| Author |
Message |
Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Friday, July 01, 2016 - 1:12 pm 
Yeah, I can't remember when I last had a hotdog, maybe last 4th of July, LOL.
I think I had one a Costco a couple of years ago.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Friday, July 01, 2016 - 2:45 pm
In Michigan, the only dogs to buy are Koegel's - all beef! We have them exactly once a year as I'm not a fan. But once in the summer - burned, on the grill, lots of mustard and onion. 
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Naja
Member
06-28-2003
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 5:45 pm
Is there any remedy that truly stops hot flashes?
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Rupertbear2
Member
07-15-2015
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 6:02 pm
Ok, Naja...please remember I am not a doctor...I just play one on tv...ha ha...j/k. 
Melatonin helped me. I began taking it because I had an awful time falling asleep during that time.
Then I noticed a really nice side-effect...the hot flashes I was experiencing began to decrease. I was fortunate that I never experienced the horrendous night sweats some others do...mine lasted a few minutes and were gone but as I mentioned, the incidences began to diminish, when I was taking melatonin.
I've also heard that women who are at normal weight for their height have a much less difficult time than women who are not.
Luckily, I'd say I breezed through the worst of it all in under two years. I thought you were a young'un...are you asking for someone else?
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Naja
Member
06-28-2003
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 6:16 pm
I just hit 50 and I'm at the very beginning of the Big M. The hot flashes are frequent and unbearable. I can't fall asleep at night without feeling I'm on the verge of an anxiety attack that I have to walk off. That can go on for hours. I'm miserable. I have a doctors appointment next Thursday so I'm hoping for some RXs
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Alwayzmovin
Member
11-06-2003
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 6:46 pm
I spent a lot of time with my head stuck inside the freezer, but I took Melatonin too, which helped.
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Naja
Member
06-28-2003
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 6:54 pm
I'll definitely put Melatonin on the walmart list for tomorrow.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 7:06 pm
These are some other things that work, you can try:
soy isoflavins (this works best for me)
black cohosh
Estroven supplements (often contain both of the above)
I'm surprised that some found that melatonin works, since it's mostly used as a sleep remedy.
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Naja
Member
06-28-2003
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 8:01 pm
Thank you, Karuuna.
I have been looking all evening online about about my ails, and this blog entry by an Obstetrician/gynecologist is the one I found I could most relate to so far.
"Menopause Is the Ultimate Sleep Challenge"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-booth/menopause-sleep-menopause_b_443902.html
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Texannie
Member
07-15-2001
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 8:11 pm
I had a total hysterectomy when I was 44 and after much trial and error, I was put on the Vivelle Dot (estrogen patch). Now that I am 58, I thought maybe I should be off estrogen. I did fine for about 3 weeks and then the hot flashes hit me hard....drop sweat and everything. I put up with that for about two weeks, called my doc and she said it was fine to go back on the patch at the dose I had been on. I slapped that patch on quicker than a hot flash comes. It's only been a week, and I am still having a few as I get readjusted but never again....
All this to say, the patch is great. But I am not sure if you still have your ovaries if you can just do an estrogen only hormone replacement. You might ask you doc if there is a progesterone/estrogen patch.
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Naja
Member
06-28-2003
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 8:41 pm
I think for me it's really the anxiety that comes after the flash starts. I thought if I could stop the flashes, then maybe the anxiety would lessen.
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Pamy
Member
01-01-2002
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 8:59 pm
estroven vitamins helped me. also helped with moods, i still take them. My hubby makes sure I am always stocked
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 11:30 pm
Been there, done that, am one of the ones with killer hot flashes, never-ending, a living hell, so to speak. In my day, the ob-gyn's couldn't wait to rush women onto hormone replacement therapy (HRT, estrogen and perhaps progesterone depending on whether one still had ovaries). I balked after I found out what oral estrogen is made from (pregnant horse urine). I then tried everything else. Most of the women who sailed through peri and menopause with minimal hot flashes were overweight, which I am not. Fat cells store estrogen. At age 51, and after ten months of NO sleep, and talking to a thin woman at work who still had hot flashes TEN years later, I gave in and said give me the hormones. Hot flashes stopped immediately, sleep began immediately.
