I work for a company that makes a natural herbal based menopause relief formula. It's got ashwagandha (sensoril), HMRlignan, vitamins, and minerals. I'm around a 30 year old male so I haven't tried it, but what I'm reading makes it seem pretty good because it's non-hormone based and ashwagandha seems like a pretty good adaptogen to use overall. My personal feeling, again as a man, is that menopause should not be painful and difficult and my mother said that she didn't have a bad time other than night sweats but she doesn't really associate that with menopause. She was a very healthy eater though and always had a rich garden of greens she'd eat from and was active and not overweight. As a nutritionist, I believe that most problems people are facing are from general lifestyle mis-steps such as not eating enough fruits and vegetables, not sleeping enough, not exercising enough, and being stressed. I would look at those areas before self-diagnosing myself as suffering from any malady because those are much more impactful than anything else. I hope that helps, David

Omg! All these sound like me! My body started aching everywhere in January. Along with hot flashes and night sweats. I tried hrt which made every thing swell in about 3 days. And I couldn't breath. Smile stopped. Progesterone cream, borage oil, maca root powder and now menopause took away moodiness, hot flashes and sweats. But now I ache like crazy. I workout 2x a day, eat a pescatarian diet and feel like I'm 80! Just bought glucosamine today. My doctors as given me 20 different tests and is stumped and that's annoying. Last week Lyme disease and valley fever. I've also gained 42 pounds, which makes me so uncomfortable. I'm so tired of this. It's nice to see others in the same situation. Although its sad.

I've had tinnitus for about a year as a result of fluid in ear and subsequent nerve damage and partial deafness in that ear. I have been on Neurontin for a couple of weeks. It is an anti-convulsant but has a lot of off label uses. A friend with severe rhumatoid arthritis told me about it. It lessened her pain and brought her out of a severe depression in 24 hours. I noticed that my tinnitus was much more bearable after a day or so on 300 mg of Neurontin. I asked the doctor to let me increase the dose but got tired and depressed so I quit for a few days. Am now back on 300 mg a day and feeling good. the ringing in my ear is no longer distracting and I am functioning better at work and at home. My mood is brighter too. Tinnitus and hearing loss tend to make one feel withdrawn and down. There is a lidocaine patch under development that may offer hope for tinitus. Lidocaine works IV and eliminates tinnitus in most subjects but has to be injected every 30 minutes so isn't a practical cure. If it works as a patch behind the ear that would be great.

My gosh. I thought I was the only one in the world, and here you all are! I'm 55. I had an hysterectomy when I was 41 and my ovaries removed at 43. I have been on estrogen only HRT since I was 44 with no issues. I had a normal mammogram six months ago. I started taking methotrexate for arthritis six months ago and my extremely sore and swollen breasts seemed to start when I moved to the higher doses of that drug. I even had some evidence of lactation from my right breast. My GP ordered hormone tests and they all came back in the normal range except SHBG which is a protein that binds to sex hormones to carry them around in the blood stream. I also had a mammogram which showed enlarged ducts with some debris. (My boobs are trashed after breast-feeding five kids but nothing they did is anything on this pain and tenderness.) I missed a couple of doses of methotrexate (taken weekly) and my breast pain seemed to start to diminish. I also stopped my HRT because I was so desperate for some relief. After a month, the pain has substantially subsided but I still have a residual tingly burn and they haven decreased much in size. I am yet to have repeat hormone tests or a repeat mammogram. I will try the flaxseed recommended above and post anything else that changes.