Oy vey, I was going to post my experience in here, but got distracted after reading the thread!

I got a somewhat unusual situation, me (I think, but maybe not).

I'm 52 now, btw. Five or six years ago, my GP doc asked me if I was very very sure I didn't want to have that child, as my innards were in excellent shape other than running on one fabulously functioning ovary, regular like clockwork (AFTER having an ovary removed - enveloped by benign but very large ovarian cyst that was also interfering with other internal organs due to size - some 20+ years previously), excellent muscle tone, etc., no signs of perimenopause. I was pretty fed with "preventive" techniques and/or prescriptions... Bottom line, she signed me up for a tubal ligation (which is a tying off, ICYDK).

By the time I was queued for this elective surgery (thank you Canada for long long wait lists), some 10 months had passed. However, nothing had changed for me. In I went. Signed off. Out I came. All's well except for the horrible inflation effect (sorry for any tender feelings out there ).

No more than 6 weeks later I got a full-fledged hot flash. Periods started wandering around the calendar. Getting farther apart (or not), changing duration, changing severity and showing up at unexpected times. Started having trouble sleeping, and some fab mood swings. Within 7 months the cycle gaps were getting bigger. Within a year, I had my last period, and the hot flashes started tapering off steeply, I started sleeping better (at last!), etc. I had some symptomatic relief, over that year, with various herbal preparations, especially with those containing Vitex, A. Angelica and Cohosh.

Bottom line, 2 things really stick with me.

• The ligation turned out to be a cauterization (ick! burned flesh, and NOT what I had signed for) and I now believe they just plain got too close to my functioning ovary and caused damage.
• I had read an article somewhere since that time five years ago (should have found a link to it!) that it turns out that the once a month hormone(s) spike re estrogen has been a SUPPOSITION all this time, and that someone(s) had finally actually tested and tracked the levels at least daily for a full cycle (~ a month) and it's more like waves of rises and falls. In short, the medical texts and training about ovarian estrogenic hormonal function are all based on, ahem, NOTHING factual. They just don't know what they are doing in there, much of the time!

Wild guess, the other hormones involved are probably not QUITE what we all read about, never mind their interactions with the other major endocrine hormones, such as Thyroid Hormones or Insulin/Glucagon.

Sigh. Long story. There it is. Sometimes there are no warning signs. And the medical system needs a few good kicks in several departments.