Jump to content

Menopause and Weight Gain


Suninfrance
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 88
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

My experience for what it is worth. Two years build up with weight gain, flushes and panicky moments just before hot flush. Two years on HRT after I was awake so much at night with flushes that a 30 mile drive to work, plus a very demanding job was becoming a real threat to my wellbeing and safety. Came off HRT on retirement, 6 months of hell with all the above symptoms far worse than before, then a gradual easing off over the next 18 months to a point where I barely notice hot flushes and emotions are very stable. Can't get rid of the weight though, despite lots of exercise and a healthy diet.

Hope this helps?

regards

Lisa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been having symptoms as I have described for around 6 months but actually for the last couple of  weeks I have hardly had a night sweat, flush and have only been waking up around 4 or 5 times a night, so kind of thought I was nearly through it.        Clearly I have deluded myself ......... or just got very lucky ..??
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Catalpa, I'm afraid my personal experience disproves your theory (there's always one, isn't there?)  I had the worst periods all my life.  Terrible pain, migraines, utter b*tch for a week or so - and they tended to be 20 days apart which made it worse! However, I got through the menopause relatively quickly (apart from a surprise one-off period, 2 years after I had thought it was all over!)  I avoided HRT (in fact, I didn't even talk to a doctor all the way through it) as I'm still not sure whether we know what the long-term effects are and I always try to avoid medicines of any sort unless I'm in pain.

L/E, certainly I got over the worst of it in 6 months so you may be lucky.  On the other hand, I should keep the axe locked up for a little while yet, if I were you..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, forgot to mention - whether its age or menopause related I just don't know but I have far less migraines, recently had a short, minor one which was the first this year. However I never mix red wine, cheese, chocolate or coffee and keep as far away as possible from flickering lights.

Tried HRT and couldn't see any benefits or adverse effects either so just gave it up.

PS Any time heat has usually been after alchohol[:(][:(]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[:D] Well, Cooperlola, I rather thought my group of 7 women (friends and friends of friends) wasn't a broad enough sample to truly prove the theory though it did stand up for all 7 of us.

The migraine thing is interesting too. There is a theory (one with a medical / scientific basis as opposed to mine) that in some cases, where migraines start in later life - say in the 30s or 40s, they are a very early indicator of the menopause. The migraines arrive approximately 10 - 12 years prior to the onset of menopause. That did exactly tally with what happened to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me HRT was a miracle cure; all symptoms stopped immediately and I had no side-effects. I went on it, as I described earlier, to stop the problems of lack of sleep caused by frequent night-time sweats, but on it I also regained the emotional wellbeing I had lost in the early stages of the menopause. I was lucky in that I had a sympathetic woman doctor who talked it all through at length and allowed me to make an informed decision to take HRT for as short a time as possible (the two years before I stopped work). Interestingly, I believe that the study that caused so much alarm about the possible dangers of HRT at that time, has since been discredited. I wouldn't have wanted to stay on it for long, because I don't like taking medication either, but I think you have to take a sensible decision based on what is best for you at the time. I also found Jenny Murray's book very helpful.

regards

Lisa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Catalpa - my flushes are more than just warm blushes - they are full on pore leakage and high colour.  They last about 3 minutes and then I go cold.  Have been experiencing them now for 2 years on and off. Just when I think it's safe to wear a jumper in the colder weather - wham - they are back again, so layers is very important.

Over the last 2 years my weight has stabilised, gone up 3 or 4lbs, stabilised, then up again, then stabilised then up again.

I have tried Menopace and Ymea but neither agree with me.  I am not allowed HRT as I had a brain haemorrhage six years ago and it interferes with the hormone levels.

Interesting about the migraines though.  I have never had one, perhaps mine just decided to take the form of a haemorrhage (now that is a headache to top them all).  I am lucky to have been able to get to a hospital who diagnosed me quickly otherwise I wouldn't be around today.

