***OLD THREAD ALERT!***
I think some of the scary menopause posts here lately are extremely discouraging for our younger VFers. I went through it and am still alive to tell the tale.
Sure, there are very real issues with peri-menopause and menopause. But, I don't think one can blame
ALL ills on menopause. Some of these issues are from just plain getting older. After 50, you are dealing with choices you made all your life. Food choices, activity choices, smoking and drinking choices, sun bathing/tanning booth choices, etc. Some issues are hereditary.
I was so glad to be done with my period. It started when I was 11 years old! I had severe, sometimes debilitating Endometriosis for 40 years. And acne that wouldn't die. (Puberty was a
way worse nightmare than menopause for me personally.)
I gained weight around menopause and then I lost it. Menopausal weight gain does not have to be a permanent addition. And, my face (mostly) cleared up. I have bone loss, but so do many folks over 50. Even men get bone loss. There are the wrinkles. In my youth, I spent every summer at the beach, rarely using sunscreen, so there is sun damage. I do what I can to alleviate these issues.
All in all, menopause for me was like getting out of jail.
Maybe we can hear from a few other VFers who found menopause is not the end of the world.
(Or, maybe it is just me?)