Anybody else experiencing the joys? I had my LMP - 10 years ago!!! I still wake with night sweats and get ‘power surges’ multiple times a day; a few years ago, I was ‘power surging’ up to twenty times a day, now I have it down to about five. A few years ago, the sweat would roll of my head and into my eyes and drip off my nose, now, I just ‘glow’.
When will it end?! I am so sick of this way of life. Tell me I’m not alone, LOL!
It should end soon. I barely noticed menopause, except for a few power surges, as you call them. No longer carrying tampons was fantastic! Odd that it is still carrying on. If you ever used the pill (I did not) or something that affected hormones maybe that affects the winding down? I don’t know.
I heard of hot flashes but what is “power surge”?
Your experience of menopause has pretty high relationship with that of your mother and your female siblings (if you have any).
I have often felt left out to hang when it comes to menopause. My mom, my mom’s mom, and two of my three sisters all had hysterectomies before they did menopause. I never discussed it with my dad’s mom. My one sister that went through it had an easy time of it, so here’s hoping it continues to be an easy experience for me.
@makemesmart power surges = hot flashes
@TranquilMind my mother and sisters had hysterectomies due to various ‘female issues’ I’m the lucky winner of the Menopause Stakes!
Hysterectomy is not a guarantee that there will be no hot flashes if the ovaries were left in place.
I wish I knew the magic answer as to why menopausal symptoms (& the intensity) vary so much woman to woman.
I’ve heard women say they never had a single hot flash, and others say they suffered with them for years. That’s a dramatic range, you know?
Too late to edit… should have said “hysterectomy is not a guarantee that there will be no “normal” menopause with prolonged period of hot flashes later if the ovaries were left in place.”
@BunsenBurner my one sister had her hysterectomy in her 30s (ovarian cancer) 1.5 ovaries removed; my mother and other sister were early 50s and no ovaries left behind IDK the reasons
"makemesmart: Your experience of menopause has pretty high relationship with that of your mother and your female siblings (if you have any). "
True, but back in the day, every single woman seemed to have a hysterectomy. I had no female members to ask, as mine had died or had that hysterectomy.
"BunsenBurner: Hysterectomy is not a guarantee that there will be no hot flashes if the ovaries were left in place. "
True, but it was common back in the day to take out the whole shebang.
Wow! I have no idea hysterectomy was such a common practice for premenopausal women back in the days. Was it used to treat endometriosis, in addition to cancer? @TranquilMind
Re hysterectomy prevalence, believe it or not it used to be regional. In some parts of the country hysterectomies were much more common than in others. It was done for a lot of reasons, including endometriosis.
My mom had a hysterectomy in the early 1970’s in her 40’s. She was in the hospital for 17 days! She took estrogen for about 20 years after that. She and I never discussed her surgery or her symptoms - ever - although I know that she had very painful periods and bled heavily in between periods until she finally began bleeding every day and then they operated. Her mother had bad fibroids.
I also had no reference for family menopause. I had a few power surges and then decided to deal with it. I saw an acupuncturist for a few sessions and at her suggestion, I started adding a teaspoon or two of tart cherry to a drink several times a day (I used diet iced tea). I also cut back on alcohol and caffeine, not that I was a huge imbiber of either. Within a month, I had no more hot flashes. Now, I don’t know if that would have been my pattern anyway, but… I have shared the above with a number of women in the years since. One woman I spoke with at a holiday party had been suffering from the flashes for a couple of years. At the party the next year, she told me she adopted my suggestions, including acupuncture, and her flashes ceased within 3 months.
@momo2x2018 Try black cohosh
Occasionally I still get hot flashes, as did my mom thru her later years. I definitely don’t like rooms that are too warm.
I had my LMP in 1993 and still have hot flashes, don’t wear pullovers, wake up with a wet pillow/wet hair, do the scarf on/scarf off thing all the time at work. There is little justice in this world… (and no, that is not a typo, truly coming up on 25 years at this point)
@Delicate Arch Wow! And I thought I was suffering…of my friends, I am the ONLY one who ‘suffers’ like this!
I occasionally have issues during the day, but I get nights sweats which are more frequent during times of the month when estrogen is low. I keep a change of pajamas beside my bed so I don’t wake up H by moving around too much at night.
I improved a lot after taking Rainbow Light woman’s vitamin for several months. There’s a herbal mix in it which might explain the improvement.
Now I’m taking H’s silver vitamin because I ran out of RL and I haven’t become worse. But I am exercising more intensely (and sweating like a pig then) and consuming green leafy vegetables everyday now. My debilitating PMS headaches are much better, too. So something is working in my new regime.
My friend had awful hot flashes after a hysterectomy. Her big triggers were eating and evening. So she started putting an ice pack wrapped in a towel in tge back of her neck after dinner and she found that helpful.
I have been fortunate, as was my mom and at least my younger sister. We have really had few and mild symptoms. I had heavy periods & endometriosis back in the day and am really glad they have finally stopped. D has very light periods.
I drank a lot of soy milk when I was in menopause and perhaps that was helpful. I was drinking it because it was enriched with calcium but stopped because H has low thyroid and it’s not good for him so we both switched off it (plus we were getting some curdled boxes of soy milk :-().