Can anyone tell me what it is like to be menopausal?

Question

I am having a very low mood!
I am wondering if it could be the menopause?!
Has anyone any experience of it and have they had similar?!

Answer 1

Low moods are one of the many symptoms of menopause. There are many -- and differ widely between women.

Aging is the chief cause of menopause. Natural menopause is preceded by a period of transition known as perimenopause. This can begin as early as a woman’s early 30s or – in rare cases – as late as a woman’s late 60s. Perimenopause may end in the course of several months, or may unfold over many years. As women enter menopause, they may begin to experience several symptoms typically associated with the changes that are taking place in their bodies. These symptoms include:

Mood swings (e.g., anxiety and depression)
Weight gain
Hot flashes and night sweats
Changes in vaginal tissue (e.g. dryness, itching)
Breast tenderness
Increase in facial hair

Additional symptoms can be found below at iVillage.com - a site for women : )

http://heart.health.ivillage.com/estrogen/menopause3.cfm

Answer 2

Only your GP can tell you if you're menopausal, and then only after a blood test. You haven't told us your age but I'm presuming that you are at an age that you believe you could be. A low mood could be menopause or it could be many other things. On it's own (with no other symptoms) I would have thought it unlikely.

Menopause is very different for everybody. Some women sail through it with very few problems, treating it as the natural event that it is. Some have horrendous problems with it and simply cannot cope.

I always thought that I would be amongst the former group, I wasn't. I thought of menopause as a natural thing. Thought that if you approached it properly and sensibly it shouldn't be too difficult to cope with. Thought that a lot of the "problems" were in the head. Thought that I would never need drugs to get me through it. How wrong I was.

My mood was so low I was practicaly suicidal and had to go on antidepressants just so I could function on some level. The "hot flushes" were far more frequent than I expected, I was having 7 or 8 an hour, every hour, day and night. I couldn't sleep properly, waking several times a night and I was exhausted. And they were so severe I could bearly catch my breath. I would have panic attacks, feel feint and dizzy, and be soaked in sweat and tearing my clothes off. Sometimes I would go the other way and be shivering uncontrolably. On top of that I felt ill, nothing really specific that I could put my finger on, just so ill. While this was going on I was trying to do two paid jobs and run a home. I recongnised that I needed help!

I never thought that I would take HRT, I ended up practically begging my GP to prescribe it. Thank God he did. I've been taking it for two years now. I still get "hot flushes" but maybe only one or two a day and they are so mild I bearly notice them anymore. I no longer take antidepressants and my moods are fine. I no longer feel ill, in fact I feel better than I have for years.

Menopause for me, was horrendous. Thank God for HRT that's all I can say!

Answer 3

I had my last child when I was 38 and my periods just never started again the doctors told me I had early menopause the only thing that I hate is the hot flushes the heat comes on you all at once and the sweat just pours off you it happened quite a lot to start with it used to run down my back and into my knickers you would have thought I had piddled myself and at night time was just as bad but I'm now 43 and things have settled down a bit except my mood swings are pretty bad at times nobody can do right by me and being divorced its the kids that are in the firing line of my moods. I havent been back to the doctors about it for 3 years now its life you've just to accept whats happening to your body theres nothing you can do about it.

Answer 4

Hi Lady,
Sure can where to start! I wish I had r age group, either way
it'll all come in time. No ambition, lethargy, cranky, mood swings, less hair growth, (use a razor for 3 mth, more hair growth on r face, unpredictable periods. I didn't have 1 for near a year, then had a heavy with gulf ball size clots, feeling crappy off & on, total different feeling on everything in general
then age spots, they say after if you don't have r period for exacactly one yr. r done & most of this ***** feelings will subide. Sweating is a big one, I seldom feel cold, after a shower & sweats galore right after & during the night I keep having to change my pillowcase cause it's soaked. Lady u can, as I did go to the doctor, urine in a jar & they'll tell u after the put the urine on this swab, where r meno r if you are at all.
Mine kept saying no, going by the colour, check that out & if by chance u need more help or just talk I'd be glad to help u.
All My Best,
LOL Diana D

Answer 5

I think (or maybe it's just hope) that I've gotten away with many of the so called (physical) symptoms of being Peri-menopausal.....perhaps something really awful is waiting around the corner to jump when I least expect.

I've noticed that over the past 12 to 18 months, I've been quite emotional....like setting up scenario's in my head where one of my children die or some other awful thing occurs & I'm in tears in no time......I found I was quite happy (while at the same time feeling depressed) to just stay at home & let the world go by.....I've addressed this problem now by getting myself a bicycle & getting out & cycling for at least 10 to 15 miles a day.....even though that's improved my moods no end, I don't want to be bogged down doing housework or the like, I just want to get out & stay out.....My home life is happy, my husband is so damned perfect it makes me nauseas sometimes for God's sake....he NEVER puts me under pressure for anything.

I don't have any problems with my kids & get a lot of support from them & my hubby, but I still have days when I could just keep on cycling & not come home ever again. - days when I just want to enclose myself in my own little world to the exclusion of anyone else.....accept maybe my 4 year old grandson Cameron. I have other grandchildren, but he's special to me because he has autism & because I've spent so much time with him....he needs me more so couldn't think of excluding him.......

I get very easily stressed out at stuff that used to be water off a ducks back to me, silly things like getting pissed off when my kitten plays (lunacy jumps to mind here)........I've been coping for the past 7 years (quite well too) with a bit of an awkward m-i-l, yet lately I feel I just can't be bothered with her, like if she says one more thing out of place I'm gonna really let her have it. Grrrrr!

My periods have been to visit me just 4 times over the past year & don't have any problems with heavy periods or the such......I've had a few headaches where generally I don't ever get them & have noticed my breasts are sometimes tender.....but nothing to mention really. Actually last night for the first time I woke up & the back of my hair was wet....but that's been the only time.
I'm 51 now & obviously it's the menopause letting me know it'll soon be knocking on my door.
I remember my mother going through the same stuff at my age....at times she would phone me saying she felt suicidal. I haven't felt that extreme but then she had a less happy home life than I'm blessed with.......I worry that I'm fast getting older & constantly look for ways to ward that off, like taking up weight training or improving my diet......then again I'm getting all emotional all over again & so it goes on.

Answer 6

Search for "natural progesterone menopause" and you will come across many pages - one of the sites with success stories is www.npis.info

Please read John Lee's talks, the june 2003 one is the shorter one.
http://uk.geocities.com/[e-mail]/willim_001.html

Avoid conventional HRT please. If you read the John Lee talks you will undersatnd why. The Women's Health Initiative was stopped because of the bad effects of conventional HRT. The breast cancer rate is dropping in the US beacuse women have stopped conventional HRT. (there are links on my web page)

http://uk.geocities.com/[e-mail]/willim_001.html#W_180
Do the online test, the saliva test and then discuss with a NPIS doctor or you GP.

Quite a bit of reading for you but it will beneficial for your health in the long run

Answer 7

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Answer 8

All good answers so far - just a word of encouragement - when the worst is over, you should feel freer and more confident than ever before. Good luck!

Answer 9

http://www.project-aware.org/Experience/symptoms.shtml

here ya go, everything you could want to know about menopause.

Answer 10

wacky moods ,hormonal imbalance=freaky periods
all similar to starting only this end you can add in hot flashes as well