I'm so glad I found this board! I did a google search for insomnia and menopause and here I am. So what's up with THAT? Can't sleep, and when I do, I wake up drenched and cold, every couple hours. And the nasty bags under my eyes never go away. And LAZY? Man, I used to be a neat freak, everything in my house in order, and now I have piles of laundry, projects unfinished, absolutely no motivation. I have to make lists of things to get done and then have to force myself to get on it. I have been taking paxil for an anxiety disorder that I've had most of my adult life. It was a god-send. Panic-attack free for 10 years now. Recently my GP put me on Wellbutrin to see if it will help with the apathy. I don't think it's working...I'm 49 years old and it's been one year since I've had a period. Thanks for letting me vent, any advice will be truly appreciated!

OMG! Your house can't be as bad as mine... I wasn't a neat freak before I became a "lazy bum" so you can imagine how it is now. The lack of sleep absolutely sux! Thankfully I've slept pretty well this past week but to offset that is the pms, nausea, blahs! If if ain't one thing it's ten! My son was on paxil for 4 yrs for gad & was a Godsend for him too. He had tried several times to get off it ... I'm told it's pretty difficult. A couple of weeks ago he told me he was off ... I didn't know he was even trying again. He did remind me NOT to throw away the remaining pills! I hope he can stay off but only time will tell.
You'll be glad you found P-S, it was a lifesaver for me & I've only been here a few weeks.

Hi pattinewell,

Welcome to Power-Surge! It was funny to find your post, because no more than 1/2 hour ago, my hub and I were laughing about how lazy I have become in the past year (I'm 52, averaging a period every 6 months).

All my life I have been super-organized, getting many, many things done over the course of a day. These days, I piddle around until noon, then do the dishes, then piddle some more, then make a bed, etc. Today I am still in my p.j.'s (it's almost 2 in the afternoon), playing on the computer. The breakfast dishes are all over the counter behind me, and I absolutely could care less!! I work at home doing eBay selling, and have to force myself to get the photos taken and get things listed, etc. It's not that these things are unpleasurable - it's a lot of fun to do eBay, but it's just overcoming that huge desire to be lazy!

The drenching night sweats are a challenge. I had them for only a short time, thank goodness. Others have written here about them, so you could do a search and see if they've found something helpful.

For the insomnia, some of us have been helped by taking our calcium/magnesium tablets at night before bed. This made a big difference for me. Also, being sure to get some exercize each day, preferable in the form of outdoor walking, biking, etc.

As you will see while going through this site, you are DEFINITELY not alone in what you are feeling!

Good luck to you!


Jacquie

Hi ya'll

lol You all have made me laugh. All I do is watch infomercials lately and believe them! I keep ordering all these things to help clean and organize your home. They are piling up in the closets now lol. I don't even know if most of them work. I'm too tired to try them lol. I am afraid hubby is gonna call the men in white coats to come get me soon! Glad to know my messy house is not alone!
Take care! Tess

Oddly enough my laziness has turned to neat freak. I work full time all day and by the time the weekend rolls around I am on a rampage. I am 46 and my periods have been weird for only about 5 months. I have always been regular like a clock...then all of a sudden BAM!!! It changed. I haven't had a period since January 3, 2005. I've got my fingers cross that this may have been my last period. My mom had her last period at 44. She said after her last period then she went into the hot flashes, etc, but she told me her worst part was "perimenopause", which was much worse than when her periods ended. I am agreeing with her. This past year has brought on eye twitching, numbness/tingling in legs, visual disturbances, dry mouth, dry eye, sinus problems, weak legs, brain fog, etc. For some reason this past week I haven't hardly had any of the above symptoms. Hmmm........I'm hoping it's all ending.

Hi SunMoonStars,

Welcome to Power-Surge!

You lucky thing, going from being lazy to WANTING to clean! Would you like to come help me tidy up MY place?

Sounds like you've got all the symptoms of peri. I hope you're right, and that you've had your last period and can just MOVE ON! It's what I'm waiting for, too, and I'm 52!

Nice to have you on the boards,

Jacquie

Well the bad part was I have a friend that kept telling me that the symptoms I had were not peri or meno. That it sounded like MS to her. Well talk about freaked out. So I went to the doctor and I told him I needed an MRI to find out. He said "No you don't. Don't listen to your friend." He proceeded to tell me that many women experience these symptoms when they are in "severe peri to meno" and that it was not uncommon. So I told my friend this and she said she went to her gynecologist and he proceeded to tell her that the symptoms I was having are not anything to do with peri or meno...So who knows.