As for the theory about heavy periods = nightmare menopause - I can subscribe to that one.  I have always suffered badly and in peri menopause I was three weeks on and one off until I insisted the doctors in England send me to a gynea who discovered an endometrial polyp.  However, after that was removed, I only had one more period and then they disappeared for 18 months.  I had one more after that and have not had one for just about two years now.  Everything ties in.

One other thing I have found recently is aching joints.  I've just ordered myself some Omega 3 fish oils to try and help that.  "Fluffy" brain is also another symptom, but I'm not sure if that is as a result of the BH or menopause.

Jan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Suninfrance"]
One other thing I have found recently is aching joints.  I've just ordered myself some Omega 3 fish oils to try and help that. [/quote]

Today when I visited my doctor for the first time regarding  my menopausal symtoms, I mentioned that I had started to get pain in the knuckles of my right hand when I woke in the mornings and should I start taking somthing like glucosamine, he said to hold off taking anything as it well might clear up with the HRT

[quote user="Suninfrance"]

"Fluffy" brain is also another symptom, but I'm not sure if that is as a result of the BH or menopause.[/quote]

Oh thats it then! now I know why my friends have started to say I should be blond [:-))]

Jackie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No one has seized on the idea of a brisk walk morning and evening... which is interesting really, as the second part of the original question related to weight gain. [6]

I can be a bit evangelical about exercise - not that my waistline would bear me out [:P] - but the benefits of striding out a couple of times a day might be to help regulate temperature during the day, will help with general health, and if you keep your diet the same or even change it (for the better!) will reduce weight. The other thing it does is give a sense of well-being and accomplishment because if you are motivated to exercise, quite apart from the ancillary health benefits... you feel good about yourself. It's an achievement. And it's free.

Another book I've had is Eat Yourself through the Menopause. And why not. [:P] For a link to the book on Amazon, click on:

http://tinyurl.com/268bb8

I think she's also written a couple of other, more recent books on the menopause.

But can we all remember (amidst flushes, sweats, unexpected attachment to the loo and whatever else the menopause is floating your boat with) it is a normal part of a woman's life. It's what happens. I realise for some people it is a pretty crap experience, but I also sense a bit of  being embarassed to be menopausal. We should not be. It's normal. [8-|] And this fluffy brain business. Yeah, I wander into rooms and can't figure out what I'm there for. I find my house keys parked in bizarre places. Same as when I was in my teens then. No change at all. [:P]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did get your drift about having a brisk walk first thing in the morning and I would agree with you.  However, my mornings seem to be the same pattern these days.  Wake up, go to get out of bed, "own personal summer".  Lie on bed to cool down, fall asleep again.  Get up, go downstairs, another major "tropical moment".  Open front door to let air in to cool down.  Get too cold then go upstairs to shower.  Hot flush.  They will then calm down for a while, but then it's like being in a greenhouse 20 times a day in the middle of a heatwave an feeling faint.  So strip off and lie down in front of the fan for a while.

During the winter when it snowed I was sorely tempted on occasions to just strip off and go roll around in the snow for a while. 

OH things I'm completely strange and one shrimp short of a barby.  Not to mention "not the brightest sparkler in the pack". 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi just logged on to this forum, I just need to tell you all that I have been taking ymea and it has done the trick, back to my normal self not that I was normal in the first place, but I feel normal, I didnt go to the Drs cos I wanted to find sumthin in health food shop that would do the trick, ANYWAY TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT...I smoke I drink, not too much and I treat my body as a temple (not) but I thought I have enough crap goin in dont need any more, had a look in health food shop and read up on YMEA ( no I do not have shares in the company) liked the sound of it took it for about 4 weeks and I didnt notice anything so I stopped, then all hell broke loose the symptoms must have been reducing slowly and wham! they were back with a vengance, It took a while to remember what I was takin then remebered YMEA ( funny name in it) so I started taking them again an now I can sleep,no more embarassin hot sweats, an I think I am nearly back to normal.            

I would advise anyone to give them a go see ya soon, take care BIG H xx 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been watching this thread with interest, as someone who is well post-menopausal --- and still waiting for that elusive post-menopausal zest.