The down side of that was that the gyn said I was too young to just take hormones and not have periods, so I had to start having periods AGAIN. And not only that, but they were way worse cramps than I had ever had in my life. This was in NO WAY fair. But I slept. There was no winning here, it seemed.
Oh, and then the big study came out and all the ob-gyns in the world rushed to get all of us off hormones that yesterday were the be-all and end-all of salvation.
I happened to have a female gynecologist whose dear mother suffered from severe osteoporosis, and who kept very well up to date on HRT, and she always said, yes, there was that study, but many people believe it was flawed, as she obviously did as well, but couldn't actually say so. She let me stay on the hormones, and we kept reducing the dosage, until I am now on half of the lowest dosage possible, and I still get morning night sweats but not daytime hot flashes.
And I thought I covered this earlier, but in reviewing my post, I don't see it. But, in the late 1990's, when I was going through all this, I was absolutely furious that that in the late 20th century there was almost nothing known or published about dealing with this very real medical issue. Back then, I wrote it off to men not going through menopause, and therefore it was not very important, But it is now more than twenty years later, and you are still asking the same questions I had, and the silence is resounding.
And now I have a doctor who is concerned about my very long, very smallish bones and osteoporosis, who says my continued good bone density tests are probably due to the continued HRT.
I think I am probably pretty unusual in the 21st century of being in my later 60's and still being on HRT, but I have been sleeping at night for quite a few years, and I am glad for every day of it. Oh! the then-new gyno in about year 2001 let me go off having periods, and that was also a welcome relief.
You are one smart cookie, Naja. Keep on it. Don't rule out HRT out of hand if there is no history of breast cancer in your family. It could get you some sleep until either medical science solves it, or you figure out something else.
Oh, and if you figure out something for both me and you, my e-mail is in my profile. I have always been my username at yahoo.com.
Good luck, sweetie. You are not actually going crazy. It IS indeed the hormones. The crazy thing is a real fear. And I worried about my dear husband having to go through all this crapola. Mine persevered, and I love him more than ever.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, and you will get there.
Smoochies,
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Rissa
Member
03-19-2006
| Saturday, July 09, 2016 - 5:33 am
Naja, i have a personal experience (rather than actual medical advice) story as well. About 8yrs ago i complained to doc about my very short (48 hrs almost to the minute) periods that would be so heavy i couldn't always leave home. She recommended a merina (progesterone) iud even though ive had a tubal ligation long ago. One of the side effects of this type of birth control is that periods get light, sometimes so light they stop altogether. Thats what happened to me, about 4 yrs now. (Wish i had complained YEARS earlier). It also can mask menopause so doc sends me for hormone level blood tests once a year. We think i am currently in perimenopause. I can feel heat flashes, very very mildly. Nothing that interferes with sleep or life. Plan is to remove iud when its expired in about 5 more yrs (i will be 56) and see what happens. My hope is i will be done with menopause and just get on with life, otherwise will hopefully get a new one and another 5-6 yrs.
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Texannie
Member
07-15-2001
| Saturday, July 09, 2016 - 6:19 am
Fat chick, still bad hot flashes!! Forgot to mention my bones started hurting too. When I first had my hysterectomy I stopped sleeping regardless of the patch. I couldn't function. I talked to my doc and went on trazadone. Life saver! I feel very comfortable about being on it cause we give it to the addicts going through recovery if they have problem sleeping cause it's non narcotic. No creepy side effects like ambien.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-24-2003
| Saturday, July 09, 2016 - 6:28 am
My history / story. Total hysterectomy at age 43 (1990). The day after surgery, my female ob/gyn gave me little pill -- 2nd lowest dose of Premarin. How long do I take these? The rest of your life. OK. No hot flashes or night sweats for 12 years. Then DCIS / stage 0 breast cancer diagnosis (2002). Stopped Premarin cold the day I heard "cancer". No hot flashes -- just one or two months of night sweats. That was it. My mom had osteoporosis. I have inherited her bad bones. I am tall and slender. I wonder if I had stayed on Premarin / HRT if my bones would be better? If not for the DCIS, I'd probably still be swallowing that little pill. The ob/gyn who started me on it has been long gone from this area. Haven't seen that kinda doc for years. My family doc (DO) who I like a lot at first wanted to prescribe RX for bones. No, thank you. He has learned that I am not into drugs. But I probably would swallow the little Premarin again if it would help. So I have bad bones.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Saturday, July 09, 2016 - 9:08 am
Oh so many stories! It's a tough time of life, for sure.
