So I have this little problem

[HSmom]

...and I'm wondering if there's a gentle, more natural way to get me back on course.

 

I'm in my mid-30's and my hormones are getting...well, wonky, for lack of a better description. My primary doc pooh-pooh'ed me and said unless I was over 40 and having menstrual irregularity, it could NOT be peri-menopause.

 

Well, guess what! I think it is. Things are different. Some months I'm zitted out with five or six huge pimples. Another month, I bloat up for a day or fourteen before my period. Sometimes, I have sore nipples for two days or two weeks before I start.

 

My menstrual period and the little 'sign' of ovulation are both the same as they've been for years. It's just all this other weird stuff.

 

Something is going on and I don't like it.

 

Any suggestions? TIA.

[Lois]

Check out the essential fatty acids and Evening Primrose in particular.

There is a post on the essential fatty acids on this forum.

You can read about Evening Primrose here: http://www.herbsandnaturalremedies.com/herbs/primrose.htm

I take 1000 mg a day.

[goatherder]

There is a home test kit you can get to see if you are getting to the menopause point. It's available at Walmart. I haven't used it, but you might want to check it out if you want to know for sure.

[HSmom]

Really? I was just there today. I'll have to check into that.

 

Thanks for the direction Lois. I'll do some research.

[westbrook]

you are pre-menapasual. It happens.

 

make up your mind... are you going to do HRT (hormone replacement therapy)?, herbs, or let nature take its course.

 

do lots of research on all 3. be sure to get family history on any cancers or other medical related problems.

 

Once you have done all of this... find a female GYN!!! I can't stress this enough. A man will never understand what we are going through where a woman most certainly does.

 

My Mother is really old... and is on HRT.. her doctor tried to take her off and she refuses! found another doctor that agreed with her. My Mother swears by HRT.

 

My Sister had everything removed and is on estrogen.

 

I tried all of the herbs and every combination of them. I found some I liked better then others but found it was too much work for me to be taking 8 of these, 4 of those, 3 of them and so on, so I went without.

 

there are advantages to each one and disadvantages too. This is a personal decision that needs to be based on several factors.

 

some of the herbs are:

as mentioned evening primrose

black cohosh

wild yam

vitex

soy flavinoids

as well as a host of others.

[patches]

I'm now 40, but have been going through the same thing for a couple of years. Calcium pills have helped alot, along with switching over to soy, and not so much dairy. Also check with older female family members to see when they went thru it. I discovered my grandmother was completely thru the change at 38.

[HSmom]

*sigh* I'm too young to feel this old.

 

OTOH, I wouldn't mind ceasing to menstruate - it's a drag now that I'm done having children.

 

My mom didn't start with menstrual irregularity until she was 40 - course I don't have irregularity yet.

 

I'm one of those blessed women who continued to have periods all through exclusive breastfeeding, too. Guess I'm just made to reproduce!

[Granny]

Going thru the same "pre" thing with this Sunday being big 5-0. But that's a late bloomer compared to 38! Had no idea WM had a home kit! Will check that out.

 

 

[Lois]

Usually the evening primrose does the trick for getting your hormones in balance which is a good thing for your over-all good health. The essential fatty acids are really necessary to keeping you healthy. I like to use the flax oil and seed in toss salads.

My sister found that just a few drops (3 to 5) of Damiana tincture under her tongue when she felt irritable helped a lot. She didn't need it more than a few times.

[westbrook]

we weren't ment to outlive our hormones

[Safety Lady 2]

I used tofu everyday. It works. Also Estrovin works. Did not have one hot flash. Moods were better. All over that stuff.

[kritterwood]

SO... since were talkign hormones.... anybody have any suggestions for dealing with polycystic ovarian syndrome?? the doc says the only way to fix things it to have a historectomy., im only 31 for gods sake! i watched my mother have a historectomy and it scares the crap out of me, cause she turned into a dingy very forgetful person and i do mean real DINGY! i cant handle that. plus she lost her sex drive and keeps having a prolapsed bladder that has be be tacked up every few years. i have a man to keep happy here cant loose the sex drive, besides i like my sex drive. i also am in the habbit of lifting heavy objects, logs etc and if i dont have that stuff holdign my bladder up im afraid i wont be able to do these things anymore, and I HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT. so...... HELP!!!!

[Lois]

Here is a site that advocates the natural approach, and the symptoms and causes.

http://www.womentowomen.com/insulinresis...rian%20syndrome

 

Here is another site that deals with this syndrome

http://www.medifocus.com/polycystic-ovary-...a&assoc=msn

[txcowgirl]

I took the evening primrose when I was pre-menopausal, then switched to the black cohash when the real deal hit. Then whe I thought I was done, I quit, and the hot flashes came back. So got more black cohash, and am doing OK. Mom said she had hot flashes into her 70's (she's 85 now). Gee, that's something to look forward to. (not!)

[Phatkat1956]

I'm on replacement therapy after having a hysteroscopy (they burn the lining of the uterus to decrease or stop menstruation). I had hot flashes so bad I was sitting in a house at 58 degrees in my bikini (not a pretty site) with everyone else wrapped in blankets thinking I was nuts. The mood swings were even worse, I would cry so hard that my ex could wring water out his tee; and there was nothing wrong, just felt like crying. I was 36, pre-menopausal and got pregnant with my son at 38...the condition was worse after he was born. I was losing so much blood each month, that I was anemic and used a couple of quarts of peroxide to clean up everything that I messed up a month. I would leave a trail every morning from the bedroom to the bathroom. The entire situation was driving me crazy and my OBGYN was telling me that it would get better....I demanded to see a specialist and he is the one who did the surgery.

 

It is a personal choice, and family history is really important, but replacement therapy saved my sanity. Since everything is still in there, it's not 100% quaranteed to prevent pregnancy, but I've had a tubal along with the surgery and now I'm celibate so I guess no more babies for me. More important than that, I haven't had a cycle in 8 or 9 years, I do still have mild heat flashes but no longer suffer with the mood swings.

 

[Honeybee]

I had a hysterectomy a little over 2 years ago. I have never regretted it. I have not used any hormones, no herbs, nothing. I hemorrhaged for about 2 months before they finally got around to the surgery. I don't think it kills everyone's sex drive. I had a friend who had zero sex drive until she had a hysterectomy. Now, she actually HAS a sex drive. LOL

[lindahoney]

Well, I was perimenopausal in my late 30's and that's when we discovered the thyroid issue. Apparently, thyroid, ovaries and adrenal glands are all interconnected. If one gland is lagging behind in your hormone production the other two will step up hormone production to cover the lack. So a slow thyroid can often go undetected until the ovaries slow down, like during perimenopause. Then all Hell breaks loose, or it did for me. Heavy bleeding, anemia, fibroid tumors the works. I guess what I'm suggesting is to get your thyroids tested. And not just the T4, T3 levels but the thyroid antibodies too.