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[Flo2020]

Hi everyone. I have been reading this forum for a while now and finally plucked up courage to post.
I am 52 (next week) and assume I am perimenopausal given my age, although my mum did not hit menopause until she was 57 (God help me).
I have splashed put on a private consultation next week with a Doctor specialising in meno stuff because I just want to understand what’s going on.
I have read on here of really awful symptoms so on the one hand I feel like a bit of a fraud and a whinger, but I have a collection of ‘little’ issues over the last 18 months that are really getting to me, and which I assume are perimenopause related. But they seem to not really feature on this board that much .. does anyone have the same.  The two main ones are...

* Crashing tiredness that hits me about 3pm every day.  Staying awake after that time is a struggle. If I manage to avoid going to bed before 8pm it’s a miracle

* Bone hurting cold, in waves. No hot flushes just the opposite.  Yesterday evening my arms and legs were painful with cold. I had goosebumps under two fleeces so I gave in and went to bed with an electric blanket on high. The thermostat in the house was 22 and my poor husband had stripped to t-shirt and pants - he runs hot anyway but he begged me not to turn it up more as it makes him feel ill. So I had to give in and hide under a duvet and blanket with the heated blanket. When I’m working (at hone) I have a Dyson heater next to my desk that I crank up to max, which I think is 32, just to thaw out any ice waves that I get. I was doing that on summer days this year.

My Periods are less regular than usual .. my tracker shows in the last 12 months  I have had 10 regular 28 day cycles and then the last two were 23 and 21 days (which is the first time ever they’ve not been 28 days).  The only period issues I get are sore boobs the week before but I’ve had that always. A few years ago a breast surgeon (two benign lipomas) advised Evening Primrose Oil so I take two massive capsules every day which eliminates boob pain for me. If I miss more than three days of capsules in the prior week I will get soreness so I’m careful now to ensure I have supplies In the house.

So for me this crushing tiredness and the awful bone chilling coldness has really impacted my life.  Staying focused at work late afternoon is a killer and then I’m dog tired and freezing cold in the evening meaning I retreat to bed and my husband rarely sees me (he’s very patient).  I had thyroid and other blood tests in January and everything was normal so I’m wondering if it’s menopause related.  If I google cold and tired the results always focus on thyroid but the tests in January ruled that out.

Would be interested to know if anyone else has the same.

[CLKD]

Morning.  When did you have a full blood count, including VitD levels and thyroid function tests?

When I had tamoxifen I had cold flushes, within a few hours of taking the 1st tablet I felt as though I was getting 'flu  .  Crashing fatigue is often talked about.  If it's at a certain time in the day, mayB check your diet to see if you have a sugar dip?

Will you take a list to the appt. so that you don't miss talking about any symptoms?  Let us know.

   browse round.

[Flo2020]

Hi CLKD. thanks for the welcome. My blood test MOT as my doc called it was late January this year. To my surprise I was healthy range for everything.. I was convinced she was going to tell me I was deficient in this and that. She said “it’s probably just an age thing” and said there was no definitive test for perimenopause given fluctuating hormones on any given day. So I left it, lost two stone, increased fitness and crossed fingers.  But the tiredness has not subsided and the coldness is just bloody annoying. I did put my back out two months ago and gained half a stone which has also annoyed me but I can sort that.
Yes I have a list for my consultation and will report back.

[CLKD]

That's nearly a year so might be worthwhile asking for specific blood tests.  Your Dr is correct, blood tests for hormones are reliably unreliable  so if you can find one that treats on symptoms is probably a good way to proceed. 

Let us know how you get on? 

Some find that keeping a mood/food/symptom diary of use.  I remember Mum sitting down suddenly and falling asleep for a few hours, often in the middle of cooking our evening meal.

[Wrensong]

Hi Flo2020 

If your last thyroid function test was in Jan I think it's reasonable to contact your GP & ask whether it could now be repeated, describing, as you have for us, what measures you have to go to to get warm & how extreme your fatigue is.  Also, as CLKD suggests, ask your GP whether a full blood count would be sensible, to see whether you could be anaemic.  You should not have to pay privately for those, but I understand you may prefer to if you have the means - I also go private for issues the NHS can't manage for me.

Your coldness sounds extreme & coupled with the crashing fatigue, is suggestive of hypothyroidism, which can develop slowly, so it's possible that even though your last TFT was in range, the situation has changed since then.  It's helpful to know the actual thyroid blood results, with the ref ranges as they vary from lab to lab, so if you can, try to get these from your surgery.  It may be that your levels were already towards bottom of ref range.

Another thought is are you eating enough nourishing foods to provide adequate calories to keep you warm & give you energy? 

Crashing fatigue can also be a feature of menopause I'm afraid & like you I often find from mid-afternoon I'm exhausted, despite well managed hypothyroidism & HRT.   So it may help to adapt your lifestyle if you can, to ensure you get adequate sleep & whatever forms of R&R suit you best.

Sorry - was posting while you & CLKD were!

[CLKD]

Morning Wrensong 

[Wrensong]

Morning CLKD!

[CLKD]

Adrenaline for me is like hot water coursing through my veins - scary until I became used to it.

[Flo2020]

Thanks all. I will ask for another thyroid test and full blood work again.  I had a relatively good evening last night. I used the spare bedroom again and prewarmed the bed with the electric blanket and made myself stay up.  We watched a thing on Meatloaf which was great.. granted I was wrapped like an Eskimo in a huge jumper and tartan blanket while hubby was in T-shirt again.  By time I went to bed I was hanging tired and the bed was roasting. I slept straight out nine hours and woke ten mins ago 👍👍👍 result! I feel like a shiny new pin today.
Oh adrenaline rushes .. they sound like what I call my fizzes. Randomly timed excited rushes of fizz.  I have often had those after the last few years. Like the opposite of impending doom, they’re like feelings of impending elation and energy. The after effects last a couple of hours .. it’s as if the most catastrophic event couldn’t dampen my mood in those few hours.  Mrs Annoyingly Positive.. I will use the energy burst to get stuff done that I’ve put off., very useful for work stuff 🤪. I have genuine thought sometimes during a fizzy energy episode that I am becoming a bit loony. But I remind myself to be grateful that (so far) at least they’re positive rushes and not negative ones.
There are a couple more things that have changed over the last two or so years.  One is clumsiness.  I don’t think I’ve managed to spoon coffee to my cup or scoop washing powder into the machine for ages without misjudging it and catching spoon or scoop on something and spilling some of it.  Reach out for something an crack my knuckles on door handle, table edge, window frame etc.  It’s as if my depth perception is out of whack.  Even got my eyes tested just in case. Nope, seems like I’ve just become a clumsy arse.
Last thing is the brain fog that people speak of. So, I can’t say I get brain fog but I sometimes literally cannot remember names I’ve known for years or for inanimate objects.  The washing machine got called the clothes box washer the other day, accelerator pedal in car was the go faster pump, computer mouse was a pointy mover etc etc. Kevin Bacon .. have you seen his awful moustache on new EE advert .. well he was Kevin Dancy Man all evening. Husband wouldn’t let me google him and was cracking up at me racking my brains till I suddenly shouted BACON while getting ready for bed.

[CLKD]

May I giggle - sounds normal from where I'm sitting - we have a thread, 'doing stupid things' 

[Flo2020]

Ha! Sounds like I need to go and find that thread. 

[CLKD]

Let us know how you get on with the blood tests?