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Perimenopause or Anxiety or ???

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carlacupcake
carlacupcake

Hi everyone,

I recently joined this, my first ever forum, in the hope of gaining knowledge and sharing experiences on the strange symptoms I have been experiencing the last few weeks.

My first post focused on Anxiety and the possibility of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It has recently been brought to my attention, there is a possibility my symptoms could be hormone related. Something I never actually considered.

Brief list of symptoms...

Fatigue (groggy and heavy type tiredness)

Brain Fog

Feeling detached and 'spaced out'

Weak and Shaky

Jelly Legs

Weak Fingers and Toes

Sensitive to light and sound

Sometimes feels like I have flu or a bad virus (even though I know I don't)

Light Headed

Light Dizziness

Easily tired out

Occasional Palpitations

Frequent urination (occasionally)

Anxious (more so than usual)

Brief History...

I have had anxiety issues, on and off, for many years and also hormone induced migraines. This year the migraines are definitely worse and so too is the anxiety. I had an 8 day brutal migraine early/mid September, followed by 8 days of severe brain fog/dull fuzzy head. I haven't been the same since. I'm also wondering if my symptoms are migraine related? I've had 2 full blood tests done and 2 urine samples taken. All came back normal/clear and healthy. I've also been to see an ENT consultant who ruled out an inner ear virus. He also checked my throat and balance. I had a full eye examination last week and my eyes are in great shape. I have an MRI booked next week and also an appointment to get an ECG recorder fitted for 48 hours.

My symptoms are so broad and general, it could be a number of things... I have even considered CFS. Now I'm thinking it could be hormone related? I feel more anxious not knowing what this is!

Is anybody experiencing anything similar?

Any replies/advice would be greatly appreciated x

27 likes, 1424 replies

1424 Replies

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  • louise60235
    louise60235

    Posted

    Thanks susan,i am going back to doctors tomorrow,not ready to go back to work.Does lorazepam make you feel drowsy.Im not sure if i am premenapausal as well,do they have a test to find this out.I also saw a pysch,she prescribed 25 mg of seroquel,have you been on that before.Tonight i just want to sleep.
  • susan46852
    susan46852

    Posted

    Lorazepam doesn't make me feel drowsy just totally normal. It is short acting I.e. Lasts 8 hours BUT is addictive! I take half a tablet on average once every 3-4 weeks - on those days where I just cannot cope! My anxiety started at age 45 and I was tested after 2 years and found to be low on progesterone and now with hardly any estrogen. At first my anxiety was cyclical for 2 weeks out of every month but then it went to constant. Yes they can test you for fsh levels and also estrogen and progesterone. You may have to insist to get these done - I went private in the end. Have a look at a site called menopause matters, it's run by a doctor and has loads of useful info and experienced women. It gave me the courage to try hrt. Never had seroquel, had prozac and celexa. Neither helped and actually made me much worse, but they do help some people!

    Hope this has been useful!

    • k16356
      k16356 susan46852

      Posted

      Hi again, just read that you had a private consultation to get your hormones tested.

      I feel like standing in the middle of my doctors surgery and screaming they keep offering anti anxiety drugs and I am 100% certain its my hormones.  Think i will have to go private too.  Did they test your hormone levels several times or just once?

      thank you, karen

    • liz54943
      liz54943 susan46852

      Posted

      Hello. Can't tell you how relieved I am to find these posts. I am 44 and I've always suffered with PMS and had PND after my first baby. Last summer I noticed my periods were getting much lighter. Still regular but lighter. Stopped getting achey boobs too. But my PMS was lasting longer.

      Then last November my PMS never went away and with it came horrible anxiety and an inability to take pleasure in anything. Xmas was dreadful. I felt just as I did with PND except my 'baby' is at senior school!

      In the New Year my GP put me on ADs which eventually worked after 4 months.

      But I was convinced my problems were hormonal. All my bloods FSH levels came back as normal each time.

