Hello all! First time poster here...not sure where to start with my story, so forgive me if I jump aound a bit. I am SO symptomatic! I had blood work done about 5 years ago that showed I was definately peri. I'm now 47. I had a UFE about 3 years ago and it cured my heavy bleeding. Went to the doctor last week because it was time to check out why I was feeling the way I am. I have it all....inner shaking, rage, crying and I suspected the fibroids are back (they are). I talked to my Mom (who officially missed her first period at 51). She told me that she experienced the same thing that I am. One night last week I didn't sleep at all (I was remiss in taking my magnisium this past month). I was up most of the night...freezing cold and soaking wet. The next day I was a psycho mess. I was shakey and panicy. It happend to be the day of my doctor appointment. My Mom said that the same thing would happen to her if she didn't sleep and she would actually call in sick to work! It was a terrible day and the doctor appointment s*cked. My periods are getting longer in cycle (I'm at 29 days with no sign of it...yeah!). The doctor said that I had some inflamation due to low estrogen. Yeah again! I'm supposed to get an ultrasound to check on my enlarged uterus..but I think I might just try and tough it out. No estrogen means dead fibroids. My mood swings are terrible and they can't even be timed by PMS anymore. My husband is so understanding. My own daughters are grown and gone. I was a newlywed of 8 months when my DH's ex-wife died and we got custody of his THREE young daughters. So that doesn't help. I feel such resentment. Not sure where I'm even going with this, but just wanted to jump in and say "Hi, my name is jessann and I'm a menopausal wreck"! All I know for sure right now is that I'm not going crazy. My advise to everyone is that SLEEP IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO FOR YOURSELF! Take your magnisium religeously every night to get rid of night sweats! Please feel free to email me if you want to vent or chat! jessann murray7616@austin.rr.com

JessAnn My name is Sandy and I am 46 years old. I lost my left ovary in 2000 and at the time was experiencing heavy flooding periods. No other problems really. Then the periods changed to a light flow. Then in March of 2003, when I was 45, I started to wake up every hour on the hour at night. At first I thought it was stress. Next, I started to wake up in a full panic attack. I mean bolt upright, heart racing. Then the anxiety hit. It was there every morning and lasted till sometime in the afternoon. Try concentrating at work when you feel like jumping out of your skin. I went to my women internist who ran a blood test and told me that my hormones were fine and I had no thyroid issues. Well this threw me for a loop since I never really felt like this before. I still felt that this wasn't in my head (although this thing definitely does a mental number on me) so I kept researching until I found out about peri menopause. I had many of the symptoms including nightly awakening, palps, internal shaking, anxiety, mood swings, and low low moods, the urge to cry for no reason, well I guess you get the picture. You, I and allot of people on Power Surge are in the same boat. No a fun time at all. I work at a stressful job (well it didn't used to feel stressful) and I have actually contemplated quitting but I really don't think it would be good for me to be home all day. No kids not much to do. I have been taking Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy since July 2003 and it helps for months at a time to releive the symptoms. In November, the NHRT stopped working which means I need to change something. I went to a new Gyn and was put on the Clamara estradiol patch. I have been on it 4 days and I don't see much improvement. The anxiety is still bad, the moodswings and depression are there off and on. I am told it will take about 3 weeks to see real improvement. Tell that to a drowning man. Last night took a Unisom at 12:00 PM and woke up at 1:30 did not sleep until I took a 100 mg of progesterone. Have my Gyn set up to consult with Pete from this site on Monday. Pete does not think I should use progestin and neither do I It does not work and it is not natural. I heard about a great Doc in my area but she doesn't take insurance and charges $400/visit. I am still considering going to see her I stopped using magnesium at night when I had a six month patch of feeling fine. How much magnesium do you take at night? Does it help you sleep? Does it reduce the palps? I will email you when I get my email setup Sandy