Hello. How are you? I just am wondering what is going on with me. Honestly doctors have never really known much in my opinion. Not to be rude, but I truly feel that way. I get blown off a lot.

In the fall, I stopped having my period. I gained 15 lb's of cellulite in ONE month. I have these enormous hips and for being 5'2, I just don't have any room for all this fat. My body doesn't look the same. I have cramps a lot even though I don't have my period. I am a really angry person now, whereas I have always been a super nice laidback person. I get so irritated. My labia got wrinkly, oh my that's embarrassing. I LOOK about 9 years older than I did last year! I got wrinkles all over my neck over the course of a month and my face looks aweful, I look SO much different, older and fatter and uglier. UG. Anyhow my OBGYN suggested trying progesterone for 8 days to induce my period. I took the progesterone and OMG I felt AMAZING! I loved it, I felt high honestly. My moods were excellent and I did end up getting my period. I am not on hormones. I am going to get them tested in 3 weeks. Do you need to get them tested 3 weeks after the first day of your period or what?

WHAT IS GOING ON?! I want more progesterone..but I don't want to jump the gun if this is not what is going on. Why do I look and feel so old and ugly and fat and angry and have no periods?
I'm confused and sad.

Help, thanks, Elizabeth Velvtraine@aol.com...I hope I someone posts here to me. Thanks so much guys! I feel for youuu.

Oh and my spine started sticking out and hurting more..in the back of my neck, that little hunchback area that sometimes happens. I also have thyroid problems, always have. And I have the eye twitch too! But I am not on hormones so it can't be that. I really want to try progesterone but I don't want to do the wrong thing. However I can't stand how I feel right now. I also must mention I am younger than most women on this board. I didn't put that at first because people don't take me seriously when I say that..but something is going on.
I gained more weight when I went on a diet and exercised, and it wasn't muscle..my clothes got tighter not looser. Uggg.

Hey Kittykat,

Well, you haven't mentioned how old you are, but there are women in their 30's who post on these boards, who are going through menopause.

With the symptoms you describe, I've had many of them. I too got the sense that in the course of a couple months I went from looking fine to looking old!!

It sounds like you are well helped by the progesterone - I would focus on this when talking with your doctor. Also, there are articles on this site about progesterone - you can do a search and see if there's info you may find helpful.

Good luck to you, and welcome to Power-Surge!



Jacquie

Thanks for the answer and the welcome!
It s*cks to have your looks changed so dramatically so fast. I wish I could have aged a little slower than a freakin month! I also have night sweats, which is another indicator of hormones in all of this.

I was wondering, do people ever test alright on their hormones yet still need progesterone cream? Just wondering. This happens with my thyroid. I test fine but I get horribly terribly ill if I don't take my medicine. I really want to try the progesterone cream either way honestly since it made me feel so much better. I mean I could talk about it with my doctor..but I don't feel like they really understand. None of them. It's sad. More likely than not, I will just deal with this on my own. I am sure it will make some of a difference once I get the actual tests. Am I right about needing to get the most accurate test results 3 weeks after the first day of your period? My doctor had never heard of that..but I have read it several times on the net.

Take care,
Elizabeth

"Be the change you want to see in the world." - Ghandi

I just hate how enormous my hips are since this fluctuation in hormones. They are totally out of proportion, lots of cellulite. I am embarrassed, and no clothes really fit me very well. They just stand out! It feels abnormal and freakish.
Anyone else have this happen?

