Yet Another Cycling Forum

General Category => The Knowledge => Health & Fitness => Topic started by: Butterfly on 06 August, 2020, 09:50:16 pm

Title: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Butterfly on 06 August, 2020, 09:50:16 pm
Thank you Helly. Taking it easy, but trying to get moving again and lose some of the menopausal tummy.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: hellymedic on 06 August, 2020, 10:26:16 pm
Slow & steady is best; KEEP GOING!

For myself, I'm not weighing as I'm too wobbly. I have regained some hip & thigh blubber but little tummy.

Menopause is WEIRD; just when you think it's all over, comes another run of hot flushes; I'm 62 FFS!
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Butterfly on 07 August, 2020, 11:03:34 am
Slow & steady is best; KEEP GOING!

For myself, I'm not weighing as I'm too wobbly. I have regained some hip & thigh blubber but little tummy.

Menopause is WEIRD; just when you think it's all over, comes another run of hot flushes; I'm 62 FFS!

I mostly seem to have missed the hot flushes so far (are cold flushes a thing? because I've had those.) Bad sleep is tedious and joint pain really annoying when it comes to moving more. I feel somewhat that hormones from breastfeeding crashed straight into menopause hormones and I'm fed up with them all!
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: hellymedic on 07 August, 2020, 01:46:01 pm
I've been blissfully free of most menopausal woes:
Weight was not much of a new issue and I was fairly steady till lockdown.
Sleep's been mostly fine.
Hadn't noticed other stuff.
Hot flushes started over a year after my LMP and initially were cosy in the winter if I was outdoors.
At the moment they mostly strike in the evenings when I get too hot to do ANYTHING but this only lasts a few minutes.
It's kind of warm in London right now, which isn't helping and I'm not otherwise too bothered.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Kim on 07 August, 2020, 03:11:14 pm
are cold flushes a thing? because I've had those.

*snork*
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Beardy on 07 August, 2020, 09:21:45 pm
Backs out of room quietly.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: fimm on 10 August, 2020, 02:30:10 pm
Which part of the thread title confused you, Beardy?
  >:( >:( >:(
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: hellymedic on 10 August, 2020, 04:10:24 pm
It's kinda warm in London right now...
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: zigzag on 10 August, 2020, 08:17:19 pm
someone i know has just published a book few days ago - menopause unzipped

(that's all i can tell about this subject)
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 10 August, 2020, 08:26:54 pm
Backs out of room quietly.

But I don't think we do want our chaps to back out of the room quietly, do we? People in general need to know more about menopause in order to be more understanding (I'm thinking that the general workplace would be a good start) surely?
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: hellymedic on 10 August, 2020, 08:43:31 pm
someone i know has just published a book few days ago - menopause unzipped

(that's all i can tell about this subject)

Is that Jen (Vagina Bible) Gunter?

I rather like her...
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Beardy on 10 August, 2020, 09:13:33 pm
Backs out of room quietly.

But I don't think we do want our chaps to back out of the room quietly, do we? People in general need to know more about menopause in order to be more understanding (I'm thinking that the general workplace would be a good start) surely?
I was there for Dr Beardy, and neither my s-in-l or my sister ever spared my blushes when discussing their symptoms with Dr B. I‘ve also no real doubt that at least one, possibly more, of our joint friends will likewise not spare my blushes. I may even be around when my daughters get there, and if so, I’ll provide whatever support is necessary.

So if there’s any practical or moral support needed, I’ll be over there in the corner pretending I can’t hear unless I’m needed.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 10 August, 2020, 09:38:50 pm
:)
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: barakta on 10 August, 2020, 11:58:33 pm
I agree, more open discussion about menopause and indeed menstruation in general would be good. As someone who hit 40 who is not sure if she's approaching peri-menopause or not, it's helpful to hear about a range of perimenopause and menopause 'symptoms' as it were.

I also like Jen Gunter, very human, sensible and talks SENSE about gynae stuff on the Internets. I have also come across MamaDrJones (https://www.youtube.com/c/MamaDoctorJones/videos) who is another North American ObGyn who talks a lot of sense about all things obs and gynae.

Both are trans inclusive and perfectly sensible about stuff.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: hellymedic on 11 August, 2020, 01:06:36 am
Hitting 40 gave me the hitherto mythical 28 day cycle...
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Flite on 01 September, 2020, 08:46:01 pm
I don't wish to depress you, but:
I had to have a hysterectomy aged 37. 
The one remaining ovary that was supposed to keep producing some hormones quickly abandoned that idea.
So I was on HRT for about 25 years, which at least meant I could work.
It took several determined efforts before I could cope without HRT, but the symptoms are still there.
I hate the brain fog, loss of concentration, inability to make decisions and mood swings, but most of all it's the loss of sleep. 
I'm now nearly 74, and feel that the slide from menopause to dementia is going to be seamless.
Has any work been done on any correlation between severity of menopausal symptoms and dementia?
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: arabella on 16 September, 2020, 03:54:21 pm
I did try educating the rest of my (all-male) team a few years ago.  But I hesitate to go on about it too much on account of giving them an excuse to say I'm not doing my job properly on account of forgetting everything (keeps falling out of my brain) etc. 
So for the last few years I've been running my life as one massive to do list including every trivial little thing to save me forgetting it.  Though of course the fact of writing a to do list means my brain says 'don't need to actively remember that any more'.
It's great (fx: sarcasm)  emptying nest + menopause for the ideal way to feel on top of absolutely everything in my life.  One at a time, please.

