Hot flashes,night sweats, dizziness & anxiety???

Women's health
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Hi

I've been having a bit of a hard time.  I'll give you alittle info about me, I'm 53, I am hypothyroid, have recently been diagnosed with migraine associated vertigo (MAV), have health anxiety and GAD.  Alittle aboutthe MAV, I have dizziness on most day sometimes all day, it feels like I'm  rocking on a boat or bobbing in the water, it comes with headaches, neck pain and upper shoulder pain on both sides of the body.  Its an awful thing to have because you are dizzy, off balance, tired, headaches, anxiety comes with it as part of the disorder.   During perimeno I was a complete wreck, my panic and anxiety was off the charts, this is when the health anxiety started, I started peri when I was 46 and that lasted for about 2.5 yrs.  Then things settled down.  

When I went into full meno about 4 years ago my last period was 3 yrs ago, I was so so for about a yr after last period then the hot flashes started, they weren't so bad, but in the past 1.5 - 2 yrs they ahve increased and lately become must worse.  I tried HRT but it makes things so much worse.  Now I have them a few times a day with much increased sweating sometime I have to wipe my chest and upper stomache with a cloth and my forhead gets drenched.  Does anyone have this with hot flashes? My night sweats are causing drenching at times followed by freezing, do anyone have this?  THis can happen a couple of time during the night, does anyone else have them more than once with freezing thing?

I'm also noticing more that before the hot flash I will feel the dizzy off balance coming on then increasing with the hot flash.   i've read dizziness can come with the hot flash.  Does anyone feel it before the flash and worsening during the flash?  

Of course my anxiety can get pretty bad because of all of this.  I've noticed more and more I don't want to go out much and when I do I just want to rush thru whtever I'm doing, like standing in line at a store, I want to run out, I don't like doing things I used to.  I know with the  MAV and it causing anxiety, I have more than one thing going on, so I guess the mixture could be making it all worse.  I have tried meds but I've had such bad problems with them I quit trying them.  I do take xanax when I need to, but that only about once or twice a week if I need to.

I really hoped that after 3 yrs of no period the meno when be about over, but it doesn't seem that way.  My gyno has told me the hormone levels can continue to drop for years and the hot flashes can last up to 15 yrs.  Its all so confusing.  

I'm seeing a psychologist about the anxiety and hoping that will help. 

If anyone can give any help I would so appreciate it.  

Thanks for listening

 

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Patty,

   I'm sorry you are having such a hard time with all this.  But the first thing I want to mention is that menopause is not something you get over, it is a permenant state in which we no longer have the sex steroids we once had.  All hormones work together and support one another.   Some woman's bodies adjust better than others.  

Obviously your thyroid issue is a problem.  Are you certain you are adjusted correctly on your medication?   Or taking a type that works well for you?   That may be a part of this problem.  I have read that it is more diffucult to adjust thyroid with estrogen.  So the combination you tried may have been the problem.  

Sorry I can't be more help.  But wanted to provie something.

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Hi Patty. You do seem to be having a bad time just now, poor you.

I have the night sweats followed by shivering. I guessed the shivering was because I'd kicked the covers off. I wear a cotton nightshirt and keep a couple of clean ones by the bedside so I c

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oops....so I can quickly change into a clean dry one. Nothing worse than laying on the soggy sheets!

Have you tried eating nuts and seeds and soya products and other forms of natural plant oestrogens. Rhubarb is one. Not sure if these help in post meno, but are recommended in some booklets I've read. Maybe worth a try.

I've just started taking Menopace tablets too

Hope you find some reflief somehow xx

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Oh Patty,

You are so me. The only difference is that I am 61 and post menopausal since age 52.  My hot flashes have not gone away. I like you get a dizzy spell then the hot flash which also makes me off balance.. This goes on daily. I too suffer from anxiety which does not help.   Just started medication for the anxiety. Also going for cardiac ablation on Wednesday. Can life get any better?

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Hi Lolasmom

I hope the cardiac ablation goes well and recovery is fast.  Goodness no wonder you have anxiety.  These hot flash dizzy stuff is very annoying.  When I feel the dizziness coming on I ahave to wait a minute to see if its my dizziness from the inner ear stuff or if its just the hot flash,  I don't like it , but i'm glad when its over I don't hve it all day, like i would if its the inner ear thing.  Anxiety doesn't help anything.  I'll tell you I really hoped all this meno stuff would be over but sounds like everyone has problems with it for years.  

Thanks for responding, I thiought I was the only one would had the dizzy hot flash thing.  

 

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Nope the dizzy is a precursor,just letting you know it's coming. It sucks........I have been dealing with it for so many years.

I also have that feeling about going out especially in line ups. I have to many times just left a line up. Can't stand there as my balance goes weird.

Meant to ask you, do you ever get pressure in you face with plugged ear and off balance. That has been happening to me daily for far to many years.......

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Are you talking about pulsatile tinnitus? I have a thing going with the ear that comes and goes, like the ear is under water, and i can hear my heartbeat.  Also, I get vertigo.  Was diagnosed with BPPV. It's just annoying feeling spacy and dizzy.... with a drum in my ear! 

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Hi Tracy,

Sorry it is not like that at all. Pressure starts across my cheeks forhead and across my eyes. It then plugs my left ear and nostril. Makes me feel off balance, and prior to this I get a quick dizzy spell

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OMG YOU ARE DESCRIBING ME TO A T!! I have had this for years now and i feel like i am going to go crazy! i have severe panic disorder, and this brings it out intensely!! Have you found any remedy to help you. It is ageing me terribly. I think i need meds and i am so afraid of HRT. Somebody please help. Patty818 its like I wrote that description, but i dont have a thyroid problem. I do have migraines, usually with aurra, but not anymore. i feel like i am bobbing in the water, in an elevator, or rocking on a boat. and its horrible HORRIBLE!!!!!

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Hi Scheri

I'm sorry your going thru this.  I don't know if you've seen a doc about the dizziness your having, if you decided to the best is a ENT who specializes in dizziness a neuro otolarynologist.  With migraine associated vertigo (MAV) or vestibular migraine (VM) these are the same disorder.  But with them you have silent migraines  more the the typical migraine.  Instead of the mirgraine I get the dizziness, and its everyday, has something to do with the brain and ears talking to each other and they aren't anymore.  Its very complicated.  

I have the bobbing and elevator sensaions (it feels like i'm suddenly dropping when I'm sittiing, I also feel like i'm on a fair ride going from side to side.  I also have anxiety that happens with it, slight head pain with neck and tops of my shoulders ache and are tight, some nausea at times, feel off balance and like I'm being pushed forward when I walk and when I sit I feel like i'm leaning to the left, my legs, lower back and middle of back will hurt because I'm trying to stay stable, vision is off once in while, get very dizzy before hot flashes, the floor feels like its moving when i walk, go up and down, get a swinging sensations when sitting, there are so many sensations with this. 

I hope you find relief.  I have started propranolol, I'm on 40mgs a day right now, but the ENT said 80mgs is the theraputic dose to help the dizzienss, so go a ways to go, but I have bad side effects from meds so we are going slowly and from what I'm learning everyone who has this is sensative to meds and has to go very slow.  If you want to talk please let me know.  Feel better

 

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OMG OMG Patty, I have the exact EXACT same symptoms!! You know i thought it possibly could be silent migraines because i have stopped getting the ones that have the aura and pain, actually i get them once i a while, maybe 2 a year. When i first got the symptoms about 4 years ago i read that Janet Jackson had kind of the same symptoms and they called it "floating women syndrome" something like that. I take Maxalt MLT when i get a migraine with the aura, the aura is the red flag for the pain coming, I always thought it could be maybe the medication that i took to get rid of the migraine was the reason for those sensations, and only when i got the aura migraine did i experience those sensations. but now i believe your right and they are silent, and thats the reason i am getting those sensations. i get the elevator drop feeling, the feeling like im on a ride being whirled, sometimes nausea, bobbing in the water, leaning to the left too!!! swinging, the vision,  like someone is pushing me forward, and yes very dizzy before the hot flash!!! The anxiety is unbelieveable and i panic when i get it! and the sensations come from out of the blue, and can last all day, or for a little while, or a few moments and i try to focus on the "its all in my head" theory. my chiropractor says i have a little arthritis in my neck i wonder if that may be a culprit? My best friend says i need to try the propranolol!! Another try is verapamil. she said she was having the same symptoms as us and verapamil changed her life! she has been off it for a while and wants to go back on it. I do believe its with the ears and brain. I had gone to a neurologist, the best in Greenwich, CT right when it all started and he said that he thinks it may be migraine too, i passed the caloric test and the vision test, his advice was to take the maxalt mlt when i get those sensations, but i haven't tried that yet, because the meds were so expensive i didn't want to keep taking them. i thought it all was in my head!!!!! I get "train legs" when i haven't been on a train, if im in a car, or on a train, and it stops the symptoms appear. when moving i dont notice it as much...like my brain is keeping busy so wierd and scary!! Yes i would love to talk to you!!! I can't wait to hear how you make out with the propranolol. thank you so much for responding to me..  I am praying for you!! 

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I take Sage leaf, Agnus castus and Black cohosh. My night sweats and flushes are much better now on these but I'm only 18 months into it all at 45. Thought I was dying at start as had chest pain and impending doom with low blood pressure and dizziness. Saw lots of doctors and apart from stomach ulcers nothing was confirmed. Ended up asking for anxiety meds as was only getting 3 hours sleep and lying down resulted in palpitations and panic attacks. I also have migraines and HRT made this much worse so had to stop taking it.

Have Fibromyalgia and Arthritis and this has just flared badly with my hormone imbalance. Spend most of time in bed as in so much pain. Work part time but get very fatigued.

Hard as others think you are being melodramatic so just don't mention it anymore.

It's hard when faced with fact this may continue for years but I try and cram as much as possible in on my good days and just rest on the bad ones, just take one day at a time.

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HI Scheri

I just sent you a private message.