Susun Weed has written a book on how to get through menopause "naturally" w/o hormones, The New Menopausal Years. It's recently updated and available through amazon or Ash Tree Publishing. While most of her suggestions are focused on nutrition or plant remedies, she also provides information on hormones and other options so you can make the best choices for you.

Incidentally she generally seems to write favorably about the benefits of eating meat, healthy fats like butter, and organic dairy; while not coming out LC as far as I know, she seems supportive of it in many ways.

You can also check out her forum or articles on susunweed.com. A number of chapters from the menopause book are posted on her site so you can get a feel for whether you want to get the book.

My menopause was completely natural, and uneventful. Three minor hot flashes over six years. Periods started coming further apart at age 39 and were gone by age 45. I wasn't aware of mood swings.

Meg

45? I hope mine ends then that's only five more years but my periods are between 26 and 32 days. I keep a log so I can notice the change.

Thought I'd udate this, my hot flashes have been very few these last few months. I am hoping there near gone

Boy, this exactly describes me, also, Judynyc!

I think menopause is AWESOME.

I'm 52 still bleeding regularly although it is getting a little erratic (coming between 3-4 weeks) I keep hoping each box of tampons I buy will be the last.

My grandmother menstruated until she was 55.

Oh, one upside... my libido seems have made a come back. Now I should probably try to find a partner.

Oh, <<HUGS>> Nancy. I hope you 'change' earlier than your grandmother.

My periods also got like yours. Closer together and heavier and more painful.

Here's wishing you an early (soon) menopause.

Up side? Oh yeah! NO PMS! NO MOOD SWINGS! For me? Minor to zero hot flushes, nothing to write home about. Exersize keeps then AWAY. Still have a period every 4 to 5 mo's or so and THAT is NOAH'S FLOOD! Odd. Weight loss so far is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT. Lose 8 pounds, stall forever, get discouraged, gain some back. BUT! Still, I FEEL REALLY GOOD!

I'm 53 no periods in about three years, however, I still wake up in the middle of the night from drenching hot flashes. I don't notice hot flashes during the day.

Well... it seems to be happening! I've gone about 6 months without a period now. No hot flashes, no symptoms whatsoever that I can identify. My Mom said she had no symptoms either, my sister did though.

Yay!

LOL. There is NO upside to Menopause. None. Zilch. Zip. Zero.
Anyhoo.
I read a good test to rate symptoms, and each symptom is rated 0 to 3, with 0 being no symptom and 3 being bad. If you score 15 or more means you MAY have reached menopause.
Here goes:

Hot Flushes
Light Headed Feelings
Headaches
Irritability
Depression
Unloved feelings
Anxiety
Mood changes
Sleeplessness
Unusual tiredness
Backache
Joint pains
Muscle pains
New facial hair
Dry skin
Crawling feeling under skin
Fewer sexual feelings
Dry vagina
Uncomfortable intercourse
Urinary frequency

I scored 43. Oh well look on the bright side. I could have scored 60!

That doctor was wrong.

"In 2009, there were 105,827 live births in the United States to women ages 40 through 44 -- 7,320 live births to women 45 to 49 --and-- 569 live births to women 50-64.
In 2009, there were only 806 live births to women over 43, using donor eggs." Source

My grandmother had a couple of babies in her 50's.

The oldest documented unassisted pregnancy was 59 years old - and there are 1,000's of stories of over 40 pregnancies here: Pregnancyover44.com and here: PregnancyStoriesByAge.com - most of them spontaneous, unassisted.

I went 18 months without a period and it came back. I have read stories of women who have gone two years and longer without a period, and it came back - and they got pregnant!

Holy crap! I guess I should use protection... should I ever become sexually active again. Well, I probably should anyway.

I once read that if you have a uterus, a period and are sexually active - you should use protection. You never know when your body is going to throw out a viable egg!