What is post menopause like?

[DustyLee123]

For those of you who are post menopause and not on HRT, what is it like? Do you still get some symptoms or have they gone now?

I went onto HRT as soon as I stared having symptoms of the menopause, that was nearly twenty years ago , I will never know how it feels to be post menopausal, I simply refuse to entertain it.

I am glad it suited you

Lizard legs 😂😂

I forgot to mention the swollen feet and ankles. I’m a healthy weight, and only in my 40s but my feet look like the old Queen Mother’s!

Obviously I don't know the reason you can't take HRT,, but the evidence / research for this is changing all the time.

But, you may well be able to take Testosterone and / or vaginal oestrogen.

In m experience no different to any other stage of my life. I can't think of anything which has changed, other than things which can just be put down to aging (i.e. problems men also have). However I flew through menopause with very few problems.

What problems?

Just the usual things such as a few (minor) aches and not being able to do the things I did when I was 30.

No HRT and still get the very occasional hot flush and am sensitive to heat.

I did have horrific hot flushes and terrible trouble sleeping as well as anxiety. However it all passed within a few years and I now feel better than ever and weigh the same as I did on my wedding day 30 years ago.

What things?!

This isn't correct. Menopause is one day- a year after last period. After that you are post menopausal.

It's preparing for death. Not adjusting to love the life expectancy we now have. When it's time I am going to seek HRT, not treat dryness or anything else as natural.

This. As I have said several times on this thread.

Are you just trying to be annoying? Can you do the same things at 65 that you did at 30? No doubt you are going to tell me that you are super fit, go to the gym six times a day etc. etc. but I don't (and have no wish to).

If you haven't got anything sensible to say then I'm sorry, but from now on I am not responding.

Oh don't be so dramatic. None of the women in my family have died shortly after they hit menopause, and as I'm now 65 they weren't dosing themselves up on HRT. Preparing for death indeed!!!

Preparing for death 😂
My great grandma lived to 104 not on HRT and had a great quality of life to the end. My grandmother’s both lived to 90 no HRT and fit and active until the end.

On the flip side my DM is the first woman on her side of the family to reach 70. Her Mum died at 56, her grandmother at 37, and her sister at 63. All her aunts died in their 50s and very early 60s. None of them would have been through menopause for long.

Sorry, but I'm genuinely wondering what the things are that you can't do any more?

I am nearly 60 and fitter than I was when I was 30.

I don't think there's anything I can't do now that I could do when I was 30 apart from have children!

The menopause doesn't just stop..
A lot of the symptoms do go..
But some take years.
I had a surgical menopause age 38.
Had HRT for 15 years.
I'm 66 and still get menopause symptoms..
Hot sweats.
Bladder promblems.
Brain fog.
( one good thing .. no more shaving legs/ arms/ bikini line... all that hair stopped growing)
.

I can’t do a lot of things. I can’t dig the garden, or lift anything heavy, or drive for long periods because of arthritis/joint problems. I wouldn’t have the energy to run round after toddlers all day. I can’t decorate or climb ladders any longer since I developed vertigo. I can’t read a thing without glasses. I can’t take tops off jars. This has all been since menopause, and I’m not even 50.

That's shocking 😲 (I do have to wear glasses)

Are you taking HRT? It would help with many of your issues.

I'm almost 60. I don't have a cleaner or gardener, I do it all myself plus look after animals. I am retraining and at college twice a week. I walk every day and go for an old lady jog twice a week. I sleep well apart from one wake for a wee and I'm hoping vagifem might sort that. I have a healthy sex life. I am very full of life. I guess that's due to HRT if that's unusual. I'm a stone overweight which is annoying, but I look healthy and alive.

Reading all these answers just goes to show how different everyone’s experiences are. I was very lucky and apart from a few months of hot flushes didn’t suffer at all and I had one last period then nothing ever again. As such I didn’t go on HRT but lots of friends have found it a lifeline. The one thing I have done lately is talk to my daughter about my experience as I maybe will not be about when she goest through it so family history is important,

I was, but I’m off it at the moment because my womb lining had thickened and I’ve been having very heavy bleeding. I’m having a hysterectomy soon so I’ll be able to go back on it then. I’m counting the days! I felt much better on HRT. My menopause was surgical (I had my ovaries removed) which is usually much more brutal than natural menopause.

4 years post meno I think. No hrt. Get achy joints when the weather is cold or wet but have always had tendencies for that so it's just worse. Skin a bit dryer than it used to be and hair a bit thinner. Sleep more broken than when younger. Still work full time though in early 60s and walk in every day so I don't think it's that bad.