Still not sure if I'm in peri but does this sound familiar?

Thank you, it's a horrible feeling isn't it? I have woken with panic attacks over the years but that impending doom feeling is something else, it doesn't go for hours some nights, I also look pale when I feel my face flushing.

I will try not to worry and will try to accept it as a stage in my life that somehow I need to learn how to manage, the peeing is horrible, thought I was past all that after pregnancies but it would seem not and it wakes me to go at night too, looks like some tricky years ahead xx

I go for a wee 2-3 times a night xxx

Thank you, I think you are right and for now I just need to take it that yes I am in peri, my PMS was always dreadful and I had feared that menopause would be difficult for me but it wasn't until quite recently that I realised quite how long the whole process can take and how awful peri can make you feel.

It's dreadful but at least with some kind of reason for all of this I know to some extent that there are ways to cope and manage better with the symptoms, I see tiny improvements regarding the breakdown but it's very much a step forward then 3 steps back, hopefully things will improve with time, one thing I know I am going to need to learn both with peri and the breakdown is that patience is very important xx

yes very much so with the patience, and sometimes that does run out, were only human though arent we, and it makes perfect sense to me that your step forward and 3 back would happen during peri due to hormone fluctuations, as our hormones are controlled by our autonomic nervous system, which is our central nervous system, so when that becomes sensitive due to peri your bound to get nervous breakdown symptoms flare, what may be  good supplements for you to try BellaLuna is, both B12 which is for strengthening the nervous system, but also B6 with magnesium, as B6 in particular  helps to balance our female hormones, you may only feel the benefit when your having a peri flare, lots of ladies find, that when there not on a meno flare which does happen, you wont need to take in supplements of any kind, or, watch your diet as things settle down naturally, what does that tell you about the affects of hormone inbalances around our bodies, were a slave to our bodies Bella...............ha

Thank you, yes I am certain that what I am feeling is a huge change and different to anything I have ever experienced, I am dreading the rest of the process, I know it can take years but it's one of those things we get no say in unfortunately, all we can do is try to manage what it throws at us xx

Yes thats it, that is all you can do, but if it does get out of control in the long run, simply because of how out of balance your hormones may become, and your not going to know that until later, then consider HRT if your allowed it, and your risk is low, thats your decision, but dont suffer if it gets too much for you, because sometimes if hormones get too low the only answer may be HRT, in the meantime stick with lifestyle changes, diet and supplements it is very hit and miss, some days some things work, then the next day it doesnt, and sometimes your gonna think, i cant do this anymore, then the next day, you will think, what am i talking about i can still cope what was that all about!! and your back to your old self.  Ive nbeen post now for over a year and whilst my symptoms still come back and bite me on th e backside occasionally, they are few and far between, and the majority of the time my symptoms are milder, and friends of mine have been on it as little as 6 years, some including myself longer, but i have 3 sisters, and one other friend who have been post for much longer, and now have no symptoms whatsoever, so, fingers crossed for all of us then, but you will get breaks in your symptoms, so you shouldnt get your flares 24/7 from start to finish, there is always the exception to that rule though, so dont stick me to it...............ha 

Hi Elaine I totally agree flares aren't as often or not always but still can be at times as harsh.

you think your over it dont you, and then it comes back a little harder, i though oh no does this mean its back, but it has settled back again, thank goodness, it knocks my fatigue completely over the edge.

Thank you, I am finding it almost intolerable now so as I get further down the line if things do worsen symptom wise and HRT is safe for me I am going to take it, I already have so many days of feeling like I can't cope, I often wake up and say to my husband 'I can't do this anymore' but yes other days I get up, have a cup of tea and think 'It's not so bad, I can cope'.

I will have to see how things go as I get further in, I never feel okay anymore but sometimes I will be absolutely too anxious to even attempt something then another day I will be able to even with some apprehension there but I will cope better.

The anxiety upsets me the most out of all of the symptoms, I used to know 'my' anxiety but now it's as if I am a different person with it, can't control it, nothing works for it and I just have to hope I get lucky and feel a bit better sometimes,

Not that I'm enjoying the other symptoms, they are all horrid but the anxiety cripples me the most.

Thank you, I am due to speak to my GP next week about something else so I will raise the issue of my symptoms with her again, I think this time I will write them down so I can get things across more easily, I may well have missed a few things the last time I spoke to her about it.

Unico, im in the US and want to desperately try the hydroxyzine, but dont see it in our list of drugs. Im going to ask my doctor. Can you please describe if it makes you feel loopy or tired? Does it provide relief all day from anxiety?

