Menopause and ME - what's your experience?

I was asked today whether I'd heard if any ME patients got better or worse during menopause?

I've only heard that ME patients seems to enter menopause a bit earlier than what's usual, but not if it might have an effect on the disease itself. Said I'd ask on this forum to see if someone would like to share their experiences.

The reason behind the question, was that this particular ME patient is feeling a bit better after having entered menopause.

 

I didn't notice any difference to my ME once I settled into meno. There is no 'usual' time for entering meno. The average age is 52, however, for lots of women it can be in their 40s. I know some women who are almost 60 and are still waiting.

 

Thank you for answering @TigerLilea and interesting to hear you didn't notice any difference. Sorry if I worded it in a clumsy way, I was thinking of this paper
"Early menopause and other gynecologic risk indicators for chronic fatigue syndrome in women"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5745581/

 

That's a good suggestion!

How about:

Did you feel any difference in ME symptoms during menopause?

Yes, an improvement in ME symptoms
Yes, a deterioration in ME symptoms
No, there were no difference in ME symptoms

 

Symptoms made much worse with meno.

I started meno at age 52 which is the average age.

 

Orthostatic intolerance and cognitive fatiguability much worse since menopause. Oddly I had the best year in 25 years prior to onset of menopause, so it was a major shock to deteriorate significantly over 6 months.

 

Yes. Great idea. I added them.

 

Thank you for answering. I'm sorry to hear you got worse.

 

So sorry to hear that, @obeat .Thanks for answering.

 

Please feel free to answer the poll.
As @Trish says, you won't share your name/nick by responding to the poll.

ETA: Bah! A typo in the poll's question. "Fell" is supposed to be "feel". Hope people will get it

 

Thanks for answering, @Trish It really is hard to remember how one was doing many years ago. But no changes in part time work sounds like quite a good indicator.

IF a connection between ME and early menopause is confirmed, I wonder if the duration of the illness beforehand would have anything to say..

 

@Kalliope When you say 'menopause' are you specifically talking about the time when a woman no longer has any periods, or are you referring to 'perimenopause', the period of time leading up to menopause? Menopause is the stretch of time from your very last period until you die.

 

Huh, good question. I think we'll just go for menopause for now, but I'm sure an exploration of perimenopause could be interesting as well.

 

My peri started when I was 50 and then meno was at age 52. However, I didn't start having hot flashes until five months later.

 

The reason I questioned it is some women think of meno as just being the years leading up to their last period and then meno is over. They don't realize that once you hit meno, it is permanent.