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[Sarai]

My life is a mess right now, i actually feel like I'm made out of very fine china and will break at any moment. When I wake my hands are tingling, everyday, I get up I wobbly and shaky, assume I need food, have breakfast and pills and still wobbly. Then I get light headed like I'm going to pass out, then it passes. Can this really be meno or is it anxiety when I hadn't realised I was anxious. this really is a terrible way to have to live.

[Galadriel]

Hi sarai

It could well be a bit of both - meno and anxiety. This is me too. Here is what Mind have to say on symptoms of anxiety -

http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/anxiety-and-panic-attacks/anxiety-symptoms/#.VgFGRpc3Kk4

Both of us can tick a fair few of those boxes.

Then if you look at the list of 35 symptoms (personally I think that's an underestimation) there's a crossover -
http://www.healthline.com/health-blogs/hold-that-pause/35-symptoms-perimenopause

As my GP said to me yesterday, how do we work out if it's hormones, or anxiety, or a bit of both?

What steps are you taking to help yourself?

Galadriel x

[TropicalVon69]

Hi Sarai, yip feeling exactly the same....period just finished though so the worst time for me....feel like I'm not in my own body sometimes, raging, crying, empty headed, weird n woozy. Just sucks!!!

[kazy68]

Me to, my period finished a week ago and have felt like this all week, just this morning it is starting to lift a little, my head still a bit wooshy but not as bad as it was, wobbly legs and stomach cramps still there, hope this settles for you soon 

Karen x

[Pollie]

sarai

I am sorry you sound so poorly,  I try a walk when I am feeling at my worst.

Sometimes it is just a little stroll down the road. I hate excercise. Sometimes it is a 5 minute walk to the newsagents to buy a 60p newspaper.

I think it helps with anxiety and meno stuff and if not at least I am burning calories that are piling on from all the gin and tonic I drink at the weekends haha   

Pollie

[Hurdity]

Hi Sarai

It doesn't sound like anxiety to me - it sounds very much like a physical/physiological symptom - either metabolic, or to do with how you slept maybe - tingling hands?

It takes a while for blood sugar levels to stabilise after eating. When I get very low blood sugar symptoms ( the shakes and sweats or close to this) even after eating I sometimes feel weird for at least half an hour. Also what is your diet like - do you ewat a lot of sugar/carbs?

Having said that I feel light-headed and weird sometimes in the morning - I had to work this morning and involves standing up leading a group - and I felt very odd and light-headed/slightly dizzy - and do regularly feel like this (in the mornings) and wondered how I could get through the morning - but then I got going and it was OK and I don't feel it now.

I am sure it is hormonal or metabolic - blood sugar, thyroid, adrenaline, cortisol, progesterone - they all play a part in metabolism. Blood pressure?

Pills - what pills? Could these be the cause? Have you had blood tests etc?

Yes agree that exercise can help too!

Hurdity x

[dazned]

Hi it's horrible feeling like that isn't it.   
Try to have a milky drink last thing at night with maybe a couple of crackers or small sandwich it might help alleviate any blood sugar dips in mornings. Eat slow release foods for breakfast porridge bananas etc. Also start to keep a daily diary of foods,feelings it will help show if a hormonal pattern emerges or if it's there more often ,do it for a couple of cycles then at. Least you can go back to gp with some relative info/evidence. Hope you get some relief soon.

[Briony]

I know this feeling well. It stinks, doesn't it?          Now I am on the pill, I can predict when in my cycle I will get it, so I am convinced (in my case anyway) it's caused by hormones. I get it at the end of the month when I take the two blank pills. Also got it the day after I forgot to take a pill once . Previously, my periods were all over the place so I could never tell if it was anxiety or low hormones or even that fatal, undiagnosed, never-heard-of-before illness I was forever secretly convincing myself I had ....   

[jgr]

I get this often, in fact I have it at the moment. Some days are worse than others. Went back to the menopause clinic yesterday to be told that my hormones should have settled by now (age 57 and nearly 4 years post meno on hrt patches) and that they didn't think it was menopause related. It feels similar to how I was feeling pre hrt so not too sure about that answer. I am also on Thyroxine for underactive thyroid and thought that my dose could be needing changed, waiting on my blood results from GP on this one. For me this is one of the worst symptoms as you just can't be bothered with anything.

[kpatton56]

I can totally relate to these symptoms. They are always worse in the early part of the day for me and tend to improve as the day goes on. Personally I think the symptoms are hormone related but because they are so unpleasant they trigger a degree of anxiety which in turn produces more similar effects. It's a vicious circle! I find a brisk walk first thing helps and slow diaphragmatic breathing for short spells several times during the day 

[warwick01]

Me too - feel the same

I started having the dizzy faint feeling prior to my period age 48 things improved on HRT for a few years. However the last 12 months have been a nightmare with constant lightheadedness feeling off balance ect. The GP doesn't think its hormones (I do) sent me for all sorts of tests and scans, all clear. I will be 57 in January and this meno is spoiling my life.

I have lost my job, confidence marriage is on the rocks because I am becoming housbound. If only I could get rid of this head thing I'm sure I would cope.

Wx

[kpatton56]

Oh Warwick it is awful that it is having such an effect on your life. My head has been less fuzzy since I started taking magnesium. I take high absorption chelated magnesium. 400mg twice a day.

[Bracken willowshimmer]

I get this too.  Mine is worse in the morning when I've been up for an hour or so.  It's a light headed feeling and also an off balance feeling. X

[Sarai]

Oh dear, thanks ladies. One thing I know for sure my sleep is wrecked, I have tinnitus which now keeps me  awake for hours, plus night sweats and forever needing the loo.
I do all the sleep hygiene stuff before bed but I'm definateley losing the sleep battle, mostly due to tinnitus which has seriously been a nightmare this year, it has made me very anxious and I've lost weight. There is no place on earth I can go to escape it and it torments me something shocking.

[Hurdity]

Oh dear Sarai - sounds rotten. I know we have discussed this before but I've forgotten - - sorry - you're not on HRT are you and I seem to remember you are unable to take it - is that right? Lack of sleep is very debilitating so not sure what to suggest if you have tried all the sleep techniques - other than some form of medication  - but I can see that is not ideal long term.

Hurdity x