I'm in Belgium too. Was this a GP or a gynaecologist?

Oh my, I has no idea so many people were in the same boat re recalling words. It's so embarrassing, that long pause. I even had to use the internet to remember what a USB was called!!
Does anyone know how long after menopause HRT can be prescribed. I think it's too late for me. I'm 55, but last period was about 6 years ago so guessing it's too late. Also have the early evening tiredness and patience has gone out of the window 😉

@Letshopethisdietworks

You can start HRT any time but ideally no more than 10 years after your last period, so you've bags of time. I started around 53, which was 6 months after my last period.

The word thing is sometimes entertaining.

I described a ski resort club/bar as 'that tank of twats' instead of by its name.

Couldn't remember the word for shelf, said 'wall plank' instead.

I forgot the word for 'Tea' the other day and got so frustrated I asked my DH for a 'cup of the hot wet drug'

He has this rabbit in headlights look when I speak now as the poor bastard tries to figure out what I'm saying.

Fuck this brain fog.

Haven't RTFT, but here's what worked for me (my periods stopped 5 years ago, I am late 50's and didn't take HRT, I was getting the bone crushing tiredness):

1. Walk or exercise in the open air every morning (morning light helps with melatonin apparently)
2. Clean up my diet - little or no sugar, alcohol or processed food, I'm also pescatarian
3. Frequent heart-raising exercise
4. Good sleep hygiene
5. Listen to the Dr Chatterjee podcasts (BBC's Doctor in the House), about optimising your health
6. Practice yoga and meditation
7. Vitamin supplements in the winter - I take Immunace which seems to be a good all-round one

(I am a healthy BMI but still have the thickened middle though 🙁)

For the horible fatigue it did take two months to work but Vogel's Menopause Support supplements are really ace and I wouldn't go without them.

It did take that long to work in my case but I can honestly say I felt so much more stable within about 5 days. Weird!

I do all this Firebreathingwoman and have done for the past two years but no change. Today I've de oded, I'm giving hrt another go.

Ironically I’ve just put this on my ‘watch’ list because right now my brain fog is so bad I can’t keep up with all the info.

I’m low carbing and it helps but I’m still exhausted etc

I’ve just had a raft of blood tests done but I’m late 40’s so might not help re hormone levels?!

Summer I didn’t associate loads of things with peri menopause until I read another thread like this and people were saying they had the same things. Total light bulb moment!

JinglingHellsBells
Thank you! I thought it was 2 years after last period.

Jingling This 'dinosaur' isn't that long back after maternity leave!! There are massive differences between Belgium and the UK in some areas of health care. I have an auto immune disease, and in the UK, they would look at medicating me. Here, unless I am black and blue with bruises, and bleeding out, (I have a low platelet count), they aren't bothered. In the U.S., I'd be hospitalised with a count like mine, so it differs.

Moth It was a GP. Haven't needed to see a gynaecologist for a while.

Thank you all! I feel so much more normal! So glad I searched. I’m 45 (I think) and def peri. So tired - I have no evening most of the time as I just head to bed. Brain fog like nothing I’ve felt before. Hard to do my job sometimes. Feel murderous at times.

DH does not understand. Even though I’ve asked him to not jump in when I pause to think about what I’m saying, he still does, then I lose track of even the topic we were discussing yet alone the word I was trying to think of!

Pfrench and Laurie you made me cry with laughter when I had been just crying full stop! Thank you! I do the same thing but predictably I can’t remember any examples!

Thank you all for sharing. Has helped to know I’m not alone.

The tiredness has his more since I turned 55 ... 55 this year ... HRT. femi conti ... Walking a lot more ... makes me feel so well but my addiction to choc is my worst thing ... I don’t drink alcohol or caffeine tea much mostly decaf ... walking has been my saviour really .... I love
Love
It and when retired will joint a rambling group 👍

OMG - I know this is a zombie thread but it was linked elsewhere and I am staggered - I did NOT know this!
I've been so tired, and my periods seem to have stopped dead (I'm 52) - but I've been having to have naps most days, despite not really doing much to warrant it!

I'm actually relieved to find this out as I was starting to wonder whether or not I should go to the doc...