This is a great thread! I am new on this forum and I can say that I am so impressed with all the information on it. To this thread's point, I have been on bio-identicals for around eight years and I think they are wonderful. I am 62 years old. Prior to this I had dreadful insomnia, night sweats that kept me awake all night, etc. I say I didn't sleep for a year. Then I went to a hormone doctor after reading his book, The Testosterone Syndrome (the first half of the book is about men, the second half concerns females.). His office was close by...I was lucky. What a wonderful change in my life. Menopause was just not an issue anymore.

Hi PilotGal, I read your profile...I am wondering since you are 54, if you have perhaps actually entered into menopause, and are no longer bouncing around in the uneven hormonal swings of perimenopause?

I am using BHRT, and they are helping me greatly through perimenopause. No matter how carefully (cleanly) I was eating, my hormones were still getting wacky, because some months I would ovulate, some months I wouldn't, etc. That would happen no matter what I was eating, because of the stage of life I am at. (I am 47, going on 48.)

I don't want to minimize the great success you are having and enjoying (congrats!) but I do want to point out to anyone who is truly suffering through hot flashes and migraines and waking up all night, that sometimes diet alone can't do it all. Once I have "come out the other side" of perimenopause and have entered into menopause, I don't know if I will use bio-identicals anymore. But for at least right now, they make a huge difference in quality of life for me.

I have been using bioidenticals for around 8 years now and I love them. I had had such bad menopausal symptoms that I probably didn't sleep for 6 months or more before starting the hormones. (Also a cream to rub on my inner arm, both prog. and est.) Almost immediately my night sweats were gone and I started sleeping so deeply and long for a couple of weeks, my body's way of catching up. I used to go to one of the docs Suzanne Sommers talks about in one of her books, I forget which book. I would recommend Dr. Shippen's book , The Testosterone Syndrome, of which the first half is for men and the second for women. I am 62 years old.

Thanks for posting this link. I'll have a look at it, too. Perimenopause seems to be doing my hormones in and I'm considering this step, although I'm sure that if I say I have dizziness from time to time, I'll just be told to eat more carbs... sigh....

amanda

I need to update here. I have now been on BHRT since memorial day. I still say WOWZA. This is the best I've felt in years and years and years. It's almost like I've had a personality transplant. I can say that I am definitely sleeping better which is huge because I am a chronic insomniac. Mood, edginess, totally improved. The thing I'm finding most interesting is my weight is at an all time low--I'm sure that there are multiple factors but I am attributing one of those factors as my hormones are more in balance. As long as I can afford them, I'll keep taking them.


Lisa

See, that's what I'm talking about!!!

Thought I'd come over and post since I just invited a newbie over.
My personal update....

7 months on bHRT and doing better than great. I feel good, sleeping well (and I'm a chronic insomniac due to my work), have hit almost 25 gone since May, the lowest weight I've been since I was 30, total personality transplant (just ask the 2 medical assts I work with all the time). I just feel good.

As long as I have the $$ I will continue. In fact, I'd give up half my Kindle habit every month for bHRT.

Progress not perfection.

Lisa

And that newbie would be...me

I just joined the forums, and if you see my intro over in the Introduce Yourself area, pardon the duplication - I'm a five-year low-carber, age 51, and I've been handling the increasingly overwhelming symptoms of perimenopause and menopause with natural methods until now. I've been considering BHRT for quite some time, and finally got the ball rolling a few weeks ago. I'm not taking them yet, because a bad PAP has tripped me up (and that's a whole 'nother scary story in itself), but I'm looking to get that resolved and get the BHRT going as soon as I can.

I'm not on any particular plan, and haven't been for at least three years - I eat what I know works for me, which is very low carb/very high fat, and I've learned how and when to tweak. I drink lots of water, but then I've done that all my life. I do take vitamins and supplements.

Anyway, how I do run on I'm glad to be here, thank you all for having me.

Hi Cyndie, I'm Cindy also. I'm 47 and didn't know why I spent all last year being exhausted. I had no hormones at all. I am currently on Estrogen, Testosterone, Progesterone, DHEA and Pregnisilone and also thyroid. Caution to all of you if you start getting tired or your hair starts falling out. BHRT blocks some of the conversion of T4 to T3 and you can become hypothyroid. No biggey as I just supplement thyroid. My hair is comeing in thicker as that is a component of Estrogen. I have 9" strands all over my head that coinsides with starting BHRT.

The black-pit-of-hell-lack-of-energy thing is amazing, is it not

I hate feeling tired. When I changed my way of eating to LC five years ago, I was having energy issues, and LC gave that all back to me. In fact it improved and/or did away with almost all of my menopause-related issues. It's only been in the last few months that my symptoms have gotten wicked again, and I'm *so* looking forward to addressing it.

CindyCRNA,
You mentioned that you had previously had some hairloss and thyroid issues.
I am on BHRT and also taking 2.5 grains per day of Nature-throid for the thyroid. My hair no longer falls out in handfuls as it did before taking thyroid med---but my scalp hair is still sparse.
How long did it take for your scalp to regrow hair after balancing your hormones? May I ask what type of thyroid med you are taking? Also what kind of BHRT? I am not taking any testosterone, just estradiol and prometrium. And I do know that Naturethroid has a low ratio of T3 relative to to T4.

I guess I am just tired of going around with thin scalp hair! The menopausal symptoms have been gone for a ong time thanks to BHRT. but I just want my hair back!

The NT was getting too hard to get so I switched to generic Armour ordered from out of the country so it doesn't have the fillers the US brand has that prevents absorbtion. I start on that in about 2 days. I am on 3 grains with an additional 12.5 mcgs of Cytomel in the am but may not need that when I switch over. My hair immediantly responded to the BHRT and finally quit falling out but I don't know if the thyroid will help with regrowth. That is more a function of estrogen which is the hormone of youth. Do you have any recent labs you can post of your hormone levels and your thyroid levels? Show me yours and I 'll show you mine!!

My husband's hair, which had begun thinning in a major way (typical male pattern baldness and partially attributable to hormones) when he turned 50, began growing back in when he started taking acetyl l-carnitine. He began taking it when I did, back in 2006.

He just turned 60, and he's got great hair

I haven't had hair loss issues - yet! - but acetyl l-carnitine is one of my daily supplements.

Moondaught,
Thanks for the info about the supplement. I will look into it.

cindyCRNA,
I am way overdue for labs. I don't have any recent labs stats to show you. but if you want to mention yours, I would be interested in seeing them.
From what I've read, BHRT supports a woman's thyroid in a big way, when she is post meno. The statistic I read is that by the age of 60, over 50% of women will have underactive thyroid issues.
I had a hard time finding any kind of natural dessicated thyroid meds so I ordered mine from out of the country too. Is Armour available now, again? I had heard that it was temporarily recalled. what kind of dosage do you take of Armour?

Have been on BHRT for over a year now and I must say it has definitely been a good thing. As CNMN Lisa said as long as I can afford I will stay on them. Hotflashes, night sweats, itchy skin on my forearms, moodiness, fatigue etc. are all gone.

The most amazing is the moodiness, I was really bitchy and cranky most of the time, probably from lack of sleep. But now I can laugh and be fun to be around. For me it was life changing. I had been in forced menopause for 15 years and suffered not to silently. I should have done this many years ago.