Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: EnglishRose on November 30, 2018, 11:15:37 PM
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I'd like to introduce myself, not this anxious clingy high maintenance mess I'm presenting as on this forum, the real me I've been for 49 years. Then I'll touch on the ghost I've become and why I'm struggling to “snap out of itâ€
I'm 50 soon. Up until two month ago, I was a very confident, sarcastic, funny, excellent conversationlist and good listener to boot. People tended to soon latch onto the fact I truly listening not just pretending to, and that means conversations tend to be one sided, me listening them talking and that's fine.
I love animals especially dogs and I have two. I'm a graphic designer and vintage jewellery dealer and relatively successful, living with my hubby of ten years in a beautiful house.
My hubby has RA and works very hard in a high stress job which takes all he's got. He spends most of the weekend sleeping or rewinding by playing pc games or watching F1.
I leave him alone all day because I respect he needs his down time and under normal circumstances I'd be working upstairs in my office anyway. My job is also my hobby so it never feels like work.
He's not a talker even at the best of times and I try not to pour myself onto him. I don't want to add more stress than he's already exhausted with.
We don't drink and are anti social really. Remove the desire to get pissed and that accounts for a large percentage of motivation to go out watching other people getting drunk.
I have no children and I never see my immediate family for various reasons. Before recently it didn't bother me. More recently I'm desperately lonely. I cry with loneliness at my lowest times. But I chose to live like this prior to my recent breakdown, for want of a better word.
Until the age of 40, I'd never had PMS. So when I experienced anxiety depression and insomnia for the first time I had no idea what was happening.
After a while I went to the doctors and suggested my periods had become heavy and breasts big. He told me I was too young for menopause and put me on beta blockers and ADs. (First time in my life by the way)
After two years of ADs (I threw the beta blockers) I noticed my symptoms still happened and yet other weeks I was happy and laid back. I looked at the calendar and the penny dropped when I noticed they occurred 2 weeks before my period.
I learned all about peri and ticked off most of the common symptoms without anxiety “because “ they were listed as common meno symptoms. If others had them I had nothing to worry about.
I've been to my GP 5 times since I turned 40. No lies. I self diagnose with common symptoms which usually pass with time and get on with life.
Fast forward a decade. Everything was fine. But one day I experienced symptoms that are not on the “common symptom listâ€
I'm the kind that needs to understand what I'm dealing with and then I learn all about it and make peace with the condition. I'm a researcher, period. The pc has all the answers to most of life's questions if you know how to navigate and read between the lines... it doesn't matter whether it's health or DIY. Google has the answer.
I had malignant melanoma in my early 30s. I researched all I could and was confident I had very little to worry about based on the images online. I was correct, superficial malignant melanoma. No anxiety (well, not much) or depression at all.
But what I'm living with for two months cant be explained. It's easy to say
“Hormones “ but until the physical symptoms occurred I was happy. No anxiety no depression despite my deficient oestrogen blood test.
I'm trying to understand what's happening to me physically, if I knew what was wrong, if I was diagnosed, I could THEN learn all I needed to about what ever it is and face my fears or start looking for treatment.
But I can't. I've tried.
I've had two telephone consultations, seen two gynaecologist, a women's Physio Therapist, my own doctor twice and a hormone doctor
I've started Vagifem and HRT but my symptoms still plague me albeit they are changing waxing waning....
The closest thing to a diagnosis is “you tick a lot of the boxes for intestinal cystitis†(which I don't agree with at all)
So my anxiety and depression is as a result of having horrible symptoms that I dont know understand, or if they will go or get worse because I don't know what they are and it's the “not knowing†that fuels the anxiety that feeds the depression that has swallowed who I used to be.
Telling someone with true depression hormonal or otherwise to “get out of bed†is almost like saying “snap out of it†it makes perfect sense but I feel physically and mentally ill.
I hate my life I hate who I've become I could live with the symptoms if I knew what they were and could at least look at treatment.
I'm terrified. And I'm lonely. It's pathetic I have to admit that but I am. I'm not looking for sympathy, it can't help me. I'm just trying to find connections, or pieces to my jigsaw
I've spent hours researching the archive posts here rather than ask new or repeat questions. But my symptoms are none too common so it becomes a vicious circle.
Sorry if my acute anxiety is annoying. I don't mean to be. I'm just desperate for answers . On better days I do try to put back into the forum by answering other women's posts,
Thanks for reading x.
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Your acute anxiety is not annoying...it's horrible for you. You're feeling lost, vulnerable and very afraid. And yes, it's those f**king hormones which are to blame. It's awful, it's brutal, it's terrifying. And it's not f**king fair!!
It will pass - but when?? And I think that's what we struggle with, I know I do...I really hate the uncertainty of it all, how about you? I literally went overnight from ‘normal' to ‘suicidal'.....I live with PTSD - it was just like that, but on steroids....
It seems from your description of your pms symptoms that you may have been suffering with PMDD - I used to call it pre period paranoia until I realised it had a name. Not much known about / no treatments really here in Australia - and we're already twenty years behind the eightball....
