confusion with peri symptoms and anxiety
Posted , 4 users are following.
Ladies, please help me, it feels like I am going insane. Some of you know that i have posted a lot on this forum, anxiety being the most terrible symptom that i have been struggling with.
This is my current problem. About 4 years ago I was diagnosed with peri-menopause. This was according to blood work done. I visited my gyne whom said that i am to young for HRT and also due to the fact that I have breast cancer in both side of the family. He said that we can consider this, but only if I cannot continue feeling like i do. So 2 years ago I went for blood work again. My testosterone count was like non existing. He injected me with testosterone and all was well for a time.
Last year January I was again having a lot of nasty symptoms and again the blood work confirmed that i was in peri. So I went on HRT for 3 months and meds was given for the hot flashes. Again at the beginning of the year I was having nasty symptoms again. Although this time my blood work came back normal but my progesterone was a bit low. My gp said it was nothing as this was due to the follicar stage that I was in. Since May of this year I started with anxiety and about 44 of the 66 symptoms of peri. So again I order blood work. This came back normal again. So what now, now that i am having the most worst symptoms I am not in peri although on 3 previous occasions i was diagnosed as peri?
I am so terribly confused. Am I missing something here?
Please help me?
0 likes, 9 replies
Suki_girl lelawreck
Posted
I am a scientific researcher and I have my doubts about the reliability of hormone level tests. Surely it must fluctuate so much it must be different from one day to the next. I can't find much about this from a quick search of the Internet, but I might look into it further. Have you been tested for vitamin deficiencies because women in menopause can be susceptible to this and vitamin deficiencies can cause similar symptoms to menopause itself.
lelawreck Suki_girl
Posted
We did test for all of the above and the counts came back normal. I do believe however that my counts were very low 4 months ago. Maybe been on all of these supplements for the past 4 months has increase the count?
I feel so lost cause I am having all of the symptoms and have been diagnosed as peri. But now having a normal blood count? I will be seeing my gyne on Monday and as there is not even support in this hellish road at a GP or a Gyne what will I tell him. Mmmmhh you know what 4 years ago I was diagnose as peri and for 3 years after that I had a low progesterone count low estrogen and testosterone. Now that i am having all of the terrible symptoms my hormone count is normal. I am going to look like a idiot and he will most prob just tell me I am a hypochondriac mimicking peri symptoms.
I will keep you posted on the outcome but believe that I will rather visit my homeopath after this appointment.
Suki_girl lelawreck
Posted
I honestly believe that doctors are just winging it with menopause. They don't really know what is going on and we are all so different that they can't make any predictions. I made the point that we are probably the first generation to be going through all these menopausal issues. My mum and aunties were all automatically put on HRT when they got to a certain ages or showed the first signs of peri so they never experienced anything. My grandmothers generation, well they probably just gritted their teeth and didn't say anything, they had live through a war after all.
With regard to blood tests and lab work I found something called the perimenopause blog and it says this:
In fact, a lab test alone is probably the least dependable barometer of the onset of perimenopause. Yet, physicians continue to use them to dismiss women who believe they are in perimenopause, because the results say their blood work is “normal.”
Exactly!!! I am in the UK and I don't think they do blood tests for hormone levels here, I and my friends have never been offered it anyway. Perhaps you have to request them. I think they just go by the symptoms. Like my doctor said, once you get to your age you know your own body and what is normal for it.
lelawreck Suki_girl
Posted
What you say is so true Suki. I have my own theory why our generation is battling with this. My grandmother never complaint about her symptoms. Maybe about the odd hot flash here and there... But they lived off the land. There food wasn't pump full of grow hormones and chemicals. Thus their nutritional needs were fulfilled. Our lifestyles today = stress, from morning to noon. Have to be in time for work=rush hour traffic, = performance at work = earning enough to make ends meet = cooking dinner with limited food = looking after kids = Do I need to continue? Lol..
We don't even eat properly sometimes - we grap a snack a long the road. And everything is chemical. If you have time, look at the statistics re cancer. This wasn't a common disease a few years ago. The statistic were low in comparison with today's figures. So my argument is it is because of our lifestyles that we are suffering more?
We are in South Africa, and if you remotely think you are in peri, blood work is ordered by your GP. He then refers you to a gyne. I have red on this forum that they can do saliva tests and these are more accurate than blood work. I do however not know if this is available in SA.
Thx for replying on my post Suki - I do appreciate.
Suki_girl lelawreck
Posted
I so agree with you! I saw a programme once that said that during the war they had a healthier diet than we do now because they ate only home foreign home cooked food. And not too much food! Obesity is such a problem these days. As for our lifestyles, didn't get me started! We live life at such a fast pace that there is no time just to stop, take a breath and appreciate it. And it is getting worse. In the UK there is more mental health problems and suicide among teenagers than there has ever been. Technology dominates our lives (says she typing on an iPad!), information is being forced at us constantly, we are expected to repond immediately because we can. We have lost contact with the natural world. For thousands of years we lived as hunter gatherers at one with nature, our brains are hard wired to have an affinity with nature, it is only very recently and for a brief period of time in human history that we have become so reliant on technology. Our disconnection from nature has come suddenly and we are paying the price in terms of the detrimental effects to our health and wellbeing.
There, I've had my rant for the day. It is good to know that other people think like I do.
laura370 lelawreck
Posted
I'm reading a book called Female Brain Gone Insane and she swears that vitamin deficiency is a huge part of a lot of our symptoms. She is a specialist and dealing with peri women is what she mainly does. I believe there is a website femalebraingoneinsane.com that will help you if you don't want to buy the book. I just started a regimen of supplements and a protein drink in the morning. Protein is very important during this time as well.
Suki_girl laura370
Posted
laura370 lelawreck
Posted
FINALLY!! The moderator posted my last response about supplements and protein. We should also eat small meals all day long so our blood sugar doesn't get low. What was said about hormone ejected food is very interesting as well. I'm just hoping my supplements start working, but sometimes it can take awhile so I have to stick to it. Good luck everyone!!
Suki_girl laura370
Posted
I think the message here is that during menopause all that healthy lifestyle stuff is even more important. Get plenty of sleep, take suppliments as needed, eat healthily and small amount frequently, do gentle exercise.