Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Other Health Discussion => Topic started by: jaypo on July 19, 2019, 12:49:01 PM
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Ladies, I was wondering if any of you have had this,it's only in my right eye and only when I move it from side to side,no headache no pain in the eye.
It's hard to describe,it's kind of on the top half and to the side and it's ok when I'm looking straight ahead. I am going to opticians but they can see me until Monday.Any info very much appreciated xx
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This happened to me a few months ago. It's worth getting it checked out in case it's a detached retina bit it's most likely to be floaters which are more likely as you get older. For me the flashing lights stopped after 2-3 weeks but I still have a blurred area. They told me there was no treatment but it would probably go away over time. If you google floaters you'll find some NHS info.
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Thank you Sheila,I appreciate that ❤️ I've had floaters since a young woman,got more these days but they don't bother me.one thing I forgot to mention is,ONLY first thing in the morning I have terribly dry eyes so I've been using drops at night,just moistures drops from the chemist,seems to help,wonder if it's connected xx
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I got terribly dry eyes through meno and was using drops until I got on the right level of oestrogen...now they are more or less ok except when I get a bout of hayfever (which is also meno related cos I never had it before then! >:()
I get what I call "broken lights" in my eyes sometimes. Looks like someone has broken a greenhouse into a million triangular pieces! Lasts anything from 5 mins to half an hour. Has no pattern as to when it comes on...totally random....but if I am honest my gut says that it happens when I am particularly tired or stressed. Have had my eyes checked by optician and GP.
I have said in previous posts that I suffered with "migraine" in the left side of my face (which I believe is also homone related because I used to get them when I was on the pill and when my hormones were out of wack). I get them rarely now my hormones are better but I think GP's can call this "broken light thing" or "flashing" - migraine with aura although you say no headache Jaypo?
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NO headache at all ladybt,I've also just noticed a new black floater in my eye,maybe it's got something to do with it.
Thank you xx
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Hello jaypo,
Are they bright spots in the corner of just one eye? It could be scintillating scotoma without headache, sometimes called silent migraines. Oestrogen can cause them in some women, even vaginal oestrogen like Vagifem can cause them in susceptible women (particularly during the loading phase).
BeaR.
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Hi bear,it's so hard to describe,it's a funny streaky kind of thing around the top of my eye and down the right side and only when I move it. I'm not on hrt but I'm 56 so definitely in the throws of menopause
Jen xx
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Can you Google 'visual aura images' and see if any of them is like yours?
I'm 53 and not on HRT but I still feel oestrogen fluctuations, boob pain, vaginal mucus, headaches.
BeaR.
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Thanks bear I just looked,it is similar,especially the side of the eye ones,what's bugging me now is a very large black floater right in my vision like a long piece of thread,just not sure if they're connected 😢
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They can be connected, but fairly common as we age https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/postings/2016/06/floaters_flashes.php
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Thanks bear,going into panic mode as per usual,probably is just an aging thing,I've had floaters for years but this one appeared out of nowhere about an hour ago,will give it a day or two,see if it settles xx
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Yeah I get floaters aswell. Did you sleep ok last night? Tired eyes could make it worse.
If you've lights in your vision, then I would say that's aura, and maybe a silent migraine.
Glad you've booked in with optician, better sooner than later....😘
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"Silent migraine" comes to my mind too. I know a lady with it and she seems to get it on waking, the flashing lights in one eye.
May be worth getting eye test as a first option Jay.
Xxx
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Thanks tc,oh and Jill of course 😊 I'm going on Monday first thing,it has eased somewhat,just got such a scare,especially when this huuuuuge black floater appeared
Jen xx
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My daughter's father in law had this. He went to optician and was told it's the retina become gelatinous. Sounds awful but apparently a normal part of aging, he has to go back in 6 months unless it gets worse of course.
Best get it checked out though, just to be sure, must be very disconcerting x
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Glad you're getting it checked out. It mustve given you a scare. Much love ❤
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Could be Occular migraine, my son gets this sometimes, no headache with it, no idea what causes it, his started after a stroke, but don't let that worry you, it can happen after a stressful time, or just happen for no reason
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Thank you groundhog,much appreciated xx
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I get fairly regular visual disturbances which I guess are floaters. I try to ignore it, seems to be worse when I'm tired. Additionally I occassionally get flashing lights and was told by an optician they were silent migraines. Even though I know what it is, I find it quite scary. Mine lasts about 20 minutes and then gradually eases off, generally leaving me feeling washed out. I hadn't had an episode for a couple of years until last Thursday (whilst on holiday and on the progesterone part to the HRT) and I found it quite frightening.
