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[Wrensong]

Sparkle - really kind of you.  Afraid I get carried away - it can be such an overwhelming time - I just keep remembering more & more to say to extent I'm sick of the sight of my own posts!

[Rosanna]

No need to reply Rosanna - there is so much, I hope it won't be overwhelming!

Not overwhelming, I really appreciate it.  Not many people chat properly on the net these days, it's always facebook 'like' or no like,   

I'm going to read properly in a while, I've got the dreaded witch of a landlady coming in the morning, so I've got to make the apartment look like a show home.....but I will be reading properly soon and won't be overwhelmed at all.   

[Rosanna]

As breakfast is often high carb, I pour natural yoghurt (high protein Greek 2% fat + Onken full fat) diluted with milk over fibre-rich cereal, add nuts, seeds &/or a boiled egg with wholegrain/rye toast & always fresh fruit salad.  The right yoghurt/milk mix tastes like double cream!  Porridge is great but without nuts & egg is too high in carbs to sustain me until lunch.  Main meals are easier to include protein - lean meat, fish, beans, though had to stop purely veggie meals to get enough protein.  Also reduced pasta portions for sugar control.  No added sugar muesli or small bowl yoghurt with couple of prunes(!) before bed & sometimes an oatcake.  Found I had to eat a little about an hour before cycling, otherwise would crash (not literally!)

This is really interesting, because I feel if I ate this way a lot of the palps would disappear, since it is stomach 'emptiness' that triggers them (amongst other things).

The thing is everyone around me can go for hours and hours on very small amounts of food and they really look when I say I need to eat properly, or need more food when I've just had something, such as a bowl of porridge.  (bearing in mind I'm pretty much vegan, so my porridge is made with water, but they don't see that).

I don't know why the endless hunger and thought it might be due to the beta blockers.  Sometimes I get sick of eating because it goes on forever it seems before my stomach feels full or calms down.  (and hence the palps)

I've been checked repeatedly for diabetes and nothing.  So it must either be beta blockers or hormonal changes.  Some days I'm fine, but if I have just one small meal it's like a domino effect on me for days before my stomach forgives me.

The amount of food you mention that you eat for breakfast has given me hope, I just need to do similar and not worry what anyone else thinks.  I think it would help but I just didn't know if I would be over doing it.  I've been confused because after, say, a bowl of porridge, logic tells me I've eaten and shouldn't eat any more.

[Rosanna]

If you're slim/small framed as I am, please try not to let body fat get too low. I think a healthier amount of body fat would have helped buffer me against extreme symptoms caused by too low oestrogen (which I understand is produced in small amounts by & stored in body fat after menopause, when ovaries have largely given up).  Post-meno when finally tested, my oestradiol was below bottom of MALE ref range at <44!  I now have osteopenia despite decades of trying to gain weight.  Symptoms of too much thyroid hormone can go unnoticed early on & it's possible to lose weight without realising why, so please do look out for signs you may need to reduce Thyroxine as you go through confusing peri (difficult to be sure, I know).   

I always was, but a high dose of beta blockers for the last few years has led me to put on a lot of weight.  I've never been overweight before, and am not eating any differently (although I get those hunger periods I mentioned, but otherwise am not) although I've always eaten chocolate daily.

I went to my GP about it and he said the high dose of beta blocker, plus two years of not having the right thyroxine dosage will have done this and he was helping me to lower the beta blocker gradually (very gradually because of my fears about the palps) and slightly increase the thyroxine.

I was doing really well and the weight was coming off.  I don't think the changes in medication have brought on the palps because I actually stuck at the same dosage for about a year (things happened, bereavements too and I had other stuff to think about).....so I would imagine I'd have seen palps long before now if it was the meds regime.

I think the palps are likely to be linked to the hormonal chaos that began in the new year.  The only thing I know I did differently was that I was taking an incredibly low dose of Agnus Castus for a long time and then just around Christmas time I bought a different brand.  I started using it but didn't realise it was thousands of times higher in dosage than what I was taking, I mean really high.  I've been wondering if that caused all this hormonal chaos and my delayed period, then the 17 day period and all the palps that were happening too.

