Peri and menopause - how are we all doing? Chat thread.

[Slavica]

I keep reading the threads in the menopause topic and think we might profit from a general chat thread. A lot of the questions get asked, in different ways, in separate threads - maybe it would be useful to have a general chat thread?

I am 48, in perimenopause, started taking 200mg utrogestan this cycle. My symptoms are mood swings, low mood, hot flashes and night sweats - but the latter two don't really bother me, it's the mood and lack of motivation that really concern me. Currently on cd35 (my cycles have been 21-24 days during the last three years), I guess maybe I'm missing my first ever period.

Anyone else getting a lot of skin tags? My mother's family all have them, I had some since pregnancy, but now I am developing a lot of them (including the really tiny annoying ones). I might be turning into a hag, for some reason the skin tags really, really bug me even though I've never been much into looks.

How are you doing? Stable? Still looking for a solution? Please share.

Thank you I hope you’re doing ok TheBuggerlugs (and everyone on here).
I’m glad that things have been improved for you. Can I ask is your coil a hormonal IUD type of one (like Mirena)? And you take progesterone on top, do you mean?

Oh wow. That’s so interesting I had never heard of that. Thanks. wonder if I can take that up with my GP? Very much been told that the Mirena alone is effective for providing progesterone. What would you say has been the key improvement for you. If it’s anything around sleep or reducing anxiety that would be amazing to know about.

Buggerlugs I’m on more oestrogen than you with grudging GP permission because I have been feeling so rubbish. But it hasn’t done the job I hoped for of making me feel less anxious or sleep better so that’s so interesting to know. Did the Newson clinic do a blood test to assess your progesterone or just set you off on it and then you felt a lot less anxious?

I'm 47 and just finished the first 3 months of HRT. I have a long history of depression and also had my fluoxetine increased from 20mg to 40mg. I'm on 50 Everol patches with progesterone orally every two weeks.

I think it's helping, I was getting really bad hot flushes which to me were like panic attacks which sent my heart racing and blood pressure high. Even ended up in hospital with them getting my heart checked (it was OK) I think the sleep is better.

Buggerlugs I am so sorry to hear that you have been through the mill. I’m really glad that it’s helped you so much.

I was on this thread earlier, but namechanged. Anyway, since I last posted, I have had my much longed for hysterectomy, about a month ago. Got everything taken out.

I am so glad to be done with the flooding and horrible periods. BUT the post hysterectomy fatigue is real, and I am also suffering from frequent hot flushes. Am taking 100 mg utrogestan and two pumps of Oestrogel, but I may need to see my GP again and get that increased?

Has anyone found black cohosh/evening primrose oil/ other supplements to hep with the hot flushes?

Hang on - are skin tags a peri symptom? I've developed stacks lately... now that makes sense. I had no idea.

I'm just starting HRT mainly for crippling panic and anxiety and night sweats. AD's have done nothing for me. I'm 48.

@TheBuggerlugs I actually got it done in my home country. I got tired of the NHS waitlist, which is very long where I am. I also wanted to have a complete rest.

My home country is a developing country, but with good private healthcare, so I paid for it. It was worth it. None of the other options- Mirena etc- worked for me, and when they opened me up, they found a ton of fibroids in the wrong places. Glad I went for the plunge.

Sometimes I really get angry at how little is known about menopause for women. So many of my friends are suffering.

I am waiting to recover my health and for spring to come so I can get back to exercising, which always helps me.

I’m doing okay but make myself miserable with tiny little crushes on men around the time I’m ovulating (I’m peri, late 40s).

Ugh, I've had a horrible week sleep-wise. I fall asleep ok, but then I'm wide awake at midnight, or 2 am, or 4 am, or 5 am. Even if I take a sleeping pill right away (at 5 am I don't), it takes me more than an hour to fall back to sleep.
It has an effect on everything - my mood, performance at work, patience with my teen, appetite. Ugh once more.
How have you all been? I hope better than me.

The last few nights I’ve really struggled sleep wise. It makes everything feel so much harder.

Had a telephone consultation with GP today which was great.

I need to get my coil changed.
Get my bp checked
Then she will prescribe HRT

So off to make an appointment to get my coil changed.

3 month wait for all the clinics in my town and surrounding areas 😳

Managed to get that down to 7 weeks be agreeing to go 38 miles to another town on the other side of the health board area.

@Slavica Sorry you’re not sleeping, it makes everything feel ten times worse! I go through phases of not sleeping for a few days, then normal sleep for a week or two, then the insomnia comes back. There’s no rhyme or reason for it. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I hope it improves for you very soon!

I’m feeling horrific right now. I had an oestrogen and testosterone pellet inserted two weeks ago (right on the back of a Covid infection). I started passing clots the size of dinner plates within two days. They took me back into hospital and increased my progesterone from 100 to 500mg. I feel like a zombie. I’ve had a splitting headache the whole time and I’m aching from head to toe, and still bleeding heavily. I’ve got to wait 4-6 weeks for an ‘urgent’ scan. It’s been 3 years since I had my ovaries out and I’m still trying to reach a bit of stability. Has anyone got any experience with pellets that could shine a bit of light at the end of my tunnel?

@Menomeno , that sounds horrific! I'm so sorry, just the bleeding on its own would have been a lot, but combined with the headache and pains, it must be awful. I have no advice, I did not know pellets were an option at all; I hope they get to the bottom of it when you finally have your scan and you get the correct levels of all the meds for you.

Just joining in here. I’m 49 and perimenopausal. Been on HRT 2 years or so. Started with patches and progesterone only pill but had an allergic reaction to the patches so now on gel.
my main symptoms were hot flashes and night sweats, crippling anxiety and brain fog and joint pain.
recently my symptoms seem to have been a lot worse again and im now not sleeping well. I’ve had a week of waking up every morning between 3/4am. I feel so tired every morning.
after doing some research thought I’d try some supplements but it’s a minefield and didn’t know where to start so I’ve started taking magnesium and omega 3. So far it’s made no difference at all
i remember my mum being what I thought was a horrible moody cow bag when I was a teenager - turns out she was menopausal and now I know how she felt (sorry Mum!)

You made a fellow menopausal anxiety-ridden non-sleeping woman giggle, @RM2013 with that last sentence, thank you for that! I'm hoping my teen will have the same realization later in life.
My mom has been a ray of sunshine throughout my life, so if she suffered through menopause, she kept it to herself. She says that my grandma had a difficult time, though, with many years of intense heat flashes.

my mum never mentioned what was happening to her and I had no idea that the menopause existed. This was in the HRT scandal years so she and women her age would have had no HRT available to help them. Awful.

@RM2013 you may need to increase your gel? X

Thanks I was using 2 pumps of the gel but have upped to 4 although I’m so impatient when I get dressed I’m not sure I’m leaving it long enough to dry and absorb.
some days I feel great other days truly awful.

I never knew about the menopause when my mum went though it and she was one of the ones that got taken off HrT because of the breast cancer scare. She’s only spoken about it since I’ve told her how I’m feeling.
very grateful that we have more support now

I've tried the utrageston and the patches, didn't help. I'm on the waiting list to get the coil via GA. Dr in meantime suggested the tablets again with thr gel instead.
I'm currently not on hrt. Inly citalopram ( 8 years since pnd diagnosed). I just feel so flat and demotivated. Everything is such hard work and it's effecting my job.