These two activities, eating chocolate and exercising....have something in common! They cause seratonin to be released, thereby elevating mood!! By all means, try going for a good brisk walk before indulging in that chocolate and see if that helps!!

TeriDoodle <---- needs to take her own advice a LOT more often!

I've spent the past two days reading through this thread... and I've finally gotten to page 14. What a trip! I'm so happy to have found this thread. I just turned 55 last month... and I'm sure I'm at least in perimenopause... but really don't know for how long. I had a hysterectomy in 1987. At that time, my periods were light to normal. I didn't have my ovaries removed... so there was no need, at the time, for HRT.

Over the past 13 years, I've gone through personal hell: anxiety, depression, panic attacks... and misc other woes. I think I started hot flashing about three years ago or so... but mainly night sweats. I had a friend years ago who went through an early menopause... and went through horrid hot flashes at work... complete with bright red face, dripping sweat to the point that her entire head of hair was saturated. Poor thing! I don't have anything like that... yet.

My angst started in 1990. It never occurred to me that it might be hormones. I still think it was my job and family that was causing my anxiety... and perhaps it was complicated somewhere in time by the hormone shift. It would be nice to know just when that transition happened... but being without a period to gauge my cycles by, it's impossible to tell. I, too, am without health insurance right now... so I'm not anxious to go to the doctor's to be tested.

A couple of years ago, I thought I was going crazy. I was anxious all the time... having frequent anxiety attacks... and steadily gaining weight. I was also experiencing heart palpations... which scared the $hit out of me. My friend was on Atkins and lost 40 pounds in 9 months. I was afraid for her... having heard about how dangerous it was to consume meat and fat. But, you know... I was in such sorry shape... anxious... gaining weight... depressed... fearing for my health anyway... I thought "What the hell. I'll try it."

In January, 2002, I started LC'ing... and within a few weeks, my depression and anxiety was GONE. This as a welcome and unexpected benefit of LC'ing. Also... my nails are stronger... my skin is clearer... I don't get sick as often (one SHORT cold in over a year as opposed to at least two severe colds a year)... my hair is shinier... to name a few. I've lost 45 pounds. That's a pretty slow loss... but I'll admit that I haven't been all that saintly. I can and will do better. I will never go back to eating carbs again. Weight loss is now secondary. Being anxiety and depression-free is my main objective. There is no way I will ever risk going back to that state of mind again. I was miserable for a very long time. Although I never seriously considered suicide, it occurred to me many times that it was no mystery to me how and why people would consider that a reasonable escape hatch. Just being able to relate to that level of misery is close enough for me. Low carbing saved my life. I'm sure of it.

Thanks to you all for sharing your stories. It's so good to know I'm not alone. Wish I'd found you sooner.

I could have done with this thread last April/May when I had real menopausal symptoms.

I certainly think that low carbing improves your seratonin levels and hence your emotional well being. I noted straight away that I felt less depressed, particularly as I was going through a rough patch at work. This was before my hormones really came into play.

Back last April, its all documented in my journal, I suddenly got hot flushes. That was my bodies signal to go down hill. I quickly became a different person, lost my confidence, had reduced memory recall, lost my energy, was more emotional, not being able to cope with everyday things as easily as before, became anxious.

I went to the doctors early on and she sent me for a blood test which showed I had a high level of FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) a signal that I was going through the menopause and had low estrogen levels.

Got started on HRT straight away, but at a dose of 1 mg tablets. After 2.5 months I was slightly improved, but no where back to my usual self, so the level was increased to 2 mg. Quickly I felt a lot better and all the bad things I had been feeling cleared up in a few months. The only set back was my blood pressure increased slightly. This is being monitored and I have had my brand changed to see if a different prostregene will help.

The best effect of the HRT was that after I had been taking the higher dose for a month my weight loss began again, having been stalled for some months. Now those bad days are a bad memory and I am still losing weight at a steady rate.

For me HRT has been a life saver.