I don't think the medics really understand what they are, but it does seem to be pretty common.
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Thank you for taking time to tell me Shropshirelass,it was scaring me,especially when this new floater suddenly appeared,I've been on the nhs site and apparently as we age the jelly in our eyes can turn more watery and this can also be a cause
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Thanks Jaycee,no reason for mine,falling to bits is all 🙄
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No worries,it is a lot more common than people think but it is worrying if it has never happened before,i had it once years ago, never had it since,and yes another name for it is a silent migraine, but because it affects the eyes my sons Dr called it Occular migraine
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I was worried sick Jaycee ,we have glaucoma in our family and needless to say,I was panicking about that ,no flashing lights now just this black floater right in my vision 😡
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Jaypo,
Yes I have been have strange lights and floaters in my vision recently.
Couple of weeks ago, I ended up at the out of hours doctor at hospital as my eyes went blurry for about 3 hours. Couldn't find anything wrong, suggested I have my eyes tested & see my GP.
I did, optician found nothing wrong & GP said he was not in the least worried about blurry vision (Clearly I was). He thought silent migraine for the lights on my eyes. This was also suggested my optician.
Didn't give me any other advice. I still think it is down to hormones (or lack of).
I did suffer from really bad migraines around puberty, so to me it seems obvious, GP still not keen on HRT as in his words it brings it's own problems.
I have increased the eye drops to 4 times a day, using Hyco San Extra which was suggested
by optician, this seems to be helping.
Hope you are feeling better
Jill
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Thank you so much jillm,it's good hearing stories that drs and opticians are not concerned as if it was anything,surely something would show up?
My right eye has always been the weakest of the two,my glasses have a stronger lens in that one,heyho meno has a lot to answer for 🙄
Have a lovely weekend x
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Thanks Birdy ❤️❤️ Still got my black stringy floaty thing though 😕
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Hi Jaypo
What you're experiencing sounds very much like PVD - posterior vitreous detachment, which sounds very scary but is in fact incredibly common as we age. A majority of those past a certain age have it, but most people don't notice it happening. I think this might be what you read about when you went on the NHS website - the vitreous humour in our eyes gets watery, instead of jelly-like, and detaches itself. For some people, it tugs slightly on the retina as it's detaching, hence the flashing lights. The fact that you've got a stringy floater is absolutely classic for PVD - it's probably the vitreous humour that you're 'seeing'.
This happened to me - I went to the optician as a same-day appointment, scared to death as I was having weird lights in the outside edge of my vision in one eye, rather like an arc-shaped light which I noticed when I blinked or moved my head suddenly. The optician examined me and said it was PVD but also arranged an appointment at the eye hospital the following day because they have to check that as the vitreous is detaching, it isn't tearing the retina (I gather it's pretty unusual for the retina to be damaged, but it needs checking to be on the safe side). The hospital confirmed PVD, but no retinal problems and arranged to see me again a few weeks later. They did tell me various things to look out for which, if I noticed, I had to go back to see them within 24 hours.
It's good that you're going to get it checked on Monday, but I wonder if the fact that your flashing lights have stopped means that the vitreous humour has now fully detached itself (which would be a good thing)! I had very noticeable black stringy floaters in the affected eye (like nets in my vision) which really bothered me for a while but now I don't see them unless I really try. They're still there but my brain now seems to mostly ignore them. A year or so afterwards, I noticed the same floaters in my other eye and the optician confirmed that the other eye had 'gone' - I hadn't noticed.
Good luck for your appointment on Monday!
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Thank you so much Evie,how kind of you.what you're describing is exactly what I had,an arc shape almost like round the iris,it,really puts my mind to rest to read this,the light sensation has gone now and yes,I'm just left with this stringy floater,I've lots of floaters,have had so for years but this is definitely a new one but I dare say I'll get used to it.
