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[toffeecushion]

How do you know that your symptoms are menopause related and not a life threatening illness?  I am having a hard time with health anxiety at the moment.  Part of me knows that all my problems could be put down to the menopause but they could just as easily be something else.  Without reliable tests how can we be sure?  I am sure if I could accept that I am experiencing perimenopause I would feel better in myself.  How do you accept?  My gp has, in the past told me I am too young for the menopause, I am nearly 49 so I know that is not right, but still I wonder.

[Spadger]

Hi Toffeecushion,
I often wonder too about meno symptoms vs some yet undiagnosed and possibly life limiting condition.  I think part of meno is this awful feeling of gloom/doom and analysing every little symptom that 20 years ago you would have ignored. 
My way of coping with these feelings now is to take a step back (not to Google symptoms - they have come back with 'dial 999 and ask for an amubulance' in the past lol) and try to calm myself down.  Then I decide to 'look after myself' really well and try to relax, give my body time to heal itself (this includes my muddled mind too).  If there is something really wrong I tell myself that it will soon become apparent and there would be no point in going to the docs until I am actually ill. 
49 is certainly not too young for the menopause - I was in perimeno for ages before that, loads of awful heavy/constant periods etc and my last period was at age 49. 
Hot flushes, night sweats, palpitations, adrenaline rushes can make you feel that the end of the world is nigh and mine began prior to my last period - you don't say what your symptoms are but these alone are scary at first. 
I'm not an expert and there are going to be more people coming up to answer you much better than I can, but just to let you know you are not alone, not going mad, and we will survive this. 
Love Spadger x

[diva]

I know how you feel.
My symptoms have come on quite rapidly over teh last few months. but there are so many different things wrong, with different parts of my body - asthma, IBS, sight changes, palpitations, anxiety, etc etc I cannot believe they are all symptoms of some terrible illness. The only reasonable thing to connect them would the menopause.

However, I have had every kind of blood test done, chest x ray, mammogram, smear, eye test. Mostly just to put my mind at rest. NHS do a free health check for woman over 50. It is a good idea to take advantage of that if you can  - just to put your mind at rest.

Take care

[Annie0710]

Toffee cushion I think we should be mindful that not everything may be menopsuse

When my symptoms started 3 years ago I was convinced I was terminally ill, and I'm quite a laid back person.  Too many symptoms were running through my body at once that I struggled to get a grip with things.  The heart was my main concern, as it was jumping about all over the place, and dizziness .  Back then I had ENT, cardiology and a MRI scan plus the blood tests

Basically, I had an MOT, and although the tests supported the arrythmia that I had been diagnosed with 5 years prior they assured me my heart is healthy (I had a heart scan too) ENT assured me that the MRI was good and that I have hearing loss in the left ear usually caused by head injury (I cannot think of an incident)

So, I decided to stop stressing and accept hormones are to blame for the state of my body and mind

Now I have developed double vision (diagnosed Easter as 6th nerve palsy) and the main links are tumour, stroke and in some reports , b12,deficiency

Well back 3 years ago they picked up a b12 deficiency with me I was testing at 197 (range 211-911) and said it didn't need treating even though I was presenting many symptoms, so really to shut me up they gave me a course of tablets then retested at 219, and said that's it, no more talk of b12 and no more talk of menopause, there's no extra help for either (I was already on hrt)

So you see I am sceptical of doctors, but have decided over this period of peri, that I will be as proactive as possible to self medicate where I can.  I use pro gest cream (really not enough strength but at least I am not reacting to it) and I have reliable communication with a b12D organisation who have educated me on buying/asministering b12, I'm not happy about it, but it can't harm me, my body will expel what is not used naturally

So we are right to be on our guard that not everything may be meno related but in many many cases I bet they are.  Have you asked for a full health check ? Have you told them you are worrying about your health ?

I don't buy the Nhs blood tests or ranges either, many tests done are an overall test , they don't break down parts that are being actively used, just the total found in the blood

I guess with my thoughts on tests etc I should be a nervous wreck with health anxiety, but I've been there and done that and got nowhere. And the only person that suffered was me xx


Annie

[dazned]

Ive had every terminal illness known to mankind in my mind ! So I truely know how you feel .

Try keeping a diary,see if a pattern appears if so no true illness would come and go like that it would be permanent and getting worse. Thats what I did anyway,yes the acceptance is the hardest part ,took me months.

[Hurdity]

Hi toffeecushion - well you don't but as the others have said - if there are one or two symptoms that are bothering you more than others then get them checked out - but 49, too young for menopause - how absurd!!!!

The natural average age of menopause is 51 or 52 - and that is the date of the last period - for most women symptoms will be experienced for several years before that and irregular periods maybe for 2 or 3 years too! Your GP is not helping here - but at least you will probably get the tests for other conditions you might be concerned about!

I can't remember what your periods are doing? What symptoms are you most concerned about?

Hurdity x

[GypsyRoseLee]

I agree with dazned that keeping a Mood Diary is very telling.