      Finally my GP referred me to a Menopause Clinic. The gynaecologist immediately diagnosed me as peri menopausal, despite my FSH being normal. She described me as 'a classic candidate' for peri menopausal anxiety and depression. Especially with my history of PND.

      I go back next month to start HRT and I am praying it works. I hate taking ADs, I feel foggy and sleepy and a bit zoned out all the time. I just want to feel like ME again.

    • jayneejay
      jayneejay liz54943

      Posted

      Hi liz

      Your FSH level will not show as menopause until you are well into peri and only having 3-4 periods a year or less..

      I had a 9-10 peri natural remedies, i am age 50 and just reached menopause after one year no periods, Gyno confirmed by scans.

      Vit B6 150mg  helps with aches anxiety etc, and B12 for energy .. Like Jarrows B12

      5000mcg cherry red label..

      Forget the cheap low mcg they are waste of money .. 

      A good B complex is good but check it has at least 100mg of Vit B 6 in it ..

      Magnesuim, calcium and Vit D is also a must for bone health etc

      Jay xxx

  • Flops
    Flops

    Posted

    Hi Susan, would you be able to tell me how you went private? After reading and researching my symptoms (anxiety at the top) I've been to my GP a couple of times trying to get tested but she is wanting to go down the ad route and I'm convinced it's a hormone imbalance (I have lorazapam for those BAD days and quite often go weeks without taking any). I would like to go private and get it sorted, one way or the other. many thanks, Sara
  • susan46852
    susan46852

    Posted

    Hi Sara

    God it makes me so mad that doctors are trying to put us on ad's all e time! It's like they have never heard of anxiety being linked to hormones! I live in montreal so will be different for me but basically search on Internet for private menopause specialists. Can you see a different doctor at your practice? Otherwise just be direct and say I want to be tested for fsh, estrogen and progesterone! If she will not do it en ask for a referral to a menopause clinic..

    Menopause matters has a find a specialist tab where you type in the area that you live in and it shows resources in your area.

    Good luck!

  • susan46852
    susan46852

    Posted

    Ps my mum just kept shopping around until she found a gp that would give her hrt - she lives near Durham. She was on hrt until the age of 68!
  • sharon20988
    sharon20988

    Posted

    I love reading these every day, all of you are so helpful at clearing my head and realizing what all these symptoms are. I have been feeling much better after my second round of anxiety that lead me to this forum and earlier post. I've finally been to the doctor who is a woman that had this same problem when she was in her early/mid forties. She too ended up in the ER convinced she was dying from panic attacks, even knowing as a physician she was totally fine. Hearing this made me feel so much better and seems to have lessened my anxiety. I was given Xanax which I have had to take on a few occasions, for me to take and meds I have to feel really bad, which I have quite a bit. It is terrible to get these feelings and not be able to turn them off, even when I know now they are in my mind. My husband has been wonderful at researching my issues and finding something to try and help. He's put together a daily list of supplements for me to take to help with my anxiety, which I am certain are hormone related. I take DHEA for one, which seems to be helping. For me, I am trying the more natural of remedies before caving in to the need for a daily anxiety drug. I think a lot of this can be overcome with just understanding what we are all experiencing...again, this forum is extremely helpful for that. I have felt like myself for about a week and a half now, the dizziness and feeling 'off' has stopped...the fatigue is the one thing I have yet to get rid of. I am sure I will be prone to these feeling forever as that 'trigger' is now in place to set me off at anytime. For those that are new to this and just figuring out what this anxiety is, I/we all feel your pain. This has to be the worst thing I've experienced in my lifetime and has left me dependent on my husband for everything and not wanting to leave my house for days at a time. Just a week and a half ago I had a panic attack with my husband while sitting in line at my son's school to pick him up. I started feeling dizzy, off, like I could pass out. I started shaking uncontrollably. I was such a mess about being stuck in this line and in my husbands car thinking I could pass out, my son or all these other people might see me...I just wanted to go home and couldn't. As soon as my son got in the car and we drove off, I felt better. Amazing to me that my mind could actually do that to me, it was probably the most obvious symptom I've had of an anxiety/panic disorder yet, I'm glad it happened. I have since been able to think all of this through and realize I'm actually ok, this is in my mind and/or a result of my hormones, but that I am not dying as it has felt. Just accepting that alone has made me feel so much better, or at least to understand what's happening so I don't let the anxiety take over. I'm grateful to feel myself coming out of yet another round of this (the last being 2 years ago) and hope to continue on this path. Keep hanging in there ladies, we can all come through this together! Sharon
    • mercy21172
      mercy21172 sharon20988

      Posted

      Hi Sharon, near 40yr by sept.  after reading your story I can see am not alone in this... I have exactly the same experience as you do. Is been 6 months now I ve been dealing with this awful feelings, I feel light headed, some kind of migraine, feeling as if, if I don't stop what I am doing now am going fell or faint... sometimes I feel a little shaking, eye dizziness, I can stand lights, computer screen & phone. Feeling okay today not being myself the next day. Scared at times to go out feeling smth bad might happen to me. Though am still having my period monthly early or late. Done necessary tests all come out good. Your post has really encourage me to know I might be having early perimenopausal symptoms because all what you pointed i have felt almost all of them. 

  • susan46852
    susan46852

    Posted

    Well done Sharon!

    For me it was a huge relief also knowing that all of my symptoms were 'just' hormonal! I have tried so many supplements but for me, when adrenaline and hot flushes started to hit, and constant headaches as well, I had had enough! I have been on hrt for 22 days and feel so much better- not 100% yet as still working on my dose. Before this though I struggled along for 5 years, sometimes ok, mostly not! I wish you lots of luck in your journey and you are so lucky to have a supportive husband. Mine too has been great which is hard when suddenly you change from a confident person to a quivering wreck. I have enjoyed the last 3 weeks, being my old self again and actually finding myself happy for no real reason!!!

    • nicole70701
      nicole70701 susan46852

      Posted

      Hi Susan

      I am in peri menopause and suffer terrible

      My periods are scattered and I am fifty

      I can't go on like this and I know it's hormonal. Seeing my gyne on Tuesday. Is it ok to take estrogen alone? He prescribed it last time but I didn't take it because I thought taking 2mg of estragen alone is dangerous. He has been around for a long time and he knows his stuff. I know have faith. And have done my research

      Can you tell me what you are taking and dosage

      Thanks so much

    • jayneejay
      jayneejay nicole70701

      Posted

      hi Nicole 

      how many periods do you get a year now ?

      has he done a FSH blood test 

      ( only more accurate when down to about 3-4 periods a year) and post menopause ) 

      what type of estrogen has he given you ..

      Estriol is the best... its the kinder one ..

      Gynest or Ovestin vaginal internal cream 

      jay xx 

       

  • Flops
    Flops

    Posted

    Hi Susan, thank you, I shall search around for a menopause clinic. I gave up sugar a few months ago and that has definitely helped with the tiredness, the hot flushes I can cope with, it's just the anxiety, I'm sure I must be low in either progesterone or oestrogen and I just want to know exactly whats going on. I think only people who have experienced it can really understand and most gp's won't have, but if we can find the info here on forums and other sites why can't they?? Hope everyone is having a good day, sara x
    • jayneejay
      jayneejay Flops

      Posted

      Hi Flops..

      if ypir in UK search Private well woman checks ... 

      Bupa do them and yout get a thorough check, everything ralating aswell..

      i am in year 9 almost of peri... I have to pay for health as I live in Spain.

      these Doctors ned their heads banging together dont they..

      a full blood count should be done, (numerous checks) everyone should  be offered full bloods when not feeling well, it  is often suggested by Docs via NHS, .. your Doc needs telling and you should insist you want a full blood count ( thats full bloods check) and FSH bloods check and also you   should get ypur Vit B12 levels checked...  Jay x

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