Thank you xx
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I'm glad to have helped! x
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Hi Jaypo, great posts already on this thread with lots of helpful info & reassurance. Just to add I also have ocular migraine (as well as classical with visual disturbance aura) and have had floaters & flashes for good a few years, since around start of menopause proper (ie after final period). The classical migraine started around age 18 & the ocular in late 30s. No classical migraine at all in the 7 years since last period - so hope this gives hope of possibly seeing an end to the horrible things, to anyone who's a migraineur.
The floaters, flashes & visual disturbances of migraine can be pretty unnerving :o, especially when you first get them & have no idea what's going on. As the other ladies have said, always wise to get them checked out, but floaters & flashes are usually nothing to worry about. When you go to the optician/Ophthalmologist, they will tell you what to look out for as regards changes that need checking out more urgently.
Floaters can appear as tiny, floating translucent bubbles, grey-black specks, crooked strands like fine hairs, or like chains of cells viewed through a microscope. There can be many, littering vision, or just one or 2, in one or both eyes. Many years on, though I know they are nothing to worry about, these still freak me out on bright days, so I understand your concern, Jaypo.
For me, the difference between the visual disturbances of ocular migraine & the flashes that come with floaters, is in the length of time I see the lights & their brilliance/darkness. With ocular migraine the moving bright-dark spots last between 10-20 mins & seriously impair vision - they're like the after-image you get when you accidentally look straight at the sun or a naked light bulb, but they move in the visual field. Although the entire field of vision is affected, if you cover one eye during an episode it's easy to see which of the two eyes is affected. The visual disturbances of ocular migraine & the aura part of classical migraine, for me, look simultaneously bright but dark (sorry, hard to describe), move around & block out a large area of vision.
The flashes that tend to come in middle age & are associated with floaters, are for me at least, more instantaneous - like a bright aerial firework going off briefly in your vision & they are just brilliant lights - none of the darkness associated with the visual impairment of migraine.
As another poster said, after ocular migraine, though thankfully the severe headache of classical migraine doesn't follow, you can feel out of sorts afterwards - tired & not quite right! A very mild headache does sometimes follow ocular migraine.
The dry eyes, again, are very common in midlife, though can start much earlier. I've had them for around 30 years & have been on artificial tears for the duration - currently Clinitas, which are a stronger, more effective solution than some lubricating eye drops. Only recently have medics started to show any concern about this condition - 2 Ophthalmologists have recently stressed the importance of using drops regularly (every 2 hours in my case) & have advised using a heated eye mask for 10 mins a day as well. You can get these from Boots (mine is Eye Doctor brand). The mask encourages better function of the Meibomian glands in the eyelids, which secrete lubricating oil. Apparently, failure to use drops regularly can cause damage to the cornea & when this happens, the nerves can be affected, so that sensation is reduced, meaning it feels as though the condition has improved, so patients wrongly stop using the drops. This is not meant to scare anyone - just to stress the importance of treating dry eyes for anyone who has them.
The dryness can be caused by Sjogren's, in which case it's often systemic (affecting lady bits, mouth, sweat glands & exocrine glands throughout the body) but can also be associated with other autoimmune conditions. Can just be part of ageing with no other underlying cause. More women than men tend to develop DES (Dry Eye Syndrome) & it's thought to be associated with androgen deficiency. Still only learning about this, but seems there's some thought that oestrogen-only HRT regimes make DES worse - it's said that women on combi regimes fare better, but that surprisingly, those not on HRT do best. An optician told me a few years ago that HRT is bad for DES & at that time I thought he'd got it wrong, as I'd assumed that oestrogen at least would help dryness anywhere in the body.
One of my reasons for starting HRT was in hope it would get rid of floaters, which I'd been told are a result of the decline in collagen, which as has already been said, leads to changes to the viscosity of the jelly-like vitreous humour that fills the area between the back of the lens & the retina. HRT hasn't helped yet! Waiting to see a Rheumatologist, where one of my questions will be whether Testosterone can help DES/Sjogren's.
Interested to know whether anyone's floaters have improved on HRT, or whether Testosterone has helped anyone with DES. One of the first changes I noticed on Evorel Conti, before I knew anything about Sjogren's, was that I suddenly had far more saliva! Assuming that was due to its Norethisterone being Testosterone-derived. :)
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We are a Mine of Info. :thankyou:
I have noticed floaters in the left eye at night. When reading in the bath I keep brushing away a 'full stop' then notice that it's weaving it's way across my vision ::). Can't see it this morning ..........