When my peri symptoms first arrived out of the blue, I genuinely thought I was suffering with a severe mental health episode. I was so frightened that I was heading for a psychiatric ward somewhere.

The intense anxiety, the waves of dread & impending doom and the random insomnia just didn't make any sense, as my life was FINE. I know I scared my husband a few times because I would just sit sobbing into a towel in our en suite (didn't want our children to see or hear me so upset). I also woke him in the middle of night to tell him that I was so depressed that I wanted to take an overdose 

But then bizarrely I would suddenly have a stretch of several days where all my symptoms would disappear.

So I started to keep a Mood Diary, and slowly a vague pattern emerged. Very low mood/anxiety during my actual period. A few days of normality, followed by another dip in mood. Then a few more days of normality, followed by my period starting again. On really bad months I would only get a handful of 'good days' around ovulation. The rest of the month I would feel very low.

Even on ADs this pattern still showed. It was my GP who pointed out that clinical depression just doesn't 'come and go as it pleases'.

So, I knew that it must be connected to my cycle in some way.

[toffeecushion]

Thank you all for replying.  I feel anxious most of the time.  My main worry is my heart, I have had a number of episodes when my heart rate has been 160 and it has stayed like that for hours at a time.  I have seen a cardiologist and she said everything was fine and I even ended up in A&E where it was at 160 for about 6 hours, they monitored me but were not too concerned.  It happened again last week and I think because no one can tell me why it happens it makes me worry more.  I know others have had palpitations but mine are constant for a couple of hours at a time.  My periods have been messing up, I had a long heavy period in Sept 2013, it lasted 53 days then I had a break for 5 days and another one started.  Since then they were getting closer together, every 23 ish days and then the last one was 25 days late, it started as spotting but is now heavier and has been going on for over a week.

I just wish there was a test to prove menopause.  I had a 12 day saliva test done recently which said my estrogen was very low, I know not very reliable and a total waste of money but I was desperate to prove menopause.  I saw a very nice locum and persuaded him to test my fsh but it was only 8.6, so not very high.  I guess I just have to sit it out and try to plod on the best I can.

[Dorothy]

If your GP thinks 49 is too young to be menopausal, then ask him/her why the Daisy Network is in existence!!!

Like dazned, I've imagined myself into a number of terminal illnesses in the past few months. For someone who has always been very healthy in the past, it's been really scary to have so many aches & pains & weird things going on in my body.  But I keep track of them and usually find I shift from one worry to another over a couple of weeks as another symptom comes forward.  I've decided only to bother my doctor if a symptom sticks around or gets progressively worse.  AT the moment, they all seem to be on a kind of cycle.

Have you kept a food diary to see if there is a link between your heart rate and diet?  I have found I am much less tolerant of certain foods now, particularly caffeine and sugar, which can cause my heart to race.

[dazned]

when I get/got the palpitations they would last for several hours at a time so you are not alone there.

[toffeecushion]

Have you kept a food diary to see if there is a link between your heart rate and diet?  I have found I am much less tolerant of certain foods now, particularly caffeine and sugar, which can cause my heart to race.

I cut out caffeine and chocolate just over a year ago to try to stop the palpitations.  I never thought about sugar causing them and now I think about it the last two times it happened I had eaten quite a lot of sugary foods.  I will keep an eye on that

[toffeecushion]

when I get/got the palpitations they would last for several hours at a time so you are not alone there.

Thank you for telling me that, it has reassured me.  I thought it was just me.  Do you think it is just hormonal palpitations?

[dazned]

You say you have seen a cardiologist so Im pretty sure there is nothing amiss with your heart !
Start that diary straightaway write every thing you eat,where in your cycle you are ,and how you felt. I got my husband to print off a large monthly spreadsheet so I could fit it all in as Im technically challenged ! 

You should be able to see then what if anything contributes to your feelings I know I cant remember one week to the next how I felt when. Not eating regularly can bring spells on so little and often is the way to go,likewise too much sugar loads,could be hormonal or quite likely a combination of both. I took mine to the specialist it really is quite insightful.

[Annie0710]

Palpitations are definitely a meno symptom

I cut out caffeine and they are MUCH reduced now, before they were continuous day and evening


Annie

[babyjane]

Hiya

It's true, you can't just presume everything is menopause related and it is sensible to get any new symptoms checked out.

I was terrible at planning my funeral every time something did not feel right.  I am surprised my husband is still here with me I was so doomy and gloomy.  Two things changed my outlook, one is the fact that all my blood tests that I had done in January show me slap bang in the middle of normal across the board.  The other thing that made me see sense is the fact that I have been worrying and fretting for some years and I have not developed a life threatening or life changing illness yet so it is probably reasonable to accept that I am not going to, not just yet anyway.

Oh yes, and this forum showed me that there are a lot of other ladies with the same symptoms as me and we can't all have the same illnesses, just the menopause madness and I don't think that's terminal.  Life changing yes, but under it all we really are ok.