Are all these things really down to menopause or is it just part of the ageing process. I know that there are all the classic meno ones that are noted here but it seems to me that we are inclined to put everything down to the menopause.
My hubby has a few odd things happening off and on, he says it age related.
I have a good few weird ones myself that I hate but I've been on HRT for five years now and my levels at 55 should be fairly stable.
So is it or isn't it.......there are a lot of us here that are much of an age....ie middle age.
I would be interested to read what others think.
Honeybun
X
I guess it's difficult to tell, but my view is they are nearly all
'hormonal' even if not menopausal. The reason I say this is a work colleague had very bizarre symptoms in her very early twenties, so it wasnt linked to ageing. Initially they CT scanned her and thought it could be a tumour. At one point she had no feeling in her legs, then tingling all over and dizziness (extreme). Eventually it was found to be a severe hormone imbalance and was treated with medication. She's now in her late twenties and fine, with normal regular periods and no symptoms.
Similarly, I think my own issues are more due to an imbalance than actual menopause. My FSH is normal, mum had her menopause at 58, but my oestrogen can often go as low as 40 pmol. I never had any problems until a few weeks after I miscarried when I was 40. Now I'm 43 and still struggling - though taking hormones has helped the weirder symptoms - which makes me think it cant just be my age?
My nasal/ear issues have always been there - literally two days before I come on and vanish once my period arrives. There seems to be no logical connection with those parts of the body and hormones, yet my GP (seen when I was 16) immediately said hormones were the cause. It therefore makes sense that during meno, when hormones play silly buggers even more than usual, that these symptoms could suddenly appear for others, even if they've not had them before?
I guess, if it was just age, surely HRT wouldn't make a difference? I was reading something by a well known doctor the other day who said she knew she'd hit meno when she couldn't remember the name of the instrument she needed in surgery. She was prescribed HRT and was fine from then on. (If only it were that simple for us all).
.... Having said all this, I do sometimes question myself regarding what I've just written (!) For example, my left arm might start throbbing - which it sometimes does since I have had hormone problems - and I panic. Am I about to have a heart attack? I then try to rationalise it with 'chill out girl, it's just hormones' (and thus ensues a sudden rush to log on to MM and search 'arm pain'
) ... but actually, it
could be the sign of a heart attack. It could also be a sign of an injury. Or it could just be the arm has been busy for too many years and is telling me to have a bath and rest. I think, what I am trying to say is we must stay alert to this and get things checked out, even though the experiences of so many on here, especially this thread, suggest it probably is 'just' our hormones.
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I've not really made sense, have I? I dont mean to contradict myself - I guess what I am saying is, it is probably primarily our hormones, combined with a bit of age, but we should always be alert to other causes too. x
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Topic: List of more unusual menopause symptoms - what are yours? (Read 118957 times)