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I am at the end of my tether. Peri-Menopause?

Posted , 21 users are following.

Sally4x
Sally4x

Hi  - I have been a member here for a few weeks and have been reading things, but I am wanting to ask or scream to know if peri-menopause is that I am experiencing. Most of the time I feel like I am losing the plot or dying. 

I am 47 now but this all started a few days after my 44th birthday when I suddenly started feeling light headed and had some vertigo. That quickly passed but I am left with so many symptoms. They mostly are fatigue, daily headaches, very painful neck and shoulders, a very odd spaced out sensation and vision like I am wearing really strong glasses - everything looks surreal, I have anxiety like I have never known, I get a tight chest, a lump in my throat, my body feels like a lump of lead, spots, eczema, muscle twitches and my periods have changed with the cycle becoming shorter to 22 days and the bleeding lighter. I also get period pains lasting for a week before my period starts and painful heavy breasts. 

I have had a head MRI and CT scan, heart tests, blood tests and it is all normal. But i feel so ill all the time. I rarely leave the house I feel so ill. I don't feel like me anymore. My family is suffering. I have no idea what is happening to me! And I also habe no idea what to do about it! 

4 likes, 51 replies

51 Replies

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  • liz67338
    liz67338 Sally4x

    Posted

    Hi Sally, also have very similar story to yours, the spaced out/crash fatigue happened to me at work (I'm literally hanging on by a thread at work) the other day..was truly horrible...and not sure if it caused paranoia but felt like the team of girls I was in got nasty towards me as I was literally sitting there like a zombie not knowing what to do or what to say). Recently started taking Royal Jelly, Vitamin D3, and sage and nettle tea all of which have seem to be helping with my extreme anxiety and i think as a result calming down my chest tightness...I'm also (from great advice given) constantly telling myself that it's just new sensations I'm feeling...I'm OK..trust my body it knows what to do...again it's starting to help during the really bad bouts. Xx

    • Guest
      Guest liz67338

      Posted

      Liz, I'm hanging on by a thread at work, too... just getting out of bed to go to work is a major effort, and being there wears me out... too much activity and drama.  So exhausting.

  • debbie12340
    debbie12340 Sally4x

    Posted

    Dear Sally,

    I could have literally wrote this myself ! It all started at 40 for me and I'm now 50 ! I've had 10 years of hell 😩 Never realised it would be this bad !! I think there's some comfort in knowing it's extremely common to feel like this.

    Deb xx

  • kazzaxs
    kazzaxs Sally4x

    Posted

    Hi Sally your are definitely not on your own, my symptoms started over four years ago I also suffer with a under active thyriod so I spent a lot of time going backwards and forwards having blood tests being told it was my thyriod but I knew it wasn't the symptoms were different, I felt like I was going mad and couldn't concentrate on anything my periods were so heavy I had to take multiple changes of clothing to work and they would last weeks, this affected my family and me and my husband separated for a time. I have since found a great docter and after some more blood tests I have been told I am going through the menopause I'm 44 so I wasn't expecting that at all. I have started to take HRT and I have to say at the start I refused to take it due to all the bad publicity but I have done my research and decided to give it ago it's the best thing I have done I only have a couple of flushes now and I feel like me again.. Normal...it's a very personal choice but go and see your docter these symptoms start when you are in peri menopause I had mine for 4 years.. It's just a relief sometimes to know what's going on with your body and your not going mad there are so many symptoms..

    • Sally4x
      Sally4x kazzaxs

      Posted

      Because of my migraines they don't want me having HRT because of the stroke risk of oestrogen, but I am wondering if progesterone would help. Ugh this is so confusing xx

  • Sally4x
    Sally4x

    Posted

    I really need to do something because I can't go in like this. I am not allowed HRT because of my migraines so what is the best alternative? And also what can I do about this crushing fatigue?

