Thank you Christie... yes I am going to go to the Doctor as much as I hate to think about them down there in that way.. I am going

((hugs)) to Jess!

I wasn't trying to make this about ME... I wanted to find out how they went through it or how they are going through it and the mental games it plays with them... Kind of a support so to speak for all of us...

I totally get what you mean Strappie. I'm female id'd, but there are still some days when it's a mind fuck for me too.
I don't think it's stereotyping to say that for butches the closer to male you are the bigger the mind fuck when it comes to menopause.
When I'm having a "butch" day with my menopause I just try to think of it as an annoying but non-fatal medical condition and make every effort to ignore the rest of it lol.

It helps if you can remember that menopause and chocolate are best friends :D

Sorry to hear you are having a rough time. I think it is different for everyone. My periods got irregular and then they stopped. The doctor didn't suggest taking hormones and I was glad- taking estrogen would be the last thing I would want to do. I didn't notice any change in my emotions although my libido did increase quite a bit, leading me to join some dating type sites.

I would add my voice to those encouraging you to see the doctor. I loathe the pelvic exam and was able to get a pass on it this year by emphasizing that I don't have sex with men. All my previous pap smears have been normal so it is safe to skip it now and then.

I hope you find a good doctor you are comfortable with. That is worth a lot. And there might be some herbal remedies that can give you some relief from the symptoms?

Hey Strappie
 

I had to smile when I read you ssy you couldn't say the words Menstrual Cycle lol lol. I on the other hand start to get the shakes when I go down the female monthly hygiene aisle. Hell when it isn't my time of month when grocery shopping I don't even want to look down that aisle lol lol. I try to hide the pads in the grocery cart and cringe when I have to take them out of the cart to go through the clerk at the register.

As for going to the "women doctor" never been , can't get me to make an appointment and certainly not going to walk through the doors and sit in the waiting area with all the "femmes" looking at this guy sitting there.

I feel for you Strappie. Fingers crossed I don't get the change too bad ;) lol lol lol. Life is certainly interesting.

Musicman

It's a perfectly natural thing to happen. All my butch friends and I have talked about and still talk about it with great humor. None of us find it embarrassing or any kind of specially cruel joke for butches. One of my favorite conversations occurred outside The Stud one evening. over a cigarette. 4 of us stone cold passing butches (the old terminology) were talking about menopause. We said all the words and were all waiting for the day it all ends. War stories about dripping wet sheets, which movies made us cry the most, etc went on for about 20 or so minutes. I have talked about it with my femme friends who are experiencing the same things.

I haven't bleed in almost 30 years, had my cervix & uterus removed but they left my fine healthy ovaries. So about 10 years ago, the ovaries did their natural slowdown and those wonderful symptoms appeared.

I cried at stupid commercials on TV and steamed up car windows with hot flashes. The crying slowed down, but the hot flashes were like 50 a day and sleeping with me was like being in a steamy jungle. The hot flashes did not stop until I completely permanently stopped drinking alcohol....it took about a month. In the last couple of three years I might have had 3 or four hot flashes.

I turned 59 in June and now that menopause is over.....well that makes me a crone. Another phase in my born butch woman life.

I feel so incredibly blessed...

I am post-menopausal... stopped about 5-6 years ago. I take a thyroid medication because my thyroid shut down at the time I was per-menopausal. The expected weight gain occurred, I get some hot flashes but not too many, cry no more than I ever have in the past and it is a lot easier to control (OK, watched For My Wife yesterday and there was NO controlling those tears!), have had NO mood swings (in fact, I am more even tempered than I ever have been in my life), and have a 2+ on my bone density.

When I had periods they were horrible, I was chronically anemic, had seriously bad endometriosis (several surgeries), horrific mood swings, periods that would last for WEEKS and not days, pain that was unconsolable... just a life of pure agony... I am so grateful to have gone through menopause naturally...

Remember, our bodies do not stop producing hormones at menopause... it just produces different kinds of hormones (so says Dr. Susan Love)...

