I have been talking with a lot of my friends and family in their 40's and 50's and am finding out that they are on some form of contraception! This made me wonder if that is why they have minimal menopause symptoms?
Would be so appreciative if any of you would share your experience to inspire those of us considering oral contraception for Perimenopause! Thanks!
My thoughts exactly. As I stated earlier, I thinks it was in the epidural as well as the pill.
I’d also be interested to know this. I have read that the pill can mask menopause symptoms. I am considering going back on the pill for this reason.
Actually.. I'm sure it can go both ways. I had a Mirena Iud for about 2 yrs bc ot my heavy, painful periods. While it lessened that issue, my midwive jist removed bc we watched and waited on a number of other things she thought may have been made worse by having ththe iud. I had an ovarian cyst causing low back pain. Severe vaginal dryness, strange urinary discomfort with no actual UTI esp right after every "period"( i still had almost.monthly but barely there and lingered.) Now.. some of those may still come in due to peri, but I swear I am starting to feel better after having removed. Could be my imagination?? But she swore some women actually have more issues than not. It really seems I am one of them! I'm also taking my supps more regularly (B's,magnesium,D for starters) but the general abdominal/cervical/lowback discomfort seems to have subsided. Just one story.. I'm sure others feel exact opposite!!! Ha. Probsbly just really depends on your own body. Good luck!!!!!
Hi Finny, i too have found the same all of my friends either have the coil or pill and none or minimal problems. I take nothing as hubby had a vasecetomy 20 years ago and i have started with all weird symptoms a couple of years ago at 45 and am a year or two younger than my best friends.
Hello,
I am speaking not from my personal experience but I have read many posts about perimenopause as I am young and suffering a lot the last 2 years and still trying to find the appropriate treatment.
BCP can help us when we are estrogen dominant. Since we are on the phase of producing low estradiol, BCP I think that exacerbate the symptoms such as headaches, more severe depression etc because it even lowers the estradiol
It is true that many women notice a boom of menopause symptoms after stopping the pills but when they decide to return to the pill, they feel worse!
You can only go on it if you still get regular periods that’s what my doctor told me. So for the rest of us ... it’s the hormone patch or hormone creams .
Maybe it's easy to say. Rough it out. Being the docs haven't a clue but to suggest this or that. I say don't take it. They only treat one symptom briefly. Then have you running back like a junkie for more.
If you have read most of us are having the same symptoms. Gladly to say we're not dying from thie Meno Phase.
Every med has a reaction, Be careful to what is given to you.
Yes! I am on the pill. Quit funny because I took my first pill in april - at age 46 😊
I only do it to control my periods - they had started becoming very irregular and heavy.
Since then they are light and on the clock.
That said... I am sure they cause my body a lot of other distress. I suspect they cause a variaty of symptoms, because my body is not used to synthetic hormones.
Since april peri has for me gotten worse and worse and worse with anxiety, stomach/bowel problems, shaking hands, irregular heartbeat etc etc.
I LOVE my regular and light periods but I think I will get off the pill again.
Just my experience 😊
- Troldepus
Hi Finny, Before I babble on... I just want to make clear that I am not in favor one way or the other of any type of treatment. Whether it be BCP, HRT, IUD, ADs, creams, eating tree bark, yoga or whatever! I feel that whatever works, grab it by the horns and run with it! That being said...I was on the same BCP for 20 years. Not so much as a cramp...clear skin, predictable periods, no issues whatsoever...my body did well on them. Went off because a very under educated dr thought all women should be off BCP at 40...even though I do not smoke and have no family history of cancer. I agreed because I did not need it for contraception and why take pills if I don’t need to. Symptoms started within a month. Fast forward 16 months later, I have never felt so horrible...my hormones are a mess. Truth of the matter is I was already in peri at 38. I know women that have been on them right until menopause. A few hot flashes here and there...that’s it. Lucky...maybe? Or was it the pills? Maybe. Others...not having a hard time like some of us...never took any pills in their lives...