fwiw: on the one hand my uterus has now shrunk too much for a mirena coil
on the opther hand as I've not yet got to 55 I'm still deemed to be fertile from family planning pov
I'm suspecting massive belt and braces approach
and tbh my last coil overstayed its 'replace by' date by 2 years to no unexpected bundle of joy (phew) 'cos I misremembered how many years it was good for (or is this a weight thing and 'cos most people weigh more than I do it's gauged for someone weighing ha;f as much again and lasts half as long again for me.  Probably not.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: hellymedic on 16 September, 2020, 04:13:15 pm
A friend of a friend had a 'surprise' arrival at 53 so it's not just a theoretical issue. It might not happen much BUT...
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: fimm on 16 September, 2020, 04:30:58 pm
A friend of a friend had a 'surprise' arrival at 53 so it's not just a theoretical issue. It might not happen much BUT...
WHAAAAT!!!
I'm 48 and thought I was past it...
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: hellymedic on 16 September, 2020, 04:53:07 pm
That's the point! Many ARE past it at 48.
This FOAF is the wife of a dentist, known to both my brother and a dentist friend, not a mythical beast in a tabloid rag.
I was menstruating regularly till well past 55...
Title: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: citoyen on 16 September, 2020, 08:23:14 pm
I did try educating the rest of my (all-male) team a few years ago.

I work on a women’s health magazine these days so menopause is pretty much a routine topic. So I was mildly surprised when the Big Boss one day apologised to me for taking about her menopause symptoms in my presence. I had to point out that parking any squeamishness at the door is a basic job requirement.*

I’ve learned a lot since starting this job. I admit I’d never even heard of endometriosis or pelvic meshes until we ran features on those subjects.

You don’t get it easy being women, do you?

(*I interviewed a woman who talked about a particular supplement she took to “put a bit of butter on the bread”. I thought this was a good line so used it in the write-up but she was the one who got squeamish and asked me to take it out!)
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: citoyen on 16 September, 2020, 08:35:08 pm
Has any work been done on any correlation between severity of menopausal symptoms and dementia?

From what I understand, there appears to be a link between hormones and Alzheimer’s but it’s one of those “needs more research” things.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Chris S on 16 September, 2020, 09:12:31 pm
Has any work been done on any correlation between severity of menopausal symptoms and dementia?

From what I understand, there appears to be a link between hormones and Alzheimer’s but it’s one of those “needs more research” things.

You can say that about pretty much anything. We're all just one big chemistry set after all.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: arabella on 18 September, 2020, 12:22:14 pm
which reminds me ...
pelvic meshes:  there's a lot about problems in women with pelvic meshes but they're not the only recipients.  Men are also at risk of problems.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: fimm on 18 September, 2020, 04:18:20 pm
My mother carried on bleeding until she had a hysterectomy in her late 50s. She had fibroids. I've got fibroids, and so has one sister. The youngest hasn't had such problems - yet... I'm grateful that (so far) I've not had the same level of grimness that mum and sister had/have. I think the fact that I had a mirena coil anyway probably helps.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: simonp on 18 September, 2020, 04:22:09 pm
I have a mesh hernia repair. So far, so good, 16 years later...
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: L CC on 18 September, 2020, 04:47:10 pm
My mother carried on bleeding until she had a hysterectomy in her late 50s. She had fibroids. I've got fibroids, and so has one sister. The youngest hasn't had such problems - yet... I'm grateful that (so far) I've not had the same level of grimness that mum and sister had/have. I think the fact that I had a mirena coil anyway probably helps.
Yeah. Well, when you take that coil out, just see it flow...

(That coil did not stop my periods, and I've been surgically improved in the fallopian department so in every aspect was completely rubbish.)
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: fimm on 07 October, 2020, 12:02:35 pm
My mother carried on bleeding until she had a hysterectomy in her late 50s. She had fibroids. I've got fibroids, and so has one sister. The youngest hasn't had such problems - yet... I'm grateful that (so far) I've not had the same level of grimness that mum and sister had/have. I think the fact that I had a mirena coil anyway probably helps.
Yeah. Well, when you take that coil out, just see it flow...

