So finally, it looks like I can declare menopause. Unless Flo makes one of her once-every-two-years visits that sends the doctors into a tail spin and me into gynae to let the trainees practise on me again

My question is: even when you're done, do you/can you still get monthly hormonal surges? I ask because yesterday and today I'm hard-pressed not to eat the furniture, I'm so hungry. Plus I'm unreasonably crabby (-ier). Plus I'm bloated.

Just wondered.
Ta.

Oh, good grief, and here I was thinking that it would eventually end!!! LOL Bless your heart--I hope it's a VERY temporary thing. :-)

Yes. Even after menopause, your body still produces female hormones and you can still have fluctuations. The medical community used to think that your ovaries "dried" up and quit producing. They now know that this is not correct. Your ovaries do still produce, just in much lesser quantities. We also store a form of estrogen in our fat cells. If we have a whoosh, well, we are also releasing a large amount of estrogen. This can make us have PMS type symptoms....hunger, irritability, water retention, etc. And, don't forget that you have other hormones in your body that can fluctuate, too. Hormones keep the wheels moving and we are full of them!