posted
While I was talking with my hematologist yesterday, he commented that my red blood count was normal for someone still menstruating. When I told him I hadn't had a period for at least 6 years, he was shocked.
He asked me if anyone had ever given me an explanation of why I stopped so early (49) and I didn't have an answer for him. My gyno has never mentioned that it is odd.
Before 2005, I can blame it on the fact that I was taking just progersterone and that stopped them, but I stopped taking that when I was diagnosed with Lyme that year.
Has anyone heard of Lyme having a connection here?
-------------------- "Few of us can do great things, but all of us can do small things with great love". Mother Theresa
Topic: Women over 35: Hormones (Oprah's recent programs about Menopause)
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[ 03-10-2009, 04:17 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Leelee
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Member # 19112
posted
Recently there was another thread about this same subject. It was quite interesting.
I, too, went through menopause very early at age 45. I didn't mind, but in hindsight I have to wonder if Lyme didn't impact my system.
-------------------- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King,Jr Posts: 1573 | From Maryland | Registered: Feb 2009
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Leelee
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Member # 19112
posted
Hi hurtingramma,
I am terrible with the computer so I don't know how to directly give you the thread information, but I found it doing a search of "menopause and lyme".
Hopefully some people will see your post and give you some insight.
Some do see a connection and someone also mentioned "false menopause".
Wish I could be of more help.
-------------------- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King,Jr Posts: 1573 | From Maryland | Registered: Feb 2009
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Here is the recent thread where this was discussed.
Lyme gave me and others a false menopause. With good lyme treatment, this all reverses and you get your cycles back.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
I do agree that Lyme can bring you in early menopause, but 49 years is NOT early.
The average menopause age here in my part of the world is 52 years. Average means there are many women who get it far earlier and many who get it later.
I went in menopause when I was 48 and I also thought this was early. I spoke about it with a health practitioner and she asked me, when I had my first menstruation. I said: at the age of 12 years.
So she calculated that I was menstruating in total for 36 years and she said this was normal.
Gabrielle
Posts: 767 | From Germany | Registered: Feb 2004
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
I was 47 when lyme caused a false menopause in me. This "menopause" reversed after good lyme treatment.
Then, I had my real menopause at age 56. (I started at age 11.)
So, it is true that menopause can happen at any age for any particular woman. Women menstruate for varying numbers of years.
The question is, is this a real menopause or has lyme disease attacked you gynecologically and stopped your cycles before you would have naturally stopped?
Only good lyme treatment can answer the question.
My body exhibited all the signs of menopause. My ovaries became very, very small. Each gyn I saw remarked on it. But, then they would say that was consistent with menopause.
Burrascano says, "Pituitary and other endocrine abnormalities are far more common than generally realized."
He also says, "Interestingly, in a significant number of these patients, successful treatment of the infections can result in a reversal of the hormonal dysfunction, and hormone replacement therapies can be tapered off!"
That was my case.
Since lyme can cause your body's hormones to become abnormally low, it does not strike me as unusual that it could cause the ovaries to stop functioning and shrivel up. Then, once that happens, all the other side effects of non-functioning ovaries will occur.
I had so many other symptoms not related to menopause that occurred at the same time as my "menopause" that I felt something had to be wrong.
It took 5 years to find out what that something was--lyme disease.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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The average age of US women in whom menopause occurs is 51 years. The most common age range at which women experience menopause is 48-55 years. If menopause occurs in a woman younger than 40 years, it is considered premature.
Menopause is considered late if it occurs in a woman older than 55 years. For most women, menopause is a normal occurrence.
Menopause is more likely to occur at a slightly earlier age in women who smoke, have never been pregnant, or live at high altitudes.
Posts: 767 | From Germany | Registered: Feb 2004
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Michelle M
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Member # 7200
posted
My periods stopped when I contracted lyme and babesia duncani. Altogether. I was 44-1/2.
I can't say I minded that aspect of having lyme.
I feel there is definitely a connection.
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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