66 Peri menopause / Menopause Symptoms you may experience which may help some ladies
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SIXTY-SIX PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS: Part one 1 - 49
These are very real physical changes and conditions. Some symptoms alarm a woman that she may be suffering from a serious disease. Perhaps you know the more common ones related to menopausal symptoms in this list. But many of these may surprise you, as they have not been typically associated with this normal physiological transformation.
1. Change in Menstrual Cycle, Cycles may get closer together or farther apart, lighter and shorter in duration or much heavier, lasting longer than one has been accustomed to. Menses may seem to take forever to begin with dark spotting for days until you actually flow, or you might feel like you have your menses every two weeks.
2. Menstrual Flooding can come on with sudden onset and feel like you may hemorrhage to death. Or it can be a gradual build up just when you think your menses will end and you start gushing for days. Flooding commonly accompanies the woman with uterine fibroids as she transits into menopause.
3. Headaches, Migraines, especially before, during or at the end of your menses debilitate and radically interferes with normal functioning.
4. Decreased Motor Coordination, Clumsiness, almost begins to make the woman who experiences this feel like she is certainly less than graceful during perhaps an already awkward period in her life.
5. Lethargy, a persistent feeling sluggishness physically and mentally, that seems to negate ones ability to do much.
6. Physical Exhaustion , and Crushing Crashing Fatigue that can come on so suddenly and grip you into feeling like you will collapse unless you stop this instant.
7. Exacerbation of any Chronic Illness or Existing Condition transpires as hormones decline or deviate from their normal balance.
8. Insomnia, this includes a new or unusual pattern of either difficulty falling asleep, or dropping off to sleep for a few hours and then awakening with the inability to return to sleep.
9. Sleep Disturbances sometimes are from nightmares, night sweats, or just a vague sense of restlessness keeping you up or disrupting your precious revitalizing retreat from this realm of responsibilities.
10. Night Sweats often begin between a woman?s breasts, initially a night or two before her menses, waking her from sleep, later more profoundly disturbing with up to total body saturation, followed by damp or sweat drenched chills.
11. Interference With Dream Recall interrupts the sense of normal sleep, if you are someone accustomed to vivid or at least some detailed memory of your dreamtime.
12. Muscle Cramps can occur anywhere in the body from legs to back to neck, and sometimes reflects the need for more calcium, or simply that your progesterone levels are too low.
13. Low Backache often worsens before or during menses, but if your hormones remain at low levels, you can experience it on a regular basis.
14. Gall Bladder Symptoms of pain, spasms and discomfort felt in the right upper abdominal quadrant under the ribs, which may be accompanied by belching, bloating, and intolerance to certain foods reflect the increased liver load with declining hormones.
15. Frequent Urination, or sensations that mimic urinary infections is a disturbing symptom often unrelieved by actual urination. It is often experienced as the sensation of needing to urinate all the time, even immediately afterwards.
16. Urinary Incontinence, the uncontrollable and spontaneous loss of urine, or the Urge for Incontinence, can occur suddenly or feel continuous, and not only in response to coughing, sneezing, jumping or running.
17. Hypoglycemic Reactions happen when suddenly your blood sugar crashes and you must have food now.
18. Food Cravings, often for sweets or salty foods, but can include sour or pungent foods.
19. Increased Appetite, especially at night and after dinner contributes to that unusual and unwanted weight gain.
20. Dark Circles Under Eyes can also be caused by adrenal exhaustion and thyroid dysfunctions, but no amount of sleep seems to eliminate it.
21. Joint and Muscle Pain, Achy, Sore Joints, Muscles and Tendons, which sometimes develop into actual carpal tunnel syndrome, or give rise to the questioning of other disease possibilities.
22. Increased Tension in Muscles demonstrates itself in those hunched up shoulders as you work or talk about anything uncomfortable, along with promoting lower back pain and a stiff neck.
23. Increased Hair Loss or Thinning anywhere on body, including your head, armpits, pubic area.
24. Increase in Facial Hair especially under your chin, or along your jaw line. It may be defined by generalized hair growth, or a specific and coarse single strand of hair that pokes out, even curls.
