MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

Meece

Thanks, my legs have never looked better!

Meece

WHAT NOT TO WEAR

JUST DISTURBING

juneaubugg

The socks make the outfit!!!! 

My hot flashes are driving me CRAZY!  they aren't as bad during the day, and then at night they come on with a vegence. I am always either really cold or crazy hot!  I just want to be comfortable for ONE MINUTE!  Is this really going to last for the next 5-10 years?  Pillow flipping, clothes changing all night???  Really!?

I tried Effexor and it got SO MUCH WORSE so I went off it immidetely.  No one Gabepentin (aka neurotin) and it's seems to have gottena bit better.  I must say, I was already on it for the neuropathy in my arm following my UMX and there are no side effects that I am noticing.

God - give me strength!

barsco1963

Eli - Now that's festive -  you would certainly be able to hide your tag along in that outfit!

Meece - VaVaVoom on the candycane outfit - lol. The lights are a bit much though - pretty sure they won't help with the hotflashes either.

elimar86861

juneaubugg,  I bet (at age 44) your natural estrogen levels were high, and you had to undergo a huge change when Tamox. flipped the switch.  I do hope you get relief soon.  You know, I started my Tamox. in the month of Nov. and my flsshes were barely noticeable, but kicked in the following summer (even tho' I should have been "used to" the Tamox. by then.  Opposite to you, gabapentin didn't help my flashes or neuropathy, while Effexor did.  The more I read people's stories about Tamox., the more it seems to very from person to person; and it seems not only to be hormone levels but probably a person's base body temp. and their individual metabolism as well as a lot of external factors.  All I can say is try to look for what might set off your worst flashes and try to avoid it.

Meece,  Every girl likes a change of footwear, so if you want to come out of the boots, I found you some maribou trimmed heels that would look great.

                                                                              

mumito

Thought I would share this with you.Right now we all need a chuckle.

juneaubugg

Eli; you are certainly right about my age not helping. My period was like clock work and coming to a screeching halt... Enough said. I'm wondering if when it comes back (my MO said it would) if that will help.



I'm also not sure how to identify my triggers. Sleep, yes. Any type of activity, yes. Caffeine seems fine. Maybe sugar?? I suppose I should keep a diary for a few days and see if that helps me identify the problem.



Honestly if I'd done tamoxifen without chemo I think I'd be ok. My friend is fine, no SEs, but chemo never set her down the path to hot flash hell!

LindaKR

juneaubugg - it probably wouldn't have made any difference with your hot flashes, we're all individual and the meds hit us all differently.  I know women who did not do chemo, only AI's or tamox, some have horrible hot flashes, others have none (all within the same age range), the same with those that had chemo, so it is what it is.

The hot flashes are definitely a challenge. just when I think that I've found my triggers, it changes. I've been taking the apple cider vinegar now for a week, and I think that is actually helping, at least a little! I guess time will tell.

juneaubugg

LindaKR: Apple Cider Vinegar?

LindaKR

Not sure which forum it was on, but someone suggested 2-3 tsps in a glass of water of Bragg's apple cider vinegar (it still has the mother in it so it's full of enzymes, etc..)  Anyway, it's supposed to help with hot flashes, I started last week and my hot flashes have been backing off a little.  I have another friend without cancer who started taking it this way a couple of times a day, and she lost weight... so I figure it's worth a try and I'd love to get off of the effexor (I think it makes me tired and gives me headaches, and only slightly helps with the hot flashes and neuropathy pain).

Anyway - I've been adding a little more vinegar to a glass of ice water and drinking it a couple of times a day so that I get about 2 Tablespoons a day.  I think that it gives me a little more energy too.  The Brags bottle suggests adding some honey, molasses or maple syrup to the drink to take out the tang, but I've gotten used to it, and dont' need the extra sugar. 

juneaubugg

 Ahhh - looked it up. I'll have to give that a shot.

Found this along the way...

TAB55

juneaubugg: Thanks for the laugh!  I'm one of those who didn't have chemo, but suffers from hot flashes.  I can't find a trigger.  A few weeks ago I thought they were tapering off to something manageable, but now they're firing multiple times a day and at night.  I read on the Mayo clinic website that for "most women they taper off after a few years."  I'm looking forward to that!

juneaubugg

Tab55:  LOL that's a great one too!  I envy you... I am having them at LEAST every hour.

Eph3_12

Eli & Meece, those outfits are both soooooooo YOU!!

Eph3_12

Eph3_12

Here's my outfit (ummmm that picture above was sorta an accident but I thought it might help juneau's hotflashes!)

barbe1958

Linda, what does it mean that Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar still has the "mother in it"?? Don't know if I can get Braggs up here, but want to make sure I get one with the mother in it. How do I know??? 

luvmygoats

Barbe - The best I can describe it is that it has good "gunk" on the bottom. Found in health food stores mostly or really big gourmet grocers.  I've bought it at health food stores, but alas mine is very old.  My "edible clutter".  It means like making sourdough you can make more of it using the "mother".  Big page on Bragg ACV (abbrev.).  Googled vinegar with mother.

