Useful menopause tips for diabetes sufferers.

[ickihun]

Can i suggest you try and read reviews for Menopace original £4from asda. I have found this very helpful with mood swings and hot flushes. Has any of you ladies noticed your blood levels have risen since going through the menopause my doctor assured me it has no affect but I am sure it has.

I know dr bernstein mentioned menopause. I'll reread his book for his knowledge and post.

 

[Chook]

Oh no.... have you tried HRT yet? Also my step daughter says the exercise she is doing is helping.

I've got an underactive thyroid... always have.... I never thought about checking if I couldn't take the soya. Oops! Ah well, I'm still here....

 

[Chook]

Can i suggest you try and read reviews for Menopace original £4from asda. I have found this very helpful with mood swings and hot flushes. Has any of you ladies noticed your blood levels have risen since going through the menopause my doctor assured me it has no affect but I am sure it has.

Interesting. I had hysterectomy at 41 (BG tests then were normal) then I had five years of menopause, then it was another few years before I was diagnosed with Type 2 - but I was told at the time that it was likely that I'd had it for years before diagnosis because I had a few hypo events during that time which, at the time, I had no idea were hypos.

 

[Robinredbreast]

I never took anything, suffered in silence, my reasoning was, I am not in any pain, so I went head long into it. I did have a very hot flushes, one time my daughter was sitting on my knee and we were playing a game (she was aged about 6/7) but I had to remove her, as I was swamped in moisture, horrible at times, but not the end of the world. Far better than decades of extremely painful and debilitating periods each month, so glad when that finished.
Fingers crossed for you.

 

[AndBreathe]

My top tip would be don't sit around waiting for it to happen, examining every change in temperature, mood or emotions. When it comes, it comes, and it'll come in each individual's own brand.

My mother had the classic drenched hot sweats and all the rest of it. I had nothing. I had a sub-total hysterectomy (meaning I held onto my ovaries) at 4, and can honestly say I may have had one or maybe two, balmy moments. Certainly nothing tropical and nothing alarming.

I know I have been lucky (although I am about to have a raft of tests, which do include all my lady hormones, just to make sure I have gone through the menopaus) to be so absolutely symptom-free, and it appears my election to hang onto my ovaries at the time of the hysto likely worked in my favour.

I've never been one to sit waiting in expectation, and questioning every single thing that happens. I have too many things to get on with in my life to waste time in that way. If something crops up, I deal with it.

Anyone who hasn't yet crossed the menopausal rubicon, I do hope it is an uneventful time for you, but please don't lay in wait for it.

 

[lovinglife]

I take the menapace with added sage and their calcium tablets and it seems to help, sage tea is good for flashes too. I have PCOS and have been having flushes for at least 9 years but only in the true menopause for 14 months. I hit the 11 months twice then had a period so right back to counting the full 12 months again.

It's worth pointing out here that you don't hit full menopause until you have had 12 months without periods. BUT if you have any sign of bleeding after the full 12 months see your GP as it could be a sign of something else

I have a ceiling fan and a floor fan with open window even in winter. I also have a top sheet on my bed as well as the duvet, just cover myself with the top sheet seems to be more cooling than laying uncovered

In summer I put my cotton nightwear in a plastic bag in the fridge.

I also find getting ready for bed 30 minutes before going to bed helps - I go upstairs and fold the bed back get the room totally ready for getting in to bed. Wash and clean teeth put nightwear on, the loo etc- go back downstairs and sit quietly- then when I go to bed go right in and quietly lay down right away.

A hot water bottle kept filled in the fridge is also good for cooling.

The sprays you can get for cooling are good - keep in the fridge.

If you have a memory foam mattress- get rid - they are the worst thing for retaining heat

 

[lovinglife]

My mum had a terrible time and developed really bad claustrophobia during the menopause- she actually had to change jobs as she worked in a booth in a subpost office and just couldn't function - menopause is a very personal thing - some sail through it for others it is life limiting for a while

 

[Resurgam]

I never noticed = no impact whatsoever - though I was eating low carb for some years before and after it must have happened, but just when that was I can only guess.

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

*touch wood* I had my ovaries out last August and so far not a twinge of menopause. No hrt, but I eat a lot of phytoestrogen rich foods which might be helping. I don't know.