At least in the old period days I could recognise it, and knew that when my period started it would relieve for a couple of weeks...❤️
Thinking of you xx
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Hello!
So do you have symptoms of IC? Why don't you join the vaginal atrophy group on Facebook and speak to the members on there with similar symptoms? There is a consultant who deals with this issue and treats women for embedded bladder infections missed by tests.
You're exactly the same age as me by the way and I also live with my chap in the middle of nowhere with no kids and recently have felt truly lost.
We rarely drink either.
Anyway! You're not pathetic. You're wondering what's happened to you no doubt and why you feel things you didn't used to, and why you seem to be suddenly turning into a person you don't recognise. It's ok, I get it too.
You're not alone I promise.
Well, I pee a lot but have for as long as I can remember. Even as a child mum would complain on trips because they had to pull over for me to pee in a grate lol mum would hold and dangle me over the grate as I peed.
I was 14 at the time so no easy task! .......... ( joke, I was about 4)
Anyway, I've worked from home for 20 years so nipping to the bathroom when I got the slightest urge was easy.
I had a gynaecologist give me a pelvic exam this week, he prodded inside and I jumped a bit when he hit the front wall of my V where my bladder is he explained.
But I've never had a UTI in my life..even cystitis in my 20s was fixed by a tall glass of water.
My pee doesn't burn. I don't burn...I have mild pain in and around my vag since I started vagifem.
Shivery hypersensitive skin to upper back buttocks and legs.
I have developed an on off ache to my lower back and sciatica and restless legs but they appeared after lying in bed for weeks.
That's it.
No pressure no tummy pain no leaks....
He's booked me in for a pelvic mri mostly for me to put my mind at rest about tarvlo cycsts on my spine which will put to bed my anxiety of pudenal neurologica... *rolls eyes*
IC is apparently a blanket diagnosis they give when they don't know what else to diagnose you with. He said he put a camera up my bladder if I wanted...
Heard that alone can CAUSE IC 😳
I had no idea how f*&+ing healthy and happy I was before the 💩 hit the fan.
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Your acute anxiety is not annoying...it's horrible for you. You're feeling lost, vulnerable and very afraid. And yes, it's those f**king hormones which are to blame. It's awful, it's brutal, it's terrifying. And it's not f**king fair!!
It will pass - but when?? And I think that's what we struggle with, I know I do...I really hate the uncertainty of it all, how about you? I literally went overnight from ‘normal' to ‘suicidal'.....I live with PTSD - it was just like that, but on steroids....
It seems from your description of your pms symptoms that you may have been suffering with PMDD - I used to call it pre period paranoia until I realised it had a name. Not much known about / no treatments really here in Australia - and we're already twenty years behind the eightball....
At least in the old period days I could recognise it, and knew that when my period started it would relieve for a couple of weeks...❤️
Thinking of you xx
Yes it's the “what if this never ends or gets worse?!â€
The uncertainty. The whys and what ifs.
The lack of hope is terrifying.
I have to remind myself that only 4 days ago I was fine. Before that it's been a lot of ups and downs.
I thought I was getting better or at lesst learning to live with the physical symptoms as they had a predicable pattern. Almost nothing day or late at night but last 3 days they've started day and night.
Aching sacrum, sciatica, horrible restless legs,, hyper sensitive skin to upper back buttocks and legs. And a little bit to my vagina but nothing like it was or how this all started.
My v has pain is only mild. Started as stabbing inside nothing bad, pain to labia and around vulva..bit of prickling once, touch of sunburn sensation to my skin area...that's all more or less gone...but the aching back and shivers up my spine and restless legs has ramped up...I'm lead in bed writhing about, thrashing
I keep,getting slight spotting and I think my period is due ....
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Hello ERose,
I recognise much of what you have posted here, in terms of patterns. Its the early hours now, so I will be brief, I am up and about as the damned meno insomnia is hitting hard tonight. The feelings you are having, and describe in detail here, are something I have had three times in my life. I dont visit the doctor either, I 'get on with things' as much as I can, and do similarly to you - use some personal research to try and 'sort things'. I tell you all this not to make it 'all about me' but to perhaps show you a little light and some possibilities to think about -
The first time was after giving birth, I experienced an extreme depression/anxiety and post-natal psychosis (not saying you have this last part). It hit so quickly and so hard that I never left came home after the birth and was 6 months in a psychiatric hospital and 12 months recovering totally (oddly enough that was how long it took periods to return!). It passed, as my hormones changed back, and I was advised not to get pregnant again and if I did I would need some hormone treatments. I won't go into the details of that period in my life, as don't want to trigger you, but they were serious and complicated. Following that.....entirely fine for 18 years....back to the happy, 'silver lining' positive person. Busy, working, extrovert in social situations but very confident on my own for much of the time. I 'found myself again'. I have remained on the AD they put me on at that time, but reduced to practically nothing and apparently non therapeutic now.