I am insane now. I am 35 and assume i am perimenopausal, though it's hard to know becasue my periods have always been very difficult. I have had a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy. I came from an abusive family and decided when i was 9 I wouldn't have kids. I was 9 and hated kids. I started my period at age 13. Within a year I was diagnosed with endometriosis. I battled with that for about 10 yeas before it mysteriously disappeared. I suspect I have always been estrogen dominant. My periods were always heavy, painful and bloating. I have always been very athletic and took pride in my physique, until recently. Now my belly sticks out further than my butt! I cry when I think about how hard I have worked all my life to look good. We women are so pressured to look good, despite how awful we feel. We learn that our emotions don't matter as much as how we look. It's our emotions that connect us all. I started using transdermal progesterone about 8-9 months ago for PMS. It's extreme. It always has been. I have been in more therapy for anyone I know, possibly to my detriment. Whenever I have panic attacks, frequently, I ruminate obsessively trying to figure out what caused it. What i'm finding out is that it's chemical. 20+ yeasrs of therapy and way more money than i want to think of to find out that it's not even in my head! I have doubted my sanity most of my life and taken many psych meds for so many different mental condtions. I have been living with anxiety for the last 15 years. The last 5 years have been so difficult that I cannot work anymore. I am completely disabled. After all the drugs I have taken which did nothing to help me except place a little bandaid on the jugular of my problem I found relief in transdermal progesterone. It confirmed my suspicions, despite my doctors discredit, that I have been estrogen dominant all along. After 3 weeks my panic attacks (6-10 a day) stopped entirely. My anxiety settled down to just a bouncing knee reaction while sitting on the couch. By month 3 PMS had started going by nearly unnoticed! I couldn't remember not having despair and hours of crying along with muscle cramps every month. I got used to missing more work than anyone I've ever known and was fired for it a few times. I am 35 and have about 30 jobs. I have been homeless, for 2 years in the Oregon forest. I have attempted suicide in a PMS funk. But the progesterone zapped it all! Then, on month 8 or 9 I got my period when I should have been ovulating, day 16. I was scared that I had upset my hormones. My mother started barking, "It's menopause, welcome to Hell." As if I didn't know hell already.

I found a doc who uses bioidentical hormones. She approved my cessation of the transdermal and prescribed me oral Prometrium. I was noticing my PMS starting to get worse around month 6 of using the trasndermal and was increasing the dosage and frequency of use. This was not prescribed. OTC. I thought I had used too much. Now I think I wasn't getting enough. My progesterone seems to be almost nonexistent. In the 4 weeks I went without anything I saw every symptom I used to have come rushing back to me as if pissed-off that I medicated it. It was horrible. It still is. I have been on the Prometrium sans transdermal for a week now and STILL I am bleeding on day 16. This is my 3rd 16-day cycle. Oh, and now, rather bleeding really heavily for 3-5 days, I bleed really heavily for about 10 days. So I am bleeding almost constantly. I have gained about 10# in three weeks. I am short too, 5'3". What's most devestating is the feeling that nobody cares or is taking me seriously. I have left 2 messages and 2 email for my doctor since Monday. I have not received a reply. She prescribed me Prometrium for days 10-20. I only have 16 day cycles! Had she read my chart she would have noticed that! Also, I am getting OV mucous in my period blood. That was how the second pregnany happened. I was using the rhythm method of birth control. HA! I conceived in full-flow on day 2 or 3 of my cycle. My doctor didn't believe me and said I must be confused about the day I conceived!

You are not alone in your disgust for some doctors. I hate it when I describe how I am suffering and they tell me I should take SSRIs. I have been taking Xanax for the anxiety but I can't take it for long. It's making me more depressed. I have a business to run and can't. I am irrational so much of the time, though I know it. Does anyone here know the feeling of feeling like your view of reality is shifting so much that you wonder if it's ok - and then have your worst fears confirmed? I have many times. So for me to hear that I am perimenopausal is just great! I've never had a break in my life. Why should I now. It's a good thing I don;t believe in God because I'd be awfully angry at him by now. I just feel like the victim of a lifelong joke and the joke is on me. I have rarely been taken seriously because I have always related to people older than myself. Apparently it's my biological makeup to be this way. I'm angry. I feel like I've been delat a rotten hand and it shows. People don;t really like me. SUPRISE! I know I can be a real bitch. I just don;t understand candy coating life when all I've tasted is bitter. I never had a chance, now I feel it's all ending. Maybe it's time. I thought I'd get a break and something in my life would start to make sense, justify all the suffering. But it seems it's not coming. It seems I have suffered long & hard only to suffer longer & harder.