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Wow,thank you wrensong,what an informative post,I will look out for the eye mask next time in Boots for sure. I'm going to ask the optician tomorrow the best eye drops as every time I go to pharmacy they give me refreshing eye drops,no good at all.
I'm not on any hrt so can't comment but floaters I've had for years,optician said they can remove them if they become an annoyance and this new one is right in my line of vision but not sure I want any kind of treatment that involves someone going near my eyes 👀
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I sympathise CLKD - my first floater came into the shower with me :o where it showed up against the white tiles. Kept trying to bat it away, thinking it was a tiny spider ;D.
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Haha that was like me yesterday,thought there was a huge bug on the window, I jumped about 50 feet in the air 😆
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No prob Jaypo :) - eyesight is so precious it naturally tends to freak us out when we get changes. Agree about having floaters removed being a daunting prospect. From what I've read though, some people get really big, dark ones that interfere with reading etc, so I can imagine they would want those removed. Hope yours is not that bad. I just have lots of little ones, but the longer streaks can get on your nerves! Actually felt I was mourning clear vision when I realised they'd set in for good - probably sounds melodramatic, but I'd rather taken good eyesight/clear vision for granted, as I'd also been very lucky not to need specs before mid-40s, & then only mild ones for reading. Still get away without distance specs at 57 - so very lucky really. Good luck for tomorrow, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Don't be freaked out if they refer you to Ophthalmology - they did when my floaters & flashes first started.
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My first 1 followed surgery after GA in 1981. Like a tiny full stop going across the page, which I kept batting at ::)
The current one is like a cotton thread. It'll go ..... or I'll stop seeing it :D
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Sorry Jaypo - forgot - make sure any eye drops you use frequently are preservative-free. I had to see a Cons Ophthalmologist to get those. An optician told me the Viscotears I'd been prescribed for 20 years should NOT be used every day as the preservative can damage the eye over time. GP wouldn't prescribe the Hylo Forte the optician said I needed instead, but luckily Optician had also referred me to the hospital. Cons wrote to GP telling him I had to have the Hylo Forte! After a few years those became less effective & the inflammation associated with DES got worse, so now I find Clinitas best.
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Thank you,I've written the names down so I don't forget tomorrow 🙄😆
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Hi Wrensong - my dry eyes definitely improved on hrt but only the right hrt for me. The weird left eye headaches also much better. I had terrible time when I was on the pill years ago with the headaches so definitely hormone related although I didn't know that then! It was the oestrogen that helped with the dry eyes not Testosterone. I also had a dry mouth and a funny taste in it before but that's gone too. I was given a diagnosis of fibromyalgia and I had rheumatic fever as a child and my mother had rheumatoid arthritis, the kind that strikes you down before I was born but most consultants were stabbing in the dark for an answer to my joint and other problems...turns out most were hormone related and had been since I was a teenager. There was a difference of 7 months between getting the oestrogen and progesterone sorted and then starting T. The dry eyes were sorted before starting T.
The headaches... difficult to tell...as I wrote in my post, I don't get "floaters" blobs, orbs etc, mine look like someone has smashed panes of glass into triangles all over my eye, flashing... usually the left one which is where the weakness or propensity for this has always been. The headaches are not attached the flashing lights. The lights come out of nowhere and are fairly rare but the common "migraine" in the left side of my face has definitely diminished significantly over the last year where its was pretty much resident before.
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Hi ladies,well optician did a complete check,dilated the pupil so he could see right to the back of my eye and it was that pvd?are those the initials 🙄 the floaters are down to a small haemorrhage when the gel detached from the retina but although a small tear the retina isn't detached,so huge relief,to go back on Friday and he's just going to double check
Thank you all for your help,blimey,we're a great bunch aren't we?hugs all round 😊❤️
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Hi Jaypo
I'm glad to hear your appointment went well and that there's nothing to worry about. Good news! x
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Thank you evie 😊💕
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Oh Jaypo - that is good news :). Thanks for letting us know. Hope all goes well on Friday too.
Ladybt, thank you for the info about your response to HRT & DES. Interesting that it was oestrogen that helped. That's what I was expecting before the optician told me HRT was bad for DES!
