Okay, I’ve officially had it with the symptoms, and I’ve made an appointment with a local OB to ask about my options for: a) reducing the number and intensity of my night sweats, b) improving ability to sleep through the night in general, and c) increasing my libido. There are other issues I’d love to tackle, as well, but those are the top three causing me to finally ask for help. I’d like to be an informed patient when I go in there, but I’ve gotten nothing but confused through Googling. Are there any good resources anyone can recommend for studying up on various options for reducing the intensity of menopausal symptoms? In the threads on this web site, I’ve seen women refer to bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, “regular” HRT, cremes, pills, and patches. How do I know which one I want to try? What questions do I ask the OB to help me decide? Thanks in advance for any suggestions and/or advice. I am clueless about this stuff, other than to know that I’m tired of waking up in a pool of sweat.
One good information resource is ourbodiesourselves.org
And a caution for everyone to take note of: black cohosh is an herb used in many menopause formulations. There is strong evidence that use of the this powerful herb can lead to liver damage.
Estrogen and progesterone combinations are what your OB will talk to you about, or maybe just progesterone or just estrogen.
FWIW, my similar symptoms have stopped after starting on basically, low-dose birth-control pills in the estrogen-progesterone formula. The patch delivers a better dosage, but it doesn’t stick well after an hour of swimming and at $27 per patch, I didn’t like seeing them come off before their week of use was done. So, as a triathlete, I’m stuck taking the pills.
The part I don’t like is having to pay $56 per month, while the gents can get their equivalent product for $10-grrrrrrrrrrrr
What do you do about the symptoms during the week of “placebo” pills? That’s when my symptoms are the worst. (I’m already on low-dose bc pills).
I take them daily with no break. It’s caused intermittent light spotting, but not even enough for me to need protection usually.
As I said before, getting a full night’s sleep again is worth almost anything
I’m actually trying a new OBGYN and have a few weeks to start my list…it’s more like I’m interviewing her type situation so good thread.
In re the sleep issue. Seems so simple I guess, but not until you read it, but I read melatonin is the one hormone that depletes as both men and women age and it recommended .05 mgs 1/2 hr to 1 hr before bedtime. It also recommended that the bottles that have uber doses, you know 5, 10 mgs weren’t to be gone near. I couldn’t find anything lower than 1 mg. I have to say since taking 1 mg. I have been sleeping much better (still indulging in my dinner cocktail I still will wake up to pee or will wake up occasionally but will fall back asleep easily. It’s SO MUCH better than that crazy OTC sleep stuff that was really benadryl in disguise and wouldn’t kick in till I had only 4 hours left till waking for work and would be a zombie most of the day.
I cannot believe how much sleep makes a difference in one’s outlook, how much more optimistic I am about having energy again. It’s only been about 10 days but egads, a week of a good night’s sleep and here I am signing up for a marathon, LOL.
I just never knew, or grossly underestimated how seriously detrimental lack of sleep is to one’s mental well-being.