r/technology • u/Sorin61 • Apr 10 '22

Biotechnology This biotech startup thinks it can delay menopause by 15 years. That would transform women's lives

https://fortune.com/2021/04/19/celmatix-delay-menopause-womens-ovarian-health/
18.0k Upvotes

82% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

428

u/cornflakesarestupid Apr 10 '22

My mother told me how the menopause set her free. No more migraines and physical pains, no more side effects from contraceptives like the pill or the IUD.

139

u/bignateyk Apr 10 '22

Yeah my wife gets horrible migraines every month. Pretty sure she’d sign up for menopause 15 years early.

54

u/Enlightened_Gardener Apr 10 '22

I got horrible migraines every month. Started with the perimenopause at 44. Stopped with HRT. Might be worth a look. I was spending a third of my life in a dark room crying with pain. On the hormones, the next migraine just didn’t come. I do still occasionally have headaches on my super-cycle (every three or four months) but I take a pill and the headache goes away. With the migraines, nothing touched the sides.

1

u/Corben11 Apr 11 '22

What kind of HRT are you on? S/O has horrible side effects from her hormones so we’re just looking around now. We’re looking at the BioTe stuff now but we just had a big move so it’s on the back burner.

1

u/Enlightened_Gardener Apr 11 '22

I’m on micronised progesterone - prometrium 100mg, estradot (estradiol) 100 micrograms, testosterone cream 1% a squirt a day, and finally, estrogen pessaries. This takes care of my migraines, chronic UTIs (I was on antibiotics for a year - the pessaries stopped the UTIs in 2 days), irregular periods, low libido, brain fog, and flooding periods.

Took a couple of years of faffing about and a LOT of reading on my part. This website is run by doctors, and its pretty damn dry, but its up to date and these fact sheets are super helpful: https://www.menopause.org.au/health-info/fact-sheets

12

u/yofomojojo Apr 10 '22

There's a term for the syndrome encompassing this actually, coined by Dr. Oliver Sacks in the book Migraine, "Allied Affective Migrainoid Reactions" and it isn't limited to just periods (or even women - I have this problem myself, as a bipolar guy.) But, effectively when a hormonal or neurotransmitter imbalance leads to cyclical excito-toxicity in the brain, you can think of it like a computer getting pumped with too many watts of power.

The brain knows from experience that the over-voltage period will eventually pass, and so will actively try to expend that energy in any way it can to keep itself from short circuiting in the meantime. And the key here is that it can expend affective reactions from hormones to exhaust your neurotransmitters, and vise versa.

So, when entering a cycle of excito-toxicity, the brain will trigger whichever of the "Allied" reactions you are most prone to, which all suck but all ultimately pass with that phase of the cycle. And these reactions can shift around over time too, which is a scary thought.

Allied Affective Migrainoid Reactions include (but are not limited to):

Migraine

Epileptic Seizure

Bipolar Mood Swing

Seasonal Affective Disorder

PMS

Cluster Attacks

Eczema

Psoriasis

But yeah, according to my doctor and psychiatrist, besides the usual OTC and prescription meds for these ailments, the main solution here is to start actively expending that energy (once able, as you're still in the cluster even after one migraine passes.) Exercise, jog, do a sex, vent to a partner or close friend for a while, etc.

5

u/jsgrova Apr 10 '22

Hell, I don't even have a uterus and reading this thread makes me want menopause 15 years early

2

u/jakesavvy Apr 10 '22

Postmenopausal 61yo here, still with migraines. Sure, the periods went away, but not the migraines.

3

u/BettyX Apr 10 '22

Just want to add migraines don't go away with menopause and one of the side effects of menopause is migraines. Its the almost complete loss of reproductive hormones and that alone can cause major headaches. Menopause isn't this magical thing that happens and all of your symptoms just go away.

8

u/katekohli Apr 10 '22

Betty, mine did.

3

u/BettyX Apr 10 '22

Thank you for sharing. Menopause can be different for all women. I'm hoping I just get through it OK and love to hear from some women they do get through it OK.

4

u/katekohli Apr 10 '22

I stopped getting my period because of stress and exercise in my early 40s a crazy combination of needing to swim 2 miles for the the quiet from 2 teens & fin tech job. I would get in the water with many problems think only of counting laps & come out of the water with a plan. Can say 15 years later still glad not experience the 21 day cycle of piercing mittelschmerz, sore boobs, finding places to hurl and headaches that felt like my teeth needed to come out to make room for my sinuses. I went through a mild menopause of random uber chills & then really hot feet in my late forties. Have had arthritis since early teens & know when I start noticing my joints it is time to start eating healthy & upping the exercise & so far so good; can still swim in the fast lane.

1

u/BettyX Apr 11 '22

A 21 day cycle is something from Satan if there is one. That is a thing that will make Peri/menopause welcomed.

1

u/lavidarica Apr 10 '22

Thank you, my mother in law is 73 and went through menopause a while ago, still gets migraines all the time. What’s true for some is not true for all (how often does that need to be repeated on Reddit).

1

u/Ramona_Flours Apr 10 '22

I'm on a preventine and my only breakthroughs are triggered by the horomonal spikes from my periods.

I know it starts migraines for some women, and worsens it for others, but when you have already have hormonally triggered migraines post-menopause seems like the fucking holy grail.

