Anybody else menopausal?

[Letitia]

It feels a little weird to have a 4 year old and a 2-1/2 year old and be dealing with this, but I am.  My menopause wasn't natural.  I doubt it makes much difference how we get there, and here I am pretty far from where I was a year ago. 

Do any of you know of safe ways of dealing with some of the changes?  Dryness is my major challenge.  I can't use hormones (and wouldn't anyway), and I don't like to put anything on my body or in my vagina that I wouldn't eat.  I'm kind of stumped as to where to look for this information.

[litlwons]

Coconut Oil...hands down the best lubricant I have ever used. I use it a lot in my house, so it is always around.

I am not menopausal... but for sure in pre-menopause... a lot earlier than any of my friends.

Hope that helps.....

Kathleen

[sophiesgrandma]

olive oil is good too.

[EFmom]

I've got the exact same issue.  I went through menopause from chemotherapy.  I'm on Femara to prevent the return of breast cancer.

The dryness is awful.  Just awful.  Beyond awful.   I've tried coconut oil, olive oil, this oil, that oil, every OTC lubricant on the market.  Nothing works.

My gyno, a woman of about my age, is all for a little topical estrogen cream.  She thinks it would make a world of difference and the chances of it raising my systemic estrogen levels are very slight.  My oncologist, a youngish man, is opposed.  While I love him to death, he probably thinks that old ladies like me (50) shouldn't be doing anything where dryness would be a problem in the first place. 

I don't know.  On the one hand, I'd do just about anything to avoid a recurrance.  On the other hand, it's a major bummer for quality of life.

[Letitia]

Thank you.  I almost didn't post because I didn't think I'd get any response.

I will definitely try the oils. 

EFmom, were you on the Cancer Survivor thread?  Mine is from chemo too.  Oddly, Arimidex hasn't made anything any worse than it was from just the menopause. 

[EFmom]

Yup, I've been on the Cancer survivor thread.

After I was done with chemo, surgery and my year of Herceptin, I was on tamoxifen for about a year before switching to Femara.  The chemopause made me somewhat drier, but it wasn't until the Femara that the problem reached Death Valley proportions.

On the bright side, most of my friends are now going through menopause and dealing with the hot flashes and general misery.  I have a vague recollection of hot flashes during chemo, but the silver lining is that they were one more little insignificant symptom on top of chemo, so I got all that over with!