 

[Diamum5972]

Thanks for tagging me @ickihun, there's some great suggestions in here

 

[Indy51]

I guess I was really lucky - very little symptoms that I was aware of. And very pleased to finally go through it after years of pain from endometriosis and depression caused by progesterone therapy. Menopause was a relief for me

 

[Snapsy]

Brilliant thread. Thank you. I'm 42, and since mid last year I have had awful, awful mood swings, violent rages, night sweats and daytime hot flushes. I was convinced I was menopausal (I don't have periods anyway due to the POP contraceptive pill, so no clue there) and this seemed to add up, particularly as my mum started the menopause at 41.

Turns out I was wrong - all my symptoms were and are signs that my thyroid medication is massively out of whack.

But I'm aware that the menopause is likely to be just around the corner, and it's really good to read all this advice. Thank you.

 

[ickihun]

I take the menapace with added sage and their calcium tablets and it seems to help, sage tea is good for flashes too. I have PCOS and have been having flushes for at least 9 years but only in the true menopause for 14 months. I hit the 11 months twice then had a period so right back to counting the full 12 months again.

It's worth pointing out here that you don't hit full menopause until you have had 12 months without periods. BUT if you have any sign of bleeding after the full 12 months see your GP as it could be a sign of something else

I have a ceiling fan and a floor fan with open window even in winter. I also have a top sheet on my bed as well as the duvet, just cover myself with the top sheet seems to be more cooling than laying uncovered

In summer I put my cotton nightwear in a plastic bag in the fridge.

I also find getting ready for bed 30 minutes before going to bed helps - I go upstairs and fold the bed back get the room totally ready for getting in to bed. Wash and clean teeth put nightwear on, the loo etc- go back downstairs and sit quietly- then when I go to bed go right in and quietly lay down right away.

A hot water bottle kept filled in the fridge is also good for cooling.

The sprays you can get for cooling are good - keep in the fridge.

If you have a memory foam mattress- get rid - they are the worst thing for retaining heat

Wow. Memory foam tip is a good one. Never would have thought of that!

 

[lovinglife]

@ickihun I found a massive difference when I ditched mine. Both with the overheating reducing and when I lay on one of these the sweat had nowhere to go so was lying in a puddle lol

 

[ickihun]

Brilliant thread. Thank you. I'm 42, and since mid last year I have had awful, awful mood swings, violent rages, night sweats and daytime hot flushes. I was convinced I was menopausal (I don't have periods anyway due to the POP contraceptive pill, so no clue there) and this seemed to add up, particularly as my mum started the menopause at 41.

Turns out I was wrong - all my symptoms were and are signs that my thyroid medication is massively out of whack.

But I'm aware that the menopause is likely to be just around the corner, and it's really good to read all this advice. Thank you.

Wow. I'm hugely interested in your thyroid influence in the menopause too. Im constantly sweating but told not going through change. Maybe mine is thyroid nonsense too? Although i do have a mild infection, somewhere.

 

[Snapsy]

Sorry to hear about infection, @ickihun - that doesn't sound fun. And it's definitely worth asking for a thyroid function test, because hot flushes can certainly be an indication of too much thyroxine.

My non-active thyroid means I take Levothyroxine, and I had a blip with this in July last year, where my TSH was suddenly through the roof and my T4 was very low. They reminded me that I need to take it on an empty stomach, blah blah, and at the same time I realised that actually the cod liver oil capsule I had been taking at the same time was likely to have been hindering the absorption of my tablets due to, well, the oiliness! So I stopped taking that, and BAM in a short space of time I became absolutely wired, lost a load of weight, started getting massive anxiety issues, night sweats, hot flushes during the day, and raging, raging, raging angry mood swings and exhibiting scary behaviour.

Because this coincided with recovering from a massive kidney infection I put some of the symptoms down to that, and some of the symptoms down to being perimenopausal. In November my thyroid tests were in normal range, and then in February I was suddenly hyperthyroid - not only had I now been taking the tablets on an empty stomach for months, but I would take them, go swimming/running/cycling and only have breakfast an hour and a half or so later.

So I'd gone from **** absorption to supersonic absorption. No wonder I've ended up in a pickle.

So, since February I've been on 175mcg daily instead of the 200mcg I was on before. Follow-up test in a fortnight. Thought things were improving but I had another anxiety attack on Wednesday, and apparently I'm still being 'difficult' in my behaviour (cross cross Snapsy), although my hot flushes are now only at night.

I'd get tested, if I were you @ickihun , because it might be that your own dose needs looking at.

 

[JaylaP]

I've not read the full thread.

But liquorice is good for menopause symptoms.

Some find it helps others don't agree.