I'm looking for some tips or advice regarding the physical symptoms I'm experiencing and how to stop obsessively worrying about them....like so many of you, I suffer from dizziness/"fuzzy head", muscle aches, headaches, palpitations, shakiness, anxiety, feeling as though my muscles are weak, irregular periods.....I just can't seem to stop thinking about them and worrying that I've got some horrible disease. I practice deep breathing and mindfulness exercises, I've been getting out and going for long walks every day (even when I feel lousy), I listen to Dr Claire Weekes on audiobook, I see a therapist, I take supplements....all good, right? But I still wake up every morning terrified that I've got MS or ALS or a brain tumour or I'm having a stroke or I have some other horrific disease.....and then I start getting (more) anxious which makes the symptoms worse....I dread getting into the shower because I almost always feel dizzy and shaky when I'm showering, and I no longer look forward to going to work (but I'm terrified to stay home alone).
I feel as though I'm having a nervous breakdown....it's just so frustrating and exhausting to feel this way every day.
I'm not the only one feeling this way...am I? How do the rest of you manage?
Hello Weary
lets start with how long you have been in peri ?
and what supps and vits do you take currently ?
Jay xx
Hi Jay....I suspect I've been in peri for close to two years....tough to pinpoint exactly, but that's when things started to get wonky. I take B6, B12, a multivitamin with iron, and calcium (with Vitamin D and magnesium).
Hi weary..
i just read your post again..
first, you must relax hun..
think .... i am a woman and I am going through the change of life, which is a natural process and all ladies have to face it..
the soon as you accept that you will be able to deal with it..
the way you feel is quite normal and its the flucutating hormones ... we all feel this way and secondly you are not alone..
i am age 50 and been in peri for 10 years, and for all these 10 years I have done alot of research and tried and tested many supplements, and experienced many many symptoms ... so if I can help you I will with pleasure ..
I am now almost one year no periods and my menopause is reached this was told to me by my lovely Gyno doc on Monday who showed me my ovaries on a screen as non functioning no follicles..
if you can just try and accept and tell yourself that its normal and the phase can be tough at times then you will cope much better..
take each day at a time, i can tell you that dwelling on it makes it worse, you must do your normal things, if you feel less able then just do what you can, relax aswell and take each day at a time..
be kind to yourself and share your experience with others around who you feel close too a sense of humour helps
it does get better ..
Jay xx
hI weary
okay ... well the vits you take are the good ones.. continue those and make sure you never miss a day of taking them ..
i take all these .. 150mg of B6 i take..
b12 must be the strong one ie: 5000mcg to be effecfive in peri
what about also taking Menapol Plus x daily
simply supplements site...
i take that too..
maybe its your mind set as your thinking the worst and its not the worst its simply peri menopause..
are you periods regular?
mine reduced each year... from say 12 normal then next year had 10, next year 7 etc etc last year 2013 i had two and this year 2014 i had none
Jay xx
Thanks, Jay....I do appreciate your kind and wise words. I think the worst part of this for me has been losing the person I was....I hate that I feel so scared all the time, and that I'm not the strong, independent woman I used to be....I honestly don't recognize myself anymore. I do (at least in some part of my brain) understand that this will pass and that it's not some horrible disease, but I guess I'm just impatient to be myself again....I wish there was a magic cure for all of this!!
Hi
Well you sound just like me! You need to talk to Jay she is one wonderful person. She has helped me put things into perspective! I'm not saying it get's better overnight far from it! but reading the messages and having a reason for these debilitating symptons helps so much because your not alone! I have no energy I am my husbands carer but he does more for me than I do for him!! I have had councelling, I wake up screaming thinking I'm dying! Horrendous feelings that scare the living daylights out of me!!!
Talking to Jay and it's only been a week, has helped me more than any counellor
Then I spoke to Jay and lots of advice and help has helped me more than any councellor! Vitamin B6-B12 here I come!! Take care!!
My periods have been irregular for the least eight months or so....I've skipped a few months and just today (thank goodness) finished a very long period...maybe the end is in sight 😊
Hi Kitty. I posted my first comment on this thread this morning so I'm new to this forum but there are some very helpful comments on here. Like you, I've been obsessing about my health, convinced I'm going to die. Having had many tests, all of which were fine, I'm now putting it all down to menopause and looking forward to when it passes in a few years time. It's funny. We're not supposed to want to get older but I can't wait for my 50s! I think we just have to accept that it's now a part of our lives and cope as best we can. I've joined other forums that were anxiety related but I found I lost interest in them because there were people posting with a huge range of anxieties. I find I'm more interested in this forum because it is menopause related and so shall keep in touch on here, because we all seem to be going through a similar thing and that's comforting. As for supplements or HRT, I don't think there's a quick fix. It seems they affect different people in different ways. You just have to find what works best for you. Why don't you sit down in the shower, if you have a hand held shower that is? Or try having a bath at night, rather than a shower. I would suggest you do try and get out as much as you can, even if it is just to go to work. You don't want to find yourself isolated. Stay positive x
I'm sorry you're struggling, Lesley...being a woman is fun, isn't it!? 😊
Hi weary
i totally understand.. but you have to acccept it as its not over in a short period of time ... look at mine 10 years.. and... still have to take all the supps etc and still feel different, still get a blip. so even after you will not feel like you did as a younger woman..
but you will feel proud of yourself for getting through it and feel liberated and look at life in a different light, and be kinder to yourself and let your body rest when it cries out to relax and take each day at a time..
but... dont dwell and lose life .. as these years are your life and to still be enjoyed ... so do what you can and be kind to yourself.. and dont forget to go with the flow and also enjoy it..
jay xx
Lesley
oh thank you for the kind words..
😀
Jay xx
Hi weary
no the end wont quite be in sight yet honey..
your periods diminish over the years ... keeping a diary helps ... i have 10 years of peri diarys ... charts and I can see how mine dropped each year..
when you get down to two periods a year then the end may be in sight
Jay xx
Wise words indeed, Jay....I really appreciate the support!
Ugh....well, I suppose the only way through it is through it, so I'll soldier on 😊
Hi Lara
well said... keep occupied always..
set your self little tasks and do it..
keep busy, dont dwell and crack on..
still groan as we are allowed to its menopause 😀 try and make light hearted of it and a sense of humour helps, it wont go away so we have to deal with it
Jay xx
wearykitty,
Hang in there wearykitty. This is a rough road to travel no doubt. I too have been struggling with peri. I've think I've had some symptoms for the last several years like the beginning of panic attacks buy my periods were regular. Turned 51 last Sept so going on 52 this year but that is when I actually started to skip a period here and there. In April, after a bout of diverticulitis, all hell broke loose. It seemed to bring a lot of ugly symptoms to a head and I really thought I was having a nervous breakdown but then I found this forum and realized that I'm probaby just going to peri especially since tests showed uterine fibroids with a lot of woman have and they can cause me gastric distress. I now am being treated for diverticulitis again and coincidentally my pain started as my period was ending on Sunday. Hmmm maybe it's my fibroids again. I fear losing my job because of time missed for my "female" issues. Wish I could just quit my job and stay home until I'm done going through the change. I know woman who sailed through it with no symptoms at all so what makes us so different?
Do you know, something else weird is happening with me, this time a positive thing. I feel like a sponge for knowledge, like I have the ability to learn a new language every week. I wish I had the time to channel this new found yearning for learning but I have 2 young kids (8/6) so my time is not my own. I found I could learn French from my iPhone so started to do this but have lapsed due to lack of time. When the kids go back to school, I will start again though as I am determined. I would suggest learning as a good way to focus the mind, if any of you ladies have the time and the inclination.
hi wearykitty,
I totally relate to what you are going through, its pretty much a nightmare isnt it.
From my experiences you are so right when you say that the anxiety makes the symptoms worse. Like most of us I have thought that every symptom I have had has been some terminal illness and I think I was very close to a breakdown. The doctor wanted me on antidepressants and diazepam and suggested tnat I go through a new mental health program they had started for my depression, which they diagnosed me with. Only thing was I wasnt depressed as such just very very anxious and confused about what was happening to my body. This all started October last year which was exactly 1 month after my last proper period. Cause I started to get stomach probs then as well I couldnt eat and that made my anxiety worse. I went to a naturopath and he diagnosed me with so many problems that I got sicker, through the meds and potions he sold to me and the anxiety that I wasnt getting better only sicker. So I just thought I was dying and that was it. I was terrified to go to the dr for 6 months, finally in March I had to go and get bloods done, so as it turned out there is nothing wrong with me except my fsh level was at that time 111, high cholesterol and IBS no doubt brought on from peri as I have never suffered from it previously. There isnt really anything I can take to help with peri symptoms not even pain relief for a headache everything upsets my tummy and the gas pains and nausea arent worth it. I have been working on my anxiety for awhile now and It has been probably the last 3 weeks that I have noticed that I am finally starting to pick up. I have been constantly reinforcing to myself with every symptom that I get, that this has happened before and if it was bad it wouldnt just come and go and every day I tell myself, today I am healthier, stonger and I feel well. If I dont focus on the symptom it is not as strong as it used to be. I can honestly say that I have very little anxiety now, I can go out to the shops and enjoy shopping again, havent done that in 10 months, the last 4 days we have spent renovating and painting our bathroom, whereas even 1 month ago I couldnt have cared less about what the bathroom looked liked, let alone think I would have the energy and feel well enough to do something that I have wanted to do for a few years now. I am pretty excited as today for the 1st time in 10 mionths I tried some skim milk and I had no reaction. I am not doing this all alone I am seeing a nutrionist/homeopath to help me with the tummy problems I still get the symptoms but I can handle them better now, as they say, they will pass (until the next time, lol). Its a hard long journey but I believe if we can just somehow not focus on the symptoms and retrain our minds from thinking that we have something wrong with us to its all a natural process and it will get better. thats a start in the right direction. I hope that you have a better day today...
Jo xx
Thank you, Jo....it really does help it know that I'm not alone in this and that it will get better....I just wish more doctors were interested in and knowledgeable about peri...I'd feel a lot better if they didn't all look at me as if I'd lost my mind whenever I explain the symptoms I'm having....I don't think their reaction helps my anxiety!