Hi to all of you on this board.

i have been on this site frequently over about the last year but only posted once before, a while ago.

it is a brilliant site, and some days just reading the posts has made feel better, all of you ladies are so supportive to each other.

i would like some feedback on what has been happening to me lately, and i will try not to make this post to long winded.

Where do i begin?...........i have just turned 38, and over the last year i have had lots of things happening to my body

1- periods - regular but heavier and more tummy pains than normal, and gone from 5 days to just about 3.
2- dizziness - not quite falling over dizzy but like a lightheaded fuzzy feeling, really hard to describe, sometimes feel worse if i am in a large store, foggy feeling.(pretty much on and off this last year).
3- numb tingly feeling mostly in my left arm and hand, thought i had carpel tunnel, or a trapped nerve (this was for a few months last summer).
4- mood swings - never really suffered with this before, but boy this last 6 months, i have no patience with anyone or anything, and can snap at the drop of a hat.
5- general horrible depressed feeling, no gumption to do anything, or go anywhere.
6- this last 2 months really horrible headaches, accomponied by a stiff neck, and slightly stiff across the top of my shoulders.and this month felings off nausea with it. and my neck makes really horrible crackly sounds when it is like this,
7- constipation- sometimes so bad i have to take something to help as i get bad tummy, back pains, and feel really uncomfortable
8- at the moment i am 10 days passed my period, and am feeling really bloated, not to bad in the morning but by the evening feel and look about 4 months pregnant.
9- anxious - nervous feelings- google everything symptom i have and think the worst, i have something bad, and i am going to die. my husband i think has really had enough, and has threatened to get rid of the computer (he won't).
10- i have had about 3 or 4 times in the last 6 months all of a sudden funny feeling,like i go all light headed, hot for about a minute, and feel like i need to get some fresh air, accompanied by a nervous sort of feeling.

there is alot of other things, the list seems endless.......what i would like to know is do you ladies think this could Peri?

i have asked about in my family to see what age people started the menopause, but i have not got many to ask, we are not a close famliy.

my mum passed away 6 years ago age 51, and i know she was on hormone patches for a good 6 years or more before this, but i do not know if this was brought on by a hystrectomy, or a natural progression to the menopause. one of my aunts said that my nan entered the menopause very young she thinks early 40's.

i did go to see my doctor last year about something else, and i mentioned the menopause etc, and she just sort of chuckled, and said i am far to young she did not think it wa that. i had basic blood tests done at the time, and i never herad back to say anything was not right.

any feedback would be really appreciated....i do not know waht to do. i am 38 and feel abuot 80.

thanks for listening, and sorry of i have rambled on.

love
kimps

Hi Kimps!

I'm very new to this board as well. 39 (well, turning fourty on Saturday!) and have had peri symptoms for the past three years or so. You are definitely NOT too young to experience this. The symptoms you are describing do sound like peri, however you might want to find a new doctor or at least make another appointment just to get checked out again.

I have the tingling/numbness in my hands from time to time and sometimes my tongue and lips too. Mostly my biggest symptom though is excessive bleeding. My periods last around two weeks each. After having read a lot on this board and others though I think that it would be fair to say I am losing my ability to concentrate and since I have been VERY unhappy with my last two jobs it's possible there is some anxiety/depression going on. I have a doc appt coming up later in Feb and will be starting on bcp's. I'm really hopeful that this will be some help.

Hang in there and know that you are not alone.

Kay

Hi Kimps,
I started with the night sweats and other symptoms when I was 38>>>> Now 48 and still sweating! Hope you find some relief!
Happy Birthday Kay!
Carolyn

Hi Kimps

Can relate to all your symptoms and it certainly sounds like peri to me. In addition I've got a racing heart/palps thing going on which drives me nuts. Throw in the anxiety which just ramps up the other symptoms and the whole thing becomes a nightmare. I've said it before, but the staggering thing is how little awareness/recognition there is by the medical profession in general of this issue. This board has 30000+ members (plus I suspect many times that in people who view but aren't registered), yet I go to my doctor with heart skips around my period and ovulation and she says she's never heard of the 2 things being linked

My advice would be to keep a symptoms journal. I find it reassuring when I'm having a bad day that I've had similar days before and there have been, and will be again, better days in between. Psychologically I find it reassuring to see a link between some of the symptoms and my cycles; my logic is that if I was seriously ill I'd be getting progressively worse but when I look back over the last year if anything I'm better overall but can see that the symptoms ebb and flow even if there's not always a pattern to it. A few of us on here are trying bcps which Dr Vliet recommends as a first line treatment. I'm now at the end of my third cycle and things seem to be settling down pretty well, but that's the thing with peri - it's so unpredictable!

