Menopause

[triumph]

Hi,
My SO is 53 & the poor dear is going through Menopause.Every evening on skype i see her with various symptoms like hot flushes ,mood swings & sometimes she looks very depressed.
Other times she is her normal fun self.
The main problem is she is gaining weight & she tells me that i will find her unattractive if she gets too fat.I reassure her thats definitely not true!!
She desperately needs a hug but we are not meeting until April next year due to work commitments.
BTW she has been to a doctor who put her on some hormone tablets but they make her feel worse.
I feel so damm helpless!!

What to do??

[mllebamako]

Sorry to hear about this... I have zero experience with menopause other than hearing a bit about it from my mom. But I would suggest you just be as supportive as possible for her. There isn't much you can do though
She could try seeing another doctor...there are loads of different hormonal therapies for menopause so maybe she needs to try another one?

[Čternity]

Well, her metabolism will be slowing down as she goes throught menopause. So yes, she will gain weight if she doesn't change her diet and increase her exercise. The latter will help ease her depression due to the increase in neurotransmitters released.

It's a really individual thing. Some women find that hormone replacement therapy does the trick others find that supplementing HRT with herbal supplements and an increase in exercise plus a change in diet works wonders. She needs to exercise if she can do that, but that applies to all of us. If she isn't happy she may want to go to another doctor that takes a more wholistic approach to her health rather than just giving her pills. The depression may be due to the fact that she has reached menopause or as a result of the hormonal changes. If the depression is bad she may need to see a counsellor as well. Again a wholistic approach is better so they can address all the issues, hormones, depression, diet, exercise etc.

There are some great websites around. This one https://www.menopause.org.au/ is an Australian site but has some good information sheets for women to read. I know because I'm skating on the edge of menopause myself. Maybe there is something like this in her country too.

[paulawriteslove]

Aw, I am sorry to hear this. Keep supporting her and just being there for her