Menopause

[CJ384]

Since Lupus can go in and out of remission based on hormonal balances, menopause is something NOT to be feared. Menopause started and Lupus finally went into remission for me after 4 years of h*ll. Haven't felt this good in years!

[Hidden]

This is interesting and I'm so glad for you!

My experience was the same with eczema that dominated my first four decades of life, but disappeared almost overnight with the start of my menopause when I was 46.

Unfortunately all the autoimmunity then made itself known a few years later in the form of RA, Sjögren's with neurological features and Raynauds.

But not having rashes all over my face and the terrible Pompholyx all over my hands and soles has been a massive blessing so I can well relate. A dermatologist once told me that my eczema was an allergic response to my hormonal surges and it took me into hospital with my first pregnancy (blood poisoning) but disappeared for the second and third pregnancies. I feel my eczema was more like Lupus on many levels and read the other day that it is now often treated aggressively with Methotrexate or other immunesuppresants.

I'm also hypothyroid and believe this probably accounts for my episodes of total alopecia as a kid and younger adult. No one ever told me that alopecia is always a sign of autoimmunity - but I've since learnt that it is.

A CTD/ Vasculitis professor ruled out Lupus for me a few years ago on the basis that if my skin problems and other unwellness had all been Lupus related as I had wondered, by now (post menopausal) I would have organ involvement (kidneys in particular) and my symptoms would be improving, not worsening.

I think he was probably right but suspect the RA problems and other CTD symptoms were actually all Sjögren's related for me and this usually worsens with age unfortunately - and my kidneys are now starting to show signs of early involvement and my peripheral and autonomic nervous systems are a mess and muddle.

However it's great not to have alopecia or a face and body plastered in eczema now at least. I do thank my lucky starts for this often!

Long may your remission last and I hope your post cheers to many here too.

[CJ384 in reply to Hidden]

I am so sorry to heat all you are going through. I am going to college to become a Holistic Wellness Practitioner. I still suffer from Multiple sclerosis and what I've learned in school has helped. I eat only whole foods, nothing processed and no gluten or dairy. I also cut out all sugar. This way of eating helped the Lupus before it went into remission.

[Georgie-girl]

So pleased that you're feeling so good at last.

This is very interesting in the fact that you feel better and go into remission with the onset of menopause.

For me it was the other way round. I was fit and healthy, I thought, till peri menopause brought with it all this CTD/autoimmune stuff.

Hope you continue to feel this good.

[CJ384 in reply to Georgie-girl]

Any big change in hormone levels can influence Lupus. I don't know about the illnesses you're having to deal with, but I'm sure they're awful. Be well!!!

[EOLHPC in reply to CJ384]

So True! For instance: I was exposed daily inutero for 5 months to the notorious endocrine disrupting artificial oestrogen DES (diethylstilbestrol) in 1953. Like many women in countries around the world, my mother had it prescribed to prevent miscarriages (she'd spent 10 years having multiple miscarriages due to Rh neg blood incompatibilty). In the early 1970s DES hit international headlines due to DES Daughters & Sons like me coming of reproductive age only to discover researchers proving the exposure had permanently damaged our internal reproduction organs and predisposed us to rare gyn cancer. As a result, I am infertile. And most of my consultants think my DES exposure combined with my genetic predispositions (Ehlers Danlos etc) to tip me over into infant onset systemic lupus, diagnosed in NYC when I was a toddler

Wishing you every best wish managing your immune dysfunction & connective tissue disorder...am so glad this is going well

🍀🍀🍀🍀 coco

[CJ384 in reply to EOLHPC]

Sorry to hear about your medical issues. I too have infant onset Lupus. Unfortunately, it wasn't diagnosed until I was 21 years old. Medical research is not as advanced here in the US. I hope menopause put Lupus away for good!

[EOLHPC in reply to CJ384]

I hope so too: you've got plenty with MS to manage!

My mother didn't tell me what the doctors were treating me for, I just thought I was "sickly" growing up (long story!) in the States. So when I moved to the UK @ 21, the health system took me on unaware of the underlying SLE. The NHS helped me through emergencies while it diagnosed lots secondaries & put them into treatment ongoing...while I focused on self-help, lifestyle techniques, body therapies, meditation, nutrition etc. By my 50s the multisystem debilitation was bad enough for a brilliant rheumy to figure out the lupus (at which point my mother confessed about the infancy diagnosis & treatments while growing up). My medics all say my conscientious self-help has all been vvvvv worthwhile - of course am continuing it!

Now am on great daily prescription oral combined therapy lupus meds which are helping my younger more stamina, resilience & comprehension + less pain than i've had since my teens.

So, I'm totally admiring & respecting your determination to focus on lifestyle management to encourage your remission to continue

Sending you every best wish

🌷🍀😘🌷🍀😘🌷

[CJ384 in reply to EOLHPC]

Thank you for the kind words. I really didn't do anything except decide to go back to school at age 49 to learn how to figure this disease out so I can treat it Holistically. I will graduate in 2018 (February). One thing I learned in school about myself is that it's more important to help others. I've been helping myself along the way, but I'm all fired up to get clients ant help them, on a mostly volunteer basis.

[CJ384 in reply to CJ384]

I know it's been a while since I checked in. I graduated and now am a licensed Holistic Nutrition Wellness Practitioner. This Fall I will continue my education in the field of integrated health and alternative medicine. When I graduate, I will be an alternative medicine doctor. However, my focus will remain on nutrition.