I guess I wasn't clear. I believe it is the adrenal supplements that she will be weaning me off of, not the hormones. I said the vitamins and the fish oil, but I also meant I would be taking the estrogen and progesterone.

I'll be re-testing the adrenals in July, and seeing her in August. I'll be sure to ask her to clarify.

And, strangely enough, my body is starting to act like it's old self again. I have a pair of size 10 shorts (several of them, as a matter of fact). About 3 months ago I tried them on, and they were about 4 inches away from meeting in the front to zip them up. This morning I got them on and zipped. Not terribly comfortable, but an improvement nonetheless.

Hi Sona,

I just want to thank you for making that statement I bolded, as I seem to be the youngest one around here talking about this.

I'm 39, symptoms started with really bad cramps about 8 months ago (around my 39th birthday), and as the months progressed, more symptoms appeared leaving no doubt that I was experiencing a hormonal problem. I found Rebound exercise, staying strictly on my LC plan, and eliminating all soy from my diet kept my symptoms "at bay" until three months ago, when my TOMs began appearing every three weeks, as well as some light spotting in between.

When I lost my car in a parking lot for 45 min. and about had an anxiety attack over it, that was it. Broke down and started the lowest dose of progesterone cream.

Cream has done the trick so far. I am symptom free as long as I apply the cream for the 14 days.

My Mom was my exact age when she was diagnosed as peri-menopausal, as well as my older sis....have several real life friends my age experiencing similar symptoms. However, I am the only one I know that has chosen treatment this young.

I also hope to see this thread continue to provoke input. I've just started this journey, and really have a lot of questions as to what to expect in coming months/years. I seem to have achieved balance for the time being, and I'm hopeful I can keep this under control being that I started treatment quickly...but will my hormones drastically/suddenly decline at some point? Will my TOMs begin to skip at any time, or will the cream provoke me to have them?

Still so much to learn.

I thought after my hysterectomy in 2001 and gaining 40 lbs. it was over and I was going to be a fat lady. Well I decided to do the Atkins diet and I'm thrilled to tell you that I've lost 31 lbs in 3 months and weigh 153 and my blood pressure was 149/89 and now 125/79. I'm excited to be a testimony.

I'm trying to understand this Woman to Woman thing. Are y'all getting the supplements, etc. Is your NP part of this or associated with a gynecologist?
Sara<><

Sara, I'm not with Women to Women, but if you haven't seen their site, take a look. It might help answer a few of your questions:

http://www.womentowomen.com/

I personally found their website in researching info for my symptoms. Their clinic is located in Maine, but they offer a standard "personalized plan" based on the severity of your symptoms and sell you their products as "self treatment". It sounds like, from reading their site, that you can send them your blood work results and they can design a more indepth program for you with phone consulations, if necessary, and if you become a "member".

After reading their site, I discovered that I was already doing everything their standard personal program offers....they suggest a LC diet, exercise, supplements and progesterone cream, which they claim works for "most" women.

I have yet to see a doctor or NP to have my blood drawn. Yeah, I know I should, but as long as I can treat myself at home and it is working, I probably won't bother. Doctors like to just prescribe HRT and send you on your way anyway...and my symptoms point directly to "estrogen dominance".

MeBLady, you're certainly ahead of the game for having started to explore this early on into perimenopause.

Balance is a funny thing: it is not a constant. There is a need for tweaking on a regular basis--not just as time moves forward, but as life issues impact our body's ability to cope. A death in the family, a divorce, loss of job...all kinds of stressors will influence the need for more or less of a particular dosage of bioID hormonal supplementation to maintain the balance we require to keep us at our healthiest. It's not easy. And ultimately, it requires the assistance and cooperation of an experienced, insightful hormone specialist to maintain that balance.

Except in cases of surgical intervention (hysterectomy, etc.), where production is stopped almost completely and almost overnight, I don't believe there is a "drastic" or "sudden" decline of hormones. There's a great deal of fluctuation throughout perimenopause, with the trend being declining production (the wild swings in this period, though, can drive you crazy); and once perimenopause slides into menopause, the symptoms of much lower levels of estrogen/progesterone/testosterone begin--hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, loss of libido, etc. The decline continues and continues, but I don't believe it's ever drastic or sudden. It's just inexorable.

