Peri-menopause questions for the ladies

mkwood10

I've been the perpetually frozen woman all of my life, so this is all new and strange to me!!:laugh:

I'm 48, 5'2" and around 130 pounds, which is 10 pounds more than I should be, considering I carry all of my extra weight in the belly area. I had a hysterectomy in 2007, but they left my ovaries, so I'm sure this is a part of the normal aging process, but I still have lots of questions. My mom's no help - she had a total hysterectomy at 43 and got all messed up from the HRT they put her on for nearly 10 years.

My menopause symptoms are pretty mild compared to what I've read COULD be happening, but I want to minimize them as much as possible!! In addition to my almost nightly hot feet flashes (which have been going on for about a year), the other night my hands got super hot and red at the same time as my feet! Weird...........the rest of my body can be cold and I've got a fleece shirt on top of a t-shirt to be comfortable but anywhere between 7:00 and 9:00pm my feet will start to get hot and I have to shed the socks and roll my pants legs up! I can then watch my feet and lower legs get bright pink and feel the heat radiating off of them!! Lasts an hour or so, then they thankfully cool down and return to their normal "frozen" state!! I have also noticed I'm waking up in the middle of the night with a sweaty t-shirt and hair, but at this point I haven't soaked clothes or sheets/pillows yet.

I don't drink much caffiene; about 1/2 can of Coze Zero each morning (never learned to drink coffee) and that's it; water for the rest of the day except for an occasional margarita or glass of wine (never beer - I hate the stuff). I take a daily multi-vitamin with extra calcium, vitamin E, gloucosamine for bad knees, Omega-3, soy supplement and black cohosh root also.

I really don't want to go on any type of HRT because my sister's fighting breast cancer right now and I don't want to increase my risk for developing it. I'm looking for diet or other suggestions from those of you who've been through this.

cachini

I have heard that if you should eliminate processed foods from your diet and eat more foods with 1 ingredient : ie steak, chicken, fish,eggs,butter, milk, vegs, and fruit also eliminate sugar (get your sugar naturally from fruit) it can be helpful for menopause symptoms.