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[Lori]

Hello Ladies,

Apologies I know that this is maybe a question that's cropped up many times before and I am sure it has, but can anyone give some advice on how they have coped.   I am suffering every day from terrible nausea  ... never actually vomiting but the feeling that I want to is far worse than the "act" of actually being sick.   It's worse than morning sickness ! it lasts all day most days but it's worse in the mornings, when I wake up there's a horrible taste in my mouth and it takes me until mid morning to begin to feel anything near "human" (not very helpful when you work full time and need to be human at 9am!) This ranges from "gurgling" tummy and feeling really sick (tummy sounds like a half full water bottle, that loud you can hear it gurgling away even above the television sometimes !) to absolute and utter disabling nausea, dry mouth, feeling hot/cold, shivering, wanting to be left totally alone in a darkened room - not even wanting to speak to anyone or wanting anyone anywhere near that you have to give a response too !!   It's become progressively worse over the last 18 months and now having a big effect on my day to day life, relationship, work, travelling etc. 

I think when the nausea is really bad it exacerbates the anxiety that I sometimes feel .... I feel like I'm losing the plot sometimes    ...  I've lost nearly a stone in weight in six months or so, even though I try to eat healthy foods and if I'm feeling really ill a plain biscuit or something to keep up the blood sugars.   I've cut out tea, any sweet foods (not that I ate a lot before) and now drinking ginger tea which is helping to settle my stomach sometimes when the nausea isn't too bad.

I am wondering if any of you ladies can recommend anything that's worked for you - I have an appointment for the GP next week and I am going to discuss medication for the sickness (If I wasn't feeling so ill most of the time I could cope more with the other symptoms).  If I can throw in some suggestions/medications that have worked for others it would be helpful.   I've seen two GPs at the practice (purely because you can't get an appointment to see the same GP twice without waiting literally weeks on end!)  Both are ladies of a "certain age", who gave VERY conflicting advice regarding perimenopause/menopause, HRT, symptoms etc.   One was very much for HRT and the other dead against it ! 

So along with the flushes, sleepless nights, horrible acne it's really making for a fun time!  Thank heavens for the MM Site and knowing I'm not alone in this !!       p.s. sorry about the length of the post x

Lori  xx

[Mini2005]

I was really bad with nausea when all my symptoms started and the chemist recommended Motillium as he said it wouldn't conflict with any other meds.  I just did not want to eat at all and that worried me making my anxiety worse.  Top that with not sleeping and I was an absolute wreck and trying to work full time like you.

The Motillium worked thank goodness and I have been on Femoston for 9 months now.  Still get a bit anxious now and again and a few aches here and there but on the whole almost back to normal.  I certainly don't have the nausea any more.  You could give them a try and as you say one less symptom is easier to deal with.  Hope you feel better.

[honeybun]

I would agree with Motilium. It's really good for nausea. You don't say how old you are or what your natural cycle is. Have you considered HRT as this could help a lot.

If you want to give us some more details then perhaps we can help a bit more.


Honeyb
X

[bev567901]

Hi Lori, I can relate totally in fact I feel like I wrote that post. I hate feeling nausea so it makes me anxious & panicky. I started obvious perimenopause in February, went back & forth to docs. Got every anti nausea drug going (non worked.) It got so bad that by September I could no longer go out & I have young kids even though I am nearly 51 so its affected me really badly not being able to do school runs/work etc. I can just about cope with the other symptoms (apart from insomnia) but esp not the nausea. Its like being pregnant , in fact I went on so much they did a pregnancy test on me! I started having rich tea biscuits in my bedside cabinet not something I had done since I was pregnant last. I had all sorts of tests & the hormone one said no to HRT. I came home after that docs appt & just had a huge crisis I was so poorly, couldn't eat etc etc & got put on an anti depressant, sleeping tablets & diazepam. I know I need hormones too so I am hoping by what I have learnt so far from this site & hopefully with the other meds digging me out of the hole I am now in I can get strong again (even though the AD causes nausea & diarrhea!!!) I think you will get a lot of replies to this. I must add nausea was something I always got the day before my period which used to be every 28 days until February but it was just one bad day. I find the nausea I get before my period now whenever it arrives, early, late etc is now much worse on top of the daily nausea too.   All I can say is well done for carrying on working & hopefully you will get a lot more posts saying the same as me. If I could just be half the person I was in the New Year I would be so happy, I miss the old me it's horrible. B x

[bev567901]

Just in case you want to know the prescription sickness drugs I got where cyclizine & metroclopramine. I also got omeprazole I was so acidy. I stopped taking them all. My tongue went brown?  You can also get something called Buccastem without a prescription but they quiz you as its for migraine nausea, the out of hrs recommended this one day when I was so sickly I rang them. It was a bad day & I was just about to go to the out of hrs docs later on when I felt a trickle, it was a preiod coming after only 2 weeks so I hadn't put two & two together it only compounded my view it was the menopause causing me to feel so sick. It was a good revelation but did nothing for how I felt physically. B x

[Lori]

Thanks for responses ladies  .... I'm a month short of 50.  I've had fairly irregular and longer periods for about 18 months now lasting 8-10 days (which was always right from being a teenager up until then very light and about 3-4 days duration)   I also had a Mirena coil removed approx. five weeks ago, which had been in place 6 years and which was fitted for contraception purposes originally, so I'm not sure how my cycle will go from now on.   I also wasn't warned about the withdrawal bleed from the coil by the GP who removed it and then a couple of days later I had the most horrible heavy, clotting and bleeding for nearly three weeks ! ... that really helped the nausea and anxiety !! 
   
I've been having a range of peri-symptoms for 18 months or so, although up until I had a better understanding of what was actually going on, and the GP confirmed that was more than likely the case, I was putting them all down to other things such as  PMT -  although I had never suffered from it in the past !!      I must admit that at the moment I'm cautious about HRT until I have more knowledge of it's possible side effects as we have a history of ovarian cancer in the family.  Something else to discuss with the GP next week.    I believe that I can get Motilium from the pharmacist so it's off to Asda tomorrow and I'll give that a try tomorrow.

If this is the start I am dreading the actual menopause ... I just want to be that confident, capable, well, woman again ! I know this is all natural but I'm sure mother nature was 'menopausal' herself when she decided to do this to us all  xx

[CLKD]

Keep hydrated.  Eat every 3 hours.  This keeps the stomach busy and helps to stop that awful gurgling. It also helps keep blood sugar levels even which stops the anxiety surges.  The idea is to eat before the body becomes hungry and queasy, grumpy and tired.

Ginger
Rich Tea biscuits
Bananas
Chocolate buttons
Boiled rice with ginger chopped in - hot or cold
Mixed dried fruits and nuts
Porridge is a very good slow release food stuff (yuk  )
Dry toast
Milk shakes

in fact anything you can graze on throughout the 24 hours.  The idea is to spread out the diet rather than adding to it.  Hormones made me really really queasy  before my period began.  and tearful .............

[Kathleen]

Hello Lori.
I've just seen this thread and can relate to the morning sickness type of nausea. The  irony is that I didn't have any sickness during my pregnancies and never noticed it before a period however I have felt it during menopause.
I don't take any meds for it but I have been using the probiotic Symprove for my bowels and I think it has helped to settle my stomach.
Good luck with the GP and let us know how you get on.
Take care.
K.

[Meg]

Dear Lori

I am so very sorry that you are suffering with the nausea.  I too have had this symptom and it is really horrible.  I got stemetil from the GP which helps a bit and I have tried the travel sickness tablet Avomine but it can make you sleepy.  I can only manage toast on waking!  One lady I know has been helped by HRT but as you say, you are worried about it because of your family history.  Trying to cope with this symptom is truly challenging to say the least.  Have you got a menopause clinic in your vicinity?  Once again sending sympathy.  Nobody warns you about this one!

Meg

[Fionabee]

Hi. Over the yrs I have taken Diclofenac @ Naproxyn for back & knee pain, they are from the NSAID group of drugs and can upset the lining of your stomach. A friend who is an endoscopy nurse told me I should take Omeprazole to reduce the risk of gastric disturbance. Touchwood, have been ok. MY GP was happy enough to prescribe it, but he didn't suggest it initially.

[jgr]

Hi, this was one of the symptoms i struggled with. I have been on Evoril Conti patch for two years now and it did settle it a bit but i wanted it gone. Someone (sorry i have forgot who it was) on here gave advice about their experiences and said she found that cutting out dairy products sorted her out.
 As a lover of dairy products i did not want to cut out everything so i started with milk and cream, have to say it worked. Why oh why do we never get told about all the horrid symptoms of the menopause, until i was told about this site i thought i was dying. I didn't even know there was such a thing as peri menopause. This site has been my saviour. Hope you get it sorted out soon. x

[Lori]

Thank you very much to everyone who responded to my question    Off I went to purchase some Motillium and what a welcome change that made for once I was actually hungry and my stomach didn't sound like a boiling kettle     I can't thank you enough for that advice 

Well off to the GP surgery I went today boosted by this triumph to see if I could have something prescribed to get my life back from this nausea and also my ever worsening acne.  This unfortunately didn't go as well as I had hoped as the young (and I mean young! male GP) I saw decided that despite a diagnosis of perimenopause by two previous experienced lady Doctors, he would order blood tests to test my hormone levels to see if I was menopausal and if I was I should seriously consider HRT ... no discussion just that would be the best way forward 
 
He refused to prescribe anything i.e. Motillium as I wasn't vomiting everytime I suffer this horrible nausea and in his opinion long term use of such drugs causes more harm than good 

Boosted by my obvious success I moved onto the acne issue.   He asked "had anyone told me I had rosacea ... erm ...YES actually HE did six months ago - at the very same time as prescribing a cream (which wasn't available any longer on the prescribing list I was informed by the Chemist) and also mega doses of antibiotics for four months !! that helped the nausea at the time !   

Funnily enough he said I was menopausal back then and that was the reason for the acne !!   Oh and he mentioned that I might like to talk to someone about my anxiety PRICELESS I can't say that this experience was helping my anxiety level at all I felt like strangling him with his stethoscope by this point

So I am no further forward in respect of being a 'spotty red sore face' ...but on the plus side I know that Motillium helps the nausea greatly (whether I am prescribed it or not I can buy it over the counter)   I'm going to refer privately to a Dermatologist to see if they can help that's how bad it is.   

SO LONG AND SHORT OF IT IS KEEP UP THE FABULOUS SUPPORT FOR EACH OTHER LADIES AND THANK HEAVENS FOR THIS SITE  X

[bev567901]

Lori it just gets worse doesn't it. I really don't know what is going on with all these doctors. It looks like we have to sort out everything for ourselves. I am thinking of changing my GP. It seems we are going to have to sort stuff out with no help at all by whatever means. Keep taking the OTC stuff, did it really make it go away? & I am so sorry about your skin, it really seems that meno can be like pregnancy or puberty. BLOODY HORMONES!! Bev xx

[Mini2005]

Lori, I'm so glad the Motillium helped.  I still have them in my bag even though I haven't needed them for months. I remember how dreadful I felt at the beginning of this year with a similar collection of symptoms to you.  One step at a time and you will feel better honestly.  When I have an "off" day I try and remember how bad I was back then and how much better I am now - helps me through a bad day.  Try stay positive with support from MM and you'll get there xx