I can't take it anymore!! Perimenopause horrible..HELP!

My doctor finally called me back and told me about a product that is safe and over the counter called Femarelle I'm going to get some on my way home from work from Shopper's Drug Mart not sure where else in the states (if you are from there) that they sell it... i'll keep you all posted !

 

Jennifer, it has been over a year now since you initially posted. Have you improved? Are you getting any relief because i basically have the same pressures, anxieties, lack of sleep, heart racing, want to crawl up in a ball and hide most days. I'm normally a very positive person but these symptoms are almost too much to handle. I hope you're feeling better and have found some relief. If you have found some relief please share with us what it is because all the breathing in the world, meditating, thinking positive, excercising when i can, etc is not helping. I only wish the best for you.

Hi Jennifer. My name is Evelyn, and I just turned 54 a month ago. I have had perimenopause symptoms since I turned 46. It started out with bouts of severe nausea with dry heaving and/or vomiting for the first year and a half with hotflashes. Then the dry heaving and nausea spells were mostly coming during the days leading up to my period. Some months, my period would be like the floodgates of hell broke open. Other months, I'd have nothing more than spotting for 2-3 weeks. Just when I thought it stopped, a cough or sneeze would trigger breakthrough bleeding. A year ago, a sonogram revealed I have a galaxy of fibroids inside and outside of my uteris. The doctor suggested I do a " watchful waiting" process to see if my periods slow down or end. So far, so good, but I have gained 20-25 pounds since December. Ugh! Now I have the hotflashes after I eat certain foods, or at night sometimes when I try to sleep. The latest thing started this week. It feels like PMS at some point everyday. My moods fluctuate, and I have crying spells and depression. I am a security guard and do a lot of walking daily, but with some pain. Several times a day it feels like my uterus is trying to drop out and my ovaries are boxing inside my pelvis. Headaches are the least of my worries, but when they come, they last for days. I have up soy products years ago so that the nausea would subside, and the one little fibroid I had would stay small. Well, all the other stuff I eat has estrogen: chick peas, lentils, kidney beans for example. I feel defeated at times, mostly about the weight gain. Being diabetic and having hypertension and a heart murmur doesn't help my situation either. Lately, there have been more feel good or ok days, than there have been bad ones. Being black already puts me in a high risk category for stroke and heart disease. Perimenopause is a cakewalk compared to all the other crap I put up with daily to maintain my physical health and mental well being. I haven't gone crazy (yet), but I can't wait for this mess to end. I think I will do the vitamin supplements thing other women here are talking about. I hope you feel better. You are not alone, and you're in good company. We comiserate with you!

Dear Jennifer and all. This is such a helpful topic. I do thank you all for it. I am 50 and I think that I have been 'Peri' for about 6 years or more. It got worse later with periods coming every two weeks during 2014, all through a very stressful time with my teenage daughter's OCD showing itself for the first time and my MIL dying of kidney failure. She lived 130 miles away and we were the only family support. After an Hysteroscopy, my consultant agreed that I was probably perimenopausal. My symptoms were horrendous too. The depression, anxiety, feelings of unbelievable terror about dying were awful. I also had and still have some weird ones like a burning tongue and a feeling like I have something stuck in my throat which I often worry about and think of cancer. All checked out normal. I went to see a nutritionist and she really helped me. She put me on supplements and they have helped. I still have bad days or weeks, don' t get me wrong but I can just about cope now without HRT. My Dr also said to put books under my mattress and raise it up a little. That silly thing helped no end with night time reflux. Periods are now every other month or so. Coping so far but still have rotten meltdowns. Sending love to you all. Glad you are all here with me. Docs don't get it at all. X x X

Oh, I did mean to say that I am quite a sensitive person too. Someone else mentioned that here. But I was quite helped by reading Elaine Aron's book, The Highly Sensitive Person. She has,a web site too. Just Google her if you are interested. Oh the relief! Bless that woman. X x X

Hi Jennifer

​Yes, yes i know exactly how you feel.  I am like that when my period is due.  I feel like i have every illness under the sun.  Not myself, very anxious and i know what it is but its so hard to rise above it and tell yourself that when you are feeling so low.  Yep we are all going through it but it seems we get a whole range of different syptoms.  I have been fairly stable up until a couple of months ago and have now crashed back down and getting all the horrible c...rappy stuff i had when i was 48/49/50.  Feel a bit paniky, incredibly grumpy, period now every 2 weeks, so not really getting a break from pmt and i did go through the stage of (am i going nuts).  You arn't, we arnt as long as you recognise what it is, and it is the peri-menopause.  It is hell, horrible to live with, i dont feel myself and i have a 13 year old daughter hitting puberty.......right load of fun in our house. xxx

 

I just want to thank everyone for posting.  For years I have had illness with my period and could never find anyone I knew with the same symptoms.  Now I'm in peri at 54 and symptoms are worse.... Wt loss, stomach aches, reflux, night sweats that wake me up, crushing headaches and fatigue, nausea, spacey, sinus issues.  My sister went through meno and said she and all her friends never had so many problems!  So this made me feel even more alone.  BUT THEN I FOUND THIS THREAD!  I read it when I feel bad and it helps me get through this change.  My thanks go out to all of you ladies for your honesty and openess!!

Hi Jennifer...well all I can say are there are thousands of women going through the same symptoms at the same age and yet we are pretty much ignored by the medical profession.

I am pretty sure if men went through half the stuff we go through there would be massive support groups a la 'men in meno' etc lol.

I can't believe how undersupported womens health is in this area...we just get fed antidepressants and therapy. I would love to start a support group here in australia as I feel it would help so many women.

I am 48 and my symptoms are like yours and seem to change daily. I am trying diet exercise and supplements but it is a daily battle at the moment. Keep your chin up as you aren't alone in this. I find reading other womens experiences really helps me feel 'normal'...well as normal as I can feel in peri