Can I ask what form of progesterone you were on when the HRT helped your dry eyes? As my salivary production increased noticeably on Evorel Conti & I later learned T is thought to help dry eyes, I assumed the increase in saliva was because the Norethisterone in EC is one of the more androgenic forms of prog.
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Thanks wrensong and thanks for your help xx
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Hi Wrensong..I'm on the "boring forum regime" oestrogel and utrogestan! But only thing that worked for me. Had everol conti, and Elleste duet and elleste solo, prempackC (discontinued), premique (discontinued), Premarin and provera (provera nearly had me certified), oh and femeston - over a period of 10 years. the prempack was the bulk of the time but I still had loads of symptoms the only thing it fixed was flushes but I was a novice then. The rest has been over period of 3.5 years to get it right!
I started on 2 pumps of gel and had to up it to 4 over the first 2 months. Stayed like that for 7 months I reckon and then I was getting permanently sore boobs so dropped to 3. Been like that ever since. Was told to take utrogestan continuously but after the Provera fiasco just decided to take Utro on a cycle and have a bleed and I take it vaginally. I have never tried it orally, from what I read here it had more side effects that way so I just thought "why risk it".
So all in all it has taken a whole year to get any semblance of life back and believe me I was a nut job for about 10 years to a lesser degree at the start and to a huge decree by the time I got to starting all the different ones! Testosterone was introduced 7 months in and that fixed libido, energy levels to a certain extent and had a major impact for me on brain fog.
As I understand it, it is oestrogen that has an affect on all the "lubrication"?? eyes, mouth, vagina, skin elasticity and the lubrication in the joints - hence a lot of meno women have sore joints without the right amount of oestrogen. Did the optician explain why oestrogen wasn't the culprit in DES??? Wrensong?
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As oestrogen levels drop the body may become dry, inside and out.
Rheumatoid arthritis can be kick started by pregnancy, a friend was in a wheelchair by the 7th month :-\ with no former history: it took nearly 2 years B4 the RA settled. It happened with all 5 of her pregnancies [no twins ::)].
HORMONES >:(
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Hi Ladybt,
thanks so much for detailing your HRT history :). Great that at last you have a regime that suits you - but sorry you had to go through a long period of trial & error, in common with many women posting here.
I had been kinda wondering whether the regime that fixed your dry eyes included one of the more androgenic progestogens, given what I've read recently about androgens being important for DES & what I said above about the surprise of Evorel Conti increasing my saliva production.
Unfortunately I can't seem to tolerate Utrogestan whatever the route. Evorel Conti didn't give me bad progestogenic side effects but maybe only as I absorbed it poorly! Probably for same reason, it didn't resolve my meno symptoms completely, though I stuck with it, as better with than without (sound like an optician!) because every alternative regime I tried was worse. T was prescribed by a specialist gynae from the outset but I never got around to trying it as we were still trying to get my basic HRT right. Because my dry eye problem has worsened post-BSO & I've noticed other unwelcome changes I suspect may be due to losing the T the ovaries are said to go on producing postmenopause, I'm intending to ask about T again if I stay on HRT. I also want to try it for energy, stamina, muscle loss, bones (oesteopenia) & libido. Sorry - that's rather off topic.
Yes agreed - oestrogen is always said to be good for increasing moisture throughout the body, which is why I thought that optician was a dickhead mistaken :o, for saying HRT makes DES worse. I didn't question him at the time because I'd had the DES 25+ years, thought I was managing it OK & at that point it was no worse than it had ever been. It was just a routine eye test - I hadn't gone asking for help with DES, so what he said didn't seem significant at the time & I continued to assume the oestrogen component of any HRT regime would only help the condition.
A couple of years on (earlier this year) I was referred to Ophthalmology for checks on visual field - which turned out to be fine, but the Cons was instead pretty animated about the dryness & inflammation (which have recently got much worse), prescribed 2 other sorts of drops on top of those I already use & referred me to another Cons Ophthalmologist at the "anterior segment" clinic. I saw him a few months ago - he too was pretty interested in the dryness & has referred me on to Rheumatology for investigation for the Sjogren's they both suspect.
As when I was referred to Ophthalmology I'd just gone back on HRT after 18 months without, I wanted to reassure myself that the oestrogen would only help the DES condition. To, my surprise when I started reading up, what I found indicated that it's a deficiency of androgens they think more important in DES. I printed out a long article & sent it to my Endo (who prescribed my latest HRT) to discuss at last appt, but somehow it got missed. Now can't find the same article, which I thought I'd bookmarked, but have managed to turn up other, shorter ones, saying much the same. The link below from Review of Ophthalmology (2006) is interesting, but may not be the best - I have a pile of articles but no time to go back through them this morning.
Relevant meaty bits include:-
"Recent studies have suggested that androgen deficiency may be the main cause of the meibomian gland dysfunction, tear-film instability & evaporative dry eye that are characteristic of Sjogren's syndrome, which occurs almost exclusively in women."
". . . other studies suggest that HRT worsens dry-eye symptoms . . . & oestrogen only HRT seems to be worse than combined oestrogen & progesterone therapy."
"Given what we now know about androgen deficiencies in Sjogren's syndrome & other dry-eye disorders, it seems plausible that rectifying endocrine imbalances may prove beneficial for patients with lacrimal & meibomian gland dysfunction and associated dry eye. It has been shown that testosterone levels correlate positively with tear function in postmenopausal women . . . suggesting that postmenopausal women with DES may benefit from testosterone replacement."
https://www.reviewofophthalmology.com/article/hormones-in-dry-eye-a-delicate-balance
Phew - sorry another epic - but I hope perhaps interesting to anyone struggling with dry eye.
Wx
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Epics are fine ;D what else would we do on a hot day 8)
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Good point CLKD ;D
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The point was ;D
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Wrensong - epics are good, how else do we learn anything - how do you know all this technical stuff - reading the right articles is the answer - see I have answered my own question ;D
The utro/provera/mirina conundrum - it's really so random whatever suits. I was given a mirina before I was menopausal and it affected my depression badly but then I had hormonal problems it turns out (hindsight is a wonderful thing huh?) from a teenager but that's in some other posts if you want to look them up. I had to have it taken out quite quickly. I got given one in Feb 18 but then a coincidence occurred (I got sepsis 2 weeks after it was inserted and so that got taken out in the hospital but when they tested it, it wasn't the cause!) so the mirena was removed. I haven't tried it again needless to say!!! Provera sent me nuts but was that cos it was continuous and would it be ok on a cycle? - wasn't going to risk that either. I wont risk utro continuously for the same reason, but we are all so different we just need to do what we need to do and what our body will tolerate.
Personally I think the key to hrt is dogged patience and persistence and not giving up to easily. I was not going to give up and if it all goes downhill again (which it can do) then, I will just adjust or find something else on the hrt regime until I've gone through the prescribing book!
I would have been on the "autoimmune, inflammatory" idea since a teenager but then my homone problems, depression and anxiety, aches pains, foggy head started then, progessing to prem babies, pre-eclampsia, postnatal depression, moving to nightmare meno….so connect the dots... ;D shame no medical professional did - what a waste of a life - but hey ho! Not anymore!!! I need to pack in what I should have ben doing in the last last 40 years wasted feeling ill into the possible 20 years I have left... ;)
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Go GIRL! Your bucket list is ? ;)
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Nothing amazing actually CKLD - its simple things that I think most people take for grante...actually feeling good emotions and enjoying them instead of that awful numbness...learning how to enjoy stuff......doing things on a whim rather than having to plan for every eventuality. Going out to more places...travelling more....doing stuff for me like hobbies because I will have more "time in my head" instead of just using my time to make up for the chores and daily living stuff I wasn't able to do because I felt so ill.
its not really a bucket list really...it's like coming out of a coma and having to learn to live again. I'm sure that I was "living" before I hit puberty but it was so long ago I cant really remember a time when things were good. My counsellors used to say "fix on a time when you were truly happy" but I never really could access those thoughts cause I think they were so long ago when I was a child. Its all a bit weird I have to say... but yes....I think a "Go Girl" T shirt is defo in order ;D
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Yep ladybt you must start to enjoy life.
