Waking up sad in peri?

Hi Buggly, I'm sorry this is happening to you as well, and I find it almost impossible most days and nights to shut off my mind.  Avoiding the news is a great idea, too!  Take care and thank you for your kindness.

i know thats how it use to happen with me, symptoms were worse first thing in the morning, then fluctuated during the day, noticed an upsurge towards evening, but then started to feel better when going to bed, i did read why it did that, but cant remember, will try and find it on the web again and get back.

 

PS..........thinking on it, im vaguely sure its something to do with, the times our hormones fluctuate during the day, and, or, imbalances caused by those fluctuating hormones, to do with, water balances, sugar balance, and adrenal function, im sure adrenal function and cortisol is at its lowest first thing in the morning, and i think its something to do with that, could be wrong so will double check. 

Thanks Elaine,

That is exactly how it happens with me. At night when I can't sleep and first thing in the morning. During the day is calms down a bit then in the evening its back. It finally let's up when im getting ready for bed at night. I seemed to notice that this happens for a lot of women at the same times. Just starting to notice a lot more things.

god thats strange isnt it? by any chance do you notice anything happening before your evening meal, but then after eating do you feel better??

I can tell when I have went too long without eating. I start to feel strange. Once I eat, I feel much better.

Hi Elaine and Jamie, I have wondered about low blood sugar in the mornings, now that you mention it... I know my mom struggled with hypoglycemia during her peri.  I wonder if it would help to eat something at bedtime??

Jamie, that is strange about the evenings... mine starts out bad in the morning and just keeps getting better gradually, although I do dread going to bed, even though I'm tired, because I'm so scared of how I feel when I wake up.  This is such a puzzle!

Some days I don't seem to have a problem at all. Around 4 or 5 pm I start to feel weird and get anxious. By the time I eat dinner around 7 or 8 I start to feel better like I do in the day time. This whole peri mess is unpredictable.

Jamie and Liz.............Yes low blood sugars and  high sugar level fluctuations are worse during peri, so, eating before bedtime is a good idea but dont eat too much, sometimes when we wake in the night feeling stressed and we cannot get off, that can be down to low blood sugars, you could try something then see if it eases it so you can sleep, drink some water as well. go for protein food because its 50% sugar so is slower released, it wont cause a sugar crash then,  go for some nuts with dried fruit, just a small amount, or, a flapjack with nuts and oates, so your getting a refined sugar mixed with protein, so that when it drops after eating the sugar it wont drop as much as it could do because of the protein, DO NOT go for refined sugars whilst in a peri flare, as it will just cause a viscious circle of sugar crashes, eat protein and follow it with unrefined carbs,   jamie knows when hers is low, because when she eats she feels better, i have low blood sugar also, and mine is worse in the morning when i get up, fluctuates throughout the day depending on what, and how much i eat, then is better after eating main meal, then better still when going to bed, but im pretty sure that when i have my symptoms in the morning, there not what i normally associate with my low blood sugar.  

Have read up on cortisol, interesting read, a lot of the symptoms are almost identical to menopause, which is why we cannot go on cortisol symptoms as lots of illnesses give us the same symptoms as menopause, however, it states, that when we become stressed, obviously we  produce adrenalin, but its when we produce adrenalin over a long period that causes the problem with our cortisol, initially adrenalin makes our cortisol go higher, which is as bad as it going too low, but if we stay in a high adrenal state long term, we stop producing adrenalin because the adrenal glands have become exhausted, when this happens, your  cortisol levels drop, so in otherwords we need adrenalin to produce cortisol, so to control this, we have to control our stress levels, like we have all been doing, but, one symptom that is interesting is, when cortisol levels are low, it actually causes an inability to cope with stressful situations thats because we are not actually  producing enough adrenalin, this is when we need the fight or flee response, its to help us cope with stressful situations, so you can get social anxieties, now how many of the ladies on this thread have said, they fear going out to functions, and feel that their not coping etc, how weird is that, but what has thrown me is, symptoms are actually better in the morning as cortisol levels are higher then, but then start to decline during the day, which then improves in the evening, so, cant be cortisol!!  but what i am sure about after researching it is, over producing adrenalin will cause a  temporary failure of adrenal glands, which, in turn, causes the low cortisol!! but is it plausable to say menopausal anxiety can actually do that, and thats what im not sure of!! we know it seems to be excessive in some ladies, so maybe!!