25. Unusually Hair Growth, around Nipples, between Breasts, down your back, places where your hair was finer, less coarse.
26. Acne, quite disturbing to any woman who dealt with this in adolescence and never thought it would recur.
27. Infertility causes grief in the woman who postponed pregnancy in her earlier years and now wishes to conceive, carry to term a healthy baby, and discovers she is unable to do so.
28. Loss of Breast Tissue begins with the decrease of progesterone production. Women often feel as though their breast have become empty sacs devoid of their normal fullness, with or without sagging.
29. Breast Soreness/Tenderness/Pain/ Engorgement and swelling, occurs particularly a few days to one week before bleeding actually begins, which usually potentiates complete relief of any pain or swelling.
30. Painful, or tender nipples have been described as this exquisite localized pain only in the nipples and suggests estrogen excess.
31. Cold Extremities feels quite strange especially in the presence of a hot flash, the combination of which is not impossible.
32. Being Accident Prone, bumping into things, not even realizing it until the bruise reveals itself later and then lacking the ability to recall the causative incident feels perplexing and a little scary at the prospect of something more damaging.
33. Hot flashes initially may be described as mild to severe flushes of heat waves, and for some women these evolve into intense outbreaks of sudden heat with sweating and turning bright red all over.
34. Loss of Sexual Energy, our Libido, can be marked by a gradual or sudden disinterest in sex, to the development of an actual aversion.
35. Painful Sex often described as if one?s vagina would tear open at the point of penetration along with feelings of abrasion during intercourse.
36. Vaginal Dryness, Irritation, sometimes accompanied by a consistent unusual discharge - typically odor free, negates a woman?s ability to be sexually active, or able to enjoy or be comfortable in her body.
37. Dizziness, feeling lightheaded and the loss of physical balance, and even a bit wobbling at times, requires pause in movement to prevent falling over or deepening into vertigo or feeling faint.
38. Ringing in the Ears, Tinnitus, can be experienced as a pulsing sensation, a whooshing sound, an almost musical or buzzing sound with a fuzzy sensation.
39. Abdominal Bloating comes on suddenly often after eating, or seems to be all the time, and can be visibly evident making you feel that you look like you are pregnant.
40. Weight Gain disturbs most women, particularly when it seems to happen over a couple of days, settles in the waist, buttocks and thighs, promoting a visceral thickening from the waist down, the classic middle-aged figure.
41. Fluid Retention, Edema, commonly with swelling in the legs and ankles, though not limited to this area and it is unrelieved by urination.
42. Palpitations or Heart Racing usually comes on suddenly, without warning or provocation, and dissipates spontaneously. The experience can be so wild and intense that a woman may become alarmed and wonder if she is having a heart attack.
43. Irregularities in your Heart Rate may feel more like your heart has just done a flip-flop or skipped a beat.
44. Constipation/Diarrhea, intermittent or alternating, results from declining hormone levels, which increase the demands on liver function and alters intestinal motility.
45. Tendency towards Candidiasis can increase, even if you have no prior known history ? and if you do, it may worsen.
46. Gastrointestinal Distress, Increased Flatulence, Unrelieved Gas pains, Indigestion, Nausea all can reflect intestinal changes due to hormonal imbalances.
47. Slow Digestion often goes along with the bloat ? what previously took four to five hours to digest, now seems to take all night. It seems worse in the evenings.
48. Lack of Appetite may be experienced as more of a lack of interest in food, going to the frig and standing there with the door open and staring blankly. Feeling completely uninspired, you busy yourself with something else and forget that you need to eat.
49. Changes in Body Odor especially disturbing when it seems to focus in the groin area, but can be anywhere on the body.
50. Puffy Eyes, not only from sleep disturbances, but also can accompany low progesterone.
51. Facial Pallor alternating with Facial Flushes is often intermittent with hot flashes.
52. Flare up of Arthritis worsens with low progesterone levels and increase sugar intake.
53. Loss of Bone Density, Osteoporosis, is not only an elderly woman?s disease, though it seems to develop over an extended period and is triggered by the decline of hormone production.