I am going back on them...got the pack right here. Waiting on my stupid period to come...thought it was happening...but only spotting...Grrr! Reason being...I already introduced them to my body for 20 years, the pill kept my hormones in order. Then when I went off I was already in peri, hormones struggling...going off for me was bad. Did long term BCP screw up my hormones in the first place...yup. BUT, there is no guarantee that my body will welcome the pill back with open arms. However, if it is greeted like an old friend and showers me with some much needed relief...they will have to pry them out of my dead cold hands or put me on HRT when the time comes.
If anybody is contemplating any form of treatment...ask yourself what you are doing now and how’s it’s working for you. If you are doing nothing...trying to stick it out...RESPECT...but again...how’s that working for you? Physically, mentally, spiritually. There is risk associated with everything we do. This is an unfortunate fact of life. We are surrounded by toxins, crap in our food, environment. I just read the other day that processed and cured meats are linked to breast cancer. Can’t even enjoy bacon and eggs without risk. I have bored you all to sleep now...well lucky if you can sleep! Hugs to all of my fellow sufferers...here’s wishing you find your relief...whatever that may be 🤗
"Did long term BCP screw up my hormones in the first place"....hmmm, LOU?
I wasn't on ANY contraception - hubby had a vasectomy after our kids and YET...my hormones are all screwed up!
So that truly is the mystery - why ours plummet and and radically go up and down vs the women who have a breeze of the peri and Meno - why???? My doctor is on HRT and her mom and her sisters had a breeze.
Why?
They've had years and beyond to research and tell us the "why" of it.
80% have minimal symptoms if NO symptoms - what is it with us? What do we have in common? Maybe it's the bacon and eggs, LOL!
True.. my mom never took anything either, I was a surprise because she thought she couldn’t have anymore kids at 36. She had hot flashes and anger, then done. She never went to the dr, she took a soy supplement. In my case I am thin...always have been. Estrogen is stored in fat. When I went off the pill, almost immediately I had stomach problems, GERD...then migraines, dizziness heart palps and all kinds of other weirdness. Lost 15 lbs. Dr at the time clueless and disagreed with me that it was related to me going off pill...sent me for tests...then, health anxiety kicked in. 4 mo after stopping it... I had my FSH tested weekly for a month. Came back in menopause range each time 20-50. Estrogen practically nothing as well. The pill is out if a persons system quite quickly once stopped. Periods usually regulate after 2-3 months. I speak of the troublesome symptoms, fatigue, migraines, etc. Other things I noticed right away was acne, thinning of my skin on my hands, crepey skin on arms, hair was falling out, bones cracking all the time. It’s like I am aging rapidly! Estrogen loss will do all that.
What my dr did not understand about me is that I was experiencing side effects of NOT being on it. The weight loss exasperated the issue...more estrogen loss.
Now, some women may say...but I am heavy and having awful symptoms . Ok, if estrogen is stored in fat... those women may be estrogen dominant. Which can cause similar issues to estrogen deficiency. That’s were the even hormones come in.
Jump back to the FSH testing...I have had it done several times after. It has jumped from as high as 50, then back down to 10, 8...blah,blah. This is why the only reliable “test” is losing our periods for a year. When your levels are erratic, then you have symptoms. I am going to see a neurologist that specializes in vertigo. The other day, I happened to see another forum dedicated to vertigo and the discussion was migraines, vertigo and hormones. The post is 8 years old, but still relevant. A 50 yr old lady answered was told by her neurologist that because her hormones were so erratic it caused her migraines in the first place, thus causing her vestibular and vertigo issues. In my case...bingo! She also put down the name of the neurologist she saw...I nearly cried...SAME dr I will be seeing!!
The unfortunate thing for me is that BCP may not help me like before...it could worsen my migraines... I am on amitripyline, so hopefully not. But, wondering isn’t going to get me better...gotta try and see!
Finny, it may not be the bacon. But it certainly is the eggs...or lack thereof for us. TRuth is our ovaries are failing. Mine at 40 ...yours at 50. Some women have babies at 55. Did you know that killer whales go through menopause, but not in the sense that they cannot have babies anymore...they are fertile until death. It is because of food supply, they stop having babies to not use up their natural resources. WOW! Keep researching and educating yourself. . 😉
Hello Lou and other ladies,
you are right about the correlation of storage fat and estrogen.
