I love hormones and use Sandrena/ Divigel, prometrium/ Utrogestan and testosterone gel in my case Testim. The testosterone really puts back the missing sparkle.!
Life is more then being crowned Menopausal heroine of the year contest - it should be about being true to yourself.
June 2011 I hearby declare myself to be an old lady and accordingly renounce dreadful descriptions including middle aged, of a certain age and menopausal.Due to my status of old lady I feel free to wear and do and say exactly what suits me - rather then concerning myself about  censorial views of others concerning antique ladies. Yes I said antique. We have a choice. Men and women can either become battered pieces of junk for the garage sale or evolve into antiques with patina. I'm going for patina it increases that value of old coins annd improves quality of life for old ladies.
I'm very anti menopause I have Ehlers - Danlos Syndrome but given the choice I would rather endure EDS then untreated menopause. I have spent a few months researching endocrinology and female hypogonadism. I'm convinced that untreated menopause is very unhealthy for women - who often lose quality of life, health and suffer severely damaged relationships as a result of estrogen deficiency.
Perhaps any woman wanting hormones should ask herself why if these products are so lethal why it is that transgender people get them without protest and insurance companies don't seize the opportunity to use hormone therapy as a get out clause.
I'm profoundly disgusted by the views of some feminists who approve of untreated menopause citing untrue claims that menopause without hormones is empowering and liberating.Not all feminists agree with this retrograde view - our French feminists believe the use of hormones to be culturally liberating. Vive La France !
Perhaps those people who endorse untreated female hypogonadism should tell that fairy tale of post menopausal freedom to the ladies hobbling along using zimmer frames. The women who try to commit suicide. My aunts who suffered severe osteo arthritis and ended their lives trapped in wheelchairs and others who suffer vaginal atrophy.
My grandmother's first husband had been married to a woman who found menopause fatal. Unable to live with her black moods she gassed herself and disabled daughter leaving her poor husband to live with the tragedy.
When I was a child I heard whispers of this and other menopause stories.It was at this point I decided that I would fight the "it is natural - learn to live with it " medical establishment every inch of the way.
Any woman stepping out of line who refuses to do without hormones has the wagging finger of threatened breast cancer waved in her face. However the medical establishment never tell you if your risk reduces much by not using hormones and all of the people I have known with cancer have not been using estrogen.
Furthermore other medications have horrendous side effects yet these are left unpublicised and estrogen is viewed as the big bad wolf of the drug world.
I don't buy it and society can stick menopause where the sun doesn't shine because menopause is social entrapment with layered clothes and fans marking the woman out for sniggering comments and work place bullying.Not to mention highly priced quack remedies promoting no flashes or increased vaginal lubrication for a high price and low customer satisfaction rating.
I'm not going to tolerate estrogen deficiency. I'm newly married and one aim is to have a bloody good time with my lovely husband.Good times for us include the usual suspects - a healthy happy sex life, plenty of giggles and fun retail therapy minimising trips to the grocers and other unpleasant stressful chores. Life is too short to stand in a queue for the good things, menopause might get better but then it might not I'm not hanging around to find out and believe in treating it aggressively.
Other then ranting about menopause I have a keen interest in poker, psychology, endocrinology and history. I'm politically incorrect and proud of it.
I have a lovely husband and a house filled with gorgeously naughty cats and birds.We have a vintage Jaguar and lots of old furniture around the house. No television or cell phone as I'm not keen on gadgets.I only really have the computer to grind out money playing poker. At least it gives me the opportunity to test the effect that testosterone supplementation has on my game and it has definitely improved my play.
I'm just off to apply my oestrogel. A dose a day keeps flushes away and the only flushes I enjoy are the nut flushes I hold on the poker table.