Sylvie, please see your doctor. Cramping like that can be an indication of ovarian cancer. :\

Thank you for the alert, Nancy. I had no idea that cramps could be a symptom. I will follow up.

While I support that idea the folk should actually buy and read Dr McCleary's book as it has lots of very detailed information on foods for healthy brains, (He's also a low carb supporter) I've summarised his chapter on the menopause here bear in mind it was 10 pages and I've cut it down to one so do understand I've left a lot out.

I use to cramp and bleed so bad when I was having trouble with menopause. I finally had to have a hysterectomy and that was the best thing I ever had. No more of those cramps.

From a guys perspective, a warning sign of menopause is when your 43 year old DW's idiot doctor says things that may be bothering here could be pre-menopause....and your charming bride of 20 years jumps on the freak out train and runs you (me) over with it about 40 times.....well, that is a warning sign of Menopause....

......sorry, I'll go away now...........

Poor you.....and yes, you should go away now!!

All kidding aside, my mom had a horrible time in her menopause.....but I will tell you that she was nuts before it, it just made her crazy stuff more evident to others.

And it peri-menopause, not pre.

I am 51 Years old young. I get a few quick flashes lasting 20 seconds or less occasionally( twice a week). If I take 2 tbl of my Flaxseed oil I don't even get that. That's all no problems, no pain. Not an issue

Good info here for us.....



More at the link up top....good info for us who are in menopause or near it.

Excellent article Judy!
I'll be 51 in September, haven't had any hot flashes, night sweats. Always been a poor sleeper.
Periods went from 4 days to 7 days in the last year. Ovulated every two to three months this past year (ovulated this past month and the month before).
Grandmother went through the change at age 50, mom died before she had a chance.
Have had terrible pms for 15 years - that is still bad.
Take 3000 units of vitamin D, 5-htp, each day and bio-identical progesterone 2 weeks before period starts.
Think I did notice a difference after eliminating gluten (consumed it once in the last 6 weeks). PMS/PMDD/Peri emotional symptoms were cut by a third last month....also eliminated alcohol...that may have been the major factor.
Denise

me too...although I am not totally gluten free...I am wheat free.

I too take mucho D3, 5 HTP and a good multi....lots of cal/mag and mag alone too. Salmon oil is in there too.

Good job on getting rid of the alcohol.

I didn't have any advance signs. I had a period in the month when I turned 50, March 2007, and then didn't have another for 7 months. Since then, I've had about 3 other periods, all with relatively light flow. I've had a few hot flashes, but once I got back to serious low carbing in 2008, plus adding flax seed to my diet, even the hot flashes stopped.

Seriously hot flushes, with sweat running down my back, every ten minutes or so every hour of the day and night, was my first sign of approaching menopause. That went on for about a month or so before they gradually dissapeared. They came back 3 years later. During that time I continued to menstruate regularly. Now I have hot flushes about once an hour, and I menstruate irregularly, say 3 or 4 times a year, extremely heavily.

Sylvie, I had that happen to me. Most miserable time it started while I was on vacation. The doctor finally prescribed medication to bring it on. Unfortunately I could not tell you what the medication was, it was over 10 years ago.
Steff

I'm not 50 yet but have been in perimenopause since my daughter was born 12 years ago. Recently, my periods have gotten even heavier where I have to wear two pads at a time but I do have fibroids which I refuse to get taken out. I figure why have the surgery again when they are just going to come back. Might as well wait for them to shrink with age.... Doctors recommend surgery because they are surgeons, IMHO. I had the surgery in my late 20's and by the time of my pregnancy they had all come back again and were the size of grapefruits, but they just watched them and I did fine.

Progesterone cream has helped me with the hot flashes and some of the other symptoms.

I use to have problem sleeping and also had trouble concerating.
Don't know if these symptoms are with all women but they were with me.
I never had much sweating problem.