All of my life and especially during my adolescence I was too thin and also very introvert with a lot of severe crying outbursts.
About vertigo, I had a severe episode of vertigo at 19 years old. A sudden horrible spinning sensation, terrible headaches, total loss of balance and I was vomiting even the water.
I was at college back then and for nearly 2 months in bed because of vertigo, I was scared to death...I am sure that the reason was that I was producing low estrogen.
Admittedly, hormonal imbalances can play the most insidious role in our bodies
Hi Evi! Most definitely! Eons ago, When I was a younger girl, I wanted to do gymnastics... I was always doing cartwheels, jumping all over the yard. Anyways, we would watch gymnastics on tv and my mother used to tell me that girls who did that did not get their periods normal, etc. I was always thinking, who cares and had no idea what she meant. Funny the childhood things we remember. 30 years later and I finally understand. Very athletic women have zero body fat...estrogen brings on our periods. I wonder if those women go through early meno? Any female bodybuilders out there?? 🤔
I know some of you ladies enjoy reading material. Lots of fun stuff to read. Put this in...
An OB/GYN tackles menopause. There is no wisdom in suffering. 😁
It seems eons Lou but it is not! We are not that old despite the fact that we feel like 80 years!
We used to watch gymnastics with my parents too and indeed my body structure reminded a lot of ballerinas and the girls of gymnastics. I have also scoliosis ( luckily it is not distinguishable) which is very common in women with low estrogens.
I am sure that I suffer from hypoestrogenism all of my life.
Your mom had right about the abnormal periods of these girls but in the past we were not mature enough to understand the consequences of this.
I have minor scoliosis too. Degenerative discs in my lower back and arthritis in my neck. Scares me that I am falling apart so soon. At 41, I need to do something or I will have osteoporosis in the future. I want to be that little girl again bouncing around in the yard and ice skating in the winter😐
"Finny, it may not be the bacon. But it certainly is the eggs...or lack thereof for us"...YOU crack me up, Lou! I love it! I need these laughs! 🤣😂🤣
Part of me wants you to go on the pill you were on before, Lol! I'm sure you've told me 10 times why you can't. But...I am still feeling confident about this new pill you will be starting soon/??
My period came yesterday - oh me, oh my. My mom suggested wearing depends for these coming months as she said she had major flooding and needed to change clothes several times; my cousin had the same experience.
I'm having SO many new symptoms - ugh! Just when I think I can "handle" the ones I've had already had (maybe 40 new symptoms?), I get another new one or two or three. When it first comes it scares me because it's so odd and new and something I've never experienced before:
The new ones this cycle that started and stopped were: burning eyelids, loss of urine that I couldn't control, a burning toe, electric shock sensations in different parts of my body, my front teeth ached for about 11 days and stopped, my bottom eyelid is twitching/last cycle it was the top eyelid, itching scalp for a day or two, air hunger for the 3 days leading up to my period and now that happens with some of my hot flashes. I am certain I've missed a few of my new symptoms - I am WEARY! But thankfully I am not depressed or anxious all day - that was new for me in my June cycle (first cycle I skipped was that month) and I hope I never have to go through that type of cycle with those symptoms ever again.
My hormones are doing a serious nose dive - it is SO obvious to me. I am really thinking I may have to get on a prescription if things don't ease up by my next cycle. This is such an unbelievable ride.
Gosh, I hope you do not flood! So far, I have not had too many horror shows. I asked about the original pill I was on ( orthotricyclen) ...obgyn said too much estrogen in that pill at this stage. Another thought that just occurred to me, if my old bcp was a higher dose of hormones...My hormones definitely crashed at 100 mph! The one I have here is Amethia...low dose. It us a 91 day pill. 84 days straight hormones, 1 week off bleed. Just waiting on my period...it’s brewing! Got to keep up thise spirits up!! 😉