The second time was 2 1/2 years ago. I was diagnosed with breast cancer and was treated. I got through all the torment of a bc diagnosis fairly easily, of course pain and worry, but it was the final part of treatment that hit me into the place you describe now. I was prescribed tamoxifen hormone therapy, I expressed my concerns but was advised to 'try it', so I of course did. Within 6 weeks I was removed from it by the consultant, in the deepest suicidal despair imaginable, and told that if I was ever to try it again it would be with 'mental health services' involved daily! It took around 6 months again to recover from this hormonal mess, tough, tough months.....but I 'found myself again'.
The third time - this last year - in what I hope and believe is late peri-menopause. I feel those same feelings I had from my first two 'episodes', what is a little different this time is that they undulate and I can spend 2 or three weeks in utter devastating depression, fear and anxiety, or even a day or so, then it can change again. I can't and won't describe how bad I feel at my worst, but the way you describe things echoes the types of days I have and the thoughts in my head. I feel at those times that life isn't worth carrying on with, that I honestly can't get through another morning as the quality of my living is so low, thinking 'what if this time it doesn't change back or gets worse?' 'What if this is it?'. Then.....it can change quickly too. During the bad times I go from minute to minute just holding onto the fact that this CAN change. I have odd physical symptoms too, I know when oestrogen is low with muscles twitching, and there are others....but don't want to list.
So, my long story above.....that wasn't actually that brief LOL. I think you may be suffering with the type of response that I had/have to sudden hormone changes. Some people are just very sensitive to those sudden changes, its not usual to be THAT sensitive but it is known about and there are others who have the same. NorthArm mentioned PMDD, and I think that is something I can see as being an absolute possibility. I too have had a week rather similar to yours in respect to my mental health, and I too have been spotting!!!!
I'm not sure if this will all help at all, but I don't think you need to look much further than sudden hormone changes for why you are feeling this way.
Yes it's the “what if this never ends or gets worse?!â€
The uncertainty. The whys and what ifs.
The lack of hope is terrifying.
I have to remind myself that only 4 days ago I was fine. Before that it's been a lot of ups and downs.
I could have written this myself ! I have wailed hysterically for hours about 'what if it stays at the bottom and never rises again' (my mood) and then 2 days later I am like a different person...... I've been told that it does even out, and you do adjust. It is the sudden erratic CHANGES at this time in life which make it hard, and I can believe that. Once there are no sudden changes, we can be in calm waters.
Please, and I mean this, PM me if you want us to 'drag each other' through this stage. :o)
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You know my history from my book so won't bore you, however re pelvic exam and front of wall being sensitive.
I'm 52 now had a pelvic exam at about 45ish when all this started and my GP touched the same area SO sensitive.
Skip forward to now & when I have occasional women's health physio for a MOT it's hugely better so it was VA, remember the bladder also needs oestrogen & although you have got away with ping lots in your earlier days and no real problem, now it's drying out ( because it will because age dictates so ) that your p will irritate where it didn't before as it was oestronised.
Unfortunately the local oestrogen can irritate some regards the fillers, some plough through and come out the other side all good , others simply can't tolerate it.
HRT is not my golden bullet regards my mental health it makes me quite down, however without it I'm suicidal regards my VA issues so I have to weigh it all up.
The estring may be better less fillers.
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I had some of the symptoms you describe. It wasn't recognised as VA and went untreated for a long time. When I eventually did begin treatment I reacted badly to oestrogen creams (many people use them without a problem) so use estring. It works very well for me.
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I think I've mentioned it before but the twitching and skin sensitivity as well as the awful nerve pains were all symptoms I experienced and are definitely connected to fluctuating hormones, probably low oestrogen
Yep, I don't care what any doctors say, I know my skin sensitivity and twitching are related to low oestrogen, 100 percent. When I said to someone last week that I knew times my oestrogen were at low levels because my muscles twitched at that point, they looked very sceptical, but I KNOW it happens.
I can't reiterate to ER enough how much I recognise what she is talking about. However, having experienced it myself twice before this time....I can see what it is more clearly.
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Welcome back, I feel like I know you much better now, I still can't help with your symptoms but wanted to say to you that you will find your mates on this forum, stick with them and ignore anything that hurts you, take the good things that are said and ditch the bad, everyone deserves to be heard and helped if it's possible x
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Compassion and love for others. the secret to a long happy life.welcome back Rose.😘DD
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Oh my,you're not annoying, I feel the same you do,used to be fun loving,always the life and soul of the party but she's gone, I just wish I could feel happy again.
Like you I'm lonely,not much of a family left & those that are I rarely talk to,I'm hundreds of miles from home. I do love my husband but he runs his own business & is away all day.because we live so rurally I never see anyone.
This site has helped but it's not like sitting down with someone & having a natter over a coffee
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Yep.....that would be a grand plan ! COuld we organised like a virtual walking group LOL You know like a kind of facetime/conference call thing. I feel the same, hence coming here, nobody to talk to about it (I gave up work to be a full time carer years ago, and lost my contacts).
