Menopause

Ok. I know I'm not help in this category..but I'm always seeing commercials about Estroven...
http://www.estroven.com/

Lena, I don't blame you for not wanting to take the hormones.  I was always a little scared to take them, too.  When my next door neighbor turned up with breast cancer, she blamed it on hormone replacement since there was no history on either side of her family. I know there are some over-the-counter meds with soy that they advertise on TV all the time.  They'e supposed to be completely safe and helpful.  Ain't this fun??  Welcome to the group![][]

Joyce

I started menopause about four years ago. I think I'm getting toward the end of it, but I'm having hot flashes that last HOURS now.

I took Estroven for more than six months and got vertigo so bad I almost drove off the road in a flat valley! The side effects of the main ingredient, black cohosh, are vertigo and weight gain. I got both side effects in full. [:@] However you have to take it for 6 months or more for them to show up. So you can get relief for a little while.

Estroven and all the other over the counter herbals DO help a TON. I might take some for a while just to get through this last intense bit. At least I'm HOPING it's the last bit.

I don't have a mom or sisters to talk about this with. My sister swears she just stopped menstruating one month and that was it. Right. I think she's in big denial. She's two years younger than me, but then again, she drinks and smokes.

I've been taking feverfew to avoid migraines and it WORKS. It also seems to totally keep away the "hormone days" that menopause can make. It also does a great job on arthritis, and unless you are taking a blood thinner, it's very safe!

The best thing that's happened to me in the last two months is feverfew. I'm like a whole new much HAPPIER person! Gosh, no more pain from arthritis and no more pain in the head! Wow!

Oh, and I can't take hormone replacement therapy because there is breast cancer on both sides of my family.

My mom uses Phyto-estorgen, a natural herbal supplement.  Works pretty good for her since she can't do the normal prescription hormone replacements. The keys are the wild yam and the Dong Quai.  Here's a link to the brand she uses:  [linkhttp://www.vitaminlife.com/product-exec/PNAME/Phyto_Estrogen_Power_Supersize/product_id/1010]http://www.vitaminlife.com/product-exec/PNAME/Phyto_Estrogen_Power_Supersize/product_id/1010[/link]
And in case the link doesn't work, here's the info:
Phyto Estrogen-Power By: Nature's Herbs

Recommend :   As a phyto-estrogen dietary supplement, take 4 capsules daily.
Does Not Contain :   reservatives.

Ingredients :   Soy Germ Isoflavone Concentrate (standardized for 2.5-3% isoflavones)…1400mg*, Kudzu Root (pueraria iobata) Extract (standardized for isoflavones)…100mg*, Certified Potency Korean Ginseng (Panax) Extract (standardized for 7% ginsenosides)…100mg*, Certified Potency Dong Quai (Angelica sinensis) Extract (standardized for 0.8 -1.1% ligustilide)…100mg*, Mexican Wild Yam Extract…100mg*, Boron…3mg*, Natural Vitamin E…800 iu..2668, In a Base of Chasteberry (vitex agnus castus) Powder and Arrowroot, [ % U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance], [* No U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance has been established]


Edited to add: this brand is pretty pricey, but Vitamin Life's web site is the cheapest we have found, as well as the shipping charges are a flat fee, not based on cost or weight of the order. I like that! Hope it isn't wrong to say how happy I have been with that particular web site!

Oh, and if you decide to use something like this, always make sure you check with your doctor that it is safe for you!

Please note that if you have an increased risk of breast cancer, or HAVE breat cancer - you want to AVOID Soy products.

Some breast cancers feed off Estrogen.  Soy can mimic Estrogen in your body and feed the cancer.

Many women have luck with anti-depressants for both the hot flashes and mood swings.

I'm currently going through Chemopause - menopause induced by the chemo drugs.  I don't mind the hot flashes (I like being hot), it's the chills that come afterwards that are making me very uncomfortable.

Dress in layers - easy to get on and off items.  Neck coolers are great help when a flash hits.  They are those bandana like things you soak in cold water and drape across your neck.

hot flashes

 
Those are energy surges. My wife is a year older than you. She's had some luck with a Natrol product, Menopause am/pm. We get it at the Vitamin Shoppe. It's herbal.
 

Hot flashes are mostly caused by the hormonal changes of menopause, but can also be affected by lifestyle and medications. A diminished level of estrogen has a direct effect on the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for controlling your appetite, sleep cycles, sex hormones, and body temperature. Somehow (we don't know how), the drop in estrogen confuses the hypothalamus—which is sometimes referred to as the body's "thermostat"—and makes it read "too hot." The brain responds to this report by broadcasting an all-out alert to the heart, blood vessels, and nervous system: "Get rid of the heat!" The message is transmitted by the nervous system's chemical messenger, epinephrine, and related compounds: norepinephrine, prostaglandin, serotonin. The message is delivered instantly. Your heart pumps faster, the blood vessels in your skin dilate to circulate more blood to radiate off the heat, and your sweat glands release sweat to cool you off even more. This heat-releasing mechanism is how your body keeps you from overheating in the summer, but when the process is triggered instead by a drop in estrogen, your brain's confused response can make you very uncomfortable. Some women's skin temperature can rise six degrees Centigrade during a hot flash. Your body cools down when it shouldn't, and you are miserable: soaking wet in the middle of a board meeting or in the middle of a good night's sleep.

http://www.breastcancer.org/bey_cope_meno_hotFlash.html

Lena, my wife is going through the same process.  My condolences to all of the people who live with you.  []

Thank you for all of the advise.
Ron I will check out your suggestion at the health store.
 
Billy, the only one I have to worry about in this house is my son Dylan. He has me to put up with as well as his biotchy 24 and 18 year old sisters. Poor guy is always in the midst of the raging hormones.

ORIGINAL: lena


Poor guy is always in the midst of the raging hormones.

 
There is a place for him in heaven.