I had endometriosis in my mid-late 40s, "flooding" and periods that lasted 3 weeks, with one week off.
Went on the three-month pill (that is you only menstruate once every 13 weeks). It was a life saver and spared me the hysterectomy.
Didn't have hot flashes until I went off the pill, but periodically I had to take a break to test whether I was done or not.
I only have one mini flash a day, with taking estroven (actually the cheaper store version), every morning when I start drinking coffee. Weird, huh?
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Saturday, July 09, 2016 - 10:29 pm
quote:Fat chick, still bad hot flashes!!
Texannie, you are not fat! You are small, beautiful and extremely youthful-looking. Remember when we met in Katy, TX that morning at a waffle house or something? Glenn was there too, I think. Bigdog was uncharacteristically silent, rather than his regular ebullient self that everybody loves. I asked him why he was so quiet, since it was unusual, and he said he just didn't think he had much in common with a 23 year old. Not sure if you were yet 40 then, but you might have been. You did look 23, and were an extremely lovely, engaging, and intelligent 23 year old. Or 40 year old. You are not a fat girl.
But if you were a fat girl, it wouldn't matter, and I would love you just as much. And wish for your hot flashes to be gone.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, July 09, 2016 - 11:03 pm
I did have the belly fat that might have made things easier in terms of still having some estrogen produced and I did premarin for years too, until that study. This probably helped with my very small bones (and a mom who developed early osteoporosis). and in terms of colon cancer it is probably good I did the HRT for a time.
On the other hand it MIGHT have encouraged my uterine cancer, but luckily I found that early.. so then total hyst and more recently lost much of the belly fat and avoid soy and anything that might produce more estrogen.
I didn't have hot flashes but lately now and then things get a wee bit warm and I figure that is a sign of the lack of estrogen which is good for the most part.
I took Fosamax for a long time, for the bones, and do DEXA scans every two years and am holding my own but my doctor (also a DO) says it is more likely that exercise and walking are what is helping me with the bone density.
And really Fosamax and Boniva don't build strong bone.. it just looks like normal bone on a DEXA scan. There are things you can take but at least my doctor considers them more last ditch and not needed now.
He constantly celebrates my exercise regimen how for the most part I've been able to maintain my weight loss. I guess it is nice when your doctor calls you a "poster child" LOL..
I remember my mom having hot flashes and another woman telling her that when she got them, she just got up and did her ironing, since she was already hot. Nobody had A/C then and Michigan could be super hot and sukper muggy all night long..
Like everyone is saying.. you just have to evaluate your own risks and see what helps you to manage or escape those symptoms. You certainly aren't alone.. it is a sisterhood, whether we like it or not.
and it sounds like there are some things to do that we didn't use to have.. like the vitmins Pamy takes.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Saturday, July 09, 2016 - 11:12 pm
Colordeagua, you are old enough to be on Medicare and life-savvy enough to probably have a supplemental health insurance policy, if not two. You go NOW and see what can be done for your bad bones that is not inconsistent with your lowest possible meds lifestyle preference. I have had very good bone density tests up until this last one (Color and I are same age, weight, height), and my physician assistant didn't know what to make of it because it showed normal one place and osteoporosis on another reading. I asked if she could refer me to a specialist, and she said yes, but Seattle, 90 miles south, and just today I got the call that I have been accepted and will be seen mid-September by an apparently world-renowned bone specialist.
You can do that too. You are absolutely NOT your parent, and you will not necessarily die of what your parent died of. My parents both died young of diseases I will now never die of, because of medical progress. Go look at the options. Be open, while letting these young, modern doctors know of your preferences.