54. Dry Hair, Change in Skin Tone, Integrity, and Texture, becomes more wrinkled, and may begin the thinning process.
55. Changes in your Fingernails characterized by easy breakage, bending, cracking and getting softer.
56. Itchy, Crawly Skin with a strange sensation like insects crawling around under the skin ? quite different than the dry skin feeling.
57. Muscle tone seems to slack and sag, and loose its previous response to normal exercise.
58. Pelvic Pain can be random and independent of cycles and may feel continuous for some women.
59. Dry, Itchy Eyes felt in the deep posterior aspect of the eye socket, as well as superficially.
60. Teeth Aching or the experience of a strange sensation in one?s teeth or gums, often accompanied by an increase in bleeding gums.
61. Change in the normal Tongue sensation, which can be accompanied by a feeling of burning in your tongue and roof of mouth, malodorous breath or change in breath odor, and/or a bad taste in your mouth.
62. Memory Loss or Lapses in time, makes one feel disoriented and less focused, especially when you go into another room to get something specific and seconds later cannot remember what you went to retrieve.
63. Feeling Faint for no known reason (this does not include standing up too quickly)
64. Tingling in Extremities not only feels weird and like your hands or feet are falling asleep, but if persistent can be a symptom of diabetes, B12, potassium or calcium deficiency, or a compromise in blood vessel flexibility.
65. Sensation of Electrical Stimulation,or Shock occurring in the tissue under the skin, and may signal you that a hot flash will begin.
66. Increase and worsening of Allergies occurs as hormones become imbalanced, so can our immune system.
153 likes, 3046 replies
Madracquel jayneejay
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I am experiencing pretty much all of these! It is so unfair 😢
tonya13787 jayneejay
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tonya13787 jayneejay
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Question: Does anyone else have this horrible feeling right before falling asleep? It is a combination of feeling sick at your stomach and just *knowing* that you are about to die. It is hard to describe, but it has been plaguing me for a few years now. There are some times that I literally start shaking and can't control myself as if I have the flu, but after I finally get to sleep, I am fine in the morning. It freaks me out!
francella02633 tonya13787
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Good evening Tonya... What year did scribing is possibly anxiety and the reason why I know that is because I deal with anxiety on and off for quite some time and the symptoms that you're describing I can relate to but if you want more answers look up anxiety and I do believe is generalized anxiety is there any other symptoms that you're dealing with?
francella02633
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tonya13787 francella02633
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lexie41068 tonya13787
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Hi Tonya, I had this experience last night it's moore physical than mental so I know it's not anxiety this am I woke up fine thank God what a horrible symptoms my body was shaky my stomach felt weird can't even describe it thanks for sharing.
lisa95354 tonya13787
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Take a deep breathe and exhale...you are not alone😉 I get that same feeling and only when I’m in bed, a lot whenever I get up. but also a bedtime actually a couple hours before, I describe it as feeling like you wanna throw up like Smeaglel from, Lord of the Rings, only not throwing up. Yes and a feeling of dread and terrified of death and that you’re going to die. For some reason it comes with the menopause package 🙃 I wish to God I would’ve found this forum in 2007 when the symptoms started, I didn’t realize this is what was happening until a short time ago😭 Hang in there, you’re not dying, just keep telling yourself that. Try deep breathing, chelated magnesium helps to relax muscles and help sleep, and try an essential oil diffuser with lavender essential oil added, does wonders ??
lisa95354 tonya13787
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Hey Tonya, Up in the middle of the night, Uuuugh
They say if you take all electrical gadgets out of your room, it helps you sleep greatly. I have a TV and clock, I turned the clock around and it did seem to help greatly. But then when you get up in the night you don’t know what time it is. But they say there’s no reason that you have to know what time it is at that hour. You could use lavender essential oil, that helps sleeping and may help with the night terrors. Also chelated magnesium helps to sleep and relax the muscles. Have you asked the pharmacist about the flu shot and how it seems related. I never get those, I have heard scary stories about them. I know they are necessary for some people, but I’ve always been too afraid to use them. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this, but you could try saging your house, to clear any bad/negative energy. I made my own sage/smudge sticks and I love doing it. We will get through this, keep deep breathing 😉
tonya13787 lisa95354
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Thank you and yes, I know what saging is but the way I feel an exorcism might be on the agenda. And I live in a tiny house and I do cover lights when I sleep. But just last night, I was awake it seemed every hour as if expecting something. Well there are things going on with family members where we expect to hear of death at any time. My huband's dad died back in February and so did a maternal uncle just two days from his dad's. They've had a lot of death in the month of February. My husband's mother died in February of 2001 and as of right now we've lost many in her family and some are bad off right now. My husband's mother basically died during perimenopause due to getting a bad blood transfusion after having lost a lot of blood on one of her cycles. She was 48 years old when she passed. As if the stress of all that is happening isn't bad enough, this crap with my health is an added bonus of crap. My own mother is out of her mind and I fear that is where I am headed.
