Ladies, may I ask you a question in private?

[hwillm1977]

I have a PMU mare who came to me pregnant of course. Her baby would have been sold as meat. Instead this fine girl is excelling at dressage and has just been inspected and branded as a Warmblood. I can't help any more than that. I've rescued mine, I won't take the HRT, I try to educate people about HRT, and I occasionally send money to the foal rescue here.

That's awful. Another example of the "animals are disposable" attitude that makes me crazy angry. Soon I'll be unfit for human company. Oh wait.....it's already happened.

At the height of the Premarin production, 40,000 foals a year were going to slaughter... sold at huge auctions in Canada and the US.

We never bought the mares, only the newborn foals (freshly weaned... usually around 4 months old).

 

[farmerlor]

Premarin is an acronym for PREgnant MARe urINe. They generally use draft horses (bigger horse, more pee) and breed her to collect the urine which is sent to labs to make the hormone replacement therapy. The foals the mares eventually give birth to are unwanted by product. We already have too many unwanted horses out there (check the mustang problem) and they're breeding back to back to provide urine to make pills for women to solve a medical problem that is a not a medical problem but part of a natural process.
I have a PMU mare who came to me pregnant of course. Her baby would have been sold as meat. Instead this fine girl is excelling at dressage and has just been inspected and branded as a Warmblood. I can't help any more than that. I've rescued mine, I won't take the HRT, I try to educate people about HRT, and I occasionally send money to the foal rescue here.

That's awful. Another example of the "animals are disposable" attitude that makes me crazy angry. Soon I'll be unfit for human company. Oh wait.....it's already happened.

Y'know, I think the problem is more pervasive than that. I think here in America at least, EVERYTHING is disposable. It's no wonder we produce more waste than any other country in the universe. But I'm with you, I tend to like fewer and fewer humans these days but I haven't met an animal yet that I didn't like.

 

[Wildsky]

Just reading the intro, I could swear the book was written FOR me. I have been so distracted by the hot flashes & night sweats & the emotional roller coaster rides that I didn't realize that I've also become so very forgetful, and so easily irritated by distractions when I'm in the middle of something and I'm interrupted. This whole thing is MUCH bigger than I thought.
I'm relieved to know that not only am I not alone (misery does love company, after all), but that I'm not all that unique.

Actually, the hot flashes are not too bad in the middle of winter! I've had a couple in the middle of the night - so far thats it, my sister seems to be handling things ok, hers started the same age as I am now, and she's doing ok - so I hope to follow. She's not on any meds or anything - so I can learn from her I hope! (She's 3 years older than me)

Forgetfulness and irratability I will blame on hubby and the kids!

 

[HunkieDorie23]

I started with hot flashes at 36. My mother had passes away when I was 35 so I couldn't ask her but I know she did start into menopause until she was in her 40's. I have no sisters, MIL didn't go through it.

The hot flashes do not bother me that much. At this point I only my have 1 a month, tops. It is the can sleep and go crazy part that I have trouble with. I do have the scattered brain thing to where I just can't seem to put my thoughts together.

So far I am just toughing it out (I am 41 now), but I know that I read the wild yam cream contains a natural progesterone. Has anyone used this. I haven't because I am hoping that I get through this and it is over. I don't want to drag it out. I have no problem going there the change I just want it over. 5 years now and I haven't missed a single period. They are considerably less troublesome (very short and mild) but their keep coming.

 

[warthog]

I was diagnosed as "going through the change in my mid thirties", just feeling depressed mood swings etc. During that time I did have a spell of hot flashes at night, to the point where I was dripping wet through and so was the bed.

I was about 49 when the period sstopped and boy did it hit me, hot flashes during the night and day, memory loss, just totally fuzzed mentally, just wanted to drop off the edge of the world. Couldn't sleep, if I did the hot flashes would wake me up.

I tried all the soy, black cohosh, and all sorts of herbal remidies, nothing really helped me. I was at the point were I felt I would not be able to carrying on working, and veeeeeeeeeeeery reluctantly decided to try HRT, it did help, but I have never popped pills and knowing about Premarin, I only did a few months of it, then just worked my way through it the best I could.

