My
menopause started pretty well as clockwork, more or less around my
49th birthday. I’d previously had a hysterectomy (large
fibroids) when I was in my early forties, so had none of the usual
warning signs. I still have ovaries; the HRT wasn’t a direct
result of the op.
I
was on holiday, staying in an hotel in which they’d turned the
mattresses plastic side up, presumably to try to prevent damage, and
started getting very sweaty at night. This I put down to the
plastic mattress top.
After
the holiday, the sweats continued off and on, and I suddenly realised
what was happening. I wanted to carry on without taking any
prescription drugs, but traditional things like Evening Primrose,
Black Cohosh, and Sage Tea had no effect whatever. As my night
and day sweats were getting heavier and heavier – there came a point
at which I had to sleep in towels because I was pretty well running
with sweat a lot of the night – I finally went off to the doctor who
put me on HRT, an oestrogen-only variety as I was in no danger of
cancer (after the hysterectomy). This pretty well did the
trick, or at least brought everything down to a manageable level.
My
GP left the practice, and the one I started seeing after that said
that taking HRT for thirteen years (as I had been) was not a good
idea (this was after the results of the Million Women Study,
subsequently regarded as having been flawed), and recommended coming
off it. “It’ll all be over in six months”, she said,
brightly. Four years later… The same doctor later
suggested I try some anti-depressant or other, explaining that the
side-effects of this drug included drying up the body (and thus
limiting sweating). I did, but certainly wouldn’t do it if I
had my time over again. Other side-effects were not pleasant
and I’m not sure what the drug was doing to my mental state. On one
occasion (I think when she prescribed the anti-depressants) the same
(second) GP said cheerily, “Of course, some women have symptoms
for ever!”
My
osteopath was horrified when I said I was still having sweats after
all this time, and recommended me to a herbalist who had a room in
her practice. About eighteen months of herbal treatment made a
huge difference but, unfortunately, the woman went back to Denmark on
a research project. She gave me details for another herbalist
but I didn’t go for while as I wanted to see if I could now cope
without taking anything. However, I eventually decided to try
again and went to the second herbalist. She was helpful, though
not as much so as the first one, but also moved away after about a
year.
Since
then I’ve been to a third herbalist with little result that I can
attribute to her treatment. I still get sweats occasionally at
night and/or first thing (say 6:30) in the morning, and very
occasionally when I’m exercising – tai ch’i and ch’i kung
particularly: I can usually distinguish between sweating through
exercise and a hot flush.
I’m
now 74, so it’s all been ongoing for more than 25 years.
Happy
days,
Elaine
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