My symptoms, I feel that I am dying or loosing my sanity!
Posted , 9 users are following.
I have posted here a few times over the last couple of years with a couple of symptoms hoping that ladies would jump in and say, "Oh yeah, I have that too". I didn't get many responses but the ones I did get were amazingly kind and supportive. I am posting again because I have recently developed new symptoms and I am both terrified and sincerely concerned for my sanity and my life.
I am turning 47 next month and I had a partial hysterectomy when I was in my mid 30's keeping my ovaries. I had terrible sickness through my entire one pregnancy being hospitalized on multiple occasions with nausea and vomiting. I have always had terrible PMS and migraines with all of my periods up until my hysterectomy and then the migraines allowed me to track my period afterwards as they continued. When the migraines got almost constant, I got on medication to stop them and have not been able to track period since then. Im sharing my history in hopes that it may look familiar to others. My mother was post menopausal at 50 but she said she felt great other than a few hot flashes. This worries me even more because THAT'S NOT ME! Over the last two years I have developed all of the following symptoms and have been doctor tested for every one with no findings including hormones being in the "normal" range.
blurred vision
migraines
sleep problems
constant post nasal drainage
dizzy spells
joint, gut and muscle pain
fatigue to the point of not even showering
feeling like the world is muzzy or how things look in a dream (how you feel with a bad fever)
feeling disconnected like nothing is important not even family
difficult word recall and reading retention
hair falling out like mad (have lost 2/3 rds of my hair volume in two years)
nausea and no appetite
slow digestion
IBS symptoms
dry flaking skin on my face even with tons of moisturizer
itchy scalp (i want to scratch it with a metal comb)
tender, aching, painful, itchy breasts (cyclic)
felling like having the flu but not being sick
gallbladder pain even though I had it removed a few years ago
and the new ones that started this week are weeping spells, flooring depression and anxiety and panic out of nowhere for no definable reason!
My brain is sounding all the alarms saying "YOU'RE DYING!!!, SOMETHING IS TERRIBLE WRONG!!!"
My mind is running wild all on its own like I'm sitting back watching it go mad and I see it happening and I know, at least I think I know that that's not me! Like I'm watching someone else. Im badly struggling with the depressionand weeping feeling like I want to end it all which is nuts because I have always been a happy adventurous person. Now Im in the house in pajamas laying on the couch under a blanket or in bed all day for days now not feeling well with the nausea and depression and anxiety and panic. Good grief!
I hope that there are ladies here that can share their experiences with me so that I can see that Im not alone and this will pass with time as well as that my list of symptoms can be helpful to others as well.
I have read this forum for the last four days straight through. I have lost hope in seeing the other side given all the women who say it never ends or that they have tried to give up HRT but couldn't. Is there no hope or end to this? Or do women eventually feel better and stop coming here to post? Im not feeling very optimistic about seeing the other side.
Please help if you can.
1 like, 18 replies
gailannie lorin2362
Posted
Lorin,
First off, I'm really sorry things have been so difficult for you. When I read your list, the thing that stuck is that everything you mentioned are all part of menopause symptoms. You ARE NOT alone. But your degree of severity may be greater than some woman experience.
Have you ever tired doing some HRT? Would you be open to that possibility? Your quality of life is important. Staying in this hole, I'm sure, is not what you want. So your first step may bee seeing a very good, caring physician and running some detailed tests.
lorin2362 gailannie
Posted
gailannie,
I have considered HRT as an option because it seems to bring relief to so many women. Unfortunately I have a genetic issue that puts me at higher risk for DVT and I was denied BC pills during child baring years because of the blood clotting factor. I feel like I could push through the hard times if I could find some women that say it may take some years but it all eventually gets better. Hope for the future. Bearing the hard times with no hope of getting better is not something I can face but I think I could be stronger if I knew that someday it wont be this bad and I will be well enough to find joy in life again.
So far I have read this forum for four days and I have come across only three or four women who have said that it got better and they only have a few symptoms and they aren't as bad or as often. The over whelming majority say they surrendered to HRT which I don't have to fall back on or that they never got better. I would love to hear from some ladies that did get through it and do feel better after it all passed. I dont know if they exists. Maybe there are those that never have problems and then the rest of us who suffer forever.
Thank you so very much for posting. Every single post means a great deal for me and I cant say thank you enough.
gailannie lorin2362
Posted
Lorin,
After all the years I have studied this topic, what I can tel you is each woman's experience is very different. Some women experience very few symptoms, and others get hit with the basket full. Yours sound pretty debilitating, and that is no way to live.
I get that you are worried about DVT. However, you also need to keep in mind that all forms of estrogen have their own risk profile, and some have very low incidences of DVT. Transdermal is one. And you also need to remember that the BCP of years ago was much much stronger than HRT for a menopausal women.
I mention all this because this might help you in many ways. While our sex steriods are secondary hormones, they also work with all hormone systems in our body. They effect every cell, every organ, and even our brains. This is why menopausal women find themselves having problems with insulin or thyroid. All of this can get very complicated, but it sounds like you have been doing this for years. It may be time to look for help, even if that help is HRT.