Help menopause

[Lee003]

Like someone else I still have a period anywhere from 3 to 6 months.  I don't want to take harmones because of family history.  I have gained massive to me amounts of weight.  5 lbs this week.  I don't eat enough to gain this much weight.  I had search the thyroid forum to see if maybe this might be related.  I am 45 years old.  The sporadic periods have been occuring for the last three years.  I have night sweats and hot flashes.  I to a salava test to determine harmone levels.  The creams that they perscribed did little more than moisten my skin.  I have most of the typical menopausal symtoms.  My normal resting body temp is around 97.5  If I have a normal temp I am probably sick.  
Thanks for the input and any help
L

[Machelle Seibel, MD]

Weight gains of 5 pounds per week are not a typical symptom of menopause. However, the fact that you are 45 and have night sweats and hot flashes and irregular periods does suggest that you are in the perimenopause. The best thing would be to speak with your doctor and discuss these symptoms. He/she might want to get a blood test for FSH which if elevated suggests you are in perimenopause. Other tests for thyroid hormones, blood sugar and estrogen might also be obtained. Your doctor might want to look for other causes of weight gain as well to better understand your problem. You could also discuss options to help with hot flashes such as hormones. Low dose creams can be formulated with increasingly higher estrogen dosages until the correct one to help you is found. There are also oral and vaginal estrogens and estrogen patches, all of which can reduce hot flashes. Also discuss alternative approaches such as soy and black cohosh and others. It is likely that with some individualized assistance, your symptoms can be greatly helped.
Machelle M. Seibel, MD

[Lee003]

I finally got the DR to give me a diuretic.  In less than 24 hrs. lost 8lbs in water.  My ankles were huge and I felt as though I had a band around my throat. It was almost so bad that I couldn't breath.  I feel much better today.  But I know that there has to be something wrong other than it's just your age and what happens.  I am so sick of being told this.  If I were a man there would be all sorts of jumping up and down and test.
L

[331U]

This is so much like my problem.
You can contact me at ***@****.

[Lee003]

Thank you,
Like I wrote before, I have tried the creams the the Black Co., and soy is not an option.  I have been diagnosed with pari meno for over 8 years.  I must find something to get control of the weight.  I can live with the flashes and Night sweats, but the weight thing has to come to some form of resolution.
I am trying to get into see the DR.  Hopefully they will do bloodwork.  I have found that I am not taken seriously because I am not yet obese.  I am 5'7" and weigh 160 as of this morning.  This time last year I was at 135.  I had stayed between 135 and 140.  I have changed nothing, not food intake or exercise.  
Again thank you for your input.
L