Just saying hi to everyone-and yes, Teridoodle, it is certainly possible. I did that for quite awhile before I started skipping months at a time. Every once in a while now, I will have one normal cycle, but mostly I skip about 4 months. And with menopause, I gained a few pounds, too. Wish I had thought to try the low carb diet back then when I was gaining.
Another subject:
I have had a "sorta" whoosh! I weighed 160 1/2 yesterday, and this evening when I came home from work, I weighed 157!!! I was so excited because I am really a slow loser.

Thanks, mebeso.... well, when you skip 4 months at a time, do you still have the PMS symptoms, but no flow? Or do you skip those too?

MAJOR congrats on that whoosh, girl!! That's a HUGE one!!! You must be so thrilled!!! I'm very, very happy for you!

Thanks Teri. I do sometimes have the symptoms. Every dadblasted one of them! lol Then sometimes not. It`s like the weather-hard to predict. Sometimes I even get the one little pimple I used to get before starting when I was younger!
A question????
I am determined to get down to 145 lbs. I certainly don`t want to do anything to make me gain. But I am wanting to quit smoking. I quit cold turkey years ago and gained 30 lbs. Well, today I bought the Nicoderm patches. I am SO afraid to try them, cause I`m afraid I`ll gain weight when I quit. Anyone have any suggestions? btw/I have ordered the Pilates videos and they should be arriving soon, so I`ll be getting some exercise too.

Hi Greentea,

Thank you for welcoming me to your thread, I will be staying subscribed to it! You are certainly not alone all these replies are not just helping you, we are helping each other, understanding what this crap does to us, is helping us to deal with it!

Best Wishes
CarolR

CarolR ..
you're right! That was my hope waaaay back... when the thought struck that "There must be others"....which goes to show ...lol....
WE still have our reasoning thru it all....
Have learned volumes... a wealth of info here.... I haven't gone thru everything that others have but at least I feel forewarned ...and much more so than by any Doc. that I've talked to.
At this point in time I'm off of everything... clean slate..cleansed out...will now wait for "something" to occur and decide then which path to take.. have always wanted to try HerbNurse's advice but was already deep into the Doc's way ..so now I think I can better judge the many herbs/supplements that are advised and which works for me....
But today ... the carb/food battle... must have eaten something yesterday that was wrong.. hands are swelled and rings tight...
that hasn't happened in a looong time....
see ya around the thread
greentea

Hi folks,

I'm happy to find this thread. I'm 45 years old and haven't had a period in nine months. I made the doctor do blood tests because I have a fear of cancer (too many people close to me have been diagnosed lately), even though the doctor assured me that at my age it was almost undoubtedly just menopause. My estrogen levels were 25, which the doctor said meant I might or might not get a period again (apparently 100 is "normal" and anything below 10 means menopause -- yes, my gynecologist, who is a fifty-something year old woman, actually used the word normal -- what are menopausal women, abnormal?) My FSH levels were also elevated -- another sign of menopause.

Aside from the fact that I can't remember anyone's name and I can't sleep more than five or six hours a night (I keep waking up at 4 or 5 a.m.), I don't have any menopausal symptoms -- no hot flashes, no mood swings, no nothing. I had terrible PMS my entire life and was miserable during both my pregnancies, so I expected that menopause would cause me major problems. Is it possible that I will get through menopause without hot flashes, mood swings, and all the other PMS-like symptoms? Did anyone else go nine months without having a period and then have annoying symptoms start later? Am I out of the woods or could I have trouble down the road?

Thanks for any information you can provide me.

Hi Liz....
I sure hope for you that it all goes as easy as it has been.....
can't speak personally about it but will tell you what two close friends went through.... both had stopped having periods ..one for a year...the other for 8 months.... then they both started up again and the flow was so heavy they were "changing" hourly...and it was lasting 2 to 3 weeks..
one went through all kinds of testing to rule out any other causes but was found to be healthy and "normal" and a few months
later the flow was less and she's back to skipping months.... the other just went through it and she too went back to a reasonable flow and also went back to "skipping"..... I HOPE you or I never have to experience that!!....
just letting you know this so if you DID start again.... that it's not unheard of....
I Would just like to wake up and NEVER have another one.... .... would be happier than when I paid my car and house off.....
GT

Thanks for the info, GT. My doctor said she can't predict whether or not I will ever have another period. I agree with you, I would be very happy never to have one again! My youngest child is 13 and I certainly don't plan on having any more.

I feel like I should win a prize for reading this whole thread! Thirteen pages! I first started reading this thread months ago, but hadn't felt too many symptoms, so I didn't feel compelled to continue researching menopause. But last month after my TOM my breasts still felt tender. Which was sort of weird. And then this month I started, but didn't. Basically had very light flow...very light for about 10 days. Very odd. So now I'm wondering if I'm heading into menopause. Did you ladies all go to the doctors when you had symptoms? Or did you just figure it was part of life, and nothing to worry about? Oh, I'm 44...my mother had her hysterectomy when she was 24, so I have no idea when menopause happens with the women in my family.

I also wanted to thank you all for the info you share on this thread. I would definitely want to check out natural ways to handle symptoms. So I've bookmarked several links that you've provided. Thank you. Victoria

It's good to hear that forgetfulness, or brain fog may be related to menopause. I secretly wondered if I was showing early signs of altzheimers. I had no idea it could be related to the change.

of how sharing on these boards will eventually help everyone. I started having symptoms when I was 42(no surgery or anything) so regardless of what some medical people say, you're not too young. You sound like you're experiencing typical symptoms of peri-menopause and there may be some other symptoms that you might not connect with it...you can check the list here: www.minniepauz.com/35symptoms.html

I've never taken hrt and haven't been to a doctor about it with all the information on the internet, plus I don't have insurance anyway. I'm afraid I've lost a lot of confidence in their ability to treat us as individuals, so I do a lot of research and use common sense.

