Nasty Panic Attack

Hi Sharcerv.  My sympathies!  I know what you're going through. It's horrible!  Years ago (before peri-menopause) I suffered from panic attacks.  They were so bad that I was house-bound for 4 years.  It's very scary and debilitating.  I managed to conquer it with a combination of medication and therapy and haven't had one since 2008.  Now with the peri-menopause I am experiencing them again, not as badly, but sometimes.  My GP here wants to take me off my meds (which I have been on for 15 years) because "it's not good for me".  I had no problem with getting the meds in South Africa, but since moving to the UK last year I am now being told to get off them.  Why?  They give me quality of life?  Sorry to vent on your vent page, but I hate being treated like a child.  I know my body and I know what works.  Unfortunately panic attacks are horrible and scary, but they pass.  Just do some deep breathing and try and read, watch telly, distract yourself, and it will pass.  Sending good wishes to you xxxx

The more I read from everyone withine this group I am starting to think I have bene having symptoms for more yeard than I thought, and more symptoms were part of peri-menopause than I realized. It's all confusing to me because I have been to a GP that says these symptoms could be luinked yo menopause but yet I would go to a GYN and they said they weren't.

So back it all up to about the time I was about 46/47 I started having issues with digestion. I was always the family member with the hard stomach so this was odd and I could nto figure out what was the issue.

At the same time though I was having issues with urinarary urges, total wet myself of few times but doc were not concerned. I was having issues with yeast infection, canker sores, all of which I thought was odd. Docs were not help. Said unless I was using a pad or diapers there was no need to look at surgery for incontenience. I was told to do kagels so I did. I found L-lysyne worked great for my canker sores and I did find a supplement to get rid of the yeast.

It was almost like a hot spit that hit this are and then that and I was trying to fight a fire in my body. I had trouble with weakness in my muscles and achiness in my tendens. I was so fatuigued it took everything I could do to vaccumm my rugs, I was so weak.

I was having heart palpitations which I brought to my docs attention and ws put on a monitor and even with the 20 some notations the machine made they said it was normal.

My calcium thren wetn to above normal range....I cannot tell you how awful that was, I felt like I was losing my mind. Docs thought I was having issues with my parathyroid which regullates the amount of calcium to the body and in the case of hypocalciumia it robs the calcium from the bone and puts it in the bloodstream. Docs were mentally preparing me for surgery to find the parathyroid gland that was causing issues and remove it.

All this was a very timely process and I was not getting better and while trying to find solutions on my own I went gluten-free. The one thing I can say is that going off gluten completely stopped the heart palpitations, my dizziness (not mentioned above) went away, the digestive issues stopped, and my cacium went back into normal range.

When I wnt back to the doc after several months on the diet and all was resloved they were puzzled, they were absoltelu clueless. I think I went against science but now I don't know what was permi-penopause symptoms back 4-5 years ago and what was not.

I know that the last 4-5 years has been a real rough ride for me, horrible at times, and if this is all about peri-menopause I can say I cannot wait to get my life back. I am so done with all of this.

Docs always tole me to saty on the PIll to save me so I did and the way I see it now, it did not save me from anything. The only thing I can copare to0 other women going thru the same thing is that my hot flashes have not been as bad as other women's. For some reason I seem only get them a week prior to my cycle and only to the tops of my arms. No night sweats. My sleeping has been an on-going issue for probably 4-5 years now....I found there is no perfect formula. I stopped sleeping in the same bad as my husband almost 2 years ago as he snores and I found myself sleeping evenm less than I do now. I take melatonin at night to help me sleep and most imes it works but not an absolute.

I guess what I am saying here is I no longer know what is peri-menopausal symptoms and what is not but if what I read here is symptoms I have been ahving symptoms that were not readily known to the medical perfessiona and accepted as such but yet I have been dealing with it all for many year now. My only hope is that I am raching the end as I feel I am nearly losing it all, especially my mind. Some times I dub myself just to dela with life and I know you are not supposed to but I have a hard time facing each day with its challenges.

 

Sometimes I get worried because I put everything down to peri and joke with my husband I could have some awful dieases and I wouldn't know it because I always say "Its just hormones". Panick attacks are awful but I truly hate the ones that wake you up in the night. My husband is amazing at talking me through them. He always say's nothing has changed everything is alright no one has died everyone is well and happy" it works everytime for me. I love the saying in the movie "Shrek" when donkey is getting stressed and donkey says "Donkey on the Edge Shrek DONKEY on the edge" I can really relate.