Thank you and I am sorry to hear about your home invasion, how awful and the peri symptoms on top of existing anxiety are an absolute nightmare, I have the migraines too, used to have one or two per year but now have that many in a single month.

Today we were shopping which is incredibly hard with my anxiety as it is and my vision was horribly blurred, I thought it was anxiety at first but it carried on all day, still not right now and I feel like I've had a migraine, my head has that heavy feeling that always goes with my migraines, no zigzags in my vision yet but I am expecting it.

I will ask about hydroxyzine if my doctor agrees that the cause is peri, I don't know if it's available here in the UK but it's always worth asking.

I wanted to ask you abouthe blurred vision. I get that too, especially when I am shopping. I about had a panic attack in the store the other day, my anxiety was so bad. I really understand what you were saying when I read that. Just checking to see if you get the difficulty breathing and shortness of breath as well? 

Yes I get those too, sometimes it is very obvious hyperventilation but other times it's for no reason, I can be sitting at home and feel very suddenly as if my breathing just stopped and I have to take a deep breath and swallow hard to get it going again although obviously I didn't truly stop breathing.

I used to think it was due to excessive caffeine intake but I have very little caffeine now and it still happens, I was watching t.v and not at all anxious last night and felt like it very suddenly.

Bella................by any chance when yor breathing is like this, does it go slow, long and laboured before you feel like its going to stop, have you checked your pulse when it  happens, is it fast, or, is it slow?? check it our next time and let me know, i have a problem with my central nervous system, it malfunctions and it affects my breathing, and it can come to a stop all on its own, nothing to do with anxiety, but the menopause affects this nervous system, so wondering if there is a connection for you and snowbell there!!

Good question Elaine, I was also wondering if it had to do with low hormones or fluctuating hormones. Its awful.

Yes it does go slow and laboured a lot of the time but I have never checked my pulse when it happens, I will do next time though, that is very interesting.

I do break a sudden drench of sweat when it starts, even if I am not feeling anxious as soon as the breathing slows I break the big sweat then when it feels like it's stopped I swallow hard to jolt it, sometimes need to do it several times and then no more sweating, not something I ever experienced with my existing anxiety symptoms.

Mine is difficult getting a goid refreshing breath in. It feels like I am not getting enough air in and then I get panicked. Of course panicking makes it worse and then I am ready to go to the ER.

Snowbell and Bella..................The problem i have is with my  Autonomic Nervous System, and part of it, is in two bits, two parts in the spinal chord, and one part in the brain, two parts in the spinal chord, are responsible for quickening things up, and the other for slowing things down, its also responsible for our flight and flee response which, is the quickening up part due to our nervous system releasing stress hormones, and its all done unconsciously thats why its called the Autonomic nervous system, and the slowing down side is when we then relax after stress, but what is interesting is, this part of the nervous system also controls our female hormones, heart, lungs, digestion, inner temperatures, so, we either sweat more, or, sweat less, and it also controls our sugar levels,  which is everything in us thats gone wrong during menopause, and its this nervous system that becomes very sensitive during our cycles, and especially menopause.

I can only speak for myself when i say, that where my breathing is concerned, the condition causes low blood pressure, so, when i stand long term i go to black out, when this happens, and its been happening to me since i was a teenager, but it does settle, and time of the month was always my worst time, along with hot baths, and hot summer months,  my heart slows dramatically, which in turn drops my SATS, which is, not enough oxygen in my blood, as a child i use to suffer with convulsions, because thre wasnt enough oxygen in my blood, this in me is what slows my lungs down, for the same reason not enough oxygen in the blood going round, so it affects breathing, it slows and becomes long and laboured, and can actually stop, it scares the hell out of me, but normally it happens as im falling asleep, but i can feel it as soon as i get up, and eating makes it worse, it feels like my food is stuck high up in my abdomen and thats down to low oxygen in my blood not pushing my food through, hence slow digestion symptoms, constipation, severe runs later on, IBS symptoms all of which we have!!!! sometimes its down to the diaphram, which is responsible for putting air into our lungs, thats why, if you have ever winded yourself, you cant breath because you have hit your diaphram, so sometimes im not sure where its coming from, low bp and then sats, or, how the diaphram is being made to work by the nervous system, because sometimes  i  feel that i cant breath from my chest area, like i cant take a deep breath in, they just will not expand for me,  my lungs just wont let me do it, but sometimes it feels like its coming from my upper abdomen, i remember saying to my mum when i was small, i cant breath from here, and i cant breath from here, and i would pat my chest and upper abdomen to point it out to her, as a child how else are you supposed to say it.   There is no treatment for the malfunctioning nervous system, only treatment and lifestyle changes for the symptoms it causes, but this is what got worse in me when peri started hard, but for me its like i have been on the menopause since i was a child because this is exactly what it is like, so to me, all that got worse during menopause was my illness, and sometimes i wonder if this is really why all our systems are affected.