The main point for everyone is to not expect a pat answer for anything..... there's always variations of this process depending on many things. Just realize that the process has started when you start noticing that things are different or irregular or up and down. Expect some highs and some lows, some heavy periods and some missed periods......etc. You're in peri-menopause until you have not had a period for 12 mo. and then you're post-menopausal. I haven't had a period for 13 years (I'm 55 now), but most women don't just STOP like that....I think it's because I'm a smoker.....many long time smokers have an "early" menopause.

Just keep sharing!!

It's been 2 weeks (or more) since anyone posted!! I hope everyone is finding some kind of hormonal/lowcarb balance! I'm still losing about a pound a week, but it's really a struggle sometimes, due to the hormonal mood swings I experience (feeling depressed, no mental energy, etc.) Also if I forget to take my cal/mag at night then I'm up at 3:30 or 4 am.....and I mean wide awake.....which means by 9pm I'm falling asleep (and missing some favorite tv shows).

The worst part for me is that I'm supposed to be FUNNY and help so many others to come out of their slump.....I mean, my BUSINESS depends on it! But, I go for weeks of not being able to do a new cartoon or write a funny article or even encourage/inspire/uplift my sisters in meno. Guess I need to quit expecting so much of myself and take my own Humor Replacement Therapy!!

A little venting never hurt anyone, right? And it was just a tiny little pity party....now back to your regularly scheduled program.

If there's anyone who wants to join me on a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas, we've got until Mar. 1 to get the deposit in! I'm looking forward to a whole group of "pauzing" women, but I'd love to have some fellow lowcarbers on board to help keep me on the straight and narrow! Check out the details here: http://www.minniepauz.com/cruise2003.html

Actually, there's 4 ladies who's daughters are going along, including MINE.... how cool that will be even though she will have 4 friends with her and told me "now we don't need any of the Minnie Pauz stuff".....hahahah.... I just can't tell you how much I need to get away!! Dee

What an interesting thread this had been. I hope you are all handling your change gracefully.

I'm 53 and finally 2 years without a period, but experienced most of the symptoms described here. I also began this process at about age 42. My last child was born when I was 37, and after her my periods were never the same. My gyn kept looking for problems, and found one small polyp that she was convinced caused all the problems. Had that removed, but nothing changed.

Niagra falls lasted for the next 10 years, only I never knew when it would happen. For the last six years, I would only have my period every several months, and I went to six months several times and once a full year only to get it again.

The hot flashes started in my mid forties and seemed to be more frequent every time I missed a period. I looked forward to the flashing, as this was a sure sign I wouldn't get it (ha). OK, that got not so funny when the flashing just got worse and worse.

Two years ago, just as my periods really stopped, the flashing was continuous, probably every couple of minutes for about 3 months. I live in Minnesota and kept my windows open at night and fan blowing even in the winter (-20 to -30 degrees). I couldn't get cool enough.

Finally this last summer everything stopped. No more night sweats, no flashing, I felt fabulous.

Until...I started LC'ing in November. By December, the hot flashes and night sweats returned. I've read that fat releases hormones as you lose, so that must be what is happening.

Sorry, this may not be good news to some of you 40 somethings, but maybe your loss now will help improve things down the road. Perhaps it won't last 10 years for you.

I wish you all good luck, and a good nights' sleep!

MinniePauz

I am sorry that you are going thru Menopause hell right now.



You are only human and you can't be expected to feel good all the time, if you did I would think you were weird.

I have found myself in a slump occasionally and then I tell myself to "GET OVER IT!". It is very hard to fight the hormonal emotional roller coaster that we women go thru during menopause. I get on my treadmill and walk this feeling out of me for 2 miles. I really believe that exercise in some form helps a lot.

Hope you have fun on your cruise.

HN

Boy a cruise sounds so good right now. I would love to be able to leave it all behind for just a little while. But unless money drops down from the sky, I don't see it happening. Have a great trip Dee. It sounds like great fun.

I think my body is just confused. I had hardly any period and then less than 3 weeks later it was the period from hell. I sure wish for the days where they were regular and predictable. Now I'm not sure when or how bad... I would rather they just stop than wondering what's next. So anyhow, this is FUN!!!

Along with all that, I think my ability to make good choices food wise has suffered. I'm not ready to give up, but I do think these hormonal changes are affecting my moods and my ability to "think straight". I plug along, cause what else am I going to do. It's a day by day thing, and today's been fairly good. So I'll build on that and continue on. But I've had some really stupid weak moments where I actually bought Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, because I just had to have some chocolate. Not sure if this is related or just a weakness for chocolate.

Well, these are my current struggles. Thanks for listening, ladies. Victoria

Hi Victoria
I think one of the hardest things during this "phase" of life is distinguishing "Where that came from"... moods.. cravings...pains..
etc..
some things lc-ing did for me was lessen cravings..(after a sweet detox) and gave me energy and evened out my moods....
I have not been a very strict l-c'er for the past 2 months and my energy level has dropped considerably...I haven't been so bad as to gain weight but I do notice it in other ways.... especially my moods... ew..look out..she's coming this way... type moods..lol
hang in there... I hear things will become much eaiser down the road....
gt