My own menopause was nothing short of hell. Even though I had had uneventful periods, even though my mother had hardnly noticed her own menopause, even though I was determined that my menopause would be a doddle - it just didn't work like that.

I had practically every one of the symptoms you all describe, plus terrible insomnia, plus equally terrible fatigue, digestive disturbances, bleeding that went on for weeks, etc... Fortunately, I have now forgotten many of those.

One of the worst aspects of this is that I was dead set on beating it with a range of alternative and natural remedies and therapies. I was in an excellent position for doing this, since I was in the field myself , as a traditional Chinese medical practitioner. So I had access to the whole gamut of Chinese herbs, acupuncture, but also Western herbal medicine, homeopathy, iridology, kinesiology, shiatsu, cranial osteopathy, you name it, I tried it. I also ingurgitated as much soya as I could in every form, took best quality isoflavone in huge quantities, natural progesterone cream - all this cost me a fortune - AND NOTHING REALLY HELPED. After 2 years or even longer, I just caved in and started to take HRT (not  Premarin I hasten to add, I wanted the patches, so that the chemicals would bypass the liver, it felt a healthier option). I am not saying it saved my life, but within 24 hours I could feel the stuff running through my veins, it was like taking speed - I got my energy back again, and I realised that I had been a total wreck for over 2 years. For me, surrendering to HRT was a huge step - it felt like a kamikaze move, as I had been so intent on going the natural way, which had failed me... My love affair with HRT did not last long, but in the end what I did was to get it in gel form - as is often prescribed here in France. In that way I was able to monitor just how much I would use - ending up using half of the recommended dose - you just rub the stuff on the inside of upper arms and thighs, once a day, and itis absorbed through the skin.

A friend of mine, (an experienced homeopath) who had also tried desperately to "go the natural way" and did not succeed (she had such terrible nightsweats that she would have to get up, and get the hairdryer out to dry her hair, and change all the bedding, in the middle of the night - this friend ended up on HRT too, as it was the only thing that made a difference for her.

I am not saying that "natural" remedies don't work for some. Just that for me, it clearly did not although I was desperate that they should.

About the natural remedy as posted above, those are the ingredients, and so I rest my case. A bottle of capsules will set you back 20 euros, and I express strong doubts about the efficacy - big moneyspinner, although you will always find people who will swear it saved their lives, a bit like WD-40 as a cure for arthritis!

Each capsule provides:
Soya extract (20% isoflavones) : 86mg
Hops extract : 25mg
Bitter Melon extract : 1.4mg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The main symptom I have during and post menopause was "intime" - caused frequent cystitis. I used to take small amount of  some hormone or other until the GP refused to renew the prescription and suggested Omega 7 which is sea buckthorn oil. I find this helps. I was lucky with other symptoms - put on a bit of weight but soon removed, a few warm flushes, no mood swings. But the "intime" problem was serious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, and that is a problem which is usually swept under the carpet. Very few women will ever admit it or discuss it - and it is very hard to come across sympathetic medics - many gynaecologists don't seem too interested either, or seem to think that it can be resolved with lubricant and with oestrogen cream taken internally.  Apart from vaginal dryness and vaginal atrophy, there is also the libido issue - not ALL women are affected in the same way at all, but for some (and we will probably never know how many, as it is such a big big taboo) for some it is really the end of all sexual relations, or certainly the end of penetrative sex. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="londoneye"]and nobody wants to respond after that one !   Bet the boys are reading this thread with more interest than the girls though ....[/quote]

Wouldn't do them, or us, any harm.

They can always start a thread on erectile dysfunction and other men's issues.

Who was it who said "Getting old is not for wimps?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They could, but it would probably be along the lines of 'well since she's menopausal and no longer interested, it must surely be her fault that my kits no longer in top notch working order' !!!

Would be nice to be proved wrong though!

More seriously was very interested in the poster who said they had started waking up with stiff knuckles, because I have had that, but just assumed it was arthritis progressing from spine to hands, but perhaps not.    Did your doctor say why HRT might help ?   (sorry, bit brain dead today and didn't write down name of person who spoke of this - so apologies to you for not having your name to hand).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...