Good luck!

I couldn't use any hormones while going through menopause (breast cancer risk too high), but my experience with menopause beat the hell out of perimenopause! I di find soy helpful for night sweats and headaches- although the literature about soy is inconclusive at best.

I do not miss periods at all- and it has been so long, I usually have a "Oh, yes, women have those" when I date someone that is still having periods. I have been yelled at more than once to "Please keep some supplies around just in case" more than once!

I never felt any dissonance at all with being butch and going through menopause. None.

Strappie, I have much empathy for you. I started the monthly thing about 14 months after my twin sister started hers. I did not start until I was 16 years old. I do remember being so embarassed going through the check out stand when I was a very young adult. I was very uncomfortable talking about it with anyone. Even with my twin sister.

When I was about 30 years old I tried to have a hystorectomy because I was just tired of it. At the time I could not find a doctor that would give me a hystorectomy because I was still of child bearing age. Although I was very open about sexuality with everyone and I knew I never had any yearning nor intention to bare a child. I wanted a child but I never imagined I would be pregnant. Anyway....

I did finally get a hystorectomy in my 40's in preparation for transition. Menopause was quick for me. I did have the emotional swings, and hot flashes. However at the time I lived by myself. In retrospect, living alone was a fortunate circumstance. I did not take any hormones and did not start taking T until about 4 years after the hystorectomy. I have never regretted the end of the monthly thing.

For me part of my embarrassment about that time of the month had nothing to do with my gender or sexual identity. I just have always been a little shy about my body. That is another topic.

Good luck to you Strappie. Go find yourself a doctor you feel comfortable with. FYI, I still get teary eyed watching "chick flicks."

Hot flashes and binding at work. In the summer.

Well so glad I am not alone....I'm in the perimenopause stage and the additional bouts of crying (at Hallmark commercials no less) are to no end annoying. The additional anxiety isn't wanted either....getting ribbed for crying at the stupidest things when you have been inherently known as the non crier all your life is equally frustrating.

And yes I know all women go through this but it is quite similar to being that tomboy and hitting puberty and being quite upset I wasn't going through puberty like the other boys in the neighborhood.

It's like my body is betraying the inner boi inside of me and I am helpless to control it...to will it to be what I want it to be....

Thanks for sharing that....it's nice to know there are others who feel the same way I do and can relate :)

IF...I am pari- or full onset menopause ( pooey pooey bad word yuck), then I am certainly a poster child for every friggen symptom there is.
Sweaty sweaty nights following days chock full of more sweat and mind blowing mood swings, either grumpy as hell ( for no apparent reason) or tearing up over some damned country song or BOTH ( usually when the Humane Society/ SPCA commercials come on and make me hate Celine Dion all over again). Fatigue/ lack of focus/ raging hunger or complete lack of appetite... It's all just crazy making! dammit.

I have never been fond of having monthly cycles ( other than they kept me aware of moon phases) and yes, they always felt like some sort of very unfunny joke, as I knew I would never have children, so I never saw the whole point. That said, I was never one to be too thrilled to go to a GYN, so it was with MUCH encouragement ( read: THREATS) that I finally went at 40ish ( she'll remind me of exactly how old I was) to get a pap and baseline mammo. I am overdue and am looking for someone here (we only moved three years ago, that's not too bad, eh?).

I totally dig Medusa's idea of the GYN trip en masse at Little Rock! Now THAT is some community bonding! Fuckabuncha goin fishin! Get all the butches lined up with a good ole southern pap smear! Ok, I may be pushin it a tad... I do, in all seriousness hope we are all taking care of our health needs, no matter how we view ourselves in our minds eye or in our hearts, we still have junk down there that needs taking care of. I do not only myself a disservice by ignoring it, I do a disservice to my wife as well. I need to be here for her in the best health I can be.

Good luck everyone!

Just saw this a few minutes ago on CNN's page...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/08...hes/index.html