quote:

But my bone density is quite good - slight osteopenia in one hip. And a very good thing too! I fall often

Amanda, oh dear!! I am so sorry to hear about this. Have you tried some balance-specific PT type exercises? There may be a tele-health consultation you could do or something? In any case, I'm glad to hear your bone density is good, but any reduction in falls would be a good thing!

Cindy,

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if you are only 51 and having hot flashes, I would say you are likely at the beginning of this process rather than the end. All of which to say, the migraines still have a chance to improve once you come out the other side.

I sure hope so! Because migraines are... well, awful.

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And if you are happy about your weight, I don't want to talk about it.

No, I would like to lose a little. I am having a hard time as well, due to corona. I gained a few pounds early on in the quarantine, I think I've mostly lost those now, but I would really like to lose maybe 10 pounds. Which, as you say, probably requires some big lifestyle changes.

I am just lurking here...I am 60.

(I have never really had any symptoms )

My migraines went away, as did the hot flashes. Hang in there!

My migraines are getting worse as I get older. More predictable, though, and clearly related to hormones. So I’m hopefully they will eventually go away!

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
Menopause rocks. It’s the best.

+1

SK, you likely have 5 years or so of this ahead of you. In my experience, the hot flashes are the most extreme during perimenopause. Then they get more tolerable and rare as time goes on. I'm ten years out from my last period, and I no longer get hot flashes, though sometimes I get a bit warm after eating chocolate.

At this stage of life hard aerobic exercise in the form of interval training for at least 40 minutes a day can make a big difference. And I agree with Amanda about using HRT. My osteopath vigorously insisted that I must do this. I was very resistant because of my family's cancer history, but a deep dive into the medical research revealed that the danger with HRT is when you take estrogen alone, and don't pair it with progesterone.

The risks of heart attacks and osteoporosis if you don't use HRT are much higher than the risk of cancer if you are taking both hormones. I use topicals that are prepared by a compounding pharmacy. I started with DHEA, then bi-est and a progesterone sublingual troche. These are all in tiny, tiny doses taken only a couple of times a week. It makes a big difference in your comfort, health, and well being. Find a naturopath who will prescribe the natural hormones, not the synthetic ones. But my conventional family medicine MD prescribes mine too.

They will definitely help with your hot flashes too.

I had very miserable (as in ax murderer miserable) periods from ages 10 to 54. I was in my 30s before I was able the recognize that it wasn't me that was crazy, it was my hormones (I was much later diagnosed with progesterone intolerance so it was like I was having a toxic reaction to my own hormones--probably would have had to have been hospitalized if I had been pregnant), so menopause has radically changed my life for the better. Even if hot flashes torment you for a few years, the payoff is definitely worth it!

So hang in there!

Yeah, the exercise news is not pleasant to deliver.

I find that even a short layoff in exercise causes a big drop in tone and conditioning.

And it's not enough to just stroll around the block now and then. I feel I need five days of real exercise a week.

It's not really possible to do just one kind of exercise five times a week -- for me it results in an overuse injury because something will give out. So I mix it up as much as possible: Bodypump, Zumba, spinning, tennis, running, boot camp, Barre. Whatever I can fit into my schedule that day.

The pandemic has been catastrophic for my fitness. Few options for exercise; too much food within arms reach; too busy at work. I feel like if I don't get it together right now it won't be possible to recover.

But I digress . . . give a lot of thought to how you're going to get your exercise, because when you pass 50, exercise is not optional.

piqué, I am maybe two years out from my last period (I think I have it written down somewhere...)

The hot flashes seem to be gradually increasing in frequency though not really in intensity. And they are pretty short lived (maybe 5 minutes? 10 if I don't do anything to try to cool down). But they do disrupt my sleep, which I don't like.

If they get noticeably worse I might consider a pharmaceutical solution, but if they stay like they are, I can't see myself doing that.

Although, your post makes me think I need to do a little more reading about the different options for HRT and the various benefits of different approaches. I'm much more interested in preventing heart attacks and osteoporosis than I am concerned about hot flashes.

It's been about two years since I put any effort into reading about HRT, now is probably a good time to revisit the subject.

Cindy, yes to exercising... I just need to do what I'm doing *every* day, I think that would make a big difference.

