I have a dumb question. Why does menopause cause an increase in UTIs?
For those that live in the US (N. America) and have negative experiences with doctors, this organization provides recommendations…have heard a lot of good things about it.
https://www.menopause.org/
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Some explanations:
https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/spotlight/2022/06/vidd-srinivasan-jamanetw.html
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I’ve been on Macrobid daily for about 30 years to prevent UTIs. I’ve never had any issues. My urologist, one of the top in Maine, said he’d never had a patient become resistant to this particular antibiotic.
My aunt died in 1948 at the age of 15 when her recurrent UTIs finally killed her. 
Just want to add that I had distressing heart palpitations before periods for years, that got much worse during menopause but entirely stopped once menopause was settled down. If I had gone on HRT I might have attributed the improvement to the hormones but actually they settled down due to less estrogen on board- but at a steady state rather then the fluctuations of peri-menopause and during the transition itself.
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If you haven’t tried 100% lanolin it’s worth a go if you’re not allergic to wool. I discovered it when nursing my babies and the baby aisle is where you will usually find it in the drugstore. Over the years I have used it for chapped hands, as a lip balm at night, etc. It’s really goopy going on, but over time it both absorbs into the skin and forms a waterproof barrier.
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I think I was pretty lucky compared to most. I had maybe one or two hot flashes. I am still usually cold when I sleep. My periods got irregular and very heavy, lots of clots, but then they stopped a few years ago.
The worst symptom was heart palpitations. They are definitely a side effect of perimenopause. I was also under a lot of family stress at this time so I am not sure if my moods and emotions were affected by menopause or that stress.
I have no desire to take any meds, my maternal grandmother had BC. My mom had excellent DEXA scans until she was about 84.
The only other issue is once I went thru menopause, my cholesterol levels immediately changed. I had always had great numbers, but now my total is too high and the LDL is high. HDL is great though.
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I’ve never heard of this. Thank you for the suggestion.
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All board certified ob/gyns who are educated in menopause say to never use pellets. They are not regulated and you have no idea how much of a hormone you are receiving. They say the studies analyzing the levels in one pellet to another are alarming. Many doctors use pellets as a money making scheme. Better to stick to FDA regulated hormones vs compounded ones. They are all synthesized in a lab, bio-identical is only a marketing term.
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I have had a similar experience. In 2 weeks I will officially be post-menopausal at 56yo. I’ve had annoying hot flashes off and on and some muscle/joint aches but nothing debilitating. I find when I eat really well and am exercising regularly, symptoms disappear. The holiday season through me for a bit of a loop this year as both went out the window.
But at my latest well visit I learned my total and LDL cholesterol levels went through the roof! All other markers are very good. So now I have to research that.
There is a definite link between menopause and higher cholesterol levels.
Like the below passage suggests, if it were men the problem would have been solved long ago.
" Imagine that some significant portion of the male population started regularly waking in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, a problem that endured for several years. Imagine that those men stumbled to work, exhausted, their morale low, frequently tearing off their jackets or hoodies during meetings and excusing themselves to gulp for air by a window. Imagine that many of them suddenly found sex to be painful, that they were newly prone to urinary-tract infections, with their penises becoming dry and irritable, even showing signs of what their doctors called “atrophy.”
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This is what I wanted to avoid. During the time I was off HRT, I had nearly constant UTIs. The pain was debilitating, the stress exacerbated IBS and I became a recluse.
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As I posted, small daily doses of Macrobid have prevented UTIs for me for 30 years. I have had no issues at all with it. I will very occasionally (less often than once a year) have a breakthrough infection and they prescribe a course of another antibiotic that takes care of it.
Anyone with constant UTIs needs to take action, because if left untreated they can lead to kidney infections. A long time ago, I was hospitalized with one for five days. The pain was worse than childbirth.
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I’m 63 - here’s the journey so far….
I had irregular periods most of my life. Lots of PMS – sometimes with 50+ day cycles so I was bloated for weeks and weeks at a time. I remember my mom going thru terrible flooding issues in her early 50’s. And boy do I remember the mood swings. But those things weren’t talked about back then.
Fast forward…around 50 my periods became a bit heavier…then a bit more often. I noticed a mood decline – mainly anxiety. I’d go for 3-4 months without a bleed. I honesty don’t know when I officially entered menopause. I’ve been on an HRT regiment since 53/54 . We’d travel and I’d have some sort of breakthrough bleeding.
I’ve been on a stable HRT regiment of .5 mg estrogen patch 2x week and 200 mg progesterone nightly. I work with a naturopath. We run a blood check every 6 months, adjust as needed. About a year ago I changed pharmacies and was given a different brand of estradiol patch. Didn’t give it a second thought.
OUCH!!!
I had two trips to the urgent care to check for UTI’s within a month. The results were negative but there was blood in my urine. I felt like I was wearing sand paper in my underware. And…okay…TMI…my rectocele felt like it was being scrubbed with a grit sponge. My entire lower front, under the belly button, felt like it had a sore throat. Started to develop some stress and urge incontinence. And, apparently was hot flashes (NEVER had those). Didn’t sleep well. …Oh…and the mood…just crabby, cranky and anxious. Convinced something truly sinister was developeing.
Nope, it was THAT patch – lots of horrible reviews and reports. Back to the old version and the symptoms resolved within a few days.
I have 10 years of blood work data. All things seem to be holding steady.
My cholesterol did pop up a bit but 1800 mg/day of red rice yeast has brought it back down under 200. I have an unusually, naturally high DHEA level for my age.
My new PCP freaked when I mentioned occasional break thru spotting. Sent me for pelvic and vaginal ultra sounds. All is well. I assured her the break thru issues were correlated to travel (any airplane trips will cause a bit of spotting), extra stress (holidays) or if I miss a estro patch.
Not sure when, or if, to stop the HRT. One very young PA at the gyno office went off the rails when she saw I’d been on the system for more than 5 years. At the end of her speech I felt like I was going to be dropping cancerous organs on my way back to the car. Clearly - medical opinions differ.
Slight osteopenia as per DEXA scan. But those levels are based on an average 30 year olds average baseline. I strongly suspect I’ve always been below normal in that area – very slight boned. Could have been at this same bone level at 30.
I started an Ipriflavone supplement for bone health. I think I would resist the ‘bone sparing’ medications. The risk of long bone fractures increases greatly with those. It’s not just bone density that matters. Bones also need strength and flexibility. My mom was on one (Boniva??) for a while. She did fracture a femur.
No history of cancer in immediate family. Will see where the path leads.
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Wow, your story shows how different each of us is & how important it is to do what is best for ourselves.
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This was my cynical concern with the pellets - a money-making scheme.
As I wrote above, I would be perfectly happy to stay on the PremPro. I’m mad about being taken off it.
I’ve used coconut oil for years. I much prefer it to other lubricants.
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I just want to put this in here. If you have bleeding during peri/post and menopause, please please make a doctor’s appointment. My sister had unexplained bleeding that her regular doctor attributed to vaginal dryness, and by the time she got to a specialist she was diagnosed with endometrial cancer (this was during Covid, so the waits were long). I personally feel she died way too soon, and from something that could have been dealt with sooner and given her more time. Not to be a downer, but it’s something else to consider.
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I am so sorry for your loss. And I will say, that it was a similar post like this on here during covid that made me go and get mine checked out. They did a biopsy and it was ok thankfully. But yes, people should get it checked out. I’m sorry your sister wasn’t taken more seriously
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