When breathing stops due to anxiety, you dont get a slow heart its more rapid, and your generally breathless, which, i am especially after exertion, but with stress it can happen whilst sat down, but its more down to hyperventilation, which, isnt the same thing, im pretty sure long laboured breathing is not an anxiety  symptom, but hyperventilation breathlessness is, if that makes sense, when my breathing is slowed, its like i need to keep yawning to get air in.............is this you both??

So test your hearts next time it happens, if its slow, if you have a bp monitor, test your blood pressure as well, if that is also low, then its down to low bp, caused by autonomic disfunction, but due to the menopause, and this is why things settle as its a temporary effect due to fluctuations of hormones, to control the low bp, you drink water, when you feel hot or passy out, rest and lie flat, try not to stand still for too long, if you have trouble getting up from a lying position, due to dizziness then get up slowly. 

Very interesting though, you can read up on autonomic dysfunction, in particular read up on the vagus nerve this is the one that controls everything heart, lungs, stress response, female hormones, digestion, inner temps, sugars, all of which we are having trouble with.

Elaine, you are amazing. Not one doctor told me any of this. Only "you just have anxiety". Thank you so much for this wealth of information. It helps so I can go back and read it when I get panicked. Now just to clarify, we will be ok, and are getting enough air, but it just doesn't feel that way correct? I know I sound silly, but I just need reassurance that Im not going to pass out and die. Its my anxiety, it gets me this way

if it is down to the anxiety, your breathing tends to stop more in the throat, do you ever feel sick, but its in the throat, not the stomach?? if its in your throat, then tahts definately anxiety, all down to menopause though.

hahahaha..............your not going to die snowbell, im pretty sure yours is anxiety dut all caused by the menopause, when your symptoms stop, and you get a break, but then comes back, you will be more use to what it is then so technically it shouldnt bother you as much. Yes ive had the same reaction from gps, and my gp was a lady,  she just shrugged her shoulders evertime i went back with a new symptom, she hadnt got a clue, if its not in a blood test, then it must be in your head, absolute waste of time, you do know that gps are sent for training in hospitals to gen up on latest techniques in illnesses from time to time, its not helped us any though has it,  and these are the people we turn too,my lady gp told me i couldnt be on the menopause because i was only 47, and you have to be 51 to be on it, i had two tests with a specialist at the hospital that said i was on it and two tests is more than enough proof, and when i went back to tell her this, she said, well the tests i did on you, said you werent on it, can you believe that!!...................hahahaha......... there a complete joke!!

Oh its the throat that feels tight at times. But then sometimes it feels like its the lungs that don't get inflated with air enough. But many times like not enough air is getting past the throat to go into the lungs. But when I took my Xanax yesterday, the breathing was better. It has to be anxiety that is making it feel like I am dying. 

hahahahaha...................yes agree snowbell its anxiety, at least you have one set of symptoms soughted, yes now what you mean about the dying feeling, its horrific isnt it, at least if you can get control over one set of symptoms then that will be a big help to you, the anti depressant i took really helped me.

I get the blurred vision, like you said normally when i'm out and then my eyes start watering and for some reason it can make me panic!

the blurred vision in some can be down to low blood pressure, and so is the watery eyes, its actually called dry eyes would you believe and thats why they water..............ha honest!! drink water to bring your bp up, if its low and see if it goes.

Elaine, is low blood pressure a symptom of peri?

Hi snowbell.............either low blood pressure, or high unfortunately, mine tends to go low as i have a health prob that causes it to drop, meno made that worse, get a blood pressure monitor if you can, there about £15 in UK, about $20 in US, take it if your going dizzy upon rising, or, if your body starts feeling like lead, or you feel passy out whilst stood still for long periods, blurry vision another sign, and dry eyes also caused by low bp

Thank you. Ive always had good blood pressure but since peri its dropped low. Ill buy one of those monitors today. Thanks!

Mines high Paige all the bloody stress lol xxon on proponol x

Isn't it horrible? When I had my panic attack and went to the emergency room, my blood pressure finally went into the normal range, but otherwise, its so darn low. 

Thank you Elaine, I will try that, I do try to drink alot water but sometimes i forget!

yes that happens with me, when im not having a flare and i feel fine, i stop taking everything in as much, sometimes i think thats why it starts up again i dont know, but yes i forget also, think we all do, wouldnt it be great to just take one pill and it would all be gone.