Ladies of the lounge who have been through or are going through "the change"

[kcass1954]

20. I started with hot flashes at 40. My idiot HMO doctor did blood work and told me

that I was "basically in the normal range." She never asked about family history - I was the first one to make it to 40 without a hysterectomy, so no one knows what a "normal" age is in my family.

And then I got pregnant - at 41.

I started up again with hot flashes, night sweats and the memory thing around 45. The irregular period thing was around 49, and they didn't stop completely until 52.

While most of the other symptoms have subsided, I still suffer with the hot flashes - my mother had them until she died at 70 - although they're not nearly as bad as they were. I do have to crank the a/c down when I get up in the morning, because there's a monster at 7:20, and another again at 8:15 - every friggin' day.

And the peeing thing drives me nuts! (If I hear someone else pee, I have to pee. If I hear running water, I have to pee. If the sprinklers turn on, I have to pee. If it rains, I have to pee. And if I'm driving to work and the person in front of me washes his/her windshield, I have to pee!)

But I don't have a period any more, so it all balances out.