tonya13787 lisa95354
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The weird thing is that it helps to know that others are going through their personal crises as well as me and it helps calm my nerves. Most of the time, when my gut starts getting queasy, I come here and read and it is like some sort of bizarre medicine that helps. I have had to remind myself to do the deep breathing because one of the main symptoms I have is foggy mind and no concentration now. I have to read something over & over just to be able to comprehend it anymore. Someone would think I was on drugs but I am not.
I've never been a big sleeper, but now I am lucky if I sleep any and when I do it is mostly weird dreams and nightmares. I have lavender/peach spray that smells good and is calming, but it doesn't really help much. I have always been high strung and with the hormone insanity, well, it feels like I'm going insane. Haha. Thanks tho.
lisa95354 tonya13787
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That’s not weird at all, I am comforted by the camaraderie on here as well. When I was laying there this morning and couldn’t sleep, I thought, well there’s probably a million other menopausal girls up at this hour as well… LOL I also drink a combination of teas, I have lemon balm, chamomile and lavender. I steep all three bags in a 12 ounce mug and it does relax me quite a bit. I also read yesterday about this product called Redicalm, it was formulated by this Doctor who found that antidepressants were not working, it contains, 5-HTP, L-Theanine, Ashwagandha, Passion Flower, and Lemon Balm. I just might try it, I know that all these items are used for anxiety, depression etc...And a friend on Facebook one time said that L-Theanine helped greatly with sleep. I used to be high strung, is there such a thing as low strong..😂
maria_03422 lisa95354
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how do you saging your house? i burn sage im not sure it works😉 a lady told me to sprinkle some sea salt by the front door for getting rid negative energy, so i did it, i think a little to much and my pest control man looked at me likei was crazy when i told him lol😊😊😊
lisa95354 maria_03422
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You are hilarious, your pest control man looking at you like you’re crazy, too funny. I think you, I and Tonya, need to get together for cocktails, because we would laugh so hard, we would forget we were even going through menopause 😉 I get my sage/smudge sticks from holistic shops etc...or I’ve made some and I really love the ones that I’ve made, but I made them a couple years ago and only have half of one left, I think. Mine really do smell heavenly💓 My believe is, you can make them out of any flowers in your garden, it’s the intention and prayer that matters, not the sage or flower. I just dry them out really good and then bend/twist them up really good with string, actually I used sewing thread and believe it or not, it worked, and they smell amazing. You have to make sure your windows are open, to get all the bad crap outta your house, and take a big shell, that’s what I use to safely collect any ashes, and a big feather, because we have hawks in our area, The feathers drop everywhere. I hold the sage stick over the shell and I take the feather and gently brush upwards into the room and ESPECIALLY, the corners of the room. You cannot forget the corners of the room, because that’s where all the little booger bad energy is 😂 I have also heard of putting chayenne pepper across doorways. I’ve also heard of people putting crystals...rocks... crystals... in every corner of the home. We had some crazy burglar rapist loose in our area, a couple years ago. I was completely freaked out, I put religious figures and cards in all our windows and in the corner of the outside doorways. They caught the creep, but I was freaked out! Sorry for the long explaination, but there it is 😉
maria_03422 lisa95354
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please i love this stuff🙂 i have a friend thats she is native american she says to always keep a small bowl of water next to your bed keeps the negative energy away🙂 and i do besides all the sea salt i have placed in every corner of the house! yes we need to get together, if you all ever in florida youhave to let me know!!