I have to say, since taking Resveratrol about a week ago I'm feeling more my normal self.  I did have a weird palp after dinner yesterday, with a creeping sensation up my chest and into my ear, was very odd, lol, but other than that things have calmed down.  It might just be where I'm at in my cycle though.   

[Rosanna]

sometimes a tiny detail can be life-changing & when I was starting peri, hypothyroid, it was so confusing/frightening it would have helped to know of other hypo ladies' experiences.

Yes it can and a lot of what you've said Wrensong, I can relate to and also what some others here have posted.  In fact without the support I've received here I think I'd have felt a lot worse.  I had no idea hot flushes could be so complicated and involve the heart, etc.  So people's descriptions have been so helpful.   

[Wrensong]

Rosanna, like you I can no longer go for hours without eating & this began during peri.  Please don't be misled by my description of the kinds of food I have for breakfast.  I do have a good breakfast & think this is important to get metabolism going & sustain until lunch, but have had to downsize portions of all meals over the years, as body can't seem to cope as well with bigger meals widely spaced now.  The bowl of cereal I mentioned (mini shredded wheat/muesli etc) has a few nuts/seeds added, a little fresh fruit salad on top then the high protein yoghurt/milk mix poured over it - it's not several bowls!  With it, I do nearly always have a boiled egg for extra protein to spread the glycaemic load (reduce the sugar hit which can otherwise be followed by a destabilising crash in blood sugar), but with the cereal this will only be on a very thin, small slice of toast.  On other days I may have the thick whole-rye bread I mentioned toasted on one side, with the egg, then just a small-medium sized bowl of fruit salad with the yoghurt mix (so no extra cereal).  It is substantial, but not excessive, so easier to digest than the larger meals I could manage some years ago. 

If you do find your appetite is excessive, I wonder again about your Thyroxine dosage, but the blood sugar control issues that come with both hypothyroidism & menopause, do so muddy the waters for us.  If you feel the palps are related to being empty & you are predominantly veggie, is it possible that you find it hard to get enough protein into each meal to slow digestion & keep you feeling fuller longer?  This requirement really changed for me in peri - beforehand I could eat a high carb meal without a noticeable sugar crash a couple of hours afterwards.

I was only ever on low dose beta blockers for a short while so can't really remember their side effects, so you will know better than me whether they are perhaps affecting your appetite or blood sugar control.  They didn't reduce the irregularity of my ectopics, but did blunt the sensation of each beat. 

You mention Agnus Castus & Resveratrol - I find I have to be very vigilant with any supplements & don't take any without approval from my consultants & GP.  So many things can interact & jeopardise treatment.  There were supplements I found very helpful prior to peri (e.g. magnesium for gut function & sleep) that I can no longer tolerate even though my Gastroenterologist keeps wanting me to take magnesium again.  It can be difficult for others (sadly even doctors) to understand that so much can change with menopause & I find it frustrating & embarrassing trying to get across how profound a shift there can be to those who know little about it or have not had a bumpy ride with it themselves.  Can make you feel as though you have to be apologetic if your body now functions in a way that doesn't meet their expectations/experience!  The changes can be so wide-ranging, are not imagined & can cause no end of chaos   

[Rosanna]

Yep I hear you re the amounts Wrensong.  I've been a lot more stable since a cardiologist told me not to allow myself to get hungry, drink plenty of water and add a little salt to my diet!  I don't do salt usually....but it seems to have calmed things down.

The raging hunger that I was getting, I've spotted a pattern, it's always the day after my long commute and 14 hour day.  And if I don't eat well on the commute day and the day after, then I have acid stomach and raging hunger for days.  But I think I just haven't been eating properly to be fair.  I would just eat 'something' and tell myself at least I've had that,  but it's not healthy.  I think I may have cracked this issue, but what you said about adding a little protein could be useful.  :-)

[Wrensong]

Rosanna, so glad to hear you seem to have worked out how to manage the problem.  It's always good to hear of progress.  Long may it last.  The long commute & working hours sound punishing though, so do take good care of yourself.