What has been your absolute worst symptom of (peri)menopause?

Have you had a hysterectomy that induced early menopause because on average a woman doesnt start peri-menopause until around 40 years old.

Where do I start? I will try to be as brief as I can and I'm not sure how many of these digestive issues I've had are related to one another but here goes... I've always had a sensitive stomach but everything had been fine until about a year ago when I started to notice my bowel movements weren't as regular as normal (I used to take a fibre supplement for years which kept me very regular). This started around the same time that my periods started to beome erratic and my anxiety increased. I had alternating diarrhoea/constpation/floating, oily stools. Sometimes pain too. I thought it was IBS as I've had simialr bouts before. Then I noticed I had a lot of indigestion too - heartburn, acid, burping, bloating. This went on through last summer but was manageable. But I also noticed I was losing a little weight despite eating as much as usual.

Then last October the diarrhoea and stomach pains seemed to get suddenly worse. I lost my appetite and started having pain and gut spasms every time I ate. I lost weight faster then over a couple of weeks and felt generally ill and tired. Anyway, the GP thought it was some kind of stomach bug but I felt it was too persistent and different form anythign I'd had before so I saw a gastroenterologist anyway. I ended up staying in hospital for three nights for investigations and in a lot of pain - burnng pain through my stomach to my back this time. A lot of upper left quadrant pain and still no appetite and more pain when I tried to eat. It was frightening and I feared the worst.

The doctor suspected gallstones at first or some kind of pancreas problem though my blood work was all normal - not even any inflammation markers or a temperature. I had an upper abdominal ultrasound, a colonoscopy, a gastroscopy, a capsule endoscopy and a CT scan of my whole abdomen. Absolutely nothing could be found except a mild inflammation of the duodenum.

So, I was discharged and my consultant siad it was a mystery "perhaps it was a virus or something upsetting the pancreas for a while." He expected all the symptoms to subside but said it might all take a few months to do that. Well, that was November. By Christmas I was starting to be able to digest a bit more but still felt very tired and although the pain was not as bad it was still not completely gone - mainly the aching under my ribs through to my back and the acid ( I took omeprazole for many weeks which seemed to help witht the burning and acid reflux).

By February I was eating practically normally again and had gained some (but not all) of the weight I had lost. I was still getting the reflux a bit and occasional aching under my ribs but nothing like before. I felt so much better and optimistic about the future.

Then about three weeks ago the under rib through to back pain, indigestion, burning, acid, burping etc. started coming back again. Along with this I had the loose, floating bowel movements again. This has really got me down. I spoke to my consultant on the phone and he still cannot explain it but is sure there is nothing really serious going on. He said that he often sees unexplained cases like this and that often patients suffer quite severe symptoms without anything being seriously wrong.

Things have improved again a bit more now but it's still not completely normal and my anxiety has not gone down yet and I'm anxious about everything I eat.

That's my story so far. I know teh hormone fluctuations of peri can impact the digestive system quite profoundly and have read it can make some women more susceptible to gall stones, IBS, chronic acid reflux and other problems. My GP said the same last week wehn I spoke to her. It's hard for me to believe I could have felt so ill just because of hormones but I do think it is possible.

Not sure if you can relate to any of that. What problems are you having?

I'm exactly in the same situation as u do. This is also started when I was 38-39. Heart palps and breathing issues are the worst for me. Over the years getting a bit lighter but still I have them. I do mindfulness and yoga to relax my body these seem to be helping. Take care

Hi Amy

I'm up reading the forum at 4 am because I cant sleep from have these bowels moves which came on suddenly from not being able for one day to use it to using it too much. Rhe noisy stomach makes it impossible to sleep anyway. The heart palpitations i guess are sleeping right now. But they dont seem to bother me much while im resting. I came across your post and I was wondering after these years gone by how are you doing with this?

Yes you are right about the progesterone cream , I dont think its good for everyone. #1 it seem to increase my acid reflux and bloating#2 increase my heart palpitations.

Did you finally get relief or some relief? I know its been 3 years posting this, i hope you get this post.