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I think there are a lot of women on here crying out for company,I don't know why we don't all say which area we're in and try and organise something,it's not like it would be on a one to one down a back alley or anything 😂
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it's not like it would be on a one to one down a back alley or anything 😂
;D ;D ;D
Well Jaypo, you are Wiltshire and I am Hampshire....so unless we find a really long alley extending from one to the other..... :'( :D
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I can't add to any of the wise words above Englishrose but I do want to say welcome back, it's lovely to see you on here again where we're all here to support you through this horrible time.
Just one quick comment, I think I've mentioned it before but the twitching and skin sensitivity as well as the awful nerve pains were all symptoms I experienced and are definitely connected to fluctuating hormones, probably low oestrogen but may be the general imbalance and can be far reaching i.e affect parts of the body you wouldn't think of, if that makes sense. Sleep deprivation makes it worse and then the anxiety takes off and adds fuel to the fire. So it's not imagined, it's real and it's scary. I can really empathise.
Xx
It's interesting bc since I turned 40 I've had these episodes were I would e d up in bed for weeks with none specific illness. Weak, aching lower back and restless legs, appetite fine, no typical cold symptoms and my muscles twitched when I fell ill like this. I thought I had CFS.
I was I'll like this for 6 weeks in bed then anxiety and depression kicked in and this lead to mum coming to take me to the out of hours doctor and slapped on ADs for anxiety and depression. The anxiety and depression never quite peaked again like it did on that occasion but
The illness episodes have continued all these years I just learned to live with having unreliable health. Had two holidays last year ruined by the same illness..had to come home early.
What I'm having now is like those episodes but X 10.
I once remember noting when I crashed like that it happened after my period usually and wondered if there was a hormonal link, I had thyroid tested but always normal.
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My thyroid test was also normal , 2 years ago. :)
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10x worse in peri so I think mine has been hormone based all along.
Snap !
I figured mine was hormonal myself after the 'tamoxifen incident' (as I shall now refer to it LOL). However, had I not have been able to draw that pattern myself I would have been really scared of it !
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My restless legs were cured by eating lots of bananas - lack of potassium. For 5+ years I ate 2/3 small bananas daily and didn't have problems, then I went 'off' bananas :-\. Within 3 months symptoms had returned. I have found some really tasty ones in recent weeks otherwise I take 2 Nurofen an hour B4 bedtime which helps.
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Hello EnglishRose,
Welcome back. I just want to tell you that I was a recluse, had suicidal thoughts and no motivation or energy at all during perimenopause. Now, 2 years postmenopause and still having very scary symptoms (peripheral neuropathy) I can see there's light at the end of the tunnel and it doesn't come from the Death Train, it's the light of Knowledge & Power. Take care and never despair. :peace: and :love:
Conolly X
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My restless legs were cured by eating lots of bananas - lack of potassium. For 5+ years I ate 2/3 small bananas daily and didn't have problems, then I went 'off' bananas :-\. Within 3 months symptoms had returned. I have found some really tasty ones in recent weeks otherwise I take 2 Nurofen an hour B4 bedtime which helps.
I read that CLKD on other posts and went rummaging in my medicine cupboard a few nights ago found some potassium glucanate tablets. I prefer bananas I think, meant to ask hubby to buy some... I'll keep taking the tablets though. X
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I chuck in bananas too, and walnuts (for magnesium) and now read that I need daily tuna and cod for iodine LOL
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Hello EnglishRose,
Welcome back. I just want to tell you that I was a recluse, had suicidal thoughts and no motivation or energy at all during perimenopause. Now, 2 years postmenopause and still having very scary symptoms (peripheral neuropathy) I can see there's light at the end of the tunnel and it doesn't come from the Death Train, it's the light of Knowledge & Power. Take care and never despair. :peace: and :love:
Conolly X
Do u know where your peripheral neuropathy comes from?
Back issues?
What are your symptoms?
Peri was okay except from the start ... just as well as it lasted ten years !
I think I'm now hitting menopause.. feel like crap 💩 physically and mentally four days. Keep checking my pants when I go toilet hoping that the very mild spotting results in a long overdue period.
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You'll be positively glowing with good health Charys at this rate! 😁
Sadly the input, is not affecting what I see in the mirror. ;D ;D ;D
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You know my history from my book so won't bore you, however re pelvic exam and front of wall being sensitive.
I'm 52 now had a pelvic exam at about 45ish when all this started and my GP touched the same area SO sensitive.
Skip forward to now & when I have occasional women's health physio for a MOT it's hugely better so it was VA, remember the bladder also needs oestrogen & although you have got away with ping lots in your earlier days and no real problem, now it's drying out ( because it will because age dictates so ) that your p will irritate where it didn't before as it was oestronised.
Unfortunately the local oestrogen can irritate some regards the fillers, some plough through and come out the other side all good , others simply can't tolerate it.
HRT is not my golden bullet regards my mental health it makes me quite down, however without it I'm suicidal regards my VA issues so I have to weigh it all up.
The estring may be better less fillers.
Thanks MJ
You're my unofficial unpaid consultant lol
I hate putting on you.. so I don't ...much ... but I know you have seen the best of the best and worst consultants, separating the wheat from the chaff
and traveled a road not traveled by many.
