Joined: 4 Jan 2023 Gender: Male Posts: 3,851 Location: He/him/his
07 May 2023, 9:15 am
Didn't know where to post this, but thought I'd get more input here.
The menopause appears to be something that never gets discussed (in general) and in my experience women (who know the basics) only find out about the full extent of it when they are peri-menopausal and never realise the impact it can have on their life.
Does the menopause affect ASD women differently from their NT counterparts? I don't know how anyone would know the answer but I'd thought I'd ask anyway.
What are your thoughts on the male menopause, my GF is convinced I went through it but I dunno.
_________________ Another man's freedom fighter, one man's terrorist is - Yoda (probably)
I have read of male cycling (e.g. measured by beard growth). I have read about the lowering of testosterone in men as they age and its impact, which could be the end of that cycling. Personally I am glad for the life experience or lower testosterone that meant my uncle and father and now my husband are more empathetic and hence more like gentlemen than they were before. What was your research or thinking on the subject? Teasing: Do you know help others reach the top shelf at the grocery store when before you would have pushed past and spit?
I read a huge tome about menopause in women. For example, all people can experience hot flashes (men, women, young, old), but despite similar ratios, the West attributes it to predominantly to perimenopausal women while the East does not. I think my form of Autism made pregnancy and perimenopause relatively easy. If anything they were corrective for me. I can't wait for the stability (good bye anxiety-producing estrogen swings) of menopause. Hopefully I will become less empathetic. I need that.
Joined: 17 Jan 2019 Age: 35 Gender: Male Posts: 1,873 Location: PNW USA
11 May 2023, 8:12 pm
Andropause is real enough. Its symptoms overlap with menopause. It too is caused by lowering hormone / testosterone levels that occur naturally with age. It can also be worsened by Insulin resistance and diabetes.
As with most things it affects everyone differently.
Joined: 6 May 2016 Age: 60 Gender: Male Posts: 3,965 Location: Missouri
12 May 2023, 12:30 am
The male signs/symptoms in that chart have variously already been in play for two to four decades from being caused by; neurological autoimmune disease, mitochondrial disease, endocrine disease, ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, and 3 or 4 other things, so in my case God only knows whether male menopause/andropause has happened to me and he's not published the data.
DanielW wrote:
It can also be worsened by Insulin resistance and diabetes.
_________________ "There are a thousand things that can happen when you go light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good." Tom Mueller of SpaceX, in Air and Space, Jan. 2011
Joined: 4 Jan 2023 Gender: Male Posts: 3,851 Location: He/him/his
12 May 2023, 7:26 am
SharonB wrote:
What was your research or thinking on the subject? Teasing: Do you know help others reach the top shelf at the grocery store when before you would have pushed past and spit?
I read a huge tome about menopause in women. For example, all people can experience hot flashes (men, women, young, old), but despite similar ratios, the West attributes it to predominantly to perimenopausal women while the East does not. I think my form of Autism made pregnancy and perimenopause relatively easy. If anything they were corrective for me. I can't wait for the stability (good bye anxiety-producing estrogen swings) of menopause. Hopefully I will become less empathetic. I need that.
The reason for the thread is my GF is peri-menopausal and she didn't know the extent of the symptoms, which seems common, my intention was to start a conversation on it in case other women were in the same situation or approaching that situation. You appear to be more clued-up than my GF who knew a few things but not the full extent of what happens.
The male menopause was an afterthought when posting the thread, I've been a mellow guy for decades and always helped others getting top shelf items down for them. I haven't noticed a huge difference since going through the menopause, if I went through it. I'll ask my GF what differences she noticed and will report back.
_________________ Another man's freedom fighter, one man's terrorist is - Yoda (probably)
@IsabellaLinton, if andropause is like menopause (or any other human condition) then there are outliers. Average menopause is 52 for women, but rumor is that my grandmother didn't go into menopause until her 60s. So since men's testosterone is decreasing gradually over time from some age (30-40s), there would be variance of velocity and severity that would impact when it's more noticeable (or not).
Interestingly studies indicate that for women, having children correlates to a "later" menopause (by less than a year) and that for men, having children correlates to reduced testosterone, which I wonder could lead to an "early" andropause.
Joined: 18 Jun 2012 Age: 59 Gender: Female Posts: 20,471 Location: Aux Arcs
15 May 2023, 8:21 am
This book is helpful. Menopausal Years The Wise Woman Way Susun S Weed
It’s different for everyone. My bio- moms period quit and that was it.None of the effects others get.
Several friends told me about hot flashes so bad one had to sit in a giant beer cooler and the other went out on the deck in winter and pulled her shirt and bra off and screamed.
So I had no idea what would happen. My periods got less and farther apart. Then one night I woke up burning hot and was sure it was the Covid( right when the pandemic first hit and people were dropping like flies)But my skin didn’t feel feverish.My first hot flash.Better than a deadly virus. They only happened at night and during winter ,so they worked out great.I was now self heating and didn’t need to toss as much wood on the fire.A hot caffeinated beverage seemed to set them off in the evening.I never had one in the daytime. I lost weight, I think hormones made me binge eat before my periods.No more of that. So far I haven’t grown a beard haha and everything is great.Very rarely do I have a hot flash now. After I was period free for a year I crowned myself crone. I’m glad it’s over.I hated those hormones from the get go.Nothing but trouble. Good riddance.
_________________ I am the dust that dances in the light. - Rumi
Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who wrote several other songs for Quatro and also worked with the band Sweet, wrote this song. The lyrics are striking and disjointed, with lines like:
Well you got the hands of a man and the face of a little boy blue
This was typical of glam rock, where outrageous and sometimes nonsensical lyrics augmented the look and sound.
Chapman and Chinn never told Quatro what this song is about, but she came up with her own interpretation, deciding that it's about male menopause, a condition that can occur in men around age 48 where they experience many symptoms of female menopause (hot flashes, fatigue), as well as sexual dysfunction. "It's crazy lyrics, but to me, that makes sense," she told Songfacts. "And back then, Mike used to write kind of nonsensical lyrics. But it's one of the favorites around the world. So, I say it's about the male menopause."
_________________ Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013 DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman