Hi all, I am new here and as I read, I see all of my symtoms.

Here is my story:

I started down this road just a few years back, I must say that it wasn't all that bad back then, just annoying.
The edema in my lower legs and feet,
11 months with no period
and now, I spot every few days (so sporadic),
I would get times that I had insomnia but that didn't bother me much because I would catch a nap and be just fine. I am typically a night owl anyway, at least I was back then.
I had the occasional hot flash (nothing major)
A heart palpitation now and again (a quick deep breath would stop it)
Back pain in the lower right side (felt like in my kidney) it was just before my periods
Off and on migraines with aura (I haven't had one now in a few months)
There were so many little things but I was doing great, just the migraines and the sweeling was the worst part of it back then.

NOW THE WORST HAS BEGUN!!

I had also gained a lot during that year so I started a sound eating program to lose the weight (I have now lost 46 pounds)
After 11 months with no period, I started again. They were spotty and ever few months. Now I spot every few days and have now for a few months.
Let me do this now in a list of how things have changed:
1. the edema left
2. the migraines went away
3. then my heart began to become more bothersome with the palps
4. I now have vertigo and have had it for almost 4 months
5. when the vertigo started, I went from that day forward with a bad headache for two solid weeks
6. heart is worse and quick deep breaths do not stop them now
7. had a bad bout with the heart palps that I had to be rushed to the ER. They stopped them with 140 (something) of Lydacane.
The heart was beating out twice to every one beat in.
8. went back to ER 4 more times with my heart
(each of these 4 times, when they put in the saline flush in the little IV thing in the ambulance, the heart would go back to normal). They think that it was the cold that would set my heart back to normal beats
9. thyroid was then found to be mildly low (is normal now)
10. my digestion has been acting up now. I have regular good bowel movements, just that they are much more pale than before. Not much bile salts being processed (It might be that I do not eat much fat now)
11. I to get the shakes especially in the morning, they tend to wake me. I describe them as jitters inside.
I know it's my heart because I can actually feel it beat now where I never did before. I didn't even now I had a heart except when exercising. It's not like the palps, it's more like an occasional hard fast beat evey few beats...off and on all night long,
and some throughout the day.
12. I have also noticed a dull ache now and again in the back of my right eye on the side of my nose
(more noticable when I look to the left)
13. What else, LOL! Just ups and downs on how I actually feel. Just so much out of balance it seems.
14. Oh yes, I do also feel like sometimes that my heart and my stomach have become one. I can't describe other than it feels as if my heart is pushing on my stomach and visa versa. It is just a weird sensation to say the least.

I have this thing about synthetic drugs, so I started on the Women To Women program and I can see some change (for the better). I have been on it for 3 weeks now and I must say that my energy level is back and that part is so much like the norm again.

But it's the heart thing that I can't seem to get past, it just will not settle out at all (comes and goes).
It bothers me the most when I try to sleep.
It seems to be what's keeping me from a good night sleep (this is the jitters inside feeling time).
I can actually feel my heart beat at night with the occasion HARD POUND.
I do seem to be hotter also at night when I lay down (not like the hot flash, but just simply hot)

When I get up in the morning the shakes are like that of a hangover, it takes a while and a meal to get that to calm down.
Also my windows are steamy to from where I have my air turned up at night to try and help me sleep, LOL!

In a nut shell, I am there I reckon, I have hit it hard and with a vengance!
My primary care Docter did the hormone test and this is what he said about the results:
Yep, you are most diffenently in Perimenopause! What hormones that are usually high at this time, mine are HIGH!
And what hormones that are usually low at this time, mine are LOW!

I can tell you this, you have to keep a possitive outlook and that's for sure.
Women have done this for centuries and just know that IT WILL SOON PASS!
It is hard though but keep the good thoughts that your day will come when it is just a memory of your past.

I know I have written a lot, but with this little monster that we face, you can't just put it in few words to describe the thing that we are all facing, and going through.