So your opinion on all matters gynaecological is of the upmost importance to me.
I went to bladder uk after the IC comment and even found a post from you lol I knew it was you because I know your history well now. It was 2014 so I'm guessing this was round about the time you were told you had IC at some point.
Ps reviewed the book on Amazon last week x
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Pleased to see you back EnglushRose
Take care
Lanzalover x
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My thyroid test was also normal , 2 years ago. :)
Is it still normal?
You're aware of the website “stop the thyroid madness†.
It's about how lab normals are not reliable enough to go off as we're not all cut from the same cookie cutter. Plus each lab has different normal ranges.
My dad and his dad both had Thyroid issues overactive and underactie
My dad who is desperately underweight and always has been has an under active thyroid..which makes no sense based on symptoms...he should be piling weight on.
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Pleased to see you back EnglushRose
Take care
Lanzalover x
❤️ Thank you x
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Is it still normal?
No idea. lol I don't do the doctor, unless something feels seriously wrong.
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Is it still normal?
No idea. lol I don't do the doctor, unless something feels seriously wrong.
I did them via medichecks (private) they come to your house.
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Yes, nice to see you back EnglishRose.
It's all 💩 this meno stuff.
Hang on in there, this place is THE BEST, for helping getting us through it.
No doubt about it, it's second to none!
And I'm with Charys, I know too when my oestrogen drops, it's something I just know.
I also suffer from restless legs sometimes, I take two painkillers, they do help a little.
Take care
Jd 😘
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Just dragged my ass out of bed and walked the dogs... in the rain... it's just going dark so ppl haven't closed their curtains yet...I peeped into a window as I passed and saw the family sat around the Xmas tree up... I wished I knew them... I looked at all those houses and doors and wished I could knock on one and go in just to get out of my bedroom and my own head.. got home covered in sweat. ..down my back...which is full of acne because of my sweating..
This period can't comd fast enough I just wish I knew it was coming for sure maybe then my mood would break 😑
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Yay, so glad to see you back, and to be able to picture you as you really are (and will be again - we have to keep believing that). I know so well that feeling that people who've met me in the last year don't know the real me at all - before that I was confident, cheerful, friendly and outgoing. Since the bloody chemo menopause I'm anxious, depressed, fearful, avoidant of social contact etc.etc. and that's just not me. Don't let any of the ignorants out there convince you that this is the real you - it isn't, it's our bodies playing horrible tricks on us and the sad thing is we have to fight to get anyone to take us seriously. I'm not going to let myself be put into the mental health problem category - I'm fighting back. I know my own mind - after all, I live in it! Love and hugs to you xxx
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Yay, so glad to see you back, and to be able to picture you as you really are (and will be again - we have to keep believing that). I know so well that feeling that people who've met me in the last year don't know the real me at all - before that I was confident, cheerful, friendly and outgoing. Since the bloody chemo menopause I'm anxious, dephressed, fearful, avoidant of social contact etc.etc. and that's just not me. Don't let any of the ignorants out there convince you that this is the real you - it isn't, it's our bodies playing horrible tricks on us and the sad thing is we have to fight to get anyone to take us seriously. I'm not going to let myself be put into the mental health problem category - I'm fighting back. I know my own mind - after all, I live in it! Love and hugs to you xxx
I had the mental health team out to me 6 weeks ago She assessed me, I told her my story about my symptoms and googling them and how I'd fallen into acute anxiety about PGAD ...crying as I told her. She wrote me off as a hypochondriac offered me some appointment months down the line for CBT.
I declined.
It's not like I have a history of doing this..oh and they pigeon hole you based on any drugs prescribed.. so the ADs I was given when peri menopause hit me and the doctor told me I was too young for menopause and was depressed now means I'm judged by ANY medical professional I visit as someone who suffers with depression. I don't, I took them bc I was told I would feel better, and they didn't work bc my symptoms were hormonal.
But they do have a sedative effect so I take them for that reason alone. (At night for sleep)
I don't trust the nhs,
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Yes, that's pretty much my story word-for-word too - they should all be made to read this forum in their training.... ;D
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Yay, so glad to see you back, and to be able to picture you as you really are (and will be again - we have to keep believing that). I know so well that feeling that people who've met me in the last year don't know the real me at all - before that I was confident, cheerful, friendly and outgoing. Since the bloody chemo menopause I'm anxious, depressed, fearful, avoidant of social contact etc.etc. and that's just not me. Don't let any of the ignorants out there convince you that this is the real you - it isn't, it's our bodies playing horrible tricks on us and the sad thing is we have to fight to get anyone to take us seriously. I'm not going to let myself be put into the mental health problem category - I'm fighting back. I know my own mind - after all, I live in it! Love and hugs to you xxx
Sorry - thank you xx
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I had some of the symptoms you describe. It wasn't recognised as VA and went untreated for a long time. When I eventually did begin treatment I reacted badly to oestrogen creams (many people use them without a problem) so use estring. It works very well for me.