anat0280 lisa95354
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How long do you suffer from your symptoms? and what re they?
lisa95354 maria_03422
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Thanks for the bowl of water reference, I will do that. I am actually very passionate about Native Americans plight, struggles, and injustices. After watching that movie several months ago, Wind River, I spoke to and emailed, several times, the Gov. of Wyoming’s asst, Kari Gray. She claimed, on the phone, that she didn’t know what I was talking about, which is disgraceful and a flat out lie, and I told her I would forward emails and notes that I took. She never replied, thank you for reminding me, I sent another email this morning😉 We have national parks here, where Native Americans had their reservations, it’s really beautiful. Native American Tribes come out once a year in the fall and it is a beautiful event.
tonya13787 lisa95354
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tonya13787 maria_03422
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Salt does good as well. I once had to boil water and put salt in it and say a prayer over it to pour it around our property to chase off bad entities. Saging is basically lighting a bundle of sage and saying a prayer and BELIEVING it will work. You go through your home moving the sage and waving the smoke around and telling the negative energies to be gone from you. You can send them to the white light of love or into the earth to absorb the energy from them. But you have to be firm with the energies and let them know that you mean business. If you do not believe this will work, it won't. You have to put your trust into it working and making it work.
tonya13787 maria_03422
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tonya13787 lisa95354
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The things we could discuss. Lol. You're right about the saging, you must believe it will work and the intentions are most important. Speaking of hawks a few years back, I was waiting for my husband to come out of Walmart when a red tailed hawk came from nowhere and landed on a buggy holder next to my window. My mouth hit my lap and I could have reached out to pet it! It sat for about three seconds or so and then lifted and I could not see where it went! Two weeks later, someone that I loved dearly died. And don't get me started about regular birds and owls! One morning a few months back, my husband and I were talking about how we know another death is coming when I opened our door and two wrens flew right at my face! My husband just looked at me and said, "Yep." He knows when birds start acting strange around me to expect news. They fluttered right before me and then moved a little way from me onto our porch. I just slammed the door. Things still flip me out. Not long after this a cousin died. My husband also gets these warnings. Around this same time, we were seeing owls a lot and he even saw one in the day time looking at him. A month after this, a co worker of his died and a cousin died. And his 39 yr old sister had two strokes in late July. The drs said she should have been crippled or dead, but she is walking and talking and only has lost minimal use of her left hand that she is fighting. And she is psychic too. Get this one, a couple of summers ago, I was at her home and we were outside and she had her son outside with us as we talked. No one else was around but we heard a thump in her house. We went in to look and her cell phone had been thrown across the room by *itself* and we looked at each other. This happened before one of their aunts passed away suddenly. As I have said, I have journal books of things like this happening. I have always called it *Death-dar* or being on Death's Wavelength.
maria_03422 tonya13787
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maria_03422 tonya13787
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lisa95354 maria_03422
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tonya13787 lisa95354
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lisa95354 tonya13787
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You just perfectly described what happened to me, this feeling can’t possibly be normal. I know none of this stuff is normal, but that feeling sets me off the charts. And how you said you’re going to pitch right to the floor, that’s exactly what I thought was going to happen. The very odd thing is, last time it happened, I was eating a small chocolate malt from Culvers , and the day before this happened, I had half of a small chocolate malt as well. The last time was two months ago, until yesterday. I know that sounds insane, but what’s the correlation, possibly the caffeine in the chocolate. My partner was on the phone and I literally screamed for him to hang up because I thought he was going to have to call 911. Does your head also feel like it balloons up, it’s such a strange feeling I have a hard time putting words to it. I thought I was having a stroke. That’s on my mind because my mother had mini strokes, for years, and then she had a major stroke, several years ago. I actually wrote up a mini will, I’ve done that before when these weird horrible symptoms happen. I know that sounds morbid, but I do not want a funeral, I don’t want services. I want to make sure my spouse has it in writing. I just want my ashes blessed and taken to a park and dumpud under my favorite Oak tree, for some dog to p**s on in the future 😂 I thought to myself, if I go to the ER, how am I even going to explain this feeling. Then to add insult to injury, my dog acted weird the rest of the night, she kind of didn’t want to come near me. I thought, oh my God she can since I’m going to die😳 that really freaked my partner out, he said are you serious. When I got up and did the dishes and moved around I felt better. Both times when this happened, I was sitting and relaxing and I shot out of the chair. Which probably isn’t the smartest thing to do. My partner has had a lot of medical events, so he’s not used to me having this kind of stuff, and it really freaks him out and scares him. Thanks for writing back so quickly, I was terrified it was going to happen again. How often have you had it happen? I have faith in God, but I’m really beginning to get agitated with him, because I’m thinking, why do you do this to women😢 but of course that’s ridiculous on my part because of all the horrible horrific things that happen in the world.
