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Post by lisamnz on Dec 1, 2022 17:50:36 GMT -5
I've often wondered what the evolutionary purpose of periods are. Most mammals don't menstruate like humans do, surely monthly bleeding would not have been ideal in the African savannahs. I don't think you're asking quite the right question. It's what the evolutionary purpose of having such a thick uterine lining - that's why we have periods, because the lining is too thick to be completely absorbed by the body. |
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Post by Liiisa on Dec 1, 2022 18:00:32 GMT -5
Well, and for many traits there's not even an evolutionary purpose at all - as long as a mutation doesn't kill you off it's got a chance of being passed on to future generations. Sometimes it makes you stronger, but sometimes it just doesn't matter one way or the other.
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Post by psw on Dec 1, 2022 20:58:03 GMT -5
There was a book, The Aquatic Ape, by Elaine Morgan, which theorised that humans went through an aquatic phase before living mostly on land, and somehow the moon and the tides set up the 28-day female cycle. Very controversial, but an interesting take on evolution.
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Post by sprite on Dec 2, 2022 11:25:55 GMT -5
What’s the brand name of those “identical “ hormones. Because when I said such a thing years ago (as I learned on the internet), my gyno said that they only have synthetic ones. No idea about brand names. But the body produces progesterone, and newer HRT meds, many coming from yams (yeah, I have no idea), use progesterone. Older forms, and birth control pills, often used Progestin, a version that is similar but not exactly, and some females react badly to it. turns out, there's a similar term, 'bio identical?' HRT that promises to match a person's owns individual levels of hormones exactly, but there's no evidence that this is any better. And it doesn't make sense to me, because by the time we need HRT, our hormone levels are out of whack, and who wants to replicate that? |
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Post by sprite on Dec 2, 2022 11:53:10 GMT -5
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Post by Q-pee on Dec 5, 2022 4:23:17 GMT -5
some light relief...
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Post by riverhorse on Dec 5, 2022 6:46:27 GMT -5
I've been reading along here so far but this is the first chance I've had to sit and contribute anything.
Having had the womanly plumbing ripped out at age 39, I have no idea what stage of menopause I'm at but I'm guessing at nearly 56, I'm probably through by now.(They kept the ovaries in, just took the uterus)
One thing that really had me worried about 3 or so years ago was absolute brain fog and forgetfulness, so much so that I spoke to my GP concerned about early onset dementia. I was quite relieved to have it put down to a common but perhaps not so well-known symptom of menopause. After a few months it passed and now I'm just my "regular" forgetful self.
One thing I noticed was that many symptoms I thought were menopause, especially night sweats and insomnia, practically disappeared when I greatly reduced my alcohol intake. I still share a bottle of wine with PG on the weekend, or a glass of bubbles on occasion, but tend these days to drink only alcohol free beer, alcohol free bubbles (Germany make some great ones) and mocktails. As I have not yet found a decent AF wine I will still drink red, but find that white has a far less drastic effect on sleep disruption.
I guess some of you might be thinking that without wine, menopause would be even more of a PITA but just wanted to add my 2¢!
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Post by Q-pee on Dec 5, 2022 16:46:25 GMT -5
I guess some of you might be thinking that without wine, menopause would be even more of a PITA but just wanted to add my 2¢! there's always Gin  Kidding, kind of. |
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Post by veronicainsocks on Dec 9, 2022 12:29:57 GMT -5
I've been reading along here so far but this is the first chance I've had to sit and contribute anything. Having had the womanly plumbing ripped out at age 39, I have no idea what stage of menopause I'm at but I'm guessing at nearly 56, I'm probably through by now.(They kept the ovaries in, just took the uterus) One thing that really had me worried about 3 or so years ago was absolute brain fog and forgetfulness, so much so that I spoke to my GP concerned about early onset dementia. I was quite relieved to have it put down to a common but perhaps not so well-known symptom of menopause. After a few months it passed and now I'm just my "regular" forgetful self. One thing I noticed was that many symptoms I thought were menopause, especially night sweats and insomnia, practically disappeared when I greatly reduced my alcohol intake. I still share a bottle of wine with PG on the weekend, or a glass of bubbles on occasion, but tend these days to drink only alcohol free beer, alcohol free bubbles (Germany make some great ones) and mocktails. As I have not yet found a decent AF wine I will still drink red, but find that white has a far less drastic effect on sleep disruption. I guess some of you might be thinking that without wine, menopause would be even more of a PITA but just wanted to add my 2¢! Like you, I almost don’t drink- I always suffer after, but now- 2 glasses and I am done for the next day. I can’t sleep, and feel hangovers. Unlike you, I wish I could drink. I like the joy and happiness and relaxation it brings. So I see it as another thing taken from me. By menopause or just getting older. I don’t know. I also know men that can’t drink much. |
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Post by veronicainsocks on Dec 9, 2022 12:32:28 GMT -5
However, I also noticed that even small amounts of alcohol ( 1 -2 drinks) give me some kind of depression for a day or two.