SunMoonStars, you need to remember that second-hand knowledge always gets embellished when it becomes third-hand knowledge. If you were there during the discussion between your friend and her doctor, you probably would have said more than once: "Well, that's really not what I meant", or "My gyn. told me..." Anyway, I can relate to the dry eyes, brain fog, twitching, visual "disturbances", (we ARE getting older...) My biggest thing is insomnia and night sweats. They totally s*ck. And MissMeTess: "...They are piling up in the clost now". VERY funny! JolieJacq--p.j.s on at two in the afternoon? I'm beginning to talk myself into believing that's "normal". You guys are GREAT.

And the doctors also vary in what they regard as menopausal.

Running off at a tangent as I always do...I was reading in our health pages about a woman (OK she had heavy bags under her eyes) who had a birth mark removed and then picked up MRSA. Antibiotics did not work so she went to a herbal practioner and was prescribed soil based organisms to fight it. Apparently because our foods are smothered in pesticides nowadays we no longer eat these organisms (SBO's) in our food, which used to provide us with natural antibiotics, helping with IBS etc. Anyway this woman was cured but a clinical microbiologist was sceptical because he said medical science had already extracted the active chemicals to make antibiotics. Which is typical of the health professionals nowadays.

To me, menopause symptoms are a bit like believing in ghosts...Scientists say there's no such thing...I say you don't know til you've experienced it.

Amen Sister!

I was pretty cocky at one point in my life, about how those older women would fret about menopause. I was gonna sail through it!! Well, instead I find myself on this unstable little boat that keeps banging into rocky cliffs!

Maybe the reason health care is such a MESS everywhere is that no 2 doctors can agree on anything. Hey, I thought it was SCIENCE! You know - verifiable results???!

My family dr. said "It sounds like fibromyalgia." I kept telling her that I think it's because I'm almost 50 and haven't had a period since Feb. 2004. Never had hormone levels checked, but had thyroid checked, liver studies, checked rhumatoid factor (because my shoulder hurts all the time--I repair circuit boards and look through a microscope all day--geez, ya think that could be the reason?!!!), Lyme's disease--I went to the ob/gyn at the same clinic and started asking him about estrogen-dominance and he said pretty much that I "read too much" and don't worry my pretty little head about it. I left that day in tears, I was so frustrated. I feel that I can't communicate with the dr.s or I'm not assertive enough--can't I just walk in and say "I want my hormone levels checked"? After all, I AM paying for their services. What's a girl to do?

That's why they call it "medical practice" ! ! !


Patti~ as for the hormone levels, I just got my report back today .... wonder of wonders my FSH level is normal. Last week when I ask doc if he thought I could be in PM, he said yeah let's check the fsh .... I asked about inaccuracy/variations & he agreed. (I love my doc!) So even tho the blood says normal my body is screaming to the contrary. I'm 46 & have only missed 1 period last month, had a short one this month, now I'm late again. I have all the symptoms but no period. It's making me terribly cranky.

lollllllll MissMeTess,
Watching informercials late at night i wonder if that is another perimenopausal symptom because i find myself watching them and even when i start to get half a sleepy, or even mostly asleep, i find my hand reaching for paper and pen from my nightstand and i start writing down the information that they are touting from off the tv........ when i wake the next morning, and i see this lil sheet of paper with a bunch of scribbles and telephone numbers on it, i think to meself...... what the heck?!?!

LOL Tess and Sundar......me too. Yikes! I knew it wasn't normal..lol

I never had bags or dark cirles under my eyes until I had to undergo a total hip replacement at the age of 50.

Even when I was having night sweats, I didn't have bags and circles. Something must have happened during the leg surgery.

I've only had night sweats, and I am always sensitive to the weather, cold, hot and anything in between because I am hypothyroid and take 137 mcg of Synthroid.

A quick Rememdy that works wonders for bags under my eyes, casued my being tired or hormones.
I take a clean wash cloth, & soak it in real cold water, Hold over my eyes as long as i can stand it. & it really helps me. also refreshes me to. I also use noxema everynight also, before going to bed, its a cool soothing feeling to you face. helpfull tips from me. dont know if others likes it. but i sure Do !!! have a Blessed day !!!!!!!!!

Try kicking your shoes off relaxing on the bed and placing thick cool cucumber slices on your eyes. Heard cool tea bags were good too...
I always like to hear soft soothing music playing in the background, scented candles are also a nice, added touch.
I'm always ready for those flashes...hot or cold. Always, keep the electric blanket on the bed for the cold and chillow pillow and fan for the hot flashes.

Yep

Noxema doesn't help the bags under my eyes but i do love to use it in the mornings to help wake me up.I put it on and leave it on about 5 minutes,it starts burning and tingling and sure wakes me up fast.LOL