Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[AngsanaBlossom]

About a year ago I noticed my periods getting longer, shorter apart and heavier. They start, get really heavy, then stop and then start again lasting up to 10 days. I also got PMS and pains that I had not had before children. In addition to this I got occasional night sweats and tiredness. I've always had some bouts of insomnia but since then I have had some very serious sleep issues.

I've always been someone who gets stressed out easily and who has had low level anxiety. Also someone who ruminates and turns over things in my head. However, I have not needed to do anything about it as it was manageable. I have always had a healthy diet and did a lot of exercise.

I went to the Doc last year and then went to see a private Menopause doctor who told me that I was showing peri-menopausal symptoms but seemed to be on top of it. Now I do not feel like I am.

I do not have a problem with the physical symptoms. They do not bother me at all, well yet anyway. It is the increased anxiety that I cannot cope with. For example, a year ago it manifested itself as not wanting to be held in e.g. seat belts on a plane or in a traffic jam and even sitting in a hairdressers chair for ages. That lasted a while and dissipated. For the past few weeks though it has taken another turn. I've had a few nights when I have woken up at 3am and had horrible intrusive thoughts that have scared me a lot. I've then spent the next few days in a state of anxiety thinking about what I have been thinking with part of my brain is telling me that I must be going crazy and may be carted off in a white van never to see my family again. To coincide with this, on both occasions this has happened, my period started that night. Since this happened to me 2 days ago I have felt really down, like I am losing my mind. This happened last month too and I got over it and then wondered what the hell I was thinking.

I had blood work done last year and it said I was borderline peri-menopausal. Three years prior to this a medical said I wasn't peri menopausal or anywhere near it, so the report last year is a drop in my hormones. I literally know nothing about this and have no one to talk to. No sisters, mum or aunty. I see telling myself that I am probably peri-menopausal but then my tired, unslept mind plays tricks on me and tells me that maybe I am just going crazy which upsets me as I have a couple of young children to look after and I don't want to walk into my doctors and present myself as a crazy lady. I will be 49 in a couple of months and started my periods when I was 13. I've always had short cycles e.g. 23 days and had to have fertility treatment in the past for polycystic ovaries.

Thanks for reading and for any comments. I am feeling so lost and scared.

[AngsanaBlossom]

Just want to add that I am taking a Menopause multi vitamin, black cohosh and 250mg magnesium. I have had some very bad days, like the last 2 but in general I have been OK. I say OK because I have felt I have had a low mood and a feeling of malaise for a long time and questioned myself why I feel like this when I have a lovely husband and family and lots of nice things in my life. 

[Winniepoppy]

Hi, I'm new here too and just wanted to say that the anxiety was what drove me to demand my GP took action, I can just about cope with bleeding every other week and waking up drenched in sweat and poor sleep but the anxiety symptoms that last for 7 days prior to a bleed that mean I can't function at work, and worse as a mum to young children, well that had to change. I too feel like I'm going insane on occasion, I don't like this new, overwhelmed, tired, incapable, forgetful and ratty me. The GP initially messed up my first HRT script ( seems a common problem on this site) but started Femoston a month ago, not sure if it's making any difference yet though...just wanted to other you know you are not alone in feeling the way you do x

[Hurdity]

Hi AngsanaBlossom

 

Sorry to hear you are suffering. From what I've read the normal criteria for reproductive stageing and associated blood tests ( known as the STRAW criteria) do not apply to women with PCOS and therefore from what I understand neither cyclical changes nor the usual blood tests can really tell you clearly where you are in menopause.

You say you have been to see a menopause gynae and I presume s/he was aware of your PCOS history and could advise accordingly on appropriate treatment? If not, I would suggest you go back to your GP and ask for a referral to a menopause specialist (on NHS hopefully) if there is one in your area? I would suggest you do need specialised advice so as to get the best treatment for peri-menopause and taking into account your slightly different hormonal circumstances from the rest of us due to the PCOS?

Have you ever taken the contraceptive pill to regulate your cycle? There are a couple which contain a milder oestrogen ie estradiol, the same one that our body makes, and one of them only has 2 tablet free days, and one of the newer gerenation progestogens. You would not need to know your menopausal status to take this but it should give you regualr periods and also prevent the worst of the mood swings and anxiety, if you got one OK with the progestogen. This pill is known as QLAIRA and as a contraceptive pill should be free on NHS.  You would want to start this soon as I'm not sure it is prescribed after age 50 although once you are on it and if you have no other risk factors you might be allowed to continue if it suits you?

Sorry I can't be of much more help than that as I don't know enough about PCOS and menopause and from what I've read this is an area where much more research is needed.

Hope this helps a little anyway

Hurdity x