Yes, I'm thinking the same. Estriol burned me to hell and since then my pee burns my skin AND I'm itching! Never had that before I started.
I'm gonna buy estring bc getting it from my doc means waiting until 17 Dec.
How long does it last?
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Do u know where your peripheral neuropathy comes from?
Back issues?
What are your symptoms?
Peri was okay except from the start ... just as well as it lasted ten years !
I think I'm now hitting menopause.. feel like crap 💩 physically and mentally four days. Keep checking my pants when I go toilet hoping that the very mild spotting results in a long overdue period.
Hello again,
I don't know where the neuropathy comes from, neither my 5 doctors... fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel syndrome, ME/CFS, chronic pain syndrome, Ehlers Danlos syndrome, other connective tissue disorders have all been 'diagnosed'.
My main symptom is burning skin (hands, arms, feet, legs, upper back). It's extremely debilitating. It began in February and now it comes and goes as it pleases. I've done tons of tests and been prescribed tons of meds, Venlafaxine, Duloxetine, Cyclobenzaprine, Biotin, Curcuma, amongst others. I have decided to stop all medication and supplements, very confusing. I only take B12 now because I'm veggie.
The Nephrologist has diagnosed a big kidney stone and she thinks that it has been caused by excess supplemental vitamin D (I wasn't aware at the time that I needed vitamin K2 and magnesium along with it, neither my doctor).
My peri also lasted 10 years, but it was not ok... it was a long and winding road of ups and downs (I thought I was bipolar) and when menopause was approaching, I collapsed. I'm exactly 2 years postmeno now. Let's say that the last year of peri was the worst possible nightmare I have ever experienced. Then, 3 months after hitting menopause, the neuropathy started. On the bright side, morning anxiety, insomnia, feelings of impending doom, random bursts of sadness, anger, insecurity and crying have calmed down.
That's why I'm sure you'll be fine once you cross the menopause bridge. Not that you'll have your old life back. That'll never happen but you'll be able to breathe and get to know your new self better (although your old body will always remind you to slow down).
Conolly X
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My restless legs were cured by eating lots of bananas - lack of potassium. For 5+ years I ate 2/3 small bananas daily and didn't have problems, then I went 'off' bananas :-\. Within 3 months symptoms had returned. I have found some really tasty ones in recent weeks otherwise I take 2 Nurofen an hour B4 bedtime which helps.
I read that CLKD on other posts and went rummaging in my medicine cupboard a few nights ago found some potassium glucanate tablets. I prefer bananas I think, meant to ask hubby to buy some... I'll keep taking the tablets though. X
Please please don't take potassium tablets unless you've been tested and prescribed them recently. Potassium is a very dangerous one to supplement by pills, best to get it in food. Incidentally if you google potassium-rich foods bananas aren't the best. Coconut milk I think was very good x
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Please please don't take potassium tablets unless you've been tested and prescribed them recently. Potassium is a very dangerous one to supplement by pills, best to get it in food. Incidentally if you google potassium-rich foods bananas aren't the best. Coconut milk I think was very good x
I second that.
Conolly X
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It's supposed to last 3 months but it doesn't last me that long. I get 8-10 weeks out of it. It's definitely worth trying x
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That makes me feel more hopeful Conolly and hope it does others too. I'm glad things improved so much for you x
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It's coconut water that's high in potassium :)
That's the one ! Milk didn't sound right but I couldn't think what it was . I hated the taste so drank chocolate coconut water which was lovely xx
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Why take a supplement when potassium is readily available in bananas and cheaper! And coconuts do not have MILK regardless of what the current trend suggests. They have water which I love ........ creamed coconut is different, DH uses a lot in Indian cookery - the water has been removed and it's been squashed and I can't get enough of it. Hate the desiccated stuff though :D
Mind you, there are bananas. And there are bananas :-X
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Foods high in potassium:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/high-potassium-foods#section14 (https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/high-potassium-foods#section14)
Conolly X
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:thankyou:
now chard, the Jury in our house is out on that and kale ;D
Himself likes avocado but I don't
Yoghurt - would that be Greek 'live' ....... poured over bananas with brown sugar ? ;)
Our veg this evening was roasted in olive oil: carrots, parsnips, spuds, pumpkin ........ there is enough to eat cold tomorrow.
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Do u know where your peripheral neuropathy comes from?
Back issues?
What are your symptoms?
Peri was okay except from the start ... just as well as it lasted ten years !
I think I'm now hitting menopause.. feel like crap 💩 physically and mentally four days. Keep checking my pants when I go toilet hoping that the very mild spotting results in a long overdue period.
Hello again,
I don't know where the neuropathy comes from, neither my 5 doctors... fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel syndrome, ME/CFS, chronic pain syndrome, Ehlers Danlos syndrome, other connective tissue disorders have all been 'diagnosed'.
