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[collegekidsmom]

Thanks again, Anthroid for the insight- and congratulations on 6 years of no smoking!

[professor_pat]

I'm nearly 18 months out; my last period was in April 2009.  The night sweats are gone; the mood swings are gone; the word-forgetting is, largely, gone.  I never really had hot flashes.  It is, in short, glorious.  I have energy.  I don't want to eat stupid stuff (well, not all that much anyway).  I'm losing weight.  I feel positive and as though I'm not being held back by all of those wet, cutting, leather tethers that is peri-menopause.  I feel like myself again; I thought I had lost her 6 or 7 years back but it turns out she was just hiding under some hormones.

...

Really, having my self back, the person who I typically experience myself as being, is the biggest gift of menopause.

Beautifully said, Anthroid!

Just discovered this thread by accidentally clicking on the Health Issues category instead of the adjacent one. History_grrrl, I am consciously grateful pretty much every single day for menopause - I'm 55 and period-free for 4 blessed years now. Instead of spending half my life (2 weeks every month) feeling completely crappy from either/both severe headaches or major cramps, I am now virtually always pain-free. I now feel like my "normal" self, ironically, for about the first time ever!

I was amazed to find how strongly the migraines were hormonally controlled (and for most of those decades, I didn't even know to call the headaches migraines and thus get effective treatment - just toughed it out). I feel so sorry for my younger self. She had to put up with a lot.

[llanfair]

Oh, ProfPat, do the migraines disappear with menopause, too? I'd hoped they might.  One more reason to look forward to the end of perimenopause!

[msparticularity]

Llanfair, I quit having migraines once I was through menopause, also--and the relief has been indescribable. I echo Anthroid and Professor_pat on the other stuff, too.

[biomancer]

Prof_Pat, you're not alone.  My migraines were clearly hormonal in nature and became a lot less frequent once I went on BC pills.  I also didn't recognize them as migraines until I was in my mid-20s, when I realized that caffeine made a huge difference in whether the pain relievers had any effect. 

Happily, migraines haven't been an issue since the plumbing came out!

[annmarie]

Is HRT ever used during perimenopause?

[punchnpie]

Is HRT ever used during perimenopause?

My docs were going to use it on me, then the big study came out soon after and we stopped. As I've posted before, depending on your personal situation, your doc may recommend it now, post study. I think I could have had an easier time if I'd continued with it and had regular blood testing or something (which I was doing any way for diabetes and thyroid).

[biomancer]

Is HRT ever used during perimenopause?

My docs were going to use it on me, then the big study came out soon after and we stopped. As I've posted before, depending on your personal situation, your doc may recommend it now, post study. I think I could have had an easier time if I'd continued with it and had regular blood testing or something (which I was doing any way for diabetes and thyroid).

It depends on your situation.  My GYN says that she usually gives estrogen to women who go through perimenopause early (in their 30s or early 40s) for the heart and bone benefits. (I'm on estrogen, but since I had plumbing yanked and I'm only 35, mine is not a standard peri/menopause.

[llanfair]

Is HRT ever used during perimenopause?

My docs were going to use it on me, then the big study came out soon after and we stopped. As I've posted before, depending on your personal situation, your doc may recommend it now, post study. I think I could have had an easier time if I'd continued with it and had regular blood testing or something (which I was doing any way for diabetes and thyroid).

I'm 47, perimenopausal for a few years now - I only started on Premarin this June when the hot flashes got too nasty and the brain fog too impenetrable.  My FD told me that I should be good for a couple of years anyway; the study, she says, focussed on women over 60, which isn't really applicable to perimenopausal symptoms' treatment.  

(And for the record, it works.)

[annmarie]

What I find so extremely frustrating is the dearth of information available to us.  he GYNs seem to tell us that "whatever happens happens".  They seem to understand that symptoms are very different for different women.  However, symptoms experienced during perimenopause may not be unique.  I just read something about thyroid problems and peri-menopause, and the similarity between symptoms for the two.

They also measure FSH with a blood test that is not repeatable. 
What American adults don't seem to know is that cardiovascular issues change as we age.  Everybody seems to care most about fertility.

[ursula]

I'm in perimenopause, too, and have been...er...hmmm... "enjoying" it for about the past two years.  I'm not thrilled about the night sweats and the periodic hot flashes, but, really, the part that bothers me the most is the utter unpredictability of my periods.

In my younger years, you could have set a clock by my cycle. I used to joke that I'd only been "late" three times -- once for each of my kids. Now, it comes when it comes. Could be every two months, could be every two weeks. I never know. I feel like I'm thirteen again.

I'm another one who has been astonishingly regular:  every 26 days (did that need a TMI alert?).  The first time things are eight days late is a little scary!