Today I learned of an excellent website devoted to menopause. There are many informative articles on the website that address many different aspects of menopause. The web address is
power-surge.com
asugar

I've just taken a look at power-surge.com... and I'm impressed! HN, I've been looking at their recommended herbs and supplements for women in menopause. What do you think? Also... for those of us without health insurance right now, I found a Menopause Home Test! Or was the an at-home pregnancy tester? Nah. Super site! Thanks, Shoog.

Just wanted to mention that those tests are not always conclusive...... I've been post menopausal for 13 years and the test (from that same company) indicated I wasn't menopausal. I think the product will be improved in the future, just as the pregnancy tests were, but for now it seems quite expensive for something you pretty much can figure out by what symptoms you're having. Also, the same test can be found for half the price of the one posted: http://www.home-menopause-test.com/ so, as always, be sure to shop around.

This board is one of the FEW places to get information that brings menopause and lowcarbing together in such a comprehensive way!

Hope you're all doing great and remember, your sense of humor is tool you can have for getting through it all! When you just can't find anything to laugh about, come on over to my place! I'm going to be doing a series of lowcarb cartoons soon, so I'll be needing your help to find the "funny side"!

Best wishes in all you do!
Dee
http://www.minniepauz.com

Attached Images

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Hi, Dee...
I just turned 55... ugh... in February. I feel SURE I've been menopausing for some time now. I was thinking that trying one of those home test kits might be good for me since I don't have health insurance right now.... and have an aversion to doctors anyway. Previous to LCing for over a year now, I was a mess... suffering with anxiety attacks on and off since 1990... and they'd been especially bad since 1995 or so. After I started LC'ing, though, they've virtually gone away. I had one last Fall when visiting my mom. Well... that's no surprise! She could make a corpse anxious.

Previous to low carbing, I was severely depressed. I wasn't under doctor's care and hadn't been diagnosed, but I know the difference between just being sad and depression. I was depressed... 24/7. Again... after low carbing, that has gone away entirely. Am I glad? You bet!

As to why I'm not sure if I'm menopausing or not... I had a hysterectomy in 1987. I was apparently born with only one ovary... and the doctor left that... but took my fibroid uterus. So I have been functioning normally all these years... just no periods to gauge my cycle. Because of this, I really don't know when my periods would have ended naturally. Am I making myself clear? I just woke up... and this is my first post of the day. I may come back and read this later and wonder what my point was!

I've been by to visit your site. Excellent!

Carol

I agree with Dee about the OTC menopausal test, don't waste your money.

As for the supplements that have been recommended I take all of those except the Kava Kava. I use to take it but was worried about the warning for liver damage if taken in high doses.

I have done fine without it.

I take:

Black Cohosh 500 mg. 3xday
Evening Primrose Oil softgelts 1000 mg. 3xday
Flaxseed oil 1 tbsp. 2xday
Vit E. 400 I.U. 3xday
Progesterone Cream (20 mg. dose) once a day for 25 then off 5
Phytoestrogen cream once a day.
1 aspirin once a day.
Soy Isoflavone tablet 40 mg. (Red Clover extract) once a day.
Coral Calcium 3 times a day

With exercise I have eliminated the symptoms. My doctor did a blood test in 2001 and told me I was in menopause. I told him "NO $hit".

When a person feels combat ready 24/7 then they are in menopause, trust me!!

HN

Thanks, HN! I'm going to copy down your list.. and see if it works for me. The LC'ing took care of the depression and anxiety. Thank goodness for that. The only other thing that I'm painfully aware of is the night sweats. That is... I get hot sometimes during the night... kick off the covers... and then I'm freezing. I go through this only once or twice during the night. About 6 a.m. I'm perfectly normal... and that's when I get my best sleep. But of course... it's almost time to get up anyway! I don't get hot flashes during the day at all.

I'm so grateful to have discovered the LC woe. I started to hopefully lose weight... but am staying with it to be free of depression and anxiety!

Carol

You are lucky you never had hot flashes during the day.
I use to have them about every hour on the hour, it drove me insane. Trying to sleep at night was unheard of, I had the fan blowing on high directly at my head.