Sherryc

I agree with Joanne on the mental illness.  Not that I want to take away anyones rights but our mental health laws are way too lax in my opinion.  I have a brother who is paranoid schicophrenic and I have had to deal with this with him for about 30 years.  I can tell you I have had times of taking him back to Houston which is a 2 1/2 drive with him talking to the voices in his head.  When he is like this I do not feel safe.  I take him straight to MHMR and all they do is change is meds and send him home. (like that is going to work).  Spends the next few months in and out of mental hospital that will only keep him a couple of weeks (because of medicare coverage) and change meds and discharge him with him hearing voices.  Finally he hurts a young girl at a school and finally a judge court orders him to the State Mental Hospital and he will probably never get out which is fine with me because I know he is safe and not a danger to anyone else and not living on the streets of Houston Texas not because he did not have the money but because for some strange reason that is what happens alot with people who suffer from mental illness.  But it angers me that no one will do anything to prevent any of this they have to wait until someone is hurt.  All because our society does not want to take away someones rights.  But what about the rights of those that are hurt or killed???  so much for my mental illness soapbox, I could go on and on.  Very frustrating for family members who actually try to help and their hands get tied.

Eli glad you are getting some food down.

Barb I have a question of gun control in Canada.  Is it just for hand guns?  What about rifles that people use for hunting purposes?  Very curious.

Sherryc

Now Eph that picture is mighty festive.

LindaKR

Barbe - the Braggs is raw, unfiltered apple cider, the "mother" is what is used to make vinegar, it's like scoby (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast) or vinegar starter.

I forgot the vinegar yesterday and hadn't taken it yet today, was having crazy hot flashes, drank the vinegar drink, and I haven't had one since (3 hours or so)

marlegal

Barbe, sorry I can't offer any helpful hints for the sweats... I tried lots of stuff when I was getting them regularly and nothing seemed to help.

Eli, love the decorating the room idea! The page topper (lots of street lights) is a good start! Hope things are still going a little better for you each day.

Joni, wowsers!!! Does he make house calls?

I got home early from work tonight so decided to decorate our front lawn. You don't think it's too much, do you?

iatigger

Love all the pics gals!

firework1068

Sherryc, so sorry to hear about your families struggle with your brother. Mental illness deserves so much more care and attention. It should be a priority.



To all, I'd like to apologize for speaking too soon after the massacre at Sandy Hooks. The first reports had stated handguns were used when it was a rifle. Not that it matters but I should know better than to speak out as if the facts are first to follow a story like that.



Regarding hot flashes, night sweats and dryness......they use to put women in towers and lock the doors when they went through menopause. They also thought they were witches when all they were trying to do is concoct a remedy!

I went into an early menopause at 35, my symptoms were still going strong 10 years later. It changed my hair, my skin and my lifestyle. Keeping notes to find triggers was a good idea however, my list was so long in the beginning! Between 45-50 the symptoms were so slight I hardly remember them now. After starting Arimidex the flashes are back and at times the night sweats occur. I sleep in a light tank top every night. Any source of heat sets off a flash...heating pad, opening an oven, walking outside in the summer, the seat heater in my car and holding my chihuahua ( she's a little hot box!) there is hope though......time seems to diminish the symptoms.

I will, however, try the braggs mother vinegar mentioned on this thread!

Best of luck to all of us "Fire-women"

heartnsoul76

Sherry - I am so sorry for what you have to go through with your brother.  My friend has a brother who is also schizophrenic and lives in a group home and she has to worry about him all the time.

The most frustrating thing I've read about the CT tragedy is that there WAS a mental health bill passed by the state legislature in March to protect people from the mentally ill before they harm someone.  CT is one of only 6 states that don't have some form of this bill on the books.  It had to be passed by a Judiciary committee who let it fade away because of objections by civil liberties groups protesting that the individual's rights were being trampled on.  I agree individual's rights need to be protected but if someone has shown the capability for violence, then that is who is this law was written for.  And it ends up the shooter's mother had told one of the guy's former babysitters (when the shooter was 9 years old) not to turn his back on him and that he could get violent.  So if this guy already had a known capacity for violence, he needed different treatment.  Even the mother of the man who dressed like Batman & shot up the Colorado theater knew her son was capable of what he did - when she was first contacted by the media she said something like, he did something, didn't he?

firework1068

I wonder if that Bill has something to the affect like.....no guns are allowed to be in the home of anyone suffering from mental illness.......

I've heard reports that she used the guns as a way of building his confidence and having an activity they both could do together. If this is true, it shows poor judgement.

Cindyl

I could adjust to the hot flashes, I think.  What I'm hating now is freezing after a flash subsides.  I wake up wringing wet and freezing now.  I can't get enough layers on to be warm, until I'm way too warm then I'm stripping down, just to start shivering and having to bundle back up. 

TAB55

Cindyl: I agree about the freezing afterwards!  It's crazy to go from one extreme to another.

LindaKR: I'll give apple cider vinegar a try.  I'll be visiting my MIL at Christmas, so it will have to wait until the new year, but I'll give a report back and let all know if it works for me.  I'm skeptical, but I hope it works!

TAB55

barbe1958

Canadian gun laws. I do not own a gun, but family members do. They have to be registered. Any type of gun. The ones who don't register, obviously, are the bad guys. You'd have a hard time explaining why you need an AK47!!!! We do a LOT of hunting in Canada as game is eaten often. Our cops are heavily armed (unlike Great Britain where they aren't!!) and while I was an auxilary officer with the Toronto Police, I had to qualify on a handgun every year I was in uniform (7 years in total). They had us shoot rifles to get an idea about kick-back, but I had already shot rifles through my Dad's hunt club. In 7 years, there was only one time that a gun was drawn at a scene while I was involved!! We had tonfa sticks that were our first line of defence/offence. 

A house I sold in 18 hours ended up going to gun-runners and was on the news getting busted into!! Apparently the basement was full of AK47s and other semi automatics. We should have asked for more money!!

So, I've been exposed to guns all my life and respect them for the killing machines they are. Just like cars. "Cars don't kill people, people kill people" could be said as well!! To put gunfire in the hands of someone with mental issues is just....mental!!