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Terrified and alone...

Posted , 9 users are following.

mymymy
mymymy

Hi ladies,

I found this forum after feeling terrified and alone and not knowing what to do.

I lost my job during co-vid and lost my health insurance, so I can't go to get any tests unless I want crazy medical bills, which I can't afford to pay right now.

I started feeling strange and terrifying symptoms starting 6 months ago. They would come and go but right now they are at their worst. I'm 43 and started noticing peri symptoms like constant breast tenderness, heavy bleeding and cramps, insomnia, and spotting/longer days between cycles. Still, my cycles were coming pretty normally, but would vary between 3-5 days longer than the previous cycle.

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At the same time, I felt debilitating fatigue, and I have previously been diagnosed with anemia from the heavy bleeding through all of my cycle. One day I was sitting at my desk, and felt like I was going to faint. I felt like I blood wasn't circulating through my legs while seated, and felt short of breath if I sat for too long. My feet were always ice cold.

This progressively got worse while sitting at my desk, but I had no issues sitting in my car while driving. Maybe because the seat is reclined and the pressure was on my back? I'm not sure, but it got to the point where I'd have to sit on my bed to work because the softer mattress/blankets put less pressure on my legs/bum.

Last week, after a particularly heavy period, I woke up gasping for air, my heart racing, unable to catch my breath. It was truly terrifying; I thought I was dying. After about 15minutes of panicking, I felt better and went back to sleep. The next night, after sitting down at my desk for a minute, the same thing happened - I couldn't catch my breath, and my heart was racing. The next morning, I woke up totally fine with no breathing problems, and went on with my day.

Last night, after feeling ok , I sat at my desk once again, and again couldn't catch my breath. I could not sleep last night because I thought I was going to die, and have been in bed all day. I'm terrified to get up because of the heart palpitations/breathing issues, but I know I can't stay in bed all day.

I find this all terrifying and perplexing. Yesterday I was totally fine - driving, running errands, with no issues, and today I feel debilitated and in bed, afraid to get up for fear of having a heart attack.

I know that I need to see a doctor, but right now, I can't even wrap my head around figuring out how to find affordable health insurance.

Do you ladies think this has anything to do with perimenopause? Or does it sound like something totally unrelated?

I would appreciate any advice, or words of comfort, as I'm totally alone right now. I already know I need to see a doctor, so please please kindly refrain from telling me to go - I'm working very hard to try to find insurance I can afford. Right now, I 'm just hoping for anyone to relate to anything I'm saying so I don't feel terrified and alone in my thoughts.

Thank you for reading all of this, ladies.

0 likes, 31 replies

31 Replies

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  • hopeforever
    hopeforever mymymy

    Edited

    Sorry to inform you but you just entered peri hell. a place of no turning back . This was me 3 yrs ago. In time some symptoms will subside. Change your eating and take vitamins. We are here for you.

  • mymymy
    mymymy

    Posted

    Thank you so much, Hope.. I'm still unsure if it's peri or heart failure, and I'm terrified. What were your first symptoms and how old were you if you don't mind sharing?

  • zmama
    zmama mymymy

    Posted

    so im at a point now where my periods are getting shorter in duration but when i was 46-50 (im 51) my periods where extremely heavy and i lost a lot of iron. the iron blood tests were on the low side of normal but i got an iron ferretin (stored iron) it was low. i started taking an iron supplement with vit c and it slowly got my levels back up. if you cant get a blood test to check iron ferretin, take iron/vitamin c at least for that week you are on your period. also B12 deficiency csn cause symptoms you are describing so try taking that as well. im so sorry you dont have access to healthcare right now. its a cruel and barbaric system here in the US. I hope you feel some relief soon!

    • mymymy
      mymymy zmama

      Posted

      Thank you so much zmama... I have been taking b12, and it seems to be helping with palpitations but I still have weird circulation problems that are making it hard to sleep.

  • beth58277
    beth58277 mymymy

    Edited

    Everything you are talking about is anxiety. Trust me I know. I've had the shortness of breath, palps, feeling of doom. Mine got so bad 3 yrs ago, I began to question reality.I would feel as if I wasn't really here.I thought I was going crazy. but it was just my brain trying to protect me from the anxiety. The only way to get rid of anxiety, is to work with it, not against it. If you continue to do everything you normally do with the anxiety, your brain will think it's not that important and it will stop. If you fight it, it only escalates, because your brain thinks it's important. It takes time, but it works, it did for me.

    • toria_07298
      toria_07298 beth58277

      Posted

      anxiety plays a massive part but not the whole picture, i got really bad allergies when this started that cause shortness of breath etc

  • terri39308
    terri39308 mymymy

    Edited

    Hey there. I'm turning 50 in August and suffering through perimenopause as I type. The worst things I have to deal with are health anxiety and depression (debilitating, I tell you)...but last week, life decided to throw in another reason for me to despair: my asthma is back. For so long, my asthma was under control; in fact, for longer than 10 years (maybe 15) I never had to reach for an inhaler. Then, bam! A couple of weeks ago, I suddenly noticed I had shortness of breath, like I couldn't breathe in deep enough. Now I feel vulnerable without my puff. Of course, this just exacerbates my health anxiety, which makes me panic and paranoid, which makes my symptoms worse. It's a vicious cycle. I feel you, and send a virtual hug your way.

    • mymymy
      mymymy terri39308

      Edited

      Thank you so much, Terri, I'm so sorry you're dealing with such horrible asthma. I thought I had developed asthma as well because of my breathing, It's so scary and terrifying when you don't know what's going on....

    • toria_07298
      toria_07298 terri39308

      Edited

      its hormone related 100 percent, i never had allergies or shortness of breath until peri, some foods and vitamins make it worse, are you still have regular periods? x

    • Gypsy014
      Gypsy014 toria_07298

      Edited

      im exactly the same!! started getting shortness of breath from all kinds of foods and my vitamins 5 yrs ago when this all started for me really bad.. and to top it off i am a very sensitive to everything type of person anyways .. and was only taking Flintstone vitamins and children's dose cold meds if and only if I absolutely needed it.. I started that shortness of breath if I would take ibuprofen which I desperately needed for my excruciating migraines! those started at that time as well.. so guess what ?? I couldnt take anything for my migraines had to just deal with them as they came at me with morphing either that or dont breathe or get that deep breath.. just awful ..so I limited foods vitamins and ibuprofen and wine..all the things that I knew I would react too..and here I am 5 yrs later wanting very badly to try these again at least the ibuprofen and the red wine lol... but too afraid of feeling that awful cant breathe feeling again! if anyone out there reading this and had similar and tried to reintroduce foods/ vitamins/ meds again with good results .. please respond😁

    • toria_07298
      toria_07298 Gypsy014

      Posted

      horrible isnt it, i have chronic pain anyway but used to manage it, me being me decided to come off cocodamol that ive been on for years, 8 a day, now down to 1 as since peri started they have made me itch etc and apparently they release histamine and histamine increases estrogen and vice versa, cant bloody win can we x

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