Perimenopause and body pain?!? need some help

Oh my gosh ladies, you're describing me to a T!

I've ruled out fibromyalgia, all other rhumatiod issues, had various blood and saliva tests. I get the low grade anxiety too. My gyno gave me a low dose of Xanax. I only take when I'm desperate. My gyno basically said some women have a harder time.

Tried BC pills, what a disaster. Bloating, nausea, insomnia...

Progesterone worked for a while. But it made me bloated.

I'm 51 still getting periods and then after every cycle ends, the joint aches start for about 10 days.

I found a functional medicine Dr, who also does acupuncture. She told me 12 weeks minimum. I'm 4 weeks into it haven't noticed much of a change.

Slowly sleeping better, but hard to tell.

Like one gal posted, I see my friends playing tennis, yoga, normal activities and I'm trying to function normal....

Take comfort in knowing we're not alone in the crazy perimenopause journey!

I am so relieved that I found this discussion. I am 47 and my life is a misery. My symptoms started about 7 years ago. Some of them are gone, but I have new ones. Upper back pain is the biggest one, followed by burning feet tingling, shooting electric pains, never ending irritation in my lady parts. Two years ago i had very long periods and heavy bleeding so my gyno put on Mirena that releases progestin. After some time it shortened periods and bleeding was normal, night sweats were almost gone along with hot flashes. Few weeks ago I had to replace the device and now I am on fire. Everything hurts in my body. My gyno says some women are suffering more than others, but I am not happy with that explanation. Anything else brought yiu some relieve? Diet? Exersice? Herbs? Thank you ladies. At least I know I am not alone and crazy.

Im so happy to find you ladies... I am 42 I had lost 150lbs. Doing yoga every week. Working in my garden taking care my kids. Very very  Active! Feeling the best I had in my whole life! Then my left shoulder started hurting a little over a year ago. Then it moved to the frozen shoulder.   Now My whole body has fallen apart. I can barely go on walks. I hurt so bad. I have gain 50lbs back & have all of the  symptoms listed. This is crazy.... The  anxiety  & pain is sucking the life out of me. 

Well my dear ladies this issue is not going anywhere we have to face it and hopefully we will overcome in short order, I am only 38 and it seems like am going to die each and everyday especially when am ovulating and before during and after menstruation, it never stops,few nights ago I told my husband to take care of the children for me because I swear I was dying, it's terrifying and it gets worst monthly sometimes I feel like am taking my last breath. But only God can helps us stay courage, I hope for the best for all of us.

Hello, Jennifer and everyone else! 

Dear ladies, 

so glad to become a part of your online community. I have been going through perimenopause (with all the blood work, of course, showing "normal" since fall of 2016. But these past four- five months it hit me so hard that I am actually thinking of closing my private practice (professional counselor) and starting to develop herbal formulas for perimenopause Hormonal Support. I grew up in Russia and learned a great deal about herbs just by living there and receiving treatment three times at mineral resort centers where real medical doctors prescribe herbal combinations for virtually any sort of medical problem. I am studying now at Dr. Christopher's online academy Family Herbalism. So, although I can't diagnose or prescribe any herbal supplements (although I do have two graduate degrees), I can educate women about different herbs that can be helpful at alleviating certain problems. So, if anyone has any question, I can try to answer it. 

However, I wanted specifically to ask Jennifer since she mentioned upper back pain at mid cycle - does it come during the time when you aware anxious or do you feel any time? I have been having anxiety really bad for past few months and I am managing it somehow with natural supplements/herbs but around mid cycle it gets really bad - then I sometimes get very anxious and few hours after that - pain the back. I really wouldn't say that I am hyperventilating but who knows. Now I am getting anxious about dangers of hyperventilating. I did notice, however, that few months ago I did have that pain in the upper back and difficulty breathing without any anxiety (so I figured it was definitely hormonal ), and sometimes I get very anxious and panicky without this pain the back. So it's very confusing. 

Thank you so much. And again, if I can be of any help, please, ask. I found extremely helpful natural methods of dealing with heavy periods, elevated BP before period, and heart palpitations. 

Thank you, ladies, and may God Bless you All and help you on your menopausal journey 

Jennifer Sometimes I feel like my breath is leaving my body, the other night I was lying in my coach and I literally stop breathing, I have severe pain in my right elbow and I feel like I can't stand sometimes what kind of herbal medication I can use to combat This feeling.

Hey ladies....just a quick question! Kind of strange and embarrassing, but is anyone else having nightmares or really disturbing dreams?? I did when I was pregnant, which I read at the time, was totally normal. I haven't had those dreams in the 10 years since then, and now, all of a sudden, in between the insomnia, I'm having really strange dreams again! This just validates my theory that my hormones are all out of whack (which 3 doctors won't test because I'm still getting a period, and everything is "normal" according to them🙄😡! My hormones sometimes make me feel many of the symptoms I felt during pregnancy...minus the baby, LOL!  Anyone else experiencing this?

Oh wow ladies... I feel less alone now. Many of you have the same symptoms as I do. When I turned 34 ... almost 35, I went thru a traumatic event and started suffering from anxiety and depression. Then  when I was about 38 years old, I had another traumatic event (fell really hard going down some stairs). I lost my footing, slipped, and landed on my right side HARD!! Hard enough to tear my right rotator cuff, which I had surgery for (another trauma to the body.) Had undiagnosed rotator cuff tear, whiplash to the neck, and spinal injuries (especially the c1 atlas joint) for hmmm...I’d say probably at least over a year from date of injury. And now this...perimenopause! Fun! Along with having leaky gut, Candida overgrowth, and the list goes on. So now, I’ve been dealing with chronic pain since October 2015 (when I fell) and of course traditional drs want to give you meds like nsaids, tramadol, etc etc, but when you have leaky gut, meds don’t work. So I deal with the pain or find other ways to lessen it. But as for perimenopause, does anyone feel like their body has literally been hit by a Mack truck during mid cycle near ovulation? OMG! My entire body from head to toe feels SUPER sore and SUPER achy. I even thought, I must have Fibromyalgia. I am getting that checked with a Rheumatologist in a couple of months. I even think Myofascial Pain is a culprit in which I’ve had a specialist do bodywork on me, but it hurts so bad, I can’t even finish a 30 minute session. On top of the crying spells with a dark rain cloud over my head, anxiety, tension, insomnia (waking up at 2-3am every night), mood swings, forgetting everything, headaches, TMJ pain, tenderness/Pain/soreness in my upper abs area, and probably more I can’t think of at the moment, I feel like I’m going C R A Z Y !!!  My Ob/Gyn (who does the natural approach) has me on progesterone cream, which seems to help some, but I’m only on month #2 of trying it out. BCP (oral or IUD’s) do NOT work for me, as I already tried them, but make me hormonally worse. So does this sound like a 40year old going thru the wonderful change of life - Perimenopause? I appreciate anyone’s thoughts, suggestions, encouragement, etc. Thanks!

~Rachel