My last relationship was horrible,more times than not,I'd cry myself to sleep,I used to, not pray as such but ask to just be happy ,didn't want wealth or anything glamorous just to be happy and at 48 (8 years ago now) I found it,never thought I'd find anyone but I did and I'm thankful every day for my happy life,like you,or anyone else for that matter we don't know how long we have left so I try to enjoy every day 😊
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Ladybt, like you, I've spent too many years trying to manage chronic health issues - that's how my head comes to be stuffed with nerdy info that would bore the pants off most sane folk. Imagine my posts are good for insomnia, if nothing else!
Yes, the issue of how much & what form of evil progesterone we can tolerate is vexing. To say the least. Recently started on MPA - new to me, having gone through Utrogestan, Norethisterone, Levonorgestrel & varying dosages of oestradiol, oral, patch, gel. It wasn't lack of staying power that made me start to taper off late 2017 & then go 18 months without HRT, but the story behind that's not for this thread.
I'm so sorry you've had a really rough ride of it for so many years & I think you're right - we have to do what suits us best as individuals & instinct & experience can be invaluable when faced with choices about which path to go down.
I also think surviving adversity can give us a greater appreciation of the simple things in life & with that comes gratitude & a sense of wellbeing greater than we may ever have had if we'd been lucky enough instead to lead a charmed life. Long episodes of horrible ectopics plagued me for years in peri & I found them very unnerving. What I wanted most during those years was simply to return to having a normal heartbeat. Not a lot to ask, but something I'd taken for granted for most of my life before that. When the ectopics finally went after starting HRT & a change in thyroid meds, it was a huge relief. Will never take a regular heartbeat for granted again! Every cloud & all that. I wish you fun & peace of mind with your new lease of life Ladybt - I know you'll not take it for granted after all you've been through.
Jaypo, your story is very touching & I wish you many, many years of happiness with your new partner.
Sorry ladies, a meander again - just can't resist replying when someone raises something interesting!
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Thank you wrensong 💕❤️ And your posts aren't for insomnia btw,they're very helpful to many xxx
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I've noticed in the last 6+ months that as I wake my eyes seem to be dashing from left to right until I am properly awake :o whilst my eyes are shut.
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Thank you Jaypo :-*! Tbh, I'm not working at the mo & really miss that sense of being part of a team doing something worthwhile, so it's good to give the little grey cells a prod to look at someone else's problems instead of ruminating on my own. We can waste a lot of our lives flinging bits of haystack dementedly behind us, so it makes sense to offer up a needle when we've found one. Even though it may not be quite the right pointy, shiny one someone else is looking for!
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Before meno hit me like a ton of bricks, I was always a happy go lucky kinda gal. Nothing ever bothered me, not even when somebody said bad things, it would just go over my head...and having two boys to deal with some days were a challenge. I'd always be up for going out, anywhere, wheather planned or not....BUT, when this hit me, I changed, didn't want to go anywhere, it was almost like I was scared, of what!? .....everything any one said I would over analyse it, making my anxiety even worse, and so my life for the last 4/5 years has been pretty sedate....but now this hrt has kicked in and I only have to deal with a tiny little bit of anxiety when it does get me, I want to start going out again, I had a night out with Jaypo and her hubby, 1st time out at a pub at NIGHT time, in a long time, and I really enjoyed it. So I can take from that, that I'm getting back to how I used to be.....so if you feel you can do it Ladybt, go for it, little steps and all that, but when we start to feel better we have to push ourselves be cuz we get stuck in a rut, and only then do we realise we CAN do it......xx
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hey Wrensong - MPA progesterone is trade name Provera - out of every medication, I have ever had that is the worst. Sent me off my head totally and there is post here on the forum from last August called "screaming inside" that charts that particular episode. Although in the past I have always had suicidal thoughts with the depression, that was only the second time in my life when I wrote a note to my family, and made full blown plans - beyond scary. Glad its working for you though.
I wish there was more understanding of the progesterone thing and I don't think there are enough "separate" progesterone medications available to be able to mix and match. If you are peri it is assumed bodies are "supposed" to use the drugs as dispensed by the pills patches and balance accordingly but the practice just does not support this. When you are in full blown meno the scale of advice from so called professionals becomes quite limited in my experience...it just seems inconceivable to most of them that women would choose to continue with hrt...what I mean is...they find it inconceivable that women would need to have hrt past meno be able to live at all.
