I heard of a website (although I haven't checked it out for myself yet) called knowmenopause.com. You might want to internet search on menopause and/or perimenopause and see what sort of hits you find. I'd stick with actual medical sites, not sites that are trying to sell a product. Perhaps webmd.com? These are just a couple of sites that popped into my mind.

Good luck!

~S~

don't overdo soy (it's an endocrine disruptor when it's commercially processed).

soy is only a condiment, not a staple in traditional japanese diet, anything else you find is marketing ploy (read: monsanto).

my clinical experience has been the women who have a harder time during menopause have been eating an imbalanced diet for their constitution, either skipping meals, being 'vegetarian' (meaning no red meat, but not enough veggies either) or vegan when their body can't support it (not everyone's can).

the best bet is a balance diet of animal protein, vegetables, whole grains, some sugars but not too many, along with exercise. the problem is that this means a fresh food diet, which many women don't have the time to do....so there has to be a lot of fudge factor here....

but it can be done ;-).

i'd definitely shift to organic meats and organic veggies, because of the hormones in the first one, and the pseudoestrogenic action of pesticides in the 2nd one.

BTW, japanese women are now getting menopause symptoms, as their culture becomes more 'westernized' (read: high stress). so the diet needs to support the stress load....from what i've seen, menopausal women are enduring stressors from multiple directions, so good food, good sleep, light activity daily, and a good support system are the best initial strategy.

Ok, this may be a little controversial. Let me say first, I never went through perimenopause. I went straight into surgical menopause due to a total hysterectomy....and I don't take artificial hormones, though my doctor wants me to for prevention of bone loss. They're expensive and I just don't like taking pills every day.

I have hot flashes (I like to call them my little power surges - yes, sometimes they're a pain, but sometimes they're not so bad, you know?), weird weight distribution (I'm not fat, though I've gained a few - but it's in different places than it used to be - more belly & butt now). I'm sure I might be irritable at times. The insomnia is a kicker - I do have to take something for that now & then.

But really - none of these things are that bad. I don't think of them as symptoms. I don't think of them as problems. They're just part of living. I don't think about being in menopause all the time...

I had really dreaded it, because I heard women complaining all the time. I decided up front that I wasn't going to look at it as a disease. It's a part of life, though mine happened a little early.

If I'm irritable, I try to figure out what's ticking me off, instead of just blaming the hormones (or lack of). It's always something triggering it. If I'm sad, I deal with that emotion, I don't blame the hormones. Even though the hormones (or lack of) do probably make the issue bigger - I still need to deal with the actual problem.

So, I told you, this would be controversial. I don't have any special diet tricks to deal with symptoms, because I relate the word symptoms to a disease. Since being in menopause does have issues such as bone loss, higher cholesteral, etc., I do try to maintain a healthy diet just in general.

I've been dealing with these all my life since since shortly after puberty. I am currently 38, my periods ar still regular, but my flow has changed significantly in the past 18 mos - 2 yrs. My migraines have increased in both frequency and intensity over the same time. I have gained weight in places I have never gained before - all torso, not really arms/legs. Plus, I have night sweats. I tried talking to my Dr but he immediately dismissed my questions about menopause (in any phase) as being premature.

I'm kinda floundering here as I don't have any knowledge about how this works -- my mother and my sister both had hysterectomies in their 30's, my grandmothers are all dead. No other close family relatives or friends that I feel are approachable are of this "age".

I don't mind the general symptoms so much, but I would love to moderate the migraines better. Any words of wisdom here????