    Thanks

     

    • am66
      am66 Sally4x

      Posted

      Hi Sally, I am so sorry to hear you are so unwell. I just wondered if you had seen another doctor for a second opinion about HRT as I believe that patches can be prescribed for women who suffer from migraine as a safer option.I know that some GPs are quite anti HRT from what friends have told me. Obviously it is personal choice and you would have to decide on the risks and benefits for yourself. I am just about to go down HRT route myself as I have M.E quite severely and have become much worse ovet the last few months with menopausal symptoms(I am 50) I think the symptoms had been going on for a long time and I just put it down to M.E. worse thing for me is the anxiety which I have not suffered from before and the fatigue is much worse. If anyone had asked me before this started I would have said I would not go on HRT however it is greatly affecting my quality of life(which was pretty poor anyway due to exsiting illness) and like you I feel like I was going insane. Very best wishes for your health x
    • Sally4x
      Sally4x am66

      Posted

      Hi - weirdly I have ME too. I was diagnosed in 1992 and had got it where I was back to 70% of my old halth until this kicked in in 2013 and am now classed as severe again like in the beginning. I will certialy ask again about HRT but in the past I was given a blank no from both my GP and Neurologist. I will ask about the patches becsuse right now my quality of life is really bad and aslo my partner is pretty ill at the moment as well and they need me to look after them whereas they have always been my carer. Thanks xx
  • lisa23201
    lisa23201 Sally4x

    Posted

    Hi Sally. When I was 43 I had really bad anxiety and heavy periods.  Doctor said I  was perimenopausal  she put me on the pill to help with the periods. But now, just turned 46 I have been suffering fatigue, anxiety, depression and generally not able to cope. Palpitations, headaches, IBS. I can't help but wonder if changes in hormones are making these things worse? i do remember that when I was younger, my anxiety was always worse during my period. 

    I've started taking magnesium, as I've been told this quickly gets depleted under stress, which then makes you more stressed and fatigued. Also I have been taking vitamin D. After reading your posts & replies I will definitely be buying evening primrose again. I can't believe it forgot about it. 

    Rescue remedy spray and camomile tea are never far away from my hand, and seem to help. I'm also trying to take just a little time each day to sit quietly. Not fret. Not plan my shopping list. Not worry about 'what if'. .......It is not easy. Breaking the habits of a busy mind is difficult. But it is helping. 

    I hope all the replies here are helping and that you find something which makes life a little easier. 

    • Sally4x
      Sally4x lisa23201

      Posted

      Hi Lisa. Thanks that is really helpful. I allowed myself to get really anxious today because I had to tsake my son to an appointment and I fel lightheaded and now I am home very exhausted. I need to just sit every day as well and be mindful. It is so easy to let the stress take over and then everything gets worse.
  • Wannaflbttr1
    Wannaflbttr1 Sally4x

    Posted

    HI Sally,  I know you posted this a while ago, but i have had very similar symptoms to you (almost all of them actually) and all tests came back normal except that I have found out i have new allergies and arthritis in my cervical spine(neck).  A lot of those symptoms you have been describing can be due to compression of certain nerves.  I had a horrible feeling of fullness in my head and anxiety through the roof...it all got a bit better after beginning to address the neck issues.. Not saying that is the answer to everything, but worth considering at least..  I hope you are feeling better...we CAN get through this!   
    • Sally4x
      Sally4x Wannaflbttr1

      Posted

      Thanks for the reply. I am still reading this and still feeling just as awful. What allergies do you have? I seem to be deelping new ones all the time since this atrted and I have never been an allergic person. And what can be done about the nerve compression? I have constant neck pain and I am sire a lot of my head symptoms are related to my neck. I tried acupuncture and it did nothing xx 
  • stacey5475
    stacey5475 Sally4x

    Edited

    you sound so like me. i seriously could have written your post. i am 43 and have had every test yoh can imagine and feel like im dying a slow death. i have gone from slim care free and happy to fat, dumpy i trendy and ready for tbe knackers yard. i dont sleep i hurt all over and my stomach burns as soon as i lay down. my eyes are blurry, neck and shoulders feel like rock and i could vomit at the drop of a hat. yet aparantly its in my head.

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