lisa95354 tonya13787
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maria_03422 lisa95354
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maria_03422 lisa95354
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thats funny , my cat stays awayfrom me when i dont feel goid and my first thought as youis omg thexat knows something will happen😊😊 i think we loosing our minds with thus craziness!!!
lisa95354 maria_03422
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Hey Maria,
Happy Labor Day, Thank you for letting me know that. I’m going to have to go get a BP monitor. But the thing I don’t like about those, is, they say they’re not accurate? The stories your cat & my dog could tell😂
maria_03422 lisa95354
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Happy Labors Day!
is not that great of a day? tropical storm Gordon bringing alots of rain today..so just laying down , watched the book club it was a cute movie!
still that weird headache and my bp a bit high. i think because im so worried about it, i bring it up😭 how is your day going?
tonya13787 lisa95354
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I am the same way! I am not having a funeral and I want to be thrown into the wind. But yes, you get that full head feeling too. It happens when I least expect it and drives me nuts! If you have the sensations when you eat the chocolate, it could be the caffeine/sweetness giving you a reaction. Especially if you have been off of that stuff for a while. It is scary when these events happen and right now, my head feels woozy and if I move it too fast, things spin. I do the same thing and wonder why women have to go through these things and I want to punch Eve. My husband has admitted to me that he fears finding me dead. I worry that he will as well. I think one of the best things to remember when these things happen is to stop and deep breath thru the nose and out the mouth to help calm yourself. Another thing, the chocolate malt could be a lactose issue too. Gas pills help a lot. You're welcome and I hope you feel better.
tonya13787 maria_03422
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maria_03422 tonya13787
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tonya13787 maria_03422
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lisa95354 maria_03422
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Sorry to hear that, I’m going to ask my pharmacist about the headaches and BP related to hormones today and see if he has any suggestions. He’s been off the last three times I’ve called. Sounds like you’re going to have to batten down the hatches, please be safe. Have you tried a essential oil’s for your headaches, they really work 🌞
maria_03422 lisa95354
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lisa95354 maria_03422
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Unfortunately I didn’t even get that far when I talked to my pharmacist. He said, what I described happen to me Sunday, sounds like A-Fib. My grandfather had a heart condition, my mom had A-fib, my sister has serious heart issues and my father had a heart attack in his mid 40s. So I cant mess around with this, the doctor is seeing what time he can get me in as his schedule is full. I should’ve just gone to the ER on Sunday, but I was terrified of what they were going to say, which I know is ridiculous and I didnt want to freak out my partner. I know that sounds insane, but I just should’ve gone. I just think it’s weird it happened in May and it happened the other day, if it was something serious, you would think it would be happening often. But maybe I’ve been writing off other weird feelings with my heart as post menopause and it’s really something else. What are we supposed to do, just play this guessing game, and suffer for 20 years out of our life?! I know what you mean about the shaky feeling, it’s like shaky, queasy, weird, week, sorry you’re feeling that way. So frustrating 😡 do you also find it if you don’t eat it since your body all out of whack. I read somewhere you’re supposed to eat small meals throughout the day when going through menopause. Have you eaten today, because it could be hypoglycemia, or, it could be, one of a million other things... JK 😂😉
maria_03422 lisa95354
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Im so sorry Lisa. you'll see everything will be ok..i dont think you have a fib..my mother in law got that and everytime she moves is hard to breath and you can hear a sound that she makes. have it check it out but i dont think is anything...