My main symptom is burning skin (hands, arms, feet, legs, upper back). It's extremely debilitating. It began in February and now it comes and goes as it pleases. I've done tons of tests and been prescribed tons of meds, Venlafaxine, Duloxetine, Cyclobenzaprine, Biotin, Curcuma, amongst others. I have decided to stop all medication and supplements, very confusing. I only take B12 now because I'm veggie.
The Nephrologist has diagnosed a big kidney stone and she thinks that it has been caused by excess supplemental vitamin D (I wasn't aware at the time that I needed vitamin K2 and magnesium along with it, neither my doctor).
My peri also lasted 10 years, but it was not ok... it was a long and winding road of ups and downs (I thought I was bipolar) and when menopause was approaching, I collapsed. I'm exactly 2 years postmeno now. Let's say that the last year of peri was the worst possible nightmare I have ever experienced. Then, 3 months after hitting menopause, the neuropathy started. On the bright side, morning anxiety, insomnia, feelings of impending doom, random bursts of sadness, anger, insecurity and crying have calmed down.
That's why I'm sure you'll be fine once you cross the menopause bridge. Not that you'll have your old life back. That'll never happen but you'll be able to breathe and get to know your new self better (although your old body will always remind you to slow down).
Conolly X
You poor poor girl. My heart goes out to you. Truly.
Nothing I can add as it's one of the few areas I haven't googled the Hell out of. Lol
I hope you find some relief soon x
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My restless legs were cured by eating lots of bananas - lack of potassium. For 5+ years I ate 2/3 small bananas daily and didn't have problems, then I went 'off' bananas :-\. Within 3 months symptoms had returned. I have found some really tasty ones in recent weeks otherwise I take 2 Nurofen an hour B4 bedtime which helps.
I read that CLKD on other posts and went rummaging in my medicine cupboard a few nights ago found some potassium glucanate tablets. I prefer bananas I think, meant to ask hubby to buy some... I'll keep taking the tablets though. X
Oh! Bladder irritation?
Please please don't take potassium tablets unless you've been tested and prescribed them recently. Potassium is a very dangerous one to supplement by pills, best to get it in food. Incidentally if you google potassium-rich foods bananas aren't the best. Coconut milk I think was very good x
-
Why take a supplement when potassium is readily available in bananas and cheaper! And coconuts do not have MILK regardless of what the current trend suggests. They have water which I love ........ creamed coconut is different, DH uses a lot in Indian cookery - the water has been removed and it's been squashed and I can't get enough of it. Hate the desiccated stuff though :D
Mind you, there are bananas. And there are bananas :-X
I couldn't find bananas in my medicine cupboard 😆😄
After the above post I'll stop using them now and buy bananas 🍌
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Hi EnglishRose. Have you tried Epsom (magnesium) salts in the bath. 4 big handfuls I've found works really well for anxiety and leg cramps. Leg cramps could be due to lack of calcium/magnesium. Are you taking supplements?
Hi.
I've just started taking magnesium but no not used Epsom salts...I don't get much in the way of true cramps,,,now again I get it in my toe... horrible.. y toe points right down..,you can't separate your toes like fingers so it's weird to see and truly painful happens usually before a period...
My restless legs currently is awful.. I'm kicking and wrapping my legs around each other...
for years I've never been able to sit in a chair without fidgety legs so I sit like an Indian, both legs up. That stops the sensation of rls.
Never had it in bed before so it's a new pain.
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Hi EnglishRose - I didn't know you had gone! That was quick!!! I did a double take as there is another English Rose on here but she hasn't been on for a while, and then a different one (EnglishRose) was also on here at the same time also called peterspots who came and went a few times - but not a member any more I don't think...
Anyway now I know who you are (roseenglish!) - I just wanted to say having read your story that many of your symptoms are classic menopausal hormonal symptoms/anxiety and depression. The fact that they were cyclical and you did not experience anxiety or depression before menopause points to that and you should never have been given anti-depressants in the first instance.
As you have said from blood tests your oestrogen is low and the most important thing is to get this level up as soon as you can in the hope that you feel much much better. If you are peri-menopausal then you will still get cyclical fluctuations unless you suppress your cycle through very high dose oestrogen or the contraceptive pill ( there are a couple more suitable for peri-menopause) but you might be too old for these?
I had a quick glance through the posts and there has been a lot of talk about supplements etc - and I think you were talking about eating different foods that contain what you are looking for? That is definitely the way to go rather than supplements unless you know you're deficient. In any case a good diet will sort out most things provided you're not in any of the groups with digestive problems like Crohns etc or on proton pump inhibitors like Omp....zole.
Do also read the posts of memebr GypsyRoseLee - she suffered enormously throughout peri-menopause with menopausal depression which came and went dramatically as her hormones fluctuated. She's much better now - though oestrogen treatment (I think she might have started anti-depressants too later but I can't remember). Certainly you should be working primarily towards a hormonal solution in the first instance.
I can't help with the interstitial cystitis side of things but there are plenty of members who can advise on this condition and these symptoms.
Anyway all the best :)
Hurdity x
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Hello EnglishRose.
Unfortunately I've nothing useful to add ( no change there then ! ). I just wanted to say welcome back to the forum and wishing you well.