Your periods should begin to fluctuate as well--sometimes heavy, sometimes spotting, sometimes missing...until they gradually subside altogether. However, if you orchestrate the proper balance through bioID hormone replacement, and cycle with progesterone approx. two weeks each month, you will/should simulate a "period" with bleeding at the end of the cycle.

Hope this helps a little!

Eventually, I know I will have to go in and have my levels checked. I've been very close to making an appointment, LOL....my first symptom, the horrible cramping, was flat out unliveable, but it stopped when I started exercising again. Each cycle, new symptoms just kept appearing and I began to feel I was getting out of control.

The lowest dose of the cream really helped. Put TOM instantly back on track, and gradually relieved the other symptoms over the two week period. At the end of my second cycle of the cream now, this month is even better than last month.

My plan is to try and control my symptoms using the cream for as long as I can....if/when I esacalate to using the highest dosage and it no longer works, I'll go in.

Family history tells me I am at the beginning of a 10 year trek -- I know it is going to get worse and I am unlikely to be able to manage this on my own forever.



I've been experiencing the symptoms bolded already....plus quite a few more. Some drive me a little more crazy than others, some minor, some severe.

I suspect I may have started some progesterone decline in the last couple of years, as my TOM hasn't been as *healthy as what I am used to. I passed it off to obesity and generally poor health. Where it is normal for those starting a LC diet to be hormonally out of whack for a few months, for me, I saw improvement the first month......yet, my weight loss was rapid and I lost alot. Ironically, distinct peri-M symptoms begin to hit me the first month after my weight loss stopped.....my body no longer releasing excess estrogen through my fat storage.



This is where I am confused....I have yet to "skip", but TOM has been irregular enough to scare me (every three weeks, one bout of slight spotting in between) -- fine since the cream so far.

However, the natural process of menopause is for TOMs to be irregular and eventually stop, with hormone replacement smoothing over this process....or not?

Even with the right treatment, at some point I should start skipping and eventually stop....right?

Hee, or is this something I really don't have to worry about now, and by the time I face this, I'll probably will need to be under the care of a physician..?




Actually, you helped a lot. Thank you!

Hi, MeBLady~



I think--but I'm not sure--that you may be confusing the ability for even a menopausal women on bioID HRT to bleed every month (assuming she is cycling her progesterone 2 weeks of each month along with daily biest cream application) with TOM--menses:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menses

With the onset of menopause, eggs are no longer produced:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menopause

Once eggs are no longer produced, pregnancy is no longer an issue (and often isn't an issue even before this, given that the quality of the eggs diminishes). There can still be some bleeding now and then, but this too will stop altogether eventually...assuming the woman does not supplement bioidentically in a fashion that mimics the way her body had been producing estrogen and progesterone (in rhythmic peaks and declines), she will (likely) stop bleeding monthly.

If she does supplement this way, however, she can--on doses that mimic the levels her body had required when she was producing a full complement--bleed every month. Still no eggs, no possibility of pregnancy from this...but she will be exogenously supplying the appropriate levels of estrogen and then progesterone to create a faux "menses" at the end of every month.

Not every woman wants to supplement this way. Many prefer supplementing bioID estrogen and progesterone together, for no bleeding at all. Others prefer not to supplement at all.

But there is a difference between bleeding/TOM and menses in this situation.

Was I totally confusing? I hope not!

You did hit upon my confusion and gave me some information that I did not know.

I know that I can still have TOMs without the ability to get pg.....I've read that I can begin having "non ovulatory" months while still having a TOM at the peri-menopausal stage, and I move into the menopausal stage when egg production actually stops.

Yes, I was under the assumption that when egg production stops, so will the bleeding....gradually.



What you saying here, is that women actually have a choice to continue a monthly TOM (without being fertile, got that part, LOL) for the rest of their lives, depending on how they supplement?

THIS I did not realize.

I've focused my learning mostly toward the peri-menopausal stage to deal with my own issues that I am experiencing now.....I obviously need a lot more education on my options for the future.

Thanks for taking the time to type all this out for me.

I worked so hard this past year to look and feel 20 years younger....not very nice to be reminded that I am STILL getting older, LOL.

