So let me start with my age, I am 48 and was given the menopause diagnosis in October of 2024 after 1 year of no periods. I am on the younger side for menopause but it can happen to anyone at any age.
I was 38 when my first symptoms started and I had no clue what was happening. My first symptom was a hot flash and it happened at the worst time. I was on a plane getting ready to take off from Sacramento to LA for the LA Times Festival of Books and all of a sudden I got really overheated and flushed and the overhead air vents weren't on since we hadn't taken off yet. This flash in turn gave me a massive anxiety attack, my mom was on the plane with me and she thought I was going crazy. See the thing is, my mom didn't really experience menopause or peri since she had a full hysterectomy so she had no clue what I was going through and didn't know how to help. I suffered through the flight but was fine by the time we landed. I had a blast at the festival and felt great! Then came the flight home, hot flash again but this time maybe I was expecting it? So my anxiety while it was there it wasn't as bad. Needless to say I haven't been on a plane since.
The first couple years after the hot flash I didn't really experience many more so I thought it was a one off of maybe the plane. But when I turned 40 the symptoms came back and hit me like a Mack truck. Hot flashes, anxiety, trouble sleeping, increased sex drive, acne... so I started to do research and decided to try to treat it naturally since 8 years ago the idea of Hormone Replacement Therapy scared the hell out of me because of all of the misinformation and bad research that had been going around. I will share below what natural supplements that I took that helped me for years.
At 45 more symptoms appeared, massive dizziness, weight gain, joint pain, hair loss, dry skin, mouth, & eyes, changes in my eyesight, brain fog, sweating, body odor changes... and the natural supplement I was taking stopped working completely. I finally went to my doctor to discuss my issues and he completely wrote me off and so did my OB/Gyn, they tried to prescribe allergy meds for the dizziness, anti depressants and anxiety meds which I refused so, I fired them both and found new doctors. My new doctors are amazing and we discussed HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and I got on the patches right away, the first set helped a bit but after a few months symptoms came back so we tried another patch with a higher dosage and it worked wonders! Hot flashes are rare, my dizziness is gone, anxiety is in check! For some symptoms and I've been using supplements for the others but I am now almost back to my old self!
If you can't find a doctor that will prescribe you HRT check out Dr Mary Claire's recommended physicians list to see if there's any in your area https://thepauselife.com/pages/recommended-physicians or Midi Health- they work with most insurance https://www.joinmidi.com/
What are some perimenopause and menopause symptoms? Lets take a look at this image from Mindset Health this isn't a complete list as they're finding more symptoms as more research happens.
Not everyone is going to experience these symptoms or may only have a few but not me. Going through that list I have had hot flashes, night sweats, bloating, headaches, moos swings, fatigue, anxiety, irritability, joint pain, itchiness, digestion changes, muscle aches, disrupted sleep, thinning hair, weight gain, concentration lapses, brittle nails, dizziness, and body odor changes. I know right? That's A LOT of symptoms!
As I said above in the first paragraph I am not a medical professional so please talk to your doctors and if they dismiss you find ones who will listen. But if your symptoms are bad or you even want to get ahead of it think of asking about HRT the benefits outweigh the risks especially if you don't have a history of breast cancer in your family you can read more here on Dr Mary Claire's website https://thepauselife.com/blogs/the-pause-blog/new-hope-for-menopause-experts-say-hormone-therapy-is-safe-and-effective#:~:text=New%20Hope%20For%20Menopause%3A%20Experts,Mary%20Claire%20Haver
Now here's what you all want. My resources and products I use. I will share links (the amazon ones are my affiliate link. The rest aren't). Also do your research and ask your doctors if you have any medical conditions to see if you can safely take the supplements I will suggest.
First my resource list:
This book and woman are my go to's for all things menopause! She is a board certified OB/Gyn who specializes in menopause care. She is simply amazing!
You can follow her Facebook page here- https://www.facebook.com/drmaryclaireProducts: (I tried to find products that were affordable for me since these supplement companies charge crazy amounts for their "special menopause supplements")
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