Take care.
K.
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Hello EnglishRose.
Unfortunately I've nothing useful to add ( no change there then ! ). I just wanted to say welcome back to the forum and wishing you well.
Take care.
K.
Lol 😂
Thank you x
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*drum roll*
PERIOD STARTED
It's the first I've had since starting oestrogel which delayed it..it is by far the worst pms I've ever experienced I felt clinically depressed for 4 days and this new pain and restless legs and weird sensations to my legs lumbar buttocks and spine truly ramped up in intensity and duration these last four days too,
Not knowing w for sure if my mood and physical symptoms were due to a pending period only made me feel more terrified as I could not make sense of it having never experienced back issues relating to hormones before..it's new... and the restless legs... I'm hoping it's because I'm oestrogen deficient now so these new symptoms are a result of that ... but there's undoubtedly a hormonal link as the last 4 days I hsve been in so much pain with this horrible back and legs issue...it's been ten times worse and my mood ... OMG. So low so very very low...
I suspeced my period due to other symptoms but my periods are irregular so now it's started (and BOY has it started, a lot of blood for me) I feel more in control if that makes sense.. I understand it now...if i feel that bad again i now know why.
I truly hope I don't feel like this again. I hope it's because of the oestrogen introduction and lowering of progesterone ...
I've been sweating on walks, turning heating off, spots, huge sore breasts, depressed, anxious, angry, PLUS these new symptoms ramped up big time
Please God don't let the next one be that bad
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You are 3 days behind me ! My 9 days of spotting also became a....
and BOY has it started, a lot of blood for me
!!!
As you know this last two weeks I have also felt up the wall with panic, anxiety, sweats day and night and severe low mood of the type I've never had this badly on this 'peri journey'. So, yep, hormones ER, freaking hormones !!!
I understand it now...if i feel that bad again i now know why.
You know earlier in this thread, and via PMP I said I recognised the things you were talking about - just as I do in myself, and the reasons for them. However, WHEN they are happening it is overwhelming and you can lose your sense of logic. I honestly spend time out loud repeating to myself 'this will pass, this will pass'. :(
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It's the unknown that's so frightening isn't it.
Yes ! Life to this point was about patterns and rules......not at all now...
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It's the unknown that's so frightening isn't it.
Yes ! Life to this point was about patterns and rules......not at all now...
It's horrible. I'm using a towel, haven't used one for many years but I've reduced Progesterone and introduced oestrogen this last month.
And I kinda guessed I was due on but you never bloody know in peri until it happens.
If I could look at the calendar and see my due date I'd handle things much better.
I was physically comfortable 8 weeks ago, peri for 10 years, but it waa not effecting my working or life in general.
Now I have a range of truly debilitating symptoms that scared the crap out of me.
So then I had to accept them...learn to live with them , hope the HRT will make them go away.. and as you say, I learned they had a pattern and
I'd just got used to them and then BAM they ramp up along with severe depression and anxiety which as you say makes logic and reason impossible to obtain which leads to more anxiety and depression. But I have no idea why only in hindsight since this mother of all periods started
But living in fear of your own body and mind is no fun.😞 and it all hit me at once
How did our mothers generation go through this in silence??
I'm praying Oestrogen levels will sort this crap out.
Remind me are you on HRT ?
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Hi EnglishRose - I didn't know you had gone! That was quick!!! I did a double take as there is another English Rose on here but she hasn't been on for a while, and then a different one (EnglishRose) was also on here at the same time also called peterspots who came and went a few times - but not a member any more I don't think...
Anyway now I know who you are (roseenglish!) - I just wanted to say having read your story that many of your symptoms are classic menopausal hormonal symptoms/anxiety and depression. The fact that they were cyclical and you did not experience anxiety or depression before menopause points to that and you should never have been given anti-depressants in the first instance.
As you have said from blood tests your oestrogen is low and the most important thing is to get this level up as soon as you can in the hope that you feel much much better. If you are peri-menopausal then you will still get cyclical fluctuations unless you suppress your cycle through very high dose oestrogen or the contraceptive pill ( there are a couple more suitable for peri-menopause) but you might be too old for these?
I had a quick glance through the posts and there has been a lot of talk about supplements etc - and I think you were talking about eating different foods that contain what you are looking for? That is definitely the way to go rather than supplements unless you know you're deficient. In any case a good diet will sort out most things provided you're not in any of the groups with digestive problems like Crohns etc or on proton pump inhibitors like Omp....zole.
Do also read the posts of memebr GypsyRoseLee - she suffered enormously throughout peri-menopause with menopausal depression which came and went dramatically as her hormones fluctuated. She's much better now - though oestrogen treatment (I think she might have started anti-depressants too later but I can't remember). Certainly you should be working primarily towards a hormonal solution in the first instance.
I can't help with the interstitial cystitis side of things but there are plenty of members who can advise on this condition and these symptoms.
Anyway all the best :)
Hurdity x
Thank you as always Hurdity.
I appreciate the time and thought put into your reply as always. I value your knowledge always
Rose