And, here's another bizarre thing, and I am not actually talking to Colordeagua or any specific person here, but to everybody who might read in a thread like this - be open to love. Stay alive and in the best health you can achieve with modern medicine, no matter your age. Then try to socialize in things you are interested in. There are people out there for all of us, all of the time. You needn't vigorously seek a soulmate, but one is probably out there for all of us. Just be open to love. Traveling as much as I do, I meet SO many older people who never thought they would be so happy in their old age, who thought their lives were over or not worth living, and then they found their person. It is heartwarming; it is charming; it is soul-reaffirming. I know for sure all of us are loveable. Be careful, but be open to love.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Saturday, July 09, 2016 - 11:23 pm
Hahahaha, Seamonkey was posting when I was, similar thougts.
Forgot to mention that I am now doing upper body muscle strengthening exercises during those occasions when I watch television online. I bought a ThighMaster thingie of television fame, and use it to strengthen my upper body. We'll see what the world renowned specialist thinks of that (in a couple months; she is booked really far out).
For any of the folks watching Big Brother live feeds, get some exercise bands, and use those as recommended in the instructions while you watch. Can't hurt, might do some good.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-24-2003
| Sunday, July 10, 2016 - 6:14 am
My father died purdy young in 1973 -- age 67. Smoking = lung cancer. I never smoked -- not because he died of it, but because it stinks, stank, stunk. One of my chores as a child was empty wastebaskets and ASHTRAYS. UGH!! My mom died at age 89 of no particular "disease" -- just old age. She died 20 years ago tomorrow, July 11. Both sides of my family are long livers. I've got that in my genes. One problem many older have is high blood pressure. Mine is absolutely normal. Never a problem with that.
Cholesterol is OK. Total number is high -- usually around 265. But because my HDL is always extremely high, my doc not concerned about it. We watch it. Next cholesterol test is August 19. As I always say, my diet it not the best, but it is far from being the worst also. I think there is something to the Mediterranean diet. I'm not a big veggie person. Would be better if I was. I have a high intake of olive oil. I love it.
I do get periodic bone density tests. At this point at least osteopenia if not osteoporosis. I am shrinking. I want my inches back. I am sedentary. That is not good. I could do something about that. I SHOULD do something about that. I look at the TV screen and I read.
Love. In the past few years I've come to realize my parents screwed me on that. Their relationship? ??? I didn't learn about love growing up from what I saw at home. There was a guy in and out of my life over a period of 20 - 25 years. Totally gone (moved out west -- he loved the mountains) since '94. I'd google him periodically. He smoked. Died of lung cancer at age 60 on Dec. 26, 2009. I was shy / introverted as a child. Through the years various jobs, etc. brought me out of that to some extent. I can feel that difference in me. But I'm still a loner. I have enough contact with others generally. Very few good friends. Last Thursday I had lunch with an attorney boss (married) from 13 years ago. We keep in contact -- lunch periodically. He's a good guy (even if he was almost disbarred  which he doesn't know I know). We've had one interest in common from the start -- we both love Seaside, FL.
That's me in a nutshell?
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Texannie
Member
07-15-2001
| Sunday, July 10, 2016 - 8:37 am
Awww, juju...you are so sweet! That was a long time ago, back when I smoked, had my ovaries and a working thyroid. All that has changed now! LOL
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Rupertbear2
Member
07-15-2015
| Sunday, July 10, 2016 - 8:47 am
Wow, that was so sweet for you to open up and share with us like that, Color.
One of the things that drew me back to this site last year, (after being gone for at least 10 yrs, I think,) was the warmth and caring of the posters here.
Lol...this is not a bash against men, cos I love them dearly but women just open up and talk about their thoughts, feelings, worries, hopes and aspirations.
TVCH is always a warm friend you can turn to, for caring and support and that's what I love most about this place. 
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Naja
Member
06-28-2003
| Sunday, July 10, 2016 - 9:34 am
I just wanted to pop in let you guys know that I tried melatonin for the first time last night (took it down with a cup of chamomile tea), and I think I slept for 6 hours, and waking only once about 2 hours after I fell asleep. But instead of heading into an anxiety attack, I was able to fall back asleep pretty quickly. I haven't done that in a looooong time. We'll see if it will work again tonight, or if it was a fluke.
I fell asleep about an hour after I took the melatonin.
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