OS menopause memories?

I've been through the menopause and come out the other end.

The only symptoms I had were hot flushes. They were a nuisance - particularly when they happened at night (daytime one can just remove however many layers of clothing are necessary and then put them all back on again when temperature normalises). Night-time of course = it disturbed my sleep somewhat.

Personally - I just gritted my teeth and waited for them to finish for good. I had the odd experiment with natural remedies - but basically didn't use any treatment of any description. I didnt see the point of HRT - as, as far as I could make out, it just postponed the whole thing and one has to go through it anyway at some time.

The one thing I would say is "Don't expect to have the same sort of experience of it as your mother did". My own mother told me it took a matter of a few months and it was over. My hot flushes went on for years (I wasnt counting - but it must have been over 5 years:eek: and I wouldnt be unduly surprised if they lasted for as long as 10 years:eek::eek:). I couldnt believe just how prolonged it was for me and, of course, it was worrying to occasionally come across a woman who was years older than me and said they had been going on for donkey's years and didnt seem to have any expectation of them ever stopping (but I think that is very rare - and do wonder if these women had other health problems and/or undue amount of stress causing this).

Having said this - I suspect my own menopause might have gone on only a normal length of time (rather than being so prolonged) if my life had been less stressful. So, if you can work out strategies to "blank out" any sources of stress you have in your life - then that will probably be helpful. Me - I can manage it to some extent - but find I personally really need Stress Sources removed from my life in order not to be affected by them.

There is a plus side to all this if you're single for some of us once you come out the other side. Some of us find our libido dies down to virtual non-existence afterwards and, personally, I find that a blessing as a single person (ie not wanting something I can't have iyswim:rotfl:). I can focus on things I feel are more important now.

Whew!

I decided to google and see how long other womens menopauses go on for - courtesy of this thread.

Came across a Daily Telegraph article re American study. It said hot flushes last for around 7 years. For women who started having hot flushes prior to last period its even worse - ie about 11 years.:eek:

The gist of the article was that the information doesnt seem to be out there just how long it usually goes on for.

Crikey - my first thoughts were that probably the average woman takes about 2 years and the very longest would be a, most unusual, 5 years.

Well that's me learnt something for the day then - as I thought mine went on unusually long - but, according to that article, it seems to have been pretty normal length:eek:

Probably just as well to know. Forewarned is forearmed and I think I would have been rather more conscious of deliberately trying to work out strategies for dealing with it better if I'd known just how long it would be. As it was, I went through it thinking "Oh it may be over next month and will certainly be over next year" and that was a way of thinking that didn't serve me well in hindsight.