Vitamins

[Supernovastar]

I'm 47 and no real symptoms of being peri menopausal but I've recently started taking some peri menopausal vitamins
Do they actually work or what would you recommend??
My period is extremely heavy and maybe some cycles are shorter but I'm not sure if any other symptoms, although hubby said he thought was a getting more moody 😳

Heavier periods can be due to falling progesterone. Vit c is known to increase prog, I think over 750 a day iirc.

Zinc can be helpful for period pain. Best taken in the couple of days before. B complexes for energy and mood.

My view on this is that if they worked, they'd be prescribed (on the basis of being almost risk-free.)

No, they don't work and many specialist consultants will tell you that you are wasting your money. The vitamin industry is a huge 'scam' as most people don't need any extra if they eat a healthy diet.

Heavy periods won't be helped by vitamins. (You might want to think about a Mirena coil if they are really bad and increase your iron intake.)

Unless someone has a limited diet, then food provides all the vitamins needed (Vit D being an exception.)

If you read the ingredients in many of these meno supplements, you are most likely getting all the vitamins anyway through your food without needing to take a tablet. There's also the view that there may be other things in the 'whole food' that can't be replicated by a tablet - fibre, for example.

Excess vitamins are excreted (like Vit B & C) and excess of Vit A and D are stored in the liver (so too much is actually toxic.)

Some of these meno supplements have herbs added - like sage and maybe plants like soya - but if you want to deal with hot flushes, it's better to buy those separately - for example sage tincture, eat soya as yoghurt or tofu. etc.

@WarriorN If anyone takes more than the 30mcg of Vit C that's the RDA it is just excreted in urine pretty quickly.

That's what I thought; no idea how the studies have been done. Slow release?

There are plenty of references to it online but I can't see any trial. The only research trial mentioned was one - so if you see it, do post a link!

It's more linked to pregnancy and leuteal phase defect.

Far too small really.

The thing is that the only thing I found to reliably help me was hrt.

I did see positive changes to my cycle when I took vitamins for fertility however. V Late 30s

The findings from this small preliminary study are encouraging. The use of a vitamin C supplementation to help treat low progesterone levels and luteal defects would be easy and inexpensive. However, because of the small number of subjects and the fact that 28 patients withdrew from the control group places some hesitancy on the findings. The Japanese researchers did not show a statistically significant difference in the mean serum progesterone levels between the two groups (even though there was a large mean post treatment difference in progesterone levels, i.e., 104 ng / mL for the control group and 138.7 ng / mL for the treatment group). The lack of statistical significance is probably a reflection of the relatively small number of subjects. A better design would be to have a double blind study, i.e., a study in which the subjects and the researchers did not know which group of subjects were getting the treatment (i.e., the control group would receive a placebo). A double blind study would preventbias on the part of the researchers and would also help prevent subjects from leaving the study when they find out that they are not receiving the treatment.

Actual study seems inaccessible

https://www.lifeissues.net/writers/feh/feh15vitaminn_c.html

I started taking menopace a week ago, instead of my normal vitD and magnesium. I had diarrhea for almost a week which I put down to the vitamins.

I eat a really varied diet anyway so I've decided the vits are going to do me more harm than good.

I am 44 and probably in peri, terrible brain fog, sometimes mix up words when I am saying a sentence, bit of hair loss, have gone very saggy around my chin and my skin seems very dehydrated. My PMT is off the charts for about a fortnight and my periods have gone from 28 days to 22. Also my cramps are getting worse.
Never had much libido anyway so not really bothered about that.

So I'd hope the vitamins might help. Will have to rely on the healthy eating and exercise I think.

Really want to avoid HRT as I'm intolerant to the pill and the coil just made me bleed.