I'm 42, and last year around this time I was sweating profusely, and my estrogen was low. I was told by my GYN that I was in menopause. Coincidentally, in my mid-30's, my testosterone was low, too, but that's another story.
I won't quote what I said to this GYN who gave me the news, but let's just say I strongly disagreed with him given my laundry list of symptoms - and my Lyme (and probably babesia) didn't allow me to hold back.
I saw my family doctor for my laundry list of symptoms (again) after this visit. He, too, said I was in menopause, and when I argued him, he assured me angrily that, "I've seen women go into menopause at the age of 32 (or something ridiculously low like that)."
I'm 42, and today I am no longer in menopause. I'm not sure what my hormones are doing, but I no longer look 90 years old, so I'm pretty sure my hormones are at least somewhat better than they were last year around this time - though they are still messed up (believe me).
I realize that menopause is menopause in the sense that when the menses 'pauses', we're menopausal by definition.
My concern is that menopause is merely infection and toxicity, however - perhaps with Lyme or one of these other 'bugs'. I've read articles (and posted some here somewhere) that women continue to replenish their egg supply throughtout life - just as men replenish their sperm supply daily.
This was enough for me to blow holes in the (male-dominated science) theory that women's ovaries essentially run out of eggs and dry up. My suspicion is that menopause occurs in the brain - not the ovary.
If the brain is infected/inflammed/toxic with Lyme (or some other bug), it has no possibility of signaling the ovary to do its 'thing' - regenerate, replenish, and release eggs.
To the men on here - sorry, but science IS male-dominated, and you aren't going to convince me otherwise, though you can try. lol At least not until I see a female Viagra PRECEDE a male one, for a change.
But having gone in and out of menopause so rapidly brings to light things I would have EASILY simply associated with 'normal aging' - droopy eyelids, poor/saggy/discolored skin, hair loss, bone density loss, easily stained teeth, gum recession, no libido, sexual dysfunction, no vaginal moisture, memory problems.
Like I said, had this happened more gradually I would never be asking this, but I have some serious doubts now. In fact, it's unlikely I would accept a diagnosis of menopause at SIXTY, after what happened to me.
Do you think?
Posted by luvs2ride (Member # 8090) on :
Oh I completely agree with you on this Tailz.
I too had ridiculous sweats for several years and thought it was menopause. I always whined about how my mother breezed through menopause and I'm supposed to be like her.
30 days after I began homeopathy for lyme, those sweats were gone and they never came back. I guess I "younged" out of menopause.
Luvs
Posted by tailz (Member # 10014) on :
lol I read this account from Dr. Sherr's story, and it hit a nerve with me - especially when I got my records from one doc, and she'd writtem, "Patient looks older than stated age." Let me tell you, that was scary. But here's her account:
"When physicians asked me how I felt, they could not identify with my description of the general malaise. When I explained that my muscles were weak and withered to the point of fragility, that my hands fumbled and were visibly shrinking, that there was loss of position sense, escalating hypersensitivity to touch, and that I had aged 10-15 years in four months, doctors repeatedly reassured me I was mostly OK and still looked just fine. ``This isn't just about vanity,'' I explained to deaf ears."
I literally aged in fast forward.
Posted by Cassie (Member # 2106) on :
I thought I already been there and done that. I had surgical menopause when I was 31 and went through all the symptoms. I'm 52 now and recently I've been suffering from severe depression and my doctor said I could be going through menopause again because there is other parts of the body that produces estrogen.
I was put on hormone replacement therapy and within 2 days there was a great improvement. I was having breast pain so he decreased the dose and the depression came back with a vengence, went back on original dose and have improved again.