And then my BF wants sex! HA! He's 23. I told him to get out while he can. I would rather he leave me now than later, after I dry up, for some young pretty thing who'll be getting her periods until she's 50 or so, like a normal person. I couldn't live with myself if he left me then.

Yea, I think i can relate. Today I hate the world. I'm envious of all you women who his meno at 50+, very envious. what in the world did I do so wrong to deserve this?

Kitty,

You could contact Pete Hausman (you might want to read his transcripts on this website). He is the pro on hormonal testing. Many women on the site work with him to get things balanced.

I say if the progesterone helped, for heaven's sake, use it! We have to do what we can to feel better, and I can't imagine that this could harm you.

Oh, and as for the hips? I've gained 10 pounds in the past year! It's part of the package, I'm afraid! (I'm trying to eat better and up my exercize)


Good luck to you,


Jacquie

I had been waiting to get my hormones tested until the third week but I am just sick of waiting. So I am going tomorrow and it will be early next week by the time the results get in. Tomorrow afternoon I am going to GNC to buy some progesterone cream and that is that. I cannot stand how I feel. I cannot stand bloating up to be a big heffer. I look disgusting and I feel upset all of the time. This is too much to bear. So regardless of whatever the tests say, I am starting the progesterone anyhow!

Thanks,
Elizabeth

SweetKittyKat,

Beware of what you buy. I don't know that GNC actually carries the real thing. I question any place that makes the most of thier revenue from bulk-up powders & diet pills. There are many 'Progesterone' creams which contain all kinds of other things like wild yam extract, which is a disogen, it acts like estrogen in your body. If you are truly progesterone deficient , then you may be estrogen dominant and wild yam would make you worse. I used a product from Life-Flo called Progestacare. I'm not pushing an item. I have nothing to gain by doing so. This product helped me a lot and it's available OTC.

BTW, my doctor hasn't tested my hormones because my symptoms and thier cessation upon using the progesterone cream seem to indicate that I have low prog & am estrogen dom. Instead we are waiting for a one-day saliva test for my adrenal function. I think this is especially poignant a test for women under 40 having symptoms. The adrenals being fatigued can cause your other hormones to get out of balance. High, constant stress and trauma can cause the adrenals to poop-out. Being a single mom can do it! You can take progesterone for a year, like I did and see your symptoms diminish, but if your adrenals are fatigued and you don't do something about it your PMS and low progesterone symptoms will return and it's not pretty. I started to have my period every 15-16 days. My mother went through it for a year before her periods stopped entirely at age 34. Now, she's 52 nad going through meno all over again. I think she could have arrested it and maybe staved off meno another 15 years had she known what was happening.

I am fairly certain it's my adrenals causing this. I have had a very traumatic, stressful life for an American woman of 35. I know many of us do and I think this adrenal problem is more common than the general public is aware. We push ourselved too hard.

If you are under 40, have a lot of stress and are experiencing crazy hormonal imbalance it's probably worth the $130 to test for it.

Good luck.

I got some blood tests done yesterday. I read that the free form of the blood tests are more accurate, as are the saliva tests. I didn't know this until after I took them. I started on the progesterone cream immediately after I took the test. I got some from my health food store, so I could get a more reliable brand. I feel better already. I know it will take a lot of time for it to actually change my chemistry but for now, I can sense that my thyroid medicine is working better. I have a flush in my face that feels nice.
What I am wondering is why has my digestion just about stopped? I gain weight every day, no matter what I eat, no matter if I exercise or not. I eat pretty healthy. But I can really tell that my digestion is just not working. Food goes in and sits there. I take digestive enzymes, ginger, and red pepper every day...however nothing has changed. The first day I took synthetic progesterone, I felt my stomach digest some food for the first time in many months. I only took the synthetic though for a few days to induce my period. I am hoping natural progesterone helps w/ digestion also. I don't know why this is occuring. I am not old enough to be this f!@$# fat.

Thanks.

Take care.

Oh and CeeJay, I feel for you. You sound like you have gone through way too much. I'm sorry.

I know how you feel sweet. I eat healthy and exercise and have gained weight also. If this doesnt stop soon I might try the alcohol diet lol. Hang in there.

Tess