How do you function?
Posted , 11 users are following.
Every single day I have two back to back hot (or cold) flashes. That may not mean a lot to many, and may be less than some but they go for half hour plus... I feel horrible and always wonder if I will come through the end of each one, as I look like death when I have them. I am extremely pale with cold hands and feet and they are painful ... my body hurts, by head hurts it feels like my brain is being squeezed and my heart may stop. The chills after make me shake and they often happen around the time I pick my kids up from school. I feel embarrassed and struggle to function during these and for a while after.
How does anyone work, function, enjoy life? I have severe health anxiety, I am gaining weight like there is no tomorrow and feel like I will never feel good again. What sort of life is this? I haven't applied for work or anything for the last year as I am afraid I won't cope. I want to function like a normal human being. Any tips? I am not sure I can keep going like this (unable to have HRT)
2 likes, 21 replies
beverley58530 jamie37119
Posted
I too struggled, wondering what was wrong. My doctor has tried me on fluoxetine, which has just started to work. Took two or three weeks but has actually calmed down the hot flashes and cold sweats and also calmed down the anxiety. If you go on it stick with it, the side-effects can be a bit grim for the first couple of weeks. Good luck and here if you want to talk
jamie37119 beverley58530
Posted
Thank you, I will look into it, but am trying really hard to avoid any medications. I don't do medications well at all. Never have been able to ..not without trying.
Guest jamie37119
Posted
5:20 AM and awakened with a headache, shoulder pain, hip pain, then a massive sweat. It's awful. Yesterday felt on and off with that bad flu feeling. And shakes. Feels like I'm back three years ago when this all started although now I know what it is. I'm a no medication person as well.
I just started reading the yin and yang of menopause which talks about body types and what to do. Will let you know if it helps.
jamie37119 Guest
Posted
So sorry you are going through all this as well 😦 I am sick currently as well, had a cough, now yellow boogers and lymph nodes up... so today was dizziness, feeling faint, just feeling crap really. Why do we have to suffer so much? ... let me know how your ying/yang goes because I am interested.
Gypsy014 jamie37119
Posted
Hi Jamie, I do get what you are saying about the hot and cold flashes.. For the past week I've had them , I wake all hours of the night to dripping sweat hair back chest and legs all wet, then I know my symptoms are going to be much worse and then they are.. And night before last I had the most crushing migraine headache following the night sweats with numbness on one side of my body and during the actual attack I couldn't talk or communicate it was awful, 8 tried lifting my left arm and it felt like someone was pushing it back down, the entire attack lasted about an hour then starts to ease up .. I think these are night sweats hot flashes triggering hemiplegic stroke like migraines, but I'm no doctor.. Its causing me great anxiety and now ptsd , I'm so fearful when the next episode is going to happen.. Here it is 630 am and I've awoke to these nasty night sweats again.. This carp has me terrified and so alone with it all, I feel so disabled now and don't know what to do or where to turn for help.. I do have an appointment with a neurologist but can't see him until the day after Christmas that's how far out his appointments are..and of course I have all other symptoms that go along with this , this I just can't take its scaring any little life I have in me out of me.m feel like I'm on borrowed time here..
jamie37119 Gypsy014
Posted
Oh wow hun, that sounds very scary. Can you access emergency if it happens again? I hope you have a support network around you x
ET1968 jamie37119
Posted
My hot flashes feel like my insides are going to melt, when I had my first one 3 years ago, I thought it was the worlds worst fever. I get the cold flashes,but not as severe as what you get. Ive been healthy my entire life, Im almost 51. Other than endometriosis and I have lipomas. I havent had a cold in 12 years! Im not fat or skinny, Im fairly average, but caffeine is my best friend and for sure makes my hot flashes worse, so Im scaling back. I have had 3 bad migraines this summer and multiple heart palpitation episodes and my feet ALWAYS hurt, but arent swollen. I do not want to go the HRT route, so Im just going to try marijuana when my state goes legal in January and see if that helps. I am doing cannabis oil and balms now and meditation. Its a f-ing drag!!!
kelly55079 jamie37119
Posted
I have no idea how I function on a daily basis. I work part-time but it feels like full-time to me--- always tired, achy, etc... Around my period is the worst (about 2 weeks). My family seems to be a lot of work too--I just can't do it all like I did years ago. I don't have hot flashes yet and pray that I don't... I know you said no to medication BUT Lexapro is proven to help with the flashes.. This nurse (friend of a friend) was telling me about it and I was like 'yeah right'. I did google it and it's true.. Hope you feel better soon!!