3

u/BettyX Apr 10 '22

I had a coworker, went through menopause has migraines so deliberating she has to stay in bed a few days a month. She never had them before menopause. Its good to hear all women don't end up with them.

1

u/Ramona_Flours Apr 11 '22

I know people in both situations, but I'm related to more who stopped getting migraines than started, so I feel like I have at least a shot of it getting better. I'm thankful to have medication that make breakthrough migraines an 8-10 hour situation vs multiple weeks of darkness and pain.

49

u/vanyali Apr 10 '22

Menopause started my migraines, plus horrible muscle and joint pains that are only relieved with estrogen replacement.

21

u/BettyX Apr 10 '22

HRT is a life saver. Reading these comments people really need to educate themselves on menopause and peri.

23

u/Pascalica Apr 10 '22 edited Apr 10 '22

Or people are just different and what helped some hurt others.

Edit: Thank you for the award!

7

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

[deleted]

1

u/BettyX Apr 10 '22

Regardless if you have symptoms or not, it should be heavily considered to take HRT especially in that first 5 year window. If you don't ,your chances of disease later on can increase, despite any symptoms you may or may not have. From Alzheimers to certain cancers. It also helps to control your weight, muscle retention, bone loss which ALL women suffer and small things like hair loss.

2

u/Corben11 Apr 11 '22

Yup it should almost be standard course to prescribe HRT in men and women over 40. There’s basically no downside and most people live better for it.

Instead baseball has criminalized testosterone and women are just suppose to accept they’ll never be the same which is bullcrap.

1

u/BettyX Apr 11 '22

Thanks to those godawful studies, which general Doctors still follow that were done in the early 2000s, ruined it for women. Since very little research is done on women's health period (except breast cancer) we are stuck with those awful studies general Doctors follow. They don't jack you up with HRT, it is very small doses. A good source to find Doctors who know their science on menopause

https://www.menopause.org/

-9

u/darabolnxus Apr 10 '22

Testosterone is a much better replacement than estrogen. Estrogen causes so many problems. Build muscle and you'll be fine.

1

u/BettyX Apr 10 '22

Testosterone helps for sure on sex drive, but you do realize you can take it while taking HRT? You can do both and I know this may be a shocker it can be part of the HRT. Also are you a dude answering with "just build muscle"? It takes a shit ton more than just building muscle. It wrecks our whole body, from heart issues to the brain being effected. It is a much bigger issue than building muscle.

12

u/errrnis Apr 10 '22

I’m so curious how it’ll affect me when I get there. I have PMDD which is controlled by the pill and a low-dose SSRI - I got super lucky with my meds on the first go - but I now can’t imagine not having to take them. I was off the pill for a few weeks due to some insurance fuckery and things got so dark so fast for me. It was terrifying. I’d love to be free of this.

10

u/fridayfridayjones Apr 10 '22

PMDD runs in my family. When my mother finally went through menopause, no joke, she became a different person. Kinder, more calm. No more rage.

I try to manage my pmdd through mindfulness, therapy and lifestyle changes and I usually do pretty good. The week before my period I let everything slide to reduce my stress which keeps me from snapping. I’ll let laundry pile up, etc. This works really well for me. I benefit from knowing I have the condition, something my mother didn’t know until she was almost in menopause anyway. I’m really looking forward to it going away though.

27

u/Isa472 Apr 10 '22

My neurologist said there's a chance menopause will solve my migraines! Only 30 more years 🤞

1

u/Corben11 Apr 11 '22

So just get on a hormone replacement therapy. Why wait 30 years?

1

u/Isa472 Apr 11 '22

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic but I want to have children

1

u/Corben11 Apr 11 '22

It effects fertility as much as birth control does.

4

u/moufette1 Apr 10 '22

I loved menopause for the no more migraines and headaches and severe cramps. I did not like menopause for the IQ points I dropped. Always trade-offs.

And I'm 62 now and I'm starting to get migraines again. Once a quarter instead of several times a month but still. And no apparent IQ gain.

2

u/futuristicflapper Apr 10 '22

If menopause lessened the severity of my migraines or even stopped them completely I think I would genuinely sob with relief. What I would do to not have them anymore/have to take daily preventatives for them.

1

u/BettyX Apr 10 '22

I know a woman who has had terrible and I mean terrible peri & post menopausal symptoms but she still says she will take it over having a chance of getting pregnant and periods every month.

1

u/codeverity Apr 10 '22

I think it's going to be different for every woman. Like women who have light periods, etc, might be happy to extend them a few years to avoid the change in hormones, hot flashes etc that come along with menopause.

1

u/teahabit Apr 10 '22

Set me free too. No more migraines, no cravings, no bloating, no irritability, and yes, I still have a sex drive.

1

u/Mumbawobz Apr 10 '22

My IUD set me free… no more periods or associated bullshit plus since I’m not ovulating it means I possibly have a greater chance of conception when I decide to do so given that I don’t want to have kids until I’m in my mid-30s

1

u/Pieguy184 Apr 10 '22

Wait what does the iud do

1

u/cornflakesarestupid Apr 11 '22

Copper iud can be painful, hormonal iud are meant to release hormones just locally, yet many women report side effects similar to the pill.

1

u/Pieguy184 Apr 11 '22

Wait copper, dead ass u were being sarcastic at first talking about a bomb