Maybe it was always like that? When I was younger it was maybe hard to notice, as hormones affected me a lot.
Now - since I am stable and happy- I notice it.
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Post by sprite on Dec 9, 2022 17:14:53 GMT -5
That's an interesting idea, that we didn't notice the effect because of hormones!
I've heard people say they'd never thought alcohol affected them, but gave it up for January to support a partner (for example) and discovered they felt much happier after a week!
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Dec 9, 2022 18:07:50 GMT -5
I learnt when I was 21 not to drink when I was sad, as two drinks caused a major 2 hour bout of crying at a party, at a time when I was coping with my mother’s serious and sudden illness.
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Post by riverhorse on Dec 10, 2022 3:15:33 GMT -5
Went out to an Irish pub last night but unfortunately you can't get Guinness 0.0 on tap in Germany yet. It is the best AF beer I've tried, even PG said he really couldn't tell the difference in taste.
We're off to Venlo today for a seafood run so I'm going to buy a whole slab of Guinness 0.0 while I'm there.
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Post by kraken on Dec 10, 2022 14:16:46 GMT -5
I used to be able to handle alcohol pretty well with fairly mild hangovers but that all changed in my early 30s, and the hangover roulette has gradually worsened not in my favour to the extent where now, nearing my mid 40s, two drinks is almost guaranteed to give me a hangover, anything more and I need to be prepared to write off the next day. I rarely have more than a drink or two, even those are maybe two or three times a year.
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Post by sprite on Dec 11, 2022 12:16:31 GMT -5
I only had one drink last night, and was really worried about having a hangover. Then remembered I'd had a salty/spicy meal, and only one other non-alcoholic beverage over the course of 4 hours, while talking in a loud bar!
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Post by cakemonkey on Dec 11, 2022 13:57:58 GMT -5
One thing that really had me worried about 3 or so years ago was absolute brain fog and forgetfulness, so much so that I spoke to my GP concerned about early onset dementia. I was quite relieved to have it put down to a common but perhaps not so well-known symptom of menopause. After a few months it passed and now I'm just my "regular" forgetful self. My sister is experiencing this quite badly (along with periods lasting six-week). The brain fog is serious, so much so that her manager is taking work off her and allocating elsewhere (I think I said this already). He isn’t the most supportive boss either so not sure how this is going to pan out. I completely agree with the alcohol observation. Mine is white white though - other alcohol doesn’t seem to do it. Not that I drink very much these days. There are some great AF drinks on the market over here now, River. My OH doesn’t drink so I always seek them out for trying. The wine substitutes are not great though (taste like squash). They had loads of AF choice in the supermarket in Marrakesh. |
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Post by wombatrois on Dec 12, 2022 8:35:48 GMT -5
The first AF bottle shop (aka off licence) has opened here.
I went to a stay-overnight-at-a-country-pub-significant-birthday-party on Saturday night. Everyone was around my age. Half of us were in bed by 11 or 12 midnight (me - 11pm), the other half stayed up till 2-2.30am drinking!
Can't do it.
I managed to drink around 3 or 4 small glasses of wine over the 5 hour period of the dinner. The glasses were mostly over dinner, so no significant hangover, although I was tired all day yesterday from the "late" night :-D
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Post by tinaja on Dec 12, 2022 17:39:50 GMT -5
Sugar seems to be my enemy. I had asian food last night with the sort of sweet sour sauce. And a rootbeer. Didn't sleep well. Menopausal shit or not.