I am now 57, I think I can say the worst is over, I still don't sleep very well, can get mentally fuzzed, certainly become irritable at the least possible thing, and the odd hot flash both day and night.

That just how it affected me, not everyone is the same. I would not like to go through it again.

I think the most important thing I learned is not everyone is the same, and what works for one does not always work for another, just keep trying till you find something that works for you, I didn't, you may be lucky.

for all who are suffering.

 

[goatmomma]

Hi everybody, I'm new to the forum (have 3 goats, 6 baby chicks and 2 dogs on a mini-farm in SC)

I am 49 until May when I'll be 30 again. Had a hysterectomy when I was 41. Had a tough time with the hot flashes and sweats, you name it. But being that I am what some might call a "new ager" (not really, but whatever) I am also into personal growth and that type of thing.

One thing I noticed about my own hot flashes, etc, is that just before I had one I experienced some type of anger , mood swing , embarrassment , etc. What tamed my hot flashes is the old spiritual adage "man, (or in this case woman) know thyself". Once I figured out that I could control my hot flashes by about 90% by watching my thoughts and CHOOSING when to get angry (poor soul that I choose to let it out on) it would solve a lot of my issues. It also showed me that I could choose to anger or not and that if I chose not, then it was pretty liberating. Kind of allowed me to choose my moodiness wisely. Once I started "picking my fights" so to speak, I started to wait and pick things that were really important to me rather than things that just generically pissed me off. That was huge for me, because being a Taurus, I get rather obstinate at times...

Anyway, this worked for me and if you want to try it I'd be curious if it works for anybody else, too.

I hope you get some relief, it's a miserable thing.

 

[Wildsky]

Anyway, this worked for me and if you want to try it I'd be curious if it works for anybody else, too.

I hope you get some relief, it's a miserable thing.

I will have to try that, perhaps I can catch the temper before it blows up altogether. I normlly KNOW when I'm getting into a mood enough to strangle someone, but I normally just let it go as well.
Interesting....

I "think" I have hot flashes during the day time, but its only at night if I have one that it wakes me up and I KNOW. during the day I'll just feel a creeping warm and wonder why I'm the only one outside stripping my jacket off.

 

[Dace]

I am 42 and can't remember when my mom went thur the change....I think it was her 50s. She didn't have much trouble...I remember her mentioning needing really light jammies because she was always hot when she slept.

My Dh just mentioned that he thinks his sister (6 yrs older than me) is going thru it and I suddenly thought ....wait, we are nearly the same age! Uh oh!

I think I will pick mom's brain this weekend when I see her. This is a great thread, I hope we can keep sharing what helps and what doesn't!

 

[gettinaclue]

I just wanted to say thanks for this thread - for the open discussion about "the change".

I've been fairly sure for a while now I was going thru this (I'm 35). I spoke about this openly with my mom (nurse) for the first time a couple of hours ago and she confirmed my thoughts. She advised me to go and get a hormone test just to verify.

Just wanted to say thanks for the heads up about HRT. I had been thinking of this but now there is just no way I can do it knowing where they get the hormones.

I think I'll just toddle off and get some black cohash and cod liver oil.

Man, am I depressed.

 

[FarmerDenise]

Mine started shortly after 40 it is still going I'm 54
Like others said, I don't mind those hot flashes nearly so much at night in the winter. We did not use heat this winter except for the woodstove, so those hot flashes were almost a blessing
Drinking soy milk helped me a lot. If I noticed a hot flash coming on, I would simply drink a small glass of soy milk and it would pass within a few minutes. Black Cohosh didn't do anything for me. So I just stuck with the soy milk. There are times when it is still really uncomfortable, but I never felt so terrible, that I felt I needed to resort to HRT.
I think that those women who are so miserable that they really require HRT, should have access to it and not feel guilty about it either. I only object to people being given a fix-it-quick pill for every minor discomfort. The way advertisements try to promote their wares: "Got a booboo, here take a pill it'll fix it immediately"
I will go the natural route as long as is reasonable and healthy. There are difinitely times, when it is neccessary to see an MD and go that route. It is different for each person and each case.