Sick of peri

Posted , 10 users are following.

I'm over it.  I've tried everything - take or don't take this supplement, eat or don't eat this food, get off sugar or have a little chocolate every day because life is short, get lots of exercise to lose weight or only a little so fatigue doesn't get worse, go to this or that doctor with a symptom, read this book, that website, etc.  It just goes on and on.

I've decided that my gyn office is unreliable.  It's a big practice and they're always grouchy and overbooked when I go there.  The latest is that two different nurses gave me two different versions of lab results.  When I went in with dry mouth a couple of months ago, the gyn ordered lab work on A1C, TSH, FSH, LH, and Vitamin B12.  The web portal results were posted incorrectly, so I had to call to ask for the correct information.  The nurse told me that everything looked normal.  A few weeks went by and a different nurse called back out of the blue to say that the doctor had just looked at the report - yes, weeks later - and said my B12 was too high.  They told me to stop taking my vitamin supplements - I'd also been on Vitamin D because my GI doctor said my level was too low on that.  I have to go back to the gyn in a few weeks to get the B12 rechecked.

Now that I'm off the supplements, the symptoms that they were suppressing are back with a vengeance.  I'm back to sleeping poorly, having that weird one-sided breast soreness that was gone, feeling sad and down all the time, and having severe bouts of fatigue.  I have a full-time job.  I am my sole support.  In my mind, I picture myself being able to wash the dishes and do the laundry and manage my life, but in reality it happens only sporadically because I am too lethargic to do more than what I absolutely have to do.   So everything gets done at the last minute, if it gets done at all, and sometimes I'm late to work and I have become unreliable in my own life.  Everything is more than I can manage.  I give up all my energy for the 40 hours a week when I'm working because I can't afford to lose my job.  Everything else comes a distant second.

I know this is a rant.  I just had to get it all out somewhere where people will understand.  I try to talk to people close to me who might understand, but it doesn't help much.  Every now and then, I have a few minutes of clarity when I feel hopeful, but it never lasts.  I keep being told that peri is not a disease, too, and not to treat it like one, that it's just a phase that will come and go over time.  I want some way to feel better that doesn't involve another supplement, prescription, doctor visit, lab test, any or all of the above, and still be able to enjoy life, because it IS short.

0 likes, 33 replies

33 Replies

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  • Posted

    Sweetheart, be easy on yourself.  Last year I was that same mess.  It does end, I PROMISE!!  I was ALL you are saying.  i just wanted to end my life...and at the very same time I was so afraid that I would, and I would hurt the ones I love, the ones that love me.

    But I felt so tired and so worthless, so fuzzy brained and anxious.  My peri had been showing various symptoms for quite a few years but that crash was the worst!  That is where you are right now, in that rabbit hole.  It will end.  I swear to you it will.

    My light at the end of my tunnel has been shining brighter and brighter for the past few months now.  Three months ago i finally started leaving the house and running errands by myself!  Without having my husband with me as a leaning post.  I hadn't been able to do that for a very long time!

    A few weeks ago I went to a wedding (with my husband)...and had so much fun!  I forgot everything for those few hours and just danced so much I ended up in bed for two days after in pain from my head to my toe...but it was another step out of the anxiety that has riddled me for years.

    Last week i went to church...(with my husband) that was my biggest test...and I actually enjoyed it!!

    This morning I went to a ladies group...I drove there alone, walked in the door alone.  Someone said something really nice to me and I had to run to the bathroom and cry...but i dragged myself back to the social and I didn't have a panic attack!!

    It does end, I promise.  I need thought it would end for me either.  I felt so hopeless, so alone, and so desperate.  i went through a huge hate state.  I hated everyone.  I hated my husband.  I wanted to leave him.

    Today I am just very happy I am out the other end of that particular dark place.

    I love my husband, I am learning to love people again.  I am learning not to hide in the house.  It isn't easy...

    But please keep these words in mind "This too shall pass"

    And be easy on yourself.  Pamper yourself...do what you need to do for YOU, and don't worry so much about what you can't do.

    Before all this I was jill of all trades...for a while i couldn't even use my power tools...couldn't sew anymore...and nope, couldn't do dishes either.  i couldn't think enough to get anything accomplished.  So i took lots of bubble baths and read lots of enjoyable books and told everyone in my life to deal with the new me.  LOL!  You know what, they surprised me and became much more supportive.  And that was what i needed most to get out of the hole i think.

    I tired different things, got great results from a few of the things I tried.  They managed some of the symptoms.  

    But you know, maybe in the end i just needed to accept where I was and be easier on myself.

    I don't have any answers, but what i do know for sure is that it DOES NOT last forever.  Hang tight lady!

    • Posted

      everything is fine now thankyou, i sat tight, and went the holistic way.

      and with patience and my lovely husband, im now tip top health..

    • Posted

      Thanks for your encouragement!  I like what you say about focusing on what I can do and not on what I can't.  I keep trying to be hopeful.  It's hard to believe the world still has any use for me sometimes, but I keep going.

