Perimenopause and natural remedies for all the symptoms...

[ereks mom]

I keep hearing (here and elsewhere) about stuff like black cohosh, vitamin B-6, natural progesterone cream, evening primrose oil, Vitex/chaste berry, and more that I can't remember now. How do you know which one to take for what?

[Mom2legomaniacs]

http://www.johnleemd.com/store/premenstrual_syndrome.html

 

Try this site to see where you fall symptom-wise. Then go from there.

[sdWTMer]

There is also estroven as well.

[Carol in Cal.]

...the kind of thing that makes you want to ram the shopping cart into the person in front of you who is JUST STANDING THERE for NO GOOD REASON and who is BLOCKING THE AISLE, and then would not be satisfied unless they responded by apologizing profusely, preferably on their knees,

 

Borage oil is great.

1300 mg twice per day. A mood-altering nutrient.

 

If it doesn't work, it is usually because either you're not taking enough or you lack the other omega, in which case fish oil rocks from what I hear. But I am in the borage oil rocks category.

 

I hear that a very low fat diet is great for hot flashes. However, I do not have those. Instead, I have evolved into someone who is just pretty warm all the time, which is quite nice actually. For the entire first half of our marriage, my charming DH would put on his leather jacket and get into the car and say that it was too hot and roll down the window. At night. When it was about 60 out. I, OTOH, would be in a dressy dress and would freeze or request that he close the window. But now, ah now, I can unroll the window in any weather, in any clothes. And if DH says that he is too cold, I can say, "Oh, I'm so sorry, honey, are you cold?" and roll up the window. It is so fun! (It's the little things).

 

There are other aspects of perimenopause that I find less enjoyable. I could do without having to put deoderant on my chest as well as under my arms. I am finding an alarming quantity of little, coarse facial hairs on my chinny chin chin. And I do not seem to be metabolizing at a reasonable rate. Translation: I am getting pretty heavy. And there is no end to that process in sight.

[Michelle T]

...the kind of thing that makes you want to ram the shopping cart into the person in front of you who is JUST STANDING THERE for NO GOOD REASON and who is BLOCKING THE AISLE, and then would not be satisfied unless they responded by apologizing profusely, preferably on their knees,

 

Borage oil is great.

1300 mg twice per day. A mood-altering nutrient.

 

There are other aspects of perimenopause that I find less enjoyable. I could do without having to put deoderant on my chest as well as under my arms. I am finding an alarming quantity of little, coarse facial hairs on my chinny chin chin. And I do not seem to be metabolizing at a reasonable rate. Translation: I am getting pretty heavy. And there is no end to that process in sight.

 

 

 

The black chin hairs freak me out. The getting fatter and fatter depresses me. The hot flashes and sweating are a drag. The irritability is terrible. The brain fog makes me feel stupid. The acne all over my chin and neck looks just lovely. The fatigue makes it hard to get through the day. No one warned me that my eyelashes and eyebrows would get skimpier. It's a horrifying moment when you discover your first gray hair.... somewhere other than on your head. Sigh.

 

I'm going to have to give Borage oil a try. Is it something you take every day, or only certain times during the monthly cycle? Of course, some of us no longer have anything even approaching a regular monthly cycle, so it's harder to figure out. Did you work your way up in dosage? Any side effects to be aware of?

Michelle T

[Carol in Cal.]

The black chin hairs freak me out. The getting fatter and fatter depresses me. The hot flashes and sweating are a drag. The irritability is terrible. The brain fog makes me feel stupid. The acne all over my chin and neck looks just lovely. The fatigue makes it hard to get through the day. No one warned me that my eyelashes and eyebrows would get skimpier. It's a horrifying moment when you discover your first gray hair.... somewhere other than on your head. Sigh.

 

I'm going to have to give Borage oil a try. Is it something you take every day, or only certain times during the monthly cycle? Of course, some of us no longer have anything even approaching a regular monthly cycle, so it's harder to figure out. Did you work your way up in dosage? Any side effects to be aware of?

Michelle T

 

OK, so. Borage oil. Well. Here is how it all started....I never had PMS, just a little migraine here and there, until I was in my 40s. Then suddenly it just seemed sort of out of control. I distinctly remember when I figured this out. I was in the homeschooling library, talking with two other moms about making plans for an outdoor education thing that we wanted to do with the kids that summer, and I was getting upset. I knew I was unreasonable in feeling that way, but that awareness did not enable me to become reasonable, wich it usually would. I thought I was really getting cuckcoo, and then the next day when I got my period, I suddenly remembered a similar day the prior month. And another one about two months before. Unreasonable anger, not able to quell it by realizing that it was unreasonable, period the next day. Hmmm.

 

So I thought, who do I know that always has had PMS? And called her up. She had started taking EPO (with the same active ingrediant as Borage oil) and she told me to start taking two capsules each morning and evening on day 14, and take them through the next day 1. I tried that, and wow, what a difference.

 

Subsequently I have found that I don't need to take that much. I can tell when I'm getting unreasonable-feeling, and I start taking it then and take it until day 1. I usually end up taking 2 capsules per day for about 6 days, and then 3 or 4 for the last 2 days before day 1. No side effects at all. I just have a slightly flatter emotional state. I don't get that big day 1 sense of relief, but it's well worth it to avoid the earlier angst.

 

I am now finding that the last two or three days are not as reliably subject to this control as they were before. My ob/gyn told me that it will probably get worse before it gets better (she has been saying that for years, LOL) and she has suggested that I try some very light (bc level) hormones as well if I want. I filled the prescription 4 months ago but have not tried it yet. I have to admit I am a little nervous about throwing a synthetic hormone into the mix. I am worried that it will actually make things worse.

 

She told me that some women actually get to the point where they are afraid they will hurt their children. I'm not even close to that, but the treatment, oddly enough, is antidepressants. She said that no one knows why they work, but they often do. Those are the big guns; the last resort.