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[whattheeff]

Oh thank God I found this forum!

So you guys need to tell me whether I am going crazy or it is perimenopause...

At the beginning of this year, my periods started coming irregularly, with bleeding heavy and twice as long.
I made all kinds of ObGyn appointments, it's a long story, but treatment has been delayed.

Then, 3 months ago, I came down with all the symptoms of a systemic bacterial infection: crazy itchy red rash covering my upper half, pukiness around the clock, night sweats and shaking chills, shaking chills during the daytime, I lost 15 lbs in 6 weeks, diarrhea. Periods of heart racing with chest pain and trouble breathing. After 4 weeks developed a nasty tonsillitis. I felt like I was dying.
I went to the ER twice, then another doctor for follow-up, they thought it might be scarlet fever and gave me Azithromycin.

The Azithromycin cleared the infection up and I felt fricking wonderful...for 3 weeks.

Now the symptoms are back, but mostly just at night and in the mornings. Chills, sweats, wanting to puke my guts out, headaches...but all my labs are normal!

Is it return of the infection? Or just perimenopause?
I'm living in this fear-filled haze of sickness, going on 3 months now. I can't keep missing work!!
What the hell is going on?
I've been reading horror stories of women racking up thousands of debt in hospital bills worrying that they were dying from meningitis....
Your advice and horror stories please!!

[Flossieteacake]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I am so so sorry to hear of all you have been through. What a terrible time you have had. I can understand the worry of having to pay so much for health care.

The erratic periods are a classic peri symptom along with night sweats and chills so I can understand why you are thinking it may be peri. I think it is worth trying a low dose HRT just to see if you feel any better. This is just my opinion and I am sure other members will have their own thoughts.

[CLKD]

Where do U live?  ?? US ??

Peri-menopause are the years, 10+ when we may notice different symptoms, some can be over whelming.  The Change - does what it says on the tin.

Your symptoms of 'scarlet fever' should be followed up as it is rarely seen these days.  I had scarlatina one C.mas, with the symptoms are U describe.  I can't remember the treatment, I was 11 at the time.  Get thyself to a doctor or A&E - which tests did the Hospital do exactly?  This isn't normal for menopause.

Have U done a Covid-19 test ?  It has various ways of presenting. 

[whattheeff]

Yes, I'm in the US.
Had my 4th follow-up with my GP last week, she ordered every test under the sun - all normal! White blood cell and neutrophil count back to normal.
Chest Xray normal. Urinalysis normal. No leg swelling, EKG normal.

I have a low-grade fever, no other glaring symptoms other than my subjective reports of night sweats, chills, headaches, wanting to puke myself to death each morning. I think she thinks I'm crazy, but she is around menopause age herself!

I did a symptom checker thing on the internet - right below "systemic bacterial infection" was "perimenopause." That's when a light went on in my head...
Is it supposed to feel this miserable??

[Penguin]

Have they tested your hormone levels at all? I know they're meant to be unreliable during peri but they might show something amiss.

Also, wondering if the rash could be a histamine response? That can be linked to estrogen levels but I'm not quite sure how.

Hope you get some answers soon, what you're going through sounds extreme and dreadful.

[CLKD]

Low grade fever isn't usually related to perimenopause.   Surely white blood cell count would suggest something?

There must be an underlying condition.  Did she check your thyroid function levels? 

Nausea can be caused when hormones are upset, certainly I felt it prior to my periods as well as being on The Pill. 

Take a list to your next appt. to discuss. 

Not getting a definite diagnosis can make 1 miserable. 

[whattheeff]

Thank you so much, ladies!
White cell count is now normal (was extremely high 4 weeks ago), thyroid panel normal.
So frustrating!!

I saw my ObGyn doc yesterday - he said that the symptoms sounded excessive for perimenopause.
We were going to have the Mirena IUD put in, but my cervix is stenosed and we couldn't get it in. LMAO.

What hormonal pills would you ladies recommend instead? He was thinking Estradiol...

[CLKD]

MayB put the suggestion into the search box on this forum - make notes ;-)

How's the nausea today? 

[whattheeff]

Nausea has been very bad this morning, starting at around 5 am, I have taken about 8 mg Zofran just to function at work. It tends to calm down in the early afternoon.
Are you ladies experiencing nausea in the morning like this? What the heck???

[CLKD]

How is your diet towards the end of the day?  Do U think a supper would help, i.e. muesli and/or a banana which is slow release?  MayB buy an over the counter anti-sickness tablet, what do they use for travel sickness over there?  I found 'kwells' helped enormously, though they can have a sedative effect.

[KaraShannon]

I feel I have to share here, even though I'm in the UK and you're in the US.

In Feb I came down with a nasty case of cellulitis, a very deep skin infection and on the way to being sepsis (though it's not).  I think I almost developed sepsis because I was so cold I thought I'd die from hypothermia.  I left a relatives house and went back to my own.  When I'm ill I make sure I stay awake until I know I'm ok and stable, because I'm often alone.  But this time I just 'came round' on my bed, from what seems a very deep sleep place and I hadn't remembered really getting home or going to sleep.  I started being sick and I noticed my leg was going beetroot red.

To cut the story short I was ill for 3 weeks and not fully functional for 6.  I couldn't believe how long it took to recover but eventually a doctor told me that would be expected.  I didn't eat for 3 weeks.

I've mentioned this on here before because I've read that high oestrogen can do this.  In the literature it's from the contraceptive pill but in my case I was told my HRT had to be lowered because my oestrogen levels were too high even for a 30 year old.  So I do wonder if that could be a possibility in menopause, when levels go too high. 

The only other thing is whether covid has made us all more susceptible to these things. 

You mention you felt it came back but labs normal.  I've felt that with my cellulitis too, but not enough of a skin reaction for doctor's to be concerned.  It's gradually eased off and again I wonder if covid had been lurking at some point and affected my immune system.  I did think I'd go down with it again but I didn't.

I hope you gradually start to feel better.