(That coil did not stop my periods, and I've been surgically improved in the fallopian department so in every aspect was completely rubbish.)
That coil is NOT coming out without being replaced...
(I've been to the genecology place and had ultrasound scans and chat so for the moment I'm OK with things as they are. The complete erraticness is more of a PITA than the quantities, at the moment.)
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Butterfly on 10 November, 2020, 04:29:34 pm
Going to talk to the GP that copes with lady things on Thursday. The GP that was looking at my knees was rather horrified that I might want to talk to him about it all. Not His Department. I'm beginning to think that "Female patients want to talk to a female dr about woman stuff" is a myth put about by male GPs so they don't have to venture into the yucky bits of ladyness.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Kim on 10 November, 2020, 05:01:28 pm
Going to talk to the GP that copes with lady things on Thursday. The GP that was looking at my knees was rather horrified that I might want to talk to him about it all. Not His Department. I'm beginning to think that "Female patients want to talk to a female dr about woman stuff" is a myth put about by male GPs so they don't have to venture into the yucky bits of ladyness.

...And perpetuated by the female patients who want to avoid a specific arsehole GP who just happens to be male.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Butterfly on 11 November, 2020, 11:09:02 am
Going to talk to the GP that copes with lady things on Thursday. The GP that was looking at my knees was rather horrified that I might want to talk to him about it all. Not His Department. I'm beginning to think that "Female patients want to talk to a female dr about woman stuff" is a myth put about by male GPs so they don't have to venture into the yucky bits of ladyness.

...And perpetuated by the female patients who want to avoid specific arsehole GP who just happens to be male.

Yes, there is that too. The ones who hear "I'm exhausted", decide you are anaemic (I'm not) and stop listening etc

My niephew has suffered from a lot of those - the cancer was only caught because they went private about the endometriosis that wasn't being properly treated...
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Butterfly on 13 November, 2020, 08:59:34 pm
the lady dr for lady things has given me some HRT to try to see if that helps everything. Having some energy might help me to get some exercise to help with the osteoarthritis in my knees, anyway.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: arabella on 02 August, 2021, 10:58:06 am
thread resurrection.

there's a call for evidence about menopause and the workplace: https://committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evidence/548/
I will be going through the questions shortly.

meanwhile I am on a waiting list of unknown length to see the menopause specialist at the GP surgery. 
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: L CC on 02 August, 2021, 11:41:22 am
Some lucky people don't have Big Menopause Issues.  :smug:

I can't imagine wasting my GP's time with mine- losing sleep random sweat fests and gaining weight isn't really affecting my life enough to justify it. It would be like complaining about getting old.

This isn't to diminish any one else's experience, but like childbirth, it's important to remember it's been happening for generations without interventions and lots of women get through it without any issues whatsoever.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: hellymedic on 02 August, 2021, 01:05:06 pm
I am still getting hot flushes.
Helen, age 63.

I am fortunate in having had few other issues.

I menstruated until I was nearly 57...
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 02 August, 2021, 05:05:00 pm
This isn't to diminish any one else's experience, but like childbirth, it's important to remember it's been happening for generations without interventions and lots of women get through it without any issues whatsoever.

Wonders idly a)what proportion of women born actually made it to menopause and b) whether women spent much time needing to use their brains for long division, or operating dangerous machinery or other stuff that requires sufficient bandwidth at menopausal age, much before the relatively recent past.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: L CC on 02 August, 2021, 06:07:24 pm
Yes. And women and babies died in childbirth but enough of us survived, fortunately.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: ravenbait on 03 August, 2021, 10:49:41 am
I went through early menopause at 35. I finally got a doctor to accept that had happened about 3 years ago (10 years later). I have been told weight gain with menopause "isn't a thing -- we all find it harder to maintain weight as we get older" and my concerns about osteoporosis have been dismissed. I've had absolutely no support in making a decision as to whether HRT would be a good idea or not.

Other than an exacerbation of my insomnia, sudden weight gain and the intensification of hair in places heteronormative standards suggest someone with a chest as large as mine should not have, the only thing I've noticed has been adult onset asthma that coincided with menopause.

Is this a thing? Given my doctor dismisses fairly normal effects such as weight gain, I'm reluctant to pose the question.

Sam
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: chrisbainbridge on 03 August, 2021, 11:51:26 am
The other thing to think about is hypothyroidism.
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: ravenbait on 03 August, 2021, 12:24:06 pm
I have had blood tests, and the other (female) doctor I saw seemed surprised I should have been offered the test. Her only comment was that it all seemed normal. I presume they checked thyroid activity.

Sam
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: chrisbainbridge on 03 August, 2021, 07:58:54 pm
Increasing evidence of hypothyroidism in perimenopausal women but very under recognised and probably not in the middle of rural Scotland!
Title: Re: Menopause was Re: Weight Loss Discussion Thread
Post by: Ruthie on 03 August, 2021, 08:49:00 pm
Some lucky people don't have Big Menopause Issues.  :smug:

I can't imagine wasting my GP's time with mine- losing sleep random sweat fests and gaining weight isn't really affecting my life enough to justify it. It would be like complaining about getting old.

This isn't to diminish any one else's experience, but like childbirth, it's important to remember it's been happening for generations without interventions and lots of women get through it without any issues whatsoever.

My lovely GP, now sadly retired, had a Special Interest in women’s health. It was her opinion that the menorrhagia experienced by menopausal women most likely caused the mortality spike you used to see around that age. At the time my anaemia was causing me horrendous problems. Mirena coil sorted me out, thank goodness.