  • Posted

    Hi Liz, I completely understand where you are coming from. There is so much information out there. Some good and a lot of bad. I had all the typical physical stuff like fatigue, nausea, weird itching, hot flashes, migraines etc all of which were horrible but it wasn't until the mood swings took hold that my life started to disintegrate. Had terrible depression, anger, obsessive negative thinking that made me crazy etc.

    I didnt do much in the way of supps and my diet was already excellent plus I do a lot of weight training so for me the only thing I figured would ultimately help was to get my hormones balanced. I knew they were completely out of wack so I found a doctor who specializes in hormones and started bio identicals. He used my symptoms plus my blood work to figure out what to give me. It also didnt fix me instantly, its taken quite a few months with close monitoring through regular visits and blood work and making adjustments to my troche but I'm now feeling normal again. I do have a few off days every now and then but its very maneagable and it passes quickly.

    The main thing with bios is finding a doctor who specializes and understands hormones as most don't.

    Hope this helps a little. I think its important to share the success stories too.

    Rosemary😃

    • Posted

      Thanks, Rosemary... it is encouraging to hear a success story.  I am where you were with the mood swings and just thinking I am going crazy.  There are times when I remember that it will pass.  It is hard but I am looking to make some positive changes.
  • Posted

    Hi LIz. When you said that your doctor said your B12 levels were too high I got a bit worried because I take that suppliment along with several others. So I did a bit of research and found that you cannot overdose on B12. Look at this:

    Out of fear of overdosing vitamin B12, treatment is often reduced to below the frequency that is needed by the patient, or, even worse, treatment is stopped completely.

    As a result, symptoms can reoccur again and again and even become irreversible.

    It is very clear this fear of overdosing is based on a misunderstanding. For over 60 years high dose vitamin B12 treatment has been used without any signs of the danger of an overdose.

    The Dutch National Health Counsel and the Regional Disciplinary Medical Board of Eindhoven have stated clearly that vitamin B12 is non-toxic.

    Clinical research and the treatment for cyanide poisoning have shown that even extremely high doses of vitamin B12 and the serum values that go with it are harmless.

    Now, I'm not a medical doctor but it seems that high levels of B12 is harmless.

    • Posted

      Suki, that is interesting.  The whole vitamin situation went like this:

      I was taking a multivitamin, B-complex, and D supplement.  I chose to take the first two to try to improve my health and peri symptoms.  Then, I saw my GI doctor (I have Crohn's disease) for a checkup and he wanted to check the D because Crohn's patients tend to have low D levels.  My test came back showing what he considers a low D level, so that's when I added the D supplement as instructed.  After several weeks, I developed dry mouth.  I didn't know what was causing it - I read about a lot of possible causes, including getting too much Vitamin D - so I went to my gyn and asked for lab work.  I was also having worse fatigue than usual.  So she tested FSH, TH, A1C, B12, and LH.  The only abnormal result was the B12.  She told me to stop all the supplements, so I did and the dry mouth problem went away completely.  But now I have to go back to get the B12 retested because she wants to make sure it gets back to normal.  It turned out to be a lot of trouble but at least getting off the supplements made the dry mouth go away.  The GI doctor hadn't asked for a follow-up visit or report of any kind.  

  • Posted

    Thanks to everyone.  I'm having a really rough time.  Tonight I'm having UTI symptoms and my mother is having surgery in the morning.  I'll have to go to a clinic about the UTI instead of being at the hospital to see her when she's done because it's in early morning.  I am beside myself, crying and shaky and sad.  It's going to be a long night.

    • Posted

      Tested negative for infection and feeling better today.  Being cautious!
    • Posted

      That's good news Liz!  Amazing how bad these hormones make us feel!  ((Hugs))

  • Posted

    hi liz,

    sorry to hear you are having all these problems, when you are in this world of

    do this, take this, it gets so confusing, and gets frustrating.

    i can say you do come out of it all in the end, what ever route you take.

    seeing a good natrapath, and good Doctor, and reserching good information

    is good, everyones differeant, so you have to find whats good for you, and that may

    take time...

    • Posted

      Thanks for the encouragement Janice.  Have you come out on the other end yet?  How old are you?  I'm struggling so much right now

  • Posted

    yes im over it just lol.. im 61 , and had a hysterrectomy 9 years ago.

    Afetr my operation i went full into the menapause, blimey that was a strange feeling.

    But i remember my granma saying, its a differant stage of your life, and things

    will pass, and you will come through it..

    so i sort differant things that could help, and just went along that bumper road.

    i feel tons better, and all iv learnt i can pass on, im also a holistic therapist, so

    i had ideas what could help..

    its the stress and anxiety  that came with it that i found hard, bur if you realise

    • Posted

      its me again ha ha, pressed wrong button..

      when you realise that, its half the battle...

      hope it helps..

    • Posted

      Thanks Janice.  Yes the anxiety and depression is kicking my booty right now.
    • Posted

      The anxiety and depression are unbelievable.  But like you said, it will pass.  It is just hard to remember that sometimes.  Take care.

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