confusion with peri symptoms and anxiety

Hi there Suki. I was so frustrated with this issue that I visited a homeopath in May of this year - whom also confirmed that testing for hormones via blood work is one of the most unreliable tests ever. She confirmed that I had no hormone count at all, and that i lack calcium, magnesium and Vit D and B. So since May I have changed my lifestyle. I stopped taking caffeine, and any form of alcohol, I eat a lot of greens, stopped eating refined sugars and starches. I eat more fish etc. I also started taking calcium and magnesium supplements, Vit D and B and also started taking omega 3 and 6. I am an Xanor.5mg for the anxiety, antidepressants were also prescribed but these made my symptoms worse so I lasted for 2 weeks on it, so I stopped taking it. 

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.  

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.

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.

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. 

That is very interesting Laura, because many of the symptoms that I see on these menopause discussion forums can also be caused by lack of vitamins. I myself take many suppliments, have done since the beginning of peri. And I have two boiled eggs every morning! There was something in the news recently about a small village in Italy were the people, on average, lived longer than anywhere else. They studied their diet and these people are lots of fruit and veg, olive oil and 10 eggs a week. They also ate some chicken and rabbit. And it was all home grown or caught (which ties in with the conversation I am having with lelawreak). 

Laura, I have always had a problem with low blood sugar, my brother is the same, if I skip a meal or wait too long to have it I begin to feel weak and faint. My brother and I carry healthy snacks with us wherever we go just incase we start to feel like that.

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.