Of all the supplements that I have listed I believe from experimentation that the Black Cohosh is the one that gives me the most relief. It can sometimes take up to 4 weeks to notice a difference or you can be lucky and notice the night sweats go away faster.

You are right about LC WOE, it does help with a great deal with depression and anxiety and the weight loss however slow or fast it may be, is just an added bonus.

I can honestly tell you that since discovering this WOE I feel better in my 50's then I ever did when I was in my 20's when I was eating like a true carb addict does. I was moody, had headaches all the time, bloating, gas, and bowel problems not too mention I was constantly yo-yo dieting.

Now that I look back on it, I really never felt all that great either.

HN

There is a transcript of Dr. Atkins chat on power-surge.com. Power-surge is a website for menopausal women. I recently found out about this website and was surprised to see that Dr. Atkins did a chat there.
asugar

Shoog, thanks for the information. I will check it out.

HN

I am 53 and still having periods, usually every 21 to 28 days with a 40 day cycle thrown in maybe once a year for the last three years.

The past few months I have had some mild hot flashes in the morning while trying to get ready for work, usually after my cup of coffee. No night sweats - yet. Moodiness? Welllllllllllllll.....I have always been moody but this is becoming a real issue for me. Either I want to weep over everything or I want to walk out on my life! Ok..not really. But yes, I do. LOL.

I read somewhere that 54 is the avg. age for menapause so I am expecting to stop next year. I would guess though that I need to start skipping more months for that to happen, but time will tell.

Actually...my mom thinks she was about 54 when she did, but she isn't sure. My dad died when she was 45 and she later went into a relationship, did not want mid life babies, went on the birth control pill and going through meanpause was just a non-event for her. I like that..I wanna do it MOM'S WAY, lol.

I have two co-workers my age who are also basically where I am in the process, except they have both been suffering with hot flashes a lot more than I have.

I am going to research the sites you nice ladies have provided and do some thinking about it, but right now, I plan to take HRT when I am at the place I need them, at least for a year or two.
I may change my mind and I will be studing all the information I can find about the herbal and the HRT routes, because I am a need to know kind of lady.

Glad to know I have such good company here!

I copied this from one of my regular forums thought some may get a kick out of it, it is SO True!!
<b>Signs OF Menopause</b>
<b>Which #'s do you hold???</b>

1. Hot flashes, flushes, night sweats OR cold flashes, clammy feeling.
2. Bouts of rapid heart beat (Palpitations)
3. Vaginal Dryness
4. Bladder Control Problems
5. Breast Tenderness
6. Sore Joints/Muscles
7. Headache increase or decrease
8. Weight Gain (especially around your waist and abdomen)
9. Irritability
10. Mood swings
11. Irregular Periods (changes in frequency, duration, skipped periods, phantom periods etc.)
12. Loss of libido
13. Insomnia/Disrupted Sleep
14. Unreasonable fatigue
15. Feelings of dread, apprehension, doom
16. Anxiety
17. Depression
18. Difficulty concentrating, disorientation, mental confusion
19. Increased memory lapses
20. Tingling or itchy skin.
21. Gastrointestinal distress (including indigestion, flatulence, gas pain and nausea)
22. Bloating
23. Exacerbation of existing conditions
24. Increase in allergies
25. Hair loss or thinning (anywhere on the body)
26. Increase in facial hair
27. Dizziness/lightheadedness, loss of balance
28. Changes in body odor
29. Electric shock sensation under the skin and in the head
30. "Buzzing" in your head, ringing in ears (Tinnitus)
31. Tingling in the extremities
32. Dry Mouth and Other Oral Symptoms (gum bleeding, bad taste in mouth, change in breath odor)
33. Changes in fingernails (softer, crack or break easier)
34. Skin Changes (dryness, thinning look)
35. Osteoporosis
36. Infertility


O. K. I'll admit to #1,2,4,8, 9 &10 Sometimes, O.K. I'm working on it!
#26, yuck!#11, have'nt had one since sept 02, yeepee!
Cheers Kathy


Cheers Kathy

Kathy
Thanks it is very interesting. I occasionally have only the first 6 listed . I have finally got all of that crap under control.

HN