q for middle aged ladies of hip forums

this question can only be answered by older ladies on this forum...i know there are a couple of you...besides me that is. i am 41 and my bra size appears to have changed. i have only gained a few pounds, but it seems like my rib cage itself is bigger. is this possible? does it kinda expand?? or am i imagining things...

 

My ribcage got a lot bigger when I was pregnant the first time. (Painful.) But, I haven't noticed anything in the early stages of perimenopause. Although my middle seems a little thicker than I am used to.

 

hell i aint even technically middle aged yet but my rib cage area has changed in the last couple years,,,, n not much else has other than gravity n all that happy shit..... but iffin it makes ya feel any better i am going through perimenopausal crap now n have been for a year or so.... wish i would just hurry up n get there,,, this blowz

 

haha, yeah def. the middle. but the chest has expanded too. i guess it's pretty normal, it's just weird to wake up one day and say wait a minute, that bra doesn't fit anymore, when it's the size i always wore

 

yea i did that one day a bit ago n decided i rather enjoyed the breathing part of life,,,,, n them tits just had to learn to support themselves,,, i am done providing for them lazy hags

 

lol dilli...well actually i'm not menopausal yet either...last time i went to doc she said my hormones showed no sign of peri menopause yet...haha...still laughing "lazy hags". i think my tits have a new name

 

Ech, I'm having hot flashes and mood swings, and shorter periods, and those night "chest sweats" WTF? MY chest (right under my chin) never sweated before. I was never ever a swearty type person, now I'm turning the heat down to 66 degrees and standing outside in the snow ect. My family laughs at me. It is not "menopause" and the home menopause test wasn't sensitive enough to show the changes, but I am definately in PERI menopause, which my OBGYN says can last up to TEN YEARS. God, help us, Dilli!

 

i'm sure it'll be any day....oh the joys...plus if my body's already changing, what's going to happen THEN?? *shudders*

 

My bra size has changed in the last few yrs....36 to 38C. when I was in my 20's-30's, it was 36B. It feels like my ribcage is bigger, and I've put on a little weight in the last few yrs. I'm sure I'm in the peri stage too...my periods are still the same in terms of timeliness and length, but they are heavy as hell, and I'm far more prone to PMS than I used to be. No hot flashes or night sweats yet...hope not ever. Apparently my mom never had them when she went through menopause. Hope I follow in her footsteps...

 

ah shit since we'ra all whingin bout agin,,, may as well too besides my lazy hag tits,,,, gone from 36-38 ddin last year or so,,, but lost weight all over other places,,, sweats,,, good lord i sweat like a pig n stinky ass sweat to,,,, kinda gross really .. i got horrible pms n never used to,,, like wanting to commit murder or some such...n my periods got hella cramps n barely bleed for two days..... n to think 10 years,,, ugh i think i would rather go back through 2-12 grade again....

 

not to butt in on your conversation, but it has made me think of my mother - when she was becoming menopausal years ago it was an even more stressfull and questionable period for her, because she had had a radical histerectomy when she was 39 (Due to cancerous tissue on and around her cervix). Her own momma was not the type to discuss such things, and since she didn't have any periods to tell her what was going on in her body, she did a lot of guessing. I remember it very clearly, because all this was happening around the same time I was beginning to menstruate, and it really made both of our transitions a little more emotional.

Alls I can say about the bra size thing is, it seems to me that everyone's body must change at some point - even besides hormone levels, etc, things like your back and abdominal muscles can play into the way you are shaped.

 

one of the earliest signs my Grampa had emphysema was an enlarged ribcage. If you smoke, please go get your lungs checked out by a doctor.

Menopause, ick. I have already been through it once due to evil medication that shut down my ovaries. Not fun at all, but my only consolation is that natural menopause isn't immediate, but gradual, and can't possibly be as bad as that was. Biggest difference will be that my kids will be teenagers, so poor dh will have two pubescent girls and one menopausal wife living in the same house at the same time.

 

no, i don't smoke. and i don't mean to say my rib cage is enormous, its maybe one two inches bigger around. i'm sure it's been happening slowly and i just realized it because all of my bras have gotten too small. i'm weird--i PREFER wearing a bra most of the time, except lately because they have all gotten too small.
and yeah i figured it was normal but it startled me so much i wanted to hear about what other people were experiencing. thanks for responding!

 

Well, my bras did recently get tight around the band part for no apparent reason. I haven't put on weight since I bought them. My body is just one adventure after another, though, like a National Lampoons Vacation, so I have no idea why this would happen.


I had a hysterectomy in January and in the beginning, before my ovaries (which I kept) got their act together and realized where they were and what was going on, I had some HORRENDOUS night sweats and hot flashes. :X Holy crap. That shit just ain't right.

I still get once in a while, but now my ovaries just think we have Pre Nothing Syndrome every other week. Oh, joy! I'm still stoked to not get periods anymore, though. Thank God. And the constant pain that drove me to have a hysterectomy is gone.

I have actually lost weight since the surgery, so I know it's not weight gain that's making my bras tight. And I don't smoke, either.

 

i have come to the conclusion that bodies are weird. lol

 

You ain't kidding.

When I had the most horrendous bout of night sweats and hot flashes/cold sweats, when my ovaries were still in shock or whatever, I was thinking that it's amazing that more women don't just freaking go off the freaking deep end and LOSE IT. I mean, to be awake in the middle of the night, and uncontrollably hot, and sleep deprived. It was awful. And people are expected to go on functioning and working and fulfilling their responsibilities in that condition? OMG.

When menopause really does come, if it's as intense as that post-op adjustment was, I better just find an island to live on for a while. For everyone's sake.

 

Levi, a lot of womyn who have a hysto have some of the blood supply and nerves cut to the ovaries. This can cause a "near" menopause. This is really common, although most doctors will tell you it isn't. As most of them haven't had, or can't have hystos.

Yeah, the night sweats are something. I now only sleep in summer nightgown, and keep a clean, sleeveless summer nightgown at the foot of the bed, so I can change when I wake up on damp sheets.

 

It freaked me out at first. The first night I was home, 2 days post-op, my heater broke, so my house was freezing, I was burning, sweating, freezing. I couldn't get the pilot light to stay lit on the heater, and crawling on the floor after surgery to try to fix the heater was NO FUN! I thought I would go crazy.


Slowly, though, over a couple of weeks, my ovaries woke up and things got a lot better. I hope menopause isn't as intense as that. My male gynocologist is such an optimist! He said I had nothing to worry about! Come a little closer and say that, buddy! I dare ya! LOL.

I'm feeling a lot better now. I know that hysterectomies aren't the answer to everything, but in my case, I think I probably should have done it a lot sooner. I could have avoided a lot of suffering from adenomyosis.

 

Menopause, or perimenopause, which is what I am having now, takes it's time, it doesn't hit you all at once, like your ovaries going "out" like yours did. My guess is that the blood and nerve connections to your ovaries reconnected, so your symptoms got better. I am sorry you went through such a bad time.

Post Op Hysto is no fun. My mom spent 9 months in bed. But, I think this was a lot more than just the physical aspects of it for her.

I am glad the surgery worked for your adeno, that can be a brutal condition.

 

so, bought new bras. they are 36B as opposed to my former 34B, and worn on the biggest, last closure. still, i guess that's not too bad.
levi, if i didn't say it before, i'm sorry you had to go through that, and glad you are better now.