Lifestyle changes, and supplements etc, all will work, but will only work temporarily, because we cannot control the hormone imbalances thats actually throwing everything else out, but we could try natural hormones, but do they really work,  i tried a progesterone cream, and chaste berry not sure if either worked...........  at the end of the day if we want to take one pill to control the lot, it has to be HRT, but even that doesnt work for some, and if we choose not too take it due to risks, we have to stick with what were doing, and ride it out until it stops, so with the cortisol advice is to control the stress!!!! ill check low blood sugar next and get back.

Elaine, thanks for this very helpful post!

That does sound like low blood sugar jamie, but  its temporary and thats why its sporadic,  were not  true diabetics, you could however, buy yourself a monitor, and test this for yourself to be sure, if it isnt consistently high, or, low every time you feel bad, its not your sugars thats doing it, it is low sugar, but it means its being caused by something else, if you were a true diabetic, the test would be consistently high, or, low, and from what you have said in this post, i would say its peri doing it, for a more acurate diabetic test you would need a glucose tolerance test, done by an endocrinologists, or, a gp to be sure!

I will look into that, but I believe it's peri too. Everytime I went to the ER my sugar was fine when I felt like that. Peri does some strange things to the body.

It is unpredictable, that's for sure!

Hi liz and Jamie................checked up on low blood sugar, have it anyway so already knew this, sugars drop whilst were sleeping, so if you wake feeling anxious eat, but keep it small amount of food, and drink small amount of water, then keep your mind completely blank until sleep comes, if you leave it, your just making it drop more, causing us to produce more adrenalin, but this adrenalin will bring our sugar back up thats why we produce it, its the adrenalin that gives us our pms/low mood symptoms, bloated tummy as well, so more than likely you will get up feeling, bloated, stressed and depressed, balances will be off, and dizzy until you come to eat, so, im going to assume, that if someone is on the menopause and it affects sugars badly in some individuals, and we dont correct it properly, we will have lots of adrenalin in our system as a result long term, this will definately lower our cortisol levels, which, in turn causes even more anxiety, achy joints and, muscles nervousness, tremblings, and social anxiety, cant cope with going out meeting people, defo couldnt go for interviews etc, this type of symptom, because we have lost our fight and flee response at this time, and thats when we get low on cortisol.

Home remedy for low cortisol is, real root liqourice which, you can get from any health shop or chemist, it has a chemical in it that mimics steriods, and this is what they say to try to bring levels up, so, we now need a guinea pig, ill give it a go along with you two,to see who it works for, take it in the morning, and just see if it takes some of your symptoms away, you will notice it pretty quickly if its going to work, if it does then you know what to try for it in the future, WARNING: you are not supposed to take real root liqourice if you have a diagnosed irregular hearth beat, i do, so i can onlyh take small amount, it also causes weight gain in large amounts, thats because its gorgeous and you wont be able to stop eating the stuff once started, i did try it and it did work for me, thats how i knew part of my probs were low cortisol, but because its caused by menopause, the problem  NOT to do with our adrenal glands,so please DO NOT run off to your gp to get gland tested, its our hormones, so at some point we wont need to take any of these remedies, because the idea is our hormones should settle, as long as we dont loose too much, hope this helps, dont buy the childrens sweet/candy type liqourice like allsorts, as it hasnt got enough of the real stuff in it...................best wishes and les us know if you give it a go and report back to us on how it works!! take care xx   

Thanks Elaine,

I think peri is messing with my sugar levels. I noticed that when I take too long to eat I feel weird. I was never like this before. Once I eat a feel a little better almost instantly. I do get the trembling and all that. The doc asked me was I cold one time on my many trips to the hospital. I wasn't but just couldn't stop shaking. Of course after taking my bloods I was ok but they made me eat. I didn't have an appetite at the time because my nerves were haywire trying to figure out what was wrong with me. But I do know now that I cannot go too long without eating.

jamie................that is your sugars jamie, and it does make you shake, it wont always show in a simple blood test as its root cause is, our hormones affecting it, your not a true diabetic, but some women do become diabetic after the menopause, and some women get what they call gestational diabetes during pregnancy, and ten years down the line they actually develop diabetes, not saying this is you, just showing the relationship between the two, your real sugar problem if you have one, will only show properly in a glucose tolerance test, which can take up to 6 hours to have, not saying you should have this test, as like i say its down to hormones, so ordinary blood test may not show it. but when you feel really shaky like that have you noticed when you do eat it leaves you with a massive headache?? if so, thats a classic sign of a low blood sugar attack, your supposed to eat a chocolate bar when that happens, then follow it with a small meal to feel better, but thats when you get the headache as the bar has caused a sugar rush, just carry on as you are doing jamie you are doing what you should for it. 

Thank you so much for the information. I really do appreciate it.