Hey all, I have updated the menopause wiki! (it's listed in the sidebar) I figured it was time for a refresh. I have expanded a number of different sections, to go into better detail about some of the more common symptoms (frustrations, like weight).

Also the Resource section contains better organized lists so it's easier to find recommended books, essentials, links to research for various topics, etc.

I've kept it "research based", in that I've compiled almost everything from reputable sources.

Please read through and let me know if you want to see anything else specifically, or if there's any issues that need correction.

Just a quick heads up, that r/menopause (on Reddit) has been re-opened for the time being. In the coming days, it will be 'restricted' instead of being private.

As an internet user of more than 25 years, and a redditor of more than 12 years, I think it is important to continue fostering this community on Lemmy. It is currently the only publicly-owned and operated social media platform and has exploded in growth in just the last few weeks. For those of you missing the wiki here, we are just waiting for a software update that will allow for larger posts (the wiki is huge!)

Personally, I believe strongly in having a healthcare-focused community that is free from advertising and corporate and pharmaceutical interests. I sincerely hope I am not alone in this belief.

I know some of you may want to return to reddit now that r/menopause is re-opened, but I implore you to consider the road ahead.

More updates to come.

This is not a complaint, but a commentary on how I've been trying to get it to be more commonplace to talk about. Like the weather or a new hobby, lol

I've had a more social month. Was having lunch with my boomer uncle and he asked how menopause was going. He meant it in a very sincere way, and he shared some of what he remembered from when my aunt was going through it. He was glad the progesterone is helping my night terrors.

I was telling my husband about Naomi Watt's book, and he was getting angry on our behalf at some of the stories. He's planning to listen to the audiobook too. I'm likeing her book, it's kind of a cliff note version of all the books, along with a lot of personal stories from lot's of women.

My sons (step) and dad (before he passed) have been part of the conversation as well.

Which I'm realizing it sounds like I'm just around men, but I've talked to my sister-in-law and female friends and relatives too. I'm just around the men in my life quite often. My "found aunties" are also starting to check in about it too. They are 3 sisters in their 70s and 2 went through forced menopause because of breast cancer and are still hesitant about HRT after those studies. And they were brought up to not talk about it.

That's what the post-menopausal chief inspector in the Italian TV series I'm watching calls her upper arms 😆.

Welcome new lemmy users to our menopause community. The same information can be found here and hopefully we can grow our community here too.

So from all of us early adopters of Lemmy, I think it's safe to say a lot of us are trans women. We have to take a lot of HRT just like y'all and I wanted to say... AAAAAA

Forgot an injection? Oops your week is gonna be filled with crying EVERY DAY. And then dealing with pharmacy problems... ugh.

This year's theme: Menopause Hormone Therapy

I see there are tons of podcasts on the topic out there. Any recommendations?

I wouldn’t mind chatting a bit about peri and symptoms. I seem to have bouts of random symptoms every few months it seems. Took some rhodiola yesterday and today and it seems to help. Also ordered a couple more adaptogens to try out.

Edited to add: major stress at work right now so definitely something that’s not making this easier. Ugh.

I am reading a bit on Reddit but left Reddit last summer for good and would love to have some people chat here. Compare notes so to speak.

Original post https://lemmy.world/post/673953

I have been on testosterone 1% for 3 months now. I feel like it took 6 weeks or so for me to feel the effects. I'm happy to say that my libido has increased, not to the same levels that it was before, but I'm hopeful that it may continue to change. My doctor says that it takes about 6 months for things to level out in your system.

I was completely averse to sex for the last 2 years and now I can actually initiate sex which is huge for me.

I haven't noticed any other changes that you get warned about.

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask. And I would urge anyone who's having libido issues to inquire about going on testosterone because estrogen did nothing for me in that regard.

An office manager has won a £37,000 payout after her boss told her she used the menopause as an "excuse for everything".

Karen Farquharson, 49, said she was told to "just get on with it" after being off work ill due to her symptoms.

Good on her! Anyone else experience workplace issues with bosses or coworkers?

It is important to note, since this is an observational study, that it cannot say that having premenstrual disorders causes early menopause. Instead, the results show that there is a correlation between the two, said senior study author Dr. Donghao Lu, an associate professor in the department of medical epidemiology and biostatistics at Karolinska Institute.

