[B][COLOR=purple][SIZE=7] <_< I am 46 years old and the Perimenopause Symptoms that I have experienced for nearly 2 years are as follows: Irregular (2 month long periods sometimes) hot flashes, tingling and numbness in my face and lips, diarrhea, fatique, muscle and joint pain, lower back pain, clotting with periods, night sweats, worry and anxiety, depression until the Lexipro, acid reflux and high blood pressure. NOW.... if anyone else has had any or all of the above symptoms please let me know. I am avoiding estrogen if at all possible and would like to know about some alternative methods for symptom relief. I hope someone has some success stories. Thanks!

Hey Sassy

I think all of us here have at least some of your symptoms. I am currently fighting the fatigue, insomnia, muscle twitching and joint pain. I also had the night sweats for a few months but those have since disappeared. I have had 3 periods in the past 10 months and I feel better when I don't have them. When I have one it sets me back to h*** again. I am currently taking nothing for any of my symptoms. I did try HRT for 3 weeks and it didn't do anything to help with the symptoms so I stopped. I didn't want to really take it anyway because of breast cancer in my family. Most of my symptoms are not as bad as they were in the beginning(October 2004). You are not alone and as you keep reading you will find lots of help here. This site gave me back my sanity. I just turned 50 last week!

Kim

I am 40 yrs.old....soon to be 41 and i am in this "fun" peri-boat too.I am experiencing all the symptoms you mentioned Sassy and they definitely s*ck!!I have an appointment next week with a doctor(unless i chicken out) and i am going to discuss hrt.I am tired of suffering and if taking hrt can give me back even 1/3 of the life i had before this all started,i will be happy.My biggest complaints right now are the hot flashes and night sweats.I have been having night sweats for the past 10 nights straight and haven't got much sleