Hello Everyone,

I am new here, and hoping some of you can provide some guidance for me. I am 41 and have been experiencing a variety of symptoms for almost a year now, off and on -- some longer. These include:

- moodiness/irritability
- depression
- fatigue
- occasional shortness of breath
- hot flashes (not while sleeping)
- painful intercourse (not always)
- sometimes feeling "twitchy" in hands or other areas
- big loss of libido
- muscles get sore very easily

I also recently found out that I have some fibroids which are causing bleeding during sex, and may be making my period a bit heavy/longer lasting. If it is relevant, I had a tubal ligation about a year and a half ago.

So, I've been working with my GYN, who has done blood tests taken at two specific times during my cycle, and he said, "You have the hormones of a 20 year old -- you are not in perimenopause." If it is true that my hormones are fine, why am I having such problems, and what would be a reasonable course of action to take to try to cope with them? I have tried some herbal supplements (black cohosh, evening primrose oil, a "PMS" formula with various herbs in it, etc.) to no avail.

It is particularly difficult for me to know what is going on, as I have a long-standing issue with my partner of two years -- he has some kind of psychological erectile dysfunction (we have just started seeing a couples therapist to try to deal with this), and this has affected me profoundly as well, so I don't know if some of the symptoms (or all of them) could be due to the relationship issues we have.

Any thoughts from some wise women would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Gryphon, certainly a lot of your symptoms are those of peri. I do know hormone levels can fluctuate, so perhaps you should have them checked again, or maybe not at all because they may never reflect peri. You did not mention your age, I assume you are at least over 40? It is so hard to know for sure if you are in peri. Sometimes it is just "process of elimination"; if there is nothing else wrong with us, and we are at that age, it could be peri. I would continue to work with your doctor to rule out any other causes. That is what I am doing. I will be getting what's called a "64 Slice Heart Scan" in a couple weeks to help rule out heart problems. If that tests and all all my other standard blood work come out okay, I am going to call it Peri!

[quote name='Happ1' date='Apr 18 2007, 08:38 PM' post='166819']
You did not mention your age, I assume you are at least over 40?

I did actually, first line. I am 41.

I would use a saliva test, it seemed to show a clearer picture of my levels.

Erin

My blood tests never came back saying I was in peri but I have been since I was around 40. I have had other tests to rule out other problems and everything has come back normal so I know it is all peri related. It is good advice to just make sure.

I think a saliva test might work better. I have never had one as my doctor won't give me one.

Mopsy