Lara Briden's Forum

Hello! I am a 43 year old female with stage IV endometriosis (which I had an extremely helpful laparoscopic diagnosis/excision surgery for in 2019), fibromyalgia, and all the fun anxiety/IBS/etc that comes with both of those conditions.

I love both of Lara's books, and after finishing Hormone Repair Manual with plenty of notes, I've decided to start addressing some recent symptoms which I'm certain are perimenopause-related. More tender breasts than usual and for longer before my period, more irritability, more insomnia, more headaches that occasionally veer into migraine territory, more nighttime anxiety with the sensation of tingling, buzzing, and crawling out of my skin (which I've been warned by a couple of women might be how hot flashes show up in my body), and actual hot flashes from time to time.

I'm starting with magnesium glycinate (Pure Encapsulations, in which unfortunately I cannot tell the actual amount of magnesium vs glycine) - just one piil (120mg magnesium glycinate combined) for a week to ease in and then working my way up to two and then possibly three per evening. My next addition if the magnesium was not sufficient was going to be taurine. After that - melatonin. And finally, if none of those worked, I thought I would try to talk to my doctor about progesterone capsules.

My questions:
- It's so hard to determine the right dose of magnesium to get to the 300g recommended in Hormone Repair Manual - do you have any suggestions for that particular brand? There is no further information on their website, but based on some answers to questions posted on Amazon I get the impression that the 120mg might be the actual amount of magnesium - so then 2 pills would be my maximum dose daily.
- If I try magnesium/taurine/melatonin/progesterone, does it make sense to take them all (adding each one to the existing regimen) or better to try magnesium + taurine, then stop those to try melatonin, then stop that to try progesterone? I'm wary of taking more supplements than I need to deal with my symptoms, especially since so many of them overlap the symptoms they treat.
- And finally - unrelated to supplements, but very relevant to perimenopause - does the age when you get your period have an impact on when menopause will occur? My doctor insists that there is no relationship, which I think mirrors the current research, but anecdotally I've heard otherwise. I got my first period the month after I turned 10, my mother had early menopause due to surgery, and my aunts' and grandmother's ages at menopause are unknown as it's a taboo topic in our culture.

Thank you so much for creating this forum - I hope you can help clarify this supplement confusion I'm having.

That pure encapsulations capsule has 120 mg elemental magnesium so two gives 240 mg, which should be enough, but three could be okay as long as it doesn't cause diarrhoea.

As for your question about whether to "take them all -- adding each one to the existing regimen" or stop as you mix and match. In general, I layer them -- so take them all. As in, start with magnesium + taurine and then continue that as you try adding other things. To a limit, of course. I don't like patients to be on more than four or five things in total.

And as for whether the age of menarche affects the age of menopause, I'm not entirely sure. Would love someone to chime in here if they know.

The subject of age of first period to menopause came up during my smear with a nurse. She said in her years of experience but no actual research, just interesting..... If a girl had their first period at a young age then unfortunately she may experience menopause later than usual. If a girl had their first period later, I guess 13 or older then she may go through menopause earlier than usual.

It would interesting for a survey.

Lara - thank you for the clarification. It's very helpful as I try some things on my own before my next appt this fall.

Soundz Babe - I had actually heard the opposite, that early menarche --> early menopause. That would be a hard pill to swallow if it was the other way, though I suppose in that case, early birds get the benefit of extra years of estrogen! In my case maybe that would counteract my years on the pill.

I agree that a survey would be fascinating - I see a lot more focus on peri- and post-menopause lately, so maybe that could be an informal collaborative project for women's health professionals!

I was just reading Dr Jen Gunter's book "The Menopause Manifesto" - highly recommended - she talks about the age of first period and its r'ship to onset of menopause on pg 49.
According to Dr Gunter, the average age of menopause is unrelated to the start of your periods. The only exception is when the first period starts after age 16, then this makes menopause start later. She also notes that women with shorter cycles tend to start menopause earlier.
Her main point is that your genes is the main factor in timing. Sisters are more likely to have similar menopause onset due to the genetics and environment overlapping, then mothers and daughters, but here the environment may be different. After genes, these factors will affect onset: smoking (earlier for smokers), poor health (earlier for women with poor health) and lower socioeconomic circumstance (earlier menopause).