Hang in there - there are lots of fantastic people on here whose wisdom and sympathy have been invaluable to me over the last few months.

Hugs

Hi Kimps!
Welcome to the site. Oh boy, can I relate to your list! I have had all of your symptoms, and although I just turned 41, I started having symptoms at 39. It is disconcerting when these symptoms occur, to say the least! The anxiety, irritability, mood swings and feeling down are sooo typical of peri, and the physical symptoms are right on target too. The nausea, bloating, dizziness, fatigue, neck pain, tinglies, all of it. It is amazing that with so many women suffering with the same symptoms we don't get more attention or validation from our physicians, but there you go. In any case, know that you are not alone and that we are all on this journey together!
EmmeBee
p.s. Sorry about your Mum, I lost my mother seven years ago and I miss her every day

Kimps! Welcome to PS and let me just say you are SO lucky to have found this site at this point in your life!!

Looking back I now know I started peri at about 37...with the dizzy lightheaded feeling...I even remember the first time I felt it! It was in Sept of 1997! The next 18 months were just awful, I thought I was dying of some dread disease...but was finally given anti depressants which actually helped tremendously. I wrote that espisode off to depression brought on by an unhappy marriage.

Over the following years I got heavier periods that last longer, my cycle got shorter...seemed like I was ALWAYS having a period!! PMS was pretty nasty. But I got through it, lived a productive life. Eventually my periods started being 3 months apart and I loved that! Although I did suffer with the hot flashes more and more and more. At 46 and a half my periods stopped dead and then all hell broke loose for me. It has been a difficult time, which I have gotten control of finally.

I had the dizzies and lightheaded feelings and disconnected from reality...very unpleasant. It was much more pronounced in stores...I think the change in the ambiant CO levels may contribute to that.
I had the tingly feeling in arm and hands...that brought on a panic attack which landed me in the ER thinking I was having a heart attack and I pushed my BP to the highest levels it has ever been!
The stiff sore neck and shoulders was a constant problem, I attributed to stress.
Any nausea I felt I thought was from outside sources..ate something that didn't agree with me, maybe a touch of a flu, etc.

So many things I felt during the peri years, I did not know were peri!! I wish I had. But I found this site 6 months after my last period...but it has been wonderfully helpful and explained a lot of how things were, and how they are!!

Kimps,

I have had or do have just about every symptom you mentioned, and then some. Although you ARE young, iyou're not too young to be starting peri. I think many of us started and were well into it before we realized what was going on.

Thankfully, we have PS to come to for answers, comfort, and help 24/7! I have gotten so much help from the ladies here, and on many occasions, they have given me back my peace of mind!

I wish you all the best and I hope you'll come here often.

Take care and God bless,

Deb

Welcome Kimps,

Yes, I think what you described is commonly how it all starts for many of us. At the age of 37ish, I began having crazy anxiety issues, completely out of the blue (so it seemed). I had dizzy spells, that lasted approx 18 months. The doc's called it vertigo.

My PMS during that time was really awful, my periods became heavier. I always felt "irritated". I did not know about perimenopause, I certainly didn't think I was getting that old!!!

Most doctors will not even entertain the idea that you are having hormone issues, if you are still having a period, they think you should be normal. The truth is, our bodies are changing and our hormones are fluxuating. And we can FEEL IT happening. Things like neck aches and back problems start to become the norm.

I wish I could tell you that it will all go away, but the truth is, you will have good days and bad days ahead. I'm turning 50 this year, and I am STILL in perimenopause.

What has worked for me?? Really it all boils down to reducing the stress in your life, learning to relax and accepting that you have these limitations. It's an emotional time of life, we can't do what we used to do, we tire easily. We need more rest, you will learn this.

Take care Kimps, you will learn from the girls here, they are all wonderful .

Juliann