I have had discussions with Birdy on the forum about out ideas that there are big changes going in homone levels of the general population which has changed the landscape significantly for more people than in times past but scientific research has not kept up. Decreased fertility, body shape changes, bad menopause, bad pmt in younger women, postnatal depression, increased impotence, increase in mental health issues generally - many or if not all if the right research was done could well be down to hormonal changes in the bodies of the general population but that's only my theory.
Its not so much a new lease of life jillydoll - its relearning what it is like to have a life and to relearn how having a life makes you feel. My conditioning over 40 years is going to take some undoing. I can do more things, now I need to believe that it is safe to do them and the sky will not come crashing in or the universe slap me down for doing them as has been the majority of my experience over the years. Obviously my reactions over those years were governed by hormones affecting my head and were not really much inside my control despite lots of counsellors saying it was and "if you only......think....more positively....." etc etc. But us ladies all know that its not that simple cos if it was we would not all fall out of bed every morning having a panic attack and with a sense of unbelievable doom!!!! We are being governed by our body chemistry and no amount of positive thinking will recreate what we have lost without some drugs to do it xxx
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I walked out of the session where I was told that I had to 'think something bad in order to have a panic attack'. I could have hit the woman :bang: :bang: if it were that easy as to 'relax' she and those like her would be out of a job >:(
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Yes, I understand lady. You've had over 40 years of it, it must be hard. It's hard for me too, and I've only had 4/5 years.....it all seems sooo weired, almost like we're expecting something to happen...it's gonna take some time for you I should imagine, but, at least now you can ‘see' ....and try and move on in a positive state...keep going lady, I know you can undo all the horribles from the last 40 odd years.....life is short, and nows the time to embrace it....before its too late....you've come a long long way, and it's so nice to read what your actually saying now...the more you do, like you say, you can do more now, the more you will do.....keep going honey.....😘xx
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Every one of us are so different,how we deal with things,we all have different safety mechanisms,you're right jill, I was the same,things would be said or done and 9/10 I'd shrug my shoulders and move on,now,things go round and round in my head,not even very important things, I lay awake last night for instance fuming at the vet because she keeps giving us more and more treatments,costing us a small fortune,the same scenario going over and over in my head,whereas I should just tell her,ok enough,which I'm going to do today,otherwise it'll keep me awake tonight too.
Yep,was a brilliant evening jill,once we both live up in Scotland we'll be alcoholics 🥴🥴🥴😆😂
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:'( another thread jaypo ? :'(
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Yes Ladybt, MPA & Provera one & the same. I'm so sorry to know it had such shockingly horrific effects for you & thank you for the warning, but I daren't search for your post about it as I've only just started it & my experience in the first cycle was not too promising. More used to physical side effects proving the deal breaker with prog, but with MPA the worst so far have been psychological. I couldn't wait to stop it at 10 days & that was only on 2.5mg. Can't imagine I would be able to continue on such a low dose long term anyway, but my lovely, very experienced Endo wanted to keep prog to an absolute minimum as I do so badly on it & am only on very low dose oestrogen currently. Anyway, won't say more about that here as have again gone off piste, or maybe as it's prog we're talking about I got those last 2 words the wrong way round!
Totally agree there are too few forms of progesterone, given how badly it affects so many of us. The ignorance about women needing HRT long term postmenopause dismays me too. Though we no longer have the difficult troublesome fluctuations of peri to deal with, we have basically flatlined & for some of us, that's when the real problems begin.
What you say about a shift in the general population is very interesting. I've had many a discussion with a nurse friend about the possibility that manipulating sex hormones by using BCPs in fertile years (as most of our generation have done at some point) may be behind some of the problems you list - a bit of an unsuspected ticking time bomb. Though advances in pharmaceuticals offer possibilities that were unavailable to previous generations, we are also pretty much guinea pigs as regards long term effects of messing with nature. Don't get me wrong here - I took the pill & now take HRT & both have got me into trouble in some ways, but it can be a sobering thought that we are reliant on medication for adequate quality of life.
See what you did there Ladybt??!! Got me going off piste all over again!! All very interesting ladies & great to chat to you all & exchange ideas.
Sorry Jaypo - your flashing light thread has got seriously derailed. So hard not to get involved in discussion about other interesting points raised though! :)
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😆🤣 that's ok wrensong,think all my questions have been answered anyway xx