And the one thing I want to ask you all, do any of you know anything natural that I can do to get my heart to calm down at night so I can feel a good night sleep again? I am not into anything synthetic and I do not want to go that route.

Also, my heart does tend to act up when I try and exercise (I love to take walks).
I have to take it slow and easy and not walk at a fast pace, just slow and easy.
The most that I can seem to master right now is just a short block walk and back.
This is killing me because I so want to take on longer walks.

It's the strangest thing, I want to walk till my hearts content now with losing this weight, but now it's my heart that keeps me from doing it (darned old perimenopause, LOL!)

Dear Friend
Welcome to the Site.I am fairly new here too but the support and understanding I have received is awesome.You have and are still going through a lot but things definitely do ease up by time.Have to be truthful would have like to have gone the natural route and struggled for a long time and eventually started synthetic HRT.However I went into early Menopause at 39 and just couldn't cope with family,job etc.

Lots of the ladies here do use herbs and vitamins with great success and have heard that Magnesium is very good for Palps.as you describe them.It is probably a form of anxiety and it is marvellous that you do so much walking.I also go to the Gym three times a week and Yoga twice and exercise really helps.Great too that insomnia does not worry you too much but there is also a Herb called Valerian Root which might help if it gets bothersome.

Also fantastic that you have loss the extra weight.I too am very vigilant about diet as always worried about Middle Age Spread as our bodies and metabolism do change.

Please keep in touch.
Best Wishes
Elizabeth

keep walking,your heart will be fine-palps will not hurt you,they just scare us.I am proud of you for your weight loss!!GOD-bless and welcome to the site

There is another Board on here all about heart Palps. You will find lots of great info and stories there if you haven't already checked it out. They are very bothersome. I have them as well, and went through the holter monitor,stress test, ECHO routine about six months ago because I was so scared of the feeling they give me. I can feel mine in my throat and sometimes they make me very lightheaded for a spilt second.

On the other Board someone posted a site that is moderated by a Dr. who is a neurologist and a cardiologist and he explains the heart palp in a way that really helped me. I cannot remember the technical aspects, but something about the nerve that kind of does connect your stomach area and your heart, and how it is that nerve that sends the message to your heart to beat differently. It can be from anxiety, and also sometimes from digestions/heartburn issues.

I can't post that site here, as it does not pertain to menopause or the hormonal reasons behind palps, but if you PM me I can send you the link. Although it did not explain the hormone reason, I found the actual explanation of it very comforting to me, and it helped me a lot to make the digestion connection, as I did feel it a lot more when I was having stomach issues.

Wendy

I think palps are the worst of all simply because they remind us of our own mortality with each missed beat. My cardiologist told me years ago (I've had palps for 28 years now) that when I get them to go out walking rather than to sit in a chair and worry. Of course, that was after he determined all was well at that time! Better days ahead....trust me ............

DD

Thanks Wendy, I will PM you for that link. I do feel mine after a meal a lot of the time as well. I also feel it when I get up and walk accross the floor too, or walk a block, and sometimes, I just feel it for no reason at all. I told the docters that it feels like my heart is beating up against my stomach and throat. I just wish I knew why and I could fix it somehow.

Thanks for the moral support DD, I have been having a hard time of it
with my heart.

I use to not know that I even had one, but now, it doesn't let me forget that it's there.
I get this pumping in my throst feeling more often (just about all the time right now) than I do the palps
anymore. It is so strange, it seems like every two weeks something new starts and the old stops.
It is just so weird. I went from 11 months with no period, then kicked in to have a little spotting every fews months,
to now (in the last two months) having spotting every couple of days with nothing in between.

When I hit the end of perimenopause, I sure do hit it with gusto! LOL!
I just hope that means it will soon be over and all will settle out soon.

Motherwort has worked wonders for my palps!
I take the tincture 2-3 times a day. At night I take 4 droppers,
the rest of the time I take 2 droppers. It's great for palps and
my anxiety!