This is what is frustrating me...diabetes control. I am on an insulin pump since I do not produce insulin. PMS always raises my blood glucose causing me to change the amount of insulin I pump. Within 24 hours of starting my period, blood glucose drops and I have to again adjust my pump. This past year my cycles became shorter and shorter. This caused more high blood sugars--bad diabetes control. This past month I had terrible PMS. High blood glucose AND all of the other symptoms. I never had a period. This is the first time I've ever skipped a month. Now, PMS symptoms are coming back on me. Blood glucose is on the rise, my weight was up 4 pounds this morning (!!), and my breasts are swollen and tender--a very RARE symptom for me. I don't know what to expect!!

I have an appointment with my endocrinologist in a week or so. We will work on the diabetes and discuss what to do about my T3 being too low. I guess after that I need to go to my gyno. This is very frustrating.
Sara<><

Sara is it possible that this is NOT menopause but instead a baby??? Many a woman thought she was going through the change only to find out they were having a a baby....

I have been in peri since my partial hysterectomy (loss of 1 ovary and uterus). My other ovary got scared and has decreased production. Hormones are outta the ? for me since I had a pulmonary embolism and have a clotting disorder. I have 0 sex drive, occasional hot flashes, moodiness, oh and did I mention 0 sex drive????

Has anyone else out there suffered breast tenderness as part of menopause? I am 53 and was as regular as clockwork until March when they just stopped. My mother's stopped the same way, at almost the same age. I have been having very mild hot flushes for a year or so, but did not realise.

Three years ago we moved from a cold dry climate to this hot humid one, and whenever I'd get an awful hot feeling (mostly around the neck for me), I'd say to my partner, is it very hot, or is it just me. And he'd always say he was hot too, and sweating, so I thought it was just the heat. Some nights I would wake up in a sweat and have to lay on a towel. But we moved from summers of low humidity (12%) to high (80-90%), so I'm not as stupid as I sound! I've beena bit cranky too, but just thought I was getting a short fuse.

The last couple of weeks I have had very sore breasts. They hurt when I get up in the morning, when I exercise, and when I take off my bra, and I can feel them all day rubbing on my bra. I can't be pregnant as I had my tubes done at 40 becaus eany pill makes me very ill and sends BP sky high (try 212/ 108 after 2 weeks on the pill!). And I tried both multi hormone and one hormone only types.

If anyone has any experience of this, how long does it last? Are there any supplements that might help, like Evening primrose oil? Hormone treatment will not be for me after my experiences with the pill.

I've been getting sore breasts mid cycle from time to time, tho I found exercise helps relieve them, not add pain. For me, it usually lasts only a few days.

Lots of Omega 3's -- flax seed, fish, fish oils, eggs layed by cage free chickens and flavonoids (green tea, dark green veggies, berries) all work as anti-inflammatories and should help give you some relief. Hot compresses and gentle massages work well too.

Hi---OOOOooohhhh I am remembering sore breasts.
I agree with the omega 3 advice...it helped
me to learn about the different kinds of prostaglandins, which are our hormones that relate to inflammation.
Some fats support formation of the inflammatory prost. (ie. saturated animal fats we all love so well).
Other fats, especially omega 3 as mentioned, support the anti- inflammatory prost.

Also, I did use a micronized progesterone cream which helped sometimes.
(and other times mysteriously not).

At one point early in peri-men, I went to the healthfood store, got some dried
Wild Mexican Yam (Diascorea Villosa), put it into the blender and made a paste
(can't remember if I cooked it a little...think not) and smeared it on my SORE nipples. Guess What!! It actually helped. I know that the research says that the human body does not turn the plant sterols in DV into progesterone...but there was some direct benefit. Kinda messy but I can still remember my sigh of relief...cheap too.

Also...are you needlessly exposing yourself to xenoestrogens?
"What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Peri-Menopause" by Dr. John Lee is a pretty good resource on that topic. Those pesky little petrochemicals are all over the place...in make-up, skin cream, pesticides...etc. I do think the progesterone thing as recommended by Dr. Lee can be a little over-done...having over-done it myself.

I feel very good now. Few hot flashes (definitely linked to carbs and stress, now but were volcanic for 5 years)...no sore breasts, of course...but also no vaginal dryness and my libido is ...well how to put it...Robust
I am saying all this for the sake of optimism. Menopause can be at least as strange and chaotic as puberty but I really feel like I am finally in my prime.
I mean isn't this the age when people become world leaders??? OK a lot of them do really to lose some weight and work out too .