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Post by scrubb on Dec 13, 2022 0:57:14 GMT -5
I haven't drunk too much for several years, but I made a big exception one day last June. had more than 1.5 bottles of wine over the course of about 4 hours. And I had no ill effects at all, which was a very big surprise, because in the past 5 years if I've had even half a bottle of wine, I've slept poorly after.
So... at some point, instead of the hangovers continuing to get worse, they have reversed!
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Post by sprite on Dec 13, 2022 13:18:29 GMT -5
Ah, there's hope!
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Post by kneazle on Dec 16, 2022 21:38:54 GMT -5
They've just had the two Davina McCall documentaries about menopause on here. Really interesting.
HRT was particularly interesting- like most people I'd heard about the cancer link but didn't know it had been disproven
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Post by scrubb on Dec 17, 2022 14:12:08 GMT -5
They've just had the two Davina McCall documentaries about menopause on here. Really interesting. HRT was particularly interesting- like most people I'd heard about the cancer link but didn't know it had been disproven It's interesting to see that documentaries are saying it has been disproven, because the quite recent articles I've read have said the exact opposite - that it's not disproven at all, and in fact that the biggest study to date showed it was more frequently involved than earlier thought. (I linked an article above.) |
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Post by scrubb on Dec 17, 2022 14:19:14 GMT -5
I just looked at what the cancer research websites say about it. It's nuanced, as medicine often is, but to say that the link has been disproven is a gross overstatement. website |
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Post by sprite on Dec 17, 2022 17:39:31 GMT -5
I did start reading through the articles you linked, and yes, it's important to have that info. In some examples, the risk went from 1 in 1000 to 1 in 500, which is double, but still not common.
I suspect a lot of it will be, how many other risk factors do I have, how severe are my symptoms, am I as risk of osteoperosis, am I willing to pay more attention to possible symptoms, do i have access to a good screening program...
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Post by sprite on Dec 17, 2022 17:42:10 GMT -5
I am quite cheesed off, because it's period week again, and once again, the flow is defeating my menstrual cup. I've never, in nearly 20 years, had any issues with the cup. but these past two cycles, it's like it's being dislodged regularly.
The cramps are lighter than they normally have been, but maybe coincidence, my entire body ached on the first full day.
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Post by kneazle on Dec 17, 2022 19:03:13 GMT -5
Sorry not completely disproven but way less of a factor than was originally reported. Other lifestyle factors are more likely to influence the chance of getting breast cancer but obviously if there's family history or you've had breast cancer then it's probably a no go.
They did say that it looks like getting on tp HRT early can reduce the risk of alzeimers.
What was really interesting was that 1/3 of GPs in the UK don't feel they know enough about menopause.
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Post by sprite on Dec 19, 2022 4:38:24 GMT -5
Yeah, I was shocked to learn that it wasn't part of medical training. 50% of their patients will go through it, and it's an optional subject to study???
I do think that's changing.
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Post by romily on Dec 20, 2022 10:30:21 GMT -5
Oh, I thought about this thread after I spoke with my sister the other day (who is in per-menopause and on the mini pill causeless of other unrelated health issues and treatments for them). She quite bluntly said I would definitely be in the menopause if I would not still take the combined pill - and thinking about it I did notice that even on the pill, my periods have been heavier in the last year, which I put down to stress - it physically manifested itself in many ways in the last years during Mum's diagnosis and death, for example on / off diarrhea for the whole time which is just now settling down a bit...
Also (and I don't know the english word so sorry for being graphic) I always had white discharge between my periods on a daily basis so always needed pantyliners. But this year it's stronger smelling, maybe that's to do with menopause as well.
Either way, I stick with the pill as long as I can do to previous bouts of depression, and will be totally open to HRT as well should my mental health go downhill if they stop me on the pill.
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Post by sprite on Dec 20, 2022 15:34:42 GMT -5
I get a discharge around ovulation, and I've noticed in the past few months that sometimes it goes on for days, to the point that I worry about getting enough water to compensate.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Dec 22, 2022 6:44:50 GMT -5
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