Link to the study: Premenstrual Disorders, Timing of Menopause, and Severity of Vasomotor Symptoms

My hormones are so low my gyn said I shouldn’t have periods. Yet I do. And the past year it’s become more frequent. I just had one two weeks ago and starting again today. The past few years the first day is pure hell and I lie in bed in misery. Hopefully it’s just a few years to go but damn a hysterectomy would give me 16-20 days of my life back a year. Thanks I needed to vent.

It's great that they are getting this out here:

"There is a menopause management vacuum,” said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, who is medical director for The Menopause Society and director of the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health.

Only 7% of medical residents training in family medicine, internal medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology said they felt adequately prepared to help women patients manage menopause, according to a 2017 Mayo Clinic survey.

“Just because you’re a physician in obstetrics and gynecology doesn’t mean you learned about menopause and hormones,” Faubion said.

And state that:

The goal is not to require that employees confide to managers that they are in menopause or for managers to approach employees they just assume are menopausal. Rather, it’s to make everyone at work aware that menopause is a common health issue, and that various medical and mental health benefits exist that may help employees manage their symptoms.

Some folks asked if I would check in when I started my HRT so here I am. I have only noticed two differences thus far:

1. I have little blue adhesive residue circles all over my lower belly where my jeans rub against the patches and leave little fuzzies. I just learned of medical adhesive remover and plan to pick some up after work today.
2. My dreams are so much more vivid.

That's it. The doctor said give it two months. I'm still a bitch on wheels to my husband at work, because being told what to do pisses me off these days. And my hot flashes, which were not bad to begin with, haven't changed at all. I'll keep checking in but it feels like most people are still over on reddit where I don't go any more and I don't want to turn the lemmy menopause forum into the knitapeace show.

It took a little tussle with the insurance company, but today my Rx for the combipatch was FINALLY filled. I put it on in the office bathroom lol. I know I need to give it a couple of months but at least I got the ball rolling. What a relief!

I'm kind of happy to say I don't have much to share. It went well. As I mentioned in one of the comments on my previous thread, I knew the gyno would be willing to prescribe HRT because she told me so at our appointment in September. She just wanted me to try Remifemin first. But she mentioned in our appointment yesterday that Remifemin is really only for hot flashes and that was the mildest of my symptoms. So that was a waste of 10 months.

But basically I walked in with a list of all my symptoms and then started making apologies about how I didn't know if they were really all that bad after all and maybe I'm making something out of nothing and maybe I just need to see a shrink instead, but she calmed me down and let me know everything on my list was pretty common. And she praised the results she's gotten with HRT for her patients, and she told me to give it a month, maybe 2, and see if I don't feel a whole lot better after that. In short, she validated me and supported me and made me laugh, and most of all she gave me hope that I can feel better. I did tell her I made the mistake of googling the side effects of HRT and found that list kind of matched up with the symptoms I was already having! And she assured me that in most cases the side effects, if you get them at all, tend to fade after the first couple of months. Like, I'm going on this shit to help me stop flying off the handle at little things and crying that the world is ending, not to make it worse.

She prescribed me the dual estrogen/progesterone patch which we aren't sure if my insurance will cover. I called CVS this morning and the robot told me that it would be ready by midday Friday. I don't know if that's because they have to order it in, or because they're arguing with my insurance. I may end up with some other delivery system. I just hope they sort it out quickly so I can get this show on the road. Having a light at the end of the tunnel has already improved my outlook dramatically.

Anyway that's the story, thanks for listening!

Well, it finally happened and I got COVID. (So angry... ) Luckily, my symptoms have been relatively mild -- but, that being said, I still feel like total shit. But at least I'm not in the hospital or anything like that.

I've been on HRT (estradiol patch and periodic progesterone) for about a year and they've been doing a pretty good job at helping with peri symptoms, but I feel like I've started having hot flashes since getting COVID. Has that happened to anyone else? They feel like hot flashes and not "fever heat". I was feverish a couple days ago, but I don't think I am now.

I definitely have more brain fog and fatigue, too, but those I'm less surprised about.

Today is the day I ask my GYN to get me started on HRT. These are the symptoms I'm going to tell her about:

Anxiety, irritability, hot flashes, joint and tendon aches, tinnitus, brain fog, exhaustion, migraines, increased belly fat

As I've said in other posts, I don't expect HRT to make all those things disappear. I'm hoping that it will give me the increased energy and mood to be able to handle them better. I'm also hoping it will have some protective effect against Alzheimers which my father has (I know this effect is still being studied) and bone loss which my mother has.

Please wish me luck and no side effects.