jamie37119 kelly55079
Posted
Truly hope you never get them...they are terrible. No one warned me I hope you start to feel better soon
jamie37119 kelly55079
Posted
I should add, I don't do antidepressants either. I struggle with most medications. As for Anti-d's ...I have tried several in my lifetime and they have all created other issues so I avoid at all cost. Thank you for the suggestion though
elaine62759 jamie37119
Posted
If they tend to happen at roughly the same each day they could be linked with something you've done beforehand. Caffeine and chocolate can trigger them in me so it could be something you could try and cut back if you have them. Also stress can trigger them so maybe you're getting anxious about picking the kids up and having a hot flash and the anxiety is triggering the thing you're trying to avoid! You could try listening to relaxation tracks to calm you down beforehand. I can't have HRT either so had just been a case of trying different things for me. I also use a fan a lot and running your wrists under a cold tap can help too. Good luck finding something that works!
jamie37119 elaine62759
Posted
I can get them randomly too just sitting and relaxing. Or I can get them just getting up, or straight after a shower. It is horrible. I have noticed a link with picking the kids up. I do think anxiety is playing a part in this but can't tell what part is anxiety, what part is flashes and whether there is something the doctors are not picking up. So over it. I feel hot in my core but I actually get icy cold hands and feet, and I look pale, so of course my focus goes to that...along with the heart thudding in my head or doing its own irregular dance 😦
Rainbow976 jamie37119
Posted
Sorry, Jamie. It's all terrible. How long has this been happening for you? One of my first symptoms was very similar, I think it's a drop or surge in hormone/s which causes the anxiety. It would happen to me after eating, after a shower but when it started happening while I was relaxing with a book I knew it didn't start with anxiety (as the Dr. claimed).
For me, this particular symptom passed after a few months, hopefully it will for you too. Magnesium Glycinate might help, it helped me especially at night when I had the internal jitters when trying to fall asleep.
jamie37119 Rainbow976
Posted
I have had these symptoms for nearly 2 years now and have ramped up...I truly hope when my periods stop they do too... because I can't do the rest of my life like this 😕 I use a magnesium oil...probably not as much as I should though
elaine62759 jamie37119
Posted
I also feel like my chest is roasting hot but my feet, hands and legs are freezing cold. It's such a weird feeling! Just to give you some hope my flashes are not nearly so frequent now my periods have stopped so be patient and hopefully things will get better in time. I've also been increasing magnesium in my diet which I thinks helps a bit.
Rainbow976 jamie37119
Posted
I hear you about the symptoms, started at 40 for me and to hear some women go 10 years with issues and still have problems after menopause is quite discouraging. Feels like life is over.
Hopefully this one passes for you soon.
jamie37119 Rainbow976
Posted
That is exactly how I feel, mine started during my pregnancy with my last child I had aged 41, so when I was 40 also. I am now 46, and the worst symptoms have hit in the last nearly 2 years. I feel like my life is over too. I don't know how to find energy to do anything anymore with this.
jamie37119 elaine62759
Posted
Thank you for the hope.... thank you for sharing that as well thought I was the only one 😦 I just wish these periods would stop
Rainbow976 jamie37119
Posted
I have tried so many things, so I don't know what is helping or if symptoms subside on there own regardless of what I do. Then different symptoms appear anyway 😃
I think a good Probiotic, Magnesium glycinate before bed, reduced sugar and wheat may help me.
Also walking and yoga, specifically Yin yoga because it's more of a meditative practice.
I sometimes walk about 16 miles a week but then I recently read that extension exercise can reduce your hormones so now I am confused lol. I guess moderation is key, when I let the symptoms get the best of me and become lazy, I feel even worse after a weekend of no exercise and binge watching tv.
jamie37119 Rainbow976
Posted
sounds like you have some good ideas to improve things. I use magnesium oil. I have some seriously bad days and do the tv thing too. I am overweight now, never in my life been this big and I hurt when I do anything, but I was like that before the weight too due to these hormonal issues. But I have found I look at food and I put on weight .... I do walk when I can, we just had a long wet winter here ..we went walking yesterday and it did help raise my energy just slightly but I am floored with pain for a day or two after each time I do any form of exercise.
Rainbow976 jamie37119
Posted
I used to just be sore and stiff for 1-2 days after a new type of workout. Within the last month, my joint pain has escalated. My neck/shoulder pain of the last few years is still there, but now my hands and fingers are stiff and legs . Especially in the morning... Is this a general aging thing, a perimenopause symptom that might pass or something more ?
I am not even 43 yet so I sure hope it's not part of the new me.
Also, I understand the weight gain, my journey started with unplanned weight loss that had me underweight for awhile. I am now in the gaining phase, up and up it goes despite diet and exercise. Sigh.