COVID has really tanked my fitness as well. I had lost 20 pounds in the months just before it hit, and I've put about 10 pounds of it back. All of the usual things: lack of exercise (particularly missing the walking to-from the bus, which was "hidden" exercise for me), food within reach, needing to cook dinner every night, etc. In addition, I'm a stress eater and things at work have been over the top stressful. I'm on furlough (a 20% reduction in both pay and work effort) but we have all been asked to do more with 20% less hours. The irony is that I'm administering the furlough program, which requires more than one full-time person, as a single person with 20% fewer hours. So yeah, kinda stressful. Hmmmm, where are those cheezits again...?

I am really missing the hidden exercise. It occurs to me that if we are back teaching on campus in the fall (and it looks like we will be) probably a huge percentage of the faculty are going to be completely unprepared for the reality of standing up for however many hours a day after months spent mostly sitting.... I hope to not be one of those people... But it's hard.

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things at work have been over the top stressful

I'm sorry!! Your situation is ironic (admin-ing the furlough while on furlough yourself) and I'm sure that doesn't help!

The benefits of walking are underestimated. Walk a mile or two every day.

I'm doing Pilates 3-4 days a week on Zoom. You can take the same classes I am. Check out the website for Move Missoula. She has some high octane barre classes too.

I just had a Zoom yoga session with Muffin. This is the second time we've done this. One of us finds a free Youtube yoga video and we give it a shot. It's fun to spend time with her in that way.

I've never enjoyed exercise for exercise's sake, although I'm happy to be active if I'm doing something that interests me. I've been trying to do better for a long time, and I'm exercising a decent amount more since the pandemic started. I'm not walking around campus, though, so I might need to step it up another notch.

Relative to the topic of the thread, I've been laying low, because I haven't had trouble with hot flashes. For me, this phase of life has been good in some ways, as I spent most of my childbearing years slightly anemic and I'm glad for that to be over. It's neutral in some ways, in that I see changes in my skin in terms of firmness and sun damage, but I seem to have inherited my mother's resistance to wrinkling, so I'm not going to bellyache about it. And it has been bad in some ways in that my ability to eat anything I pleased is long gone.

This happened as I took a job that requires me to sit a lot to grade and plan classes and such, on top of sitting a whole lot to write my books. I have gained a lot of weight, and my cholesterol and triglycerides turned ugly almost overnight.

I'm on medications that are doing a great job with the cholesterol and triglycerides. Now I need to figure out a diet and exercise program I can live with. I find that I can tolerate an hour of half-azzed stationary biking if I play a game on my iPad. I enjoy gardening and the squatting and lifting that go with that. I wave some dumbbells around sometimes. I enjoy yoga, although I prefer the stretchy/relax-y kind to the jump-around-and-do-pushups kind, so I do some of both. I suspect I will enjoy Quirt's new treadmill in my half-azzed kind of way.

Will this be enough to make me happy, or even okay, with how I look? I sincerely doubt it, but it can't hurt.

Regarding the migraines, I no longer have to fend them off with Imitrex for one week out of every four, like clockwork, but I do still have them.

For the first few years, I think I was still having random hormonal surges, so I'd get one at odd times, but that doesn't happen often any more.

Now they come irregularly, in response to other triggers. If my sinuses are irritated in any way, I have to take an Imitrex. If I get eyestrain, ditto. I keep hoping that if I get into a routine of taking better care of myself, the migraines will fade away once and for all.

If lifting the mask to sip water isnt an option, perhaps have something icy you can grab? Maybe getting the palms of your hands cold fast will mitigate the hot flash.

I am rarely bothered by them during the day (sweater off, sweater back on) but the mf's wake me up at night. I'm suddenly awake then 10 sec later BAM. Its been 7 years. I discovered during Covid quarantine that specific kinds of stress seems to increase their frequency.

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perhaps have something icy you can grab? Maybe getting the palms of your hands cold fast will mitigate the hot flash.

Good idea! When I get a hot flash, my hands/fingers get sweaty and it feels like they're almost swelling, so I have found that washing my hands in cold water brings a lot of relief.

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I discovered during Covid quarantine that specific kinds of stress seems to increase their frequency.

I wonder if that's what's going on with me, because I feel like I am having a lot more hot flashes now than I was 4-5 months ago. And it might not even just be "stress," it might just be that I am not moving around enough.... And so my 30-45 minutes of exercise is good but it can't make up for 8 hours of moving around (which is what I would be doing if I were not working from home).