My Mum's menopause was horrendous. At 50yrs, and prior to a natural menopause, she had a hysterectomy and her ovaries were removed. She was not put on any HRT, which was a mistake. I was only 10yrs old at the time, so couldn't advise her. 10 years later, when she was still having hot flushes and flying into rages, we had a discussion about HRT and that's when I realised she had never been on it. She went to the doc and there was a horrible moment for him, when he realised there had been a huge mistake. Anyway, she was put on them for 10 years (the maximum length of time). When she came off them, she started getting the menopause symptoms again, at 70. I read about soya isoflavones and she took them, which really helped.
Anyway, I'm almost 40. I'm not peri-menopausal yet. I've had IVF and no eggs were retrieved, but apparently I'm still ovulating. I still get a monthly period (regulated by agnus castus), although they can be horribly heavy and I've recently starting taking red raspberry lea tea, to reduce the flow. The heavy bleeding is due to my age, but not yet a sign of the menopause, I've been told. As you can tell, I'm a firm believer in natural and herbal remedies. If it wasn't for them, I'd be on drugs with nasty side effects and anticipating going in for a uterine ablation.
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"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiatic about." Charles Kingsley