Hi, I'm new to the site and been very worried. Please help! I'm 42, no kids. At 40 I would get night sweats, at 41 and 42 I've been getting large liquid filled cysts in my breasts that regularly get aspirated at the hospital. At 40 I completely lost any sexual desire. All that was managable. Now, about 4 months ago I started having strange sensations on my head, almost like getting a head chill or tightness in the skin of my head in an area about 5 inches. This would happen daily as much as 20 times. It scared me tremendously. No doctors could tell me what it was. I even saw a neurologist. I still get them, but not as intense. Then 1 month ago I received an "Abnormal Pap" got a biopsy of my cervix, then last week had cryotherapy to freeze the abnormal cells. During that week I had my first panic attack. These panics happen every day now. I wake up with sweaty palms, feel very nervous, afraid to go anywhere. I was prescribed klonopin for the sudden attacks, and they started me on Wellbutrin which didn't work, so now Im on Effexor (another anti depr.) It hasn't kicked in yet. This morning for the first time I suddenly felt sick and layed down. Then the weirdest sensation happened I can only describe as my entire body felt hot or cold on all the edges of my body from my feet to my head. It wasn't a flush of heat that's described on this site, but a ripple of something from bottom to top. it happened 3 times in about 20 min. I was so scared I thought I was having a coronary. I took a klonopin and calmed down. Other symptoms I have are during any given day I get either really, really cold and then overheated. This is horrible. Everyone thinks I'm too young. I'm hoping it is menopause and not something serious or life threatening.

Please help!
Yikes!

I am only 30,will be 31 in April and truly believe I started perimenopause last fall,summer.I have had some pretty strange symptoms panic being one of the worst.Everything is worse when you are scared.Take my advice-if you haven't already get a full check up,ekg,bp,thyroid,all of it.Then when you are afraid remind your self the tests came back clean.This helps me when I panic.Next learn some deep breathing exercises,pray,it really helps.I pray you get answers and peace.I know it is frustrating,just don't let fear control your life.

Yikes, maybe the drug(s) you are taking are causing your new symptom. ADs are very powerful drugs with many side effects.

Thanks for the responses. I'm still on the lowest dose of AD and should jump up to the next dose in a week. Maybe it's not kicked in yet. Also today has been horrible with anxiety and feeling weird. I'm 1 week before my period so maybe it's my hormones goin nuts. I feel very sick to my stomache too and have barely eaten anything. I'm forcing myself to eat. This totally s*cks! My boyfriend isn't taking to it well either he thinks I'm being a brat. Anyway I hope this all gets worked out soon.

Yikes!

Yikes, you're not a brat. I think if you want to use ADs you're going to need to switch since it sounds like this one is giving you a lot of side effects. A friend used ADs once and never had a side effect, she said.

I understand the lack of appetite. I plummeted 18 lbs when this garbage arrived.

Wishing you well.

Yikes! Your NOT crazy, join the club! trust me you will feel right at home!
We have women of all ages, peri isn't choosy! it loves us all!
Got to ask, you either found us because you have been poke-scan-medication to death or you still looking for answers?????
Please be careful going to doctors, many of us here have been through a nightmare dealing with doctors!
They don't beleibe in peri!
Wish I had stayed away from most of them! WISH I had crawl in my cave hang out a sign>> NO Doctor's Allow!

I'm pretty much on the steps of the nut-house but they won't answer the door>> their sign reads>> go away menopausal women!

Well, I'm not at the full theraputic dose yet, and I've read mixed reviews here about Effexor, so I feel I need to give it a chance. I do understand that everyone's different. What I don't understand is how all these horrible symptoms just slammed me all at once recently. Now that I'm pretty sure what it is, I'm noticy every little thing about my body. My mind may be my worst enemy! I really feel like crap!

I'll keep trying to deal, it's only the beginning.

Thanks everyone!

Hi "Yikes",,,

ok, you sound like me! First of all, you're not a " brat", that's awful, you are SCARED, and understandably so! We all are, or have been. These symptoms hit hard and fast, I mean, mine hit me the hardest this last January, and haven't stopped. I have all sorts of insane syptoms, and they scare me very much. Yeah, you might want to be careful with those AD 's because they are pretty strong, and they DO have side effects, that's true! It's also hard to get off them. I just take xanax, and that really helps because
it's not overly strong, it's 1/2 a milligram, I can take one or two as needed, but they do help and take the anxiety away. I think they are better and safer anyday, than the AD's! You might want to try them, tell your dr. you'd like a presc. for them., even if it's just to try them, I think it'll be safter for you.

As far as your crazy symptoms, I have all of them. One morning, in Jan. I was laying in bed, feeling sick, as usual .... when all of a sudden, this weird pain/burning/ache/stinging feeling started down around my pubic hair line, it went straight across from hip to hip, and then, began moving upward, towards my belly area! Well, I panicked. I just laid there, not knowing what to do. It came up to the middle abdomen area, lessened in intensity, and then proceeded to sort of slowly creep up over my breasts too! OH BROTHER! All I could do was lay there and pray! I froze. It made me feel very strange, and sickly. The whole thing probably only took about 30 seconds or so, which doens't sound long, but when you're laying there feeling this creeping up farther and farther, it's forever!

No, these peri symptoms are horrendous! If you want to go through all the tests, that's your choice, and it does give you some peace of mind, that's true. But, on the other hand, I agree with "Snow", most dr.'s don't know to much about peri, unfortunatley, if they even believe in it at all, I'm serious. I've been down that road too. You get a pat on the back, you get some xanax (which I definatley take..lol:) and that's it, they really don't seem to take what you're saying seriously. I went to the GYN just last week, for a full pelvic and PAP, ok, my very supportive husband came with me, because I wanted him to witness for himself how I would
most likeley be "brushed off", yes in a nice way, but still not taken seriously (when I'd tell the dr. all my symptoms, that do scare me). Well, after the exam, my husband and I, and the dr. sat there, talking. I could tell my dr. was in a rush, how nice.
I wanted to "talk", I needed some peace of mind, thank you! I TRIED to explain all my symptoms, so I could MAYBE get some answers, well, all he could do was shrug his shoulders and say "could be anything", oh, great! I pressed him, I wasn't leaving there without some answers THIS TIME! But, he was good..lol...he got around it .. he kept saying that it's my age, hormones, etc....and I was a nervous wreck while I was talking to him, and he could see that. So, on the drive home, my husband and I talked about all this, and he said to me "I wonder if they'd treat a MAN like that?"...exactly!!! See, he saw for himself, how, as nice as my dr. is, and he's a very nice man.....but still in all, the symptoms I was telling him (and to me, they're scary) he just sort of
brushed off. No, they WOULDN'T treat another man like that! You know it. Men, seem to get answers. So, he and I agreed, that on my next visit, on march 5th, for the pap smear results and all....he'll go with me again, and this time HE'LL push the dr., and HE'LL demand some answers from him, and lets' see what happens. I mean, he was ticked off!

All this is to say, you're not alone. I had bloodwork done too, just to put my mind at ease that this wasn't cancer or some lunatic thing....it came back fine. But, you know, you're mind keeps on going, telling you it's prob. something they missed....I know, it's nuts! Everything you mentioned, I've had, and to be honest, it sounds hormonal. No, you're not to young for peri, not at all!

try to get some xanax, if you can, it'll prob. help you to relax some.. .... and come back here OFTEN, hey, Ipost here sometimes twice a day..lol...that's how bad things can get! You'll find loads of support and encouragement here!

Sincerely, MyDarling

A FYI for you...I couldn't take effexor because of the side effects. Try and pinpoint what symptoms came before the AD's and what after you started them. You may well find a connection and need to try a different AD if you feel that you really need them.

Yikes, something to consider here ... if you are perimenopausal, then the ADs are only going to mask your symptoms rather than correct the underlying problem. You should have your hormone levels checked, several times if you can afford it or your health insurance allows it, and directly treat the hormonal problem.

well, maybe this will help a little.....i am 46 and for about the last month i have had some strange headaches, not like the usual ones....i then would get dizzy and feel like i was gonna faint....also hot....i went to the emergency room and they said i had an infection in my sphenoid sinus which i had never heard of....it runs toward the back of the head...which is why the top of my head was hurting....i am through w/ the antibiotics....and i still get the pain some....along w/ burning in my face ears and sometimes lips....i will feel like something hot is running through my body.....i get dizzy and it is driving me nuts, tired of complaing about things....but something is going on.....i assume it is memopause....i sure don't like it and it is very scary.....i take lexapro and it took about two weeks for me to notice a little difference, i have some xanax and try not to take them unless i feel really panicy and then i do....they help the most.....wish i could take them all day to ease this madness......i know how you feel.....i sometimes thing either i'm going crazy or about to die......sure never thought i would feel this way.......this is my first time on here so i hope i did it right.....hope you feel better...and actually today was the first time my cheeks and lips felt that weird feeling....my cheeks are just stinging so much....i do have night sweats some.....i read that a combo of calcium and magnesium supplement could help that....who knows.....

Antidepressants made me so sick I thought I was going to die-they can cuse panic attacks,lack of appetite chills,shakes,just read the info that came with them.All of that on top of peri is too much,if you are not clinicaly depressed ask the dr if you can stop them.I started BCP,they are helping,just have to get them in my system.GOD bless.

Yikes
Around the age of 30 I went through fertility treatment (unsure if I could have children), an emergency op to remove a cyst and my ovary at 16 weeks pregnant, abnormal smear and laser treatment, my father had cancer, my mother took an overdose, my husband was made redundant. I came through it. It was upsetting and difficult but I came out the other side so to speak.
At around 40 I had a similar sequence of events but I believe because of perimenopause my ability to deal with the stress was reduced. I hadn't got a clue about perimenopause so didn't recognise a lot of the signs. (which thanks in large part to you fantastic women I now do). When I realised it was peri I tackled each symptom like a woman possessed!! At the worst time my anxiety and mood was low. I took ADs for 7/8 months, no side effects, no withdrawal probs. But in that 6 months I changed my diet, started taking supplements, changed my lifestyle. Two relationships were causing upset . Lines were drawn and the two people concerned were very politely ask to respect boundaries. I learned how to be me again. If and quite possibly when things change now I am 'on the case'. I don't accept lipservice from docs. I still cry, worry, have the ups and downs but I don't beat myself up. I have learned to ask for help which I couldn't do before peri.

robin

Everyone here has been Great. I'm so glad I stumbled upon this site. I often wonder how our mothers and grandmothers dealt with all this without resources like this community of other women with similar problems being so supportive.
Since 6 weeks ago at my first major panic attack, I've been on Klonopin (which is great), then Wellbutrin (which s*cked), then Effexor for 2 weeks (which made things worse), and now finally today started Lexapro. Today has been better than most days but I've started my period, so I wonder if it has to do with my hormones slowing down! I till have Klonopin which I need avery morning 'cause I wake up very nervouse with sweaty palms. Klonopin eases me enough to get in the shower without thinking I'm gonna die in there!
Also, I've been taking Estroven supplements at night which help me sleep.

I hope I'm on the right track to getting this to be bear-able for years to come.

Thanks everyone of you for your stories and advice.

Yikes!

Lady E, did you get pig-like night sweating from them, too?

My first palpitations -- and they were *huge* -- came from ADs. I stopped them and the heart-attack palps stopped, too. But smaller ones stayed. I wonder if the ADs actually did something to me to cause this.

I took ADs at first b/c I was desperate. I thought I'd just flipped out. I didn't know it was meno. I'm shocked that these are prescribed so lightly. Heck knows what their long-term health effects are (so why give them in favor of estrogen/progesterone, which is what's lacking?).

I was only on those killer pills for four days and I still get sick thinking about it-yes I sweated like crazy,I also would clench my teeth so hard when I was asleep that it became impossible to eat.Look up withdrawel from Paxil on the internet and you will be horrified at what you read,I also read the book Prozac backlash and found that some peoples lives have been ruined by these "wonder killers".The scary thing is doctors dispense these things like candy-They were prescribed to me by an er dr,I had one panic attack,no history of depression.

I can attest to Paxil withdrawal. I'd taken half of the smallest dose for less than a year (I think it was 6 months) and I decided to stop because I hated being in a fog all of the time. I very carefully tapered the doses down over a span of several months. Still I suffered. Unrelenting "brain zaps" (no better way to describe it, I would actually HEAR the zap while I felt it), horrible irritability, feelings of whole-body malaise. And as I have said elsewhere, I was not able to have an orgasm most of the time I was on the drug and for many months after I stopped. I wasn't back to normal until approx 18 months after stopping that damned drug !! I angrily reported my adverse reactions to the drug manufacturer. My advice to anyone thinking about taking Paxil: DON'T. Unless you are suicidal or cannot function, go without ADs and directly address your fundamental problems at the source. And if you are suicidal or cannot function and you need immediate med relief, use an AD that has fewer nasty side effects.

Here's something scary about Paxil .... the half life of the drug (the time it takes for half of the drug to be taken out of your system) is 15-20 hours and is pretty much out of your system in 3 days. So why did it take 18 months for my system to get back to normal ? And maybe it's not really normal. Maybe I've just adjusted to permanent changes. :-/

BRAVO!!!I am so glad to here that.Those things are horrible.I pray many women read this,just because we are having problems doesn't mean we need to be drugged up and disapear!

Sometimes I feel like we're back in the early 1900's and we're being treated for "hysteria".

You ladies are absolutely right. I had been to see my GP years and months prior to him prescribing ADs and was fobbed of with you are too young for menopause. Well at 41 I didn't think I was going through the menopause but I knew my body was changing. I hadn't even heard of perimenopause when the changes started. Four years later the same GP prescribed ADs and I started researching all of my symptoms and getting better infomed, changing other things.

I asked to be referred to a GYN and at the end of the consultation I asked to read the referral letter from the GP. In it he said that this patient 'has been busy on the internet'

You are so right in what you say. The experiences you all share have helped me enormously.
robin

The scary thing is if this were happening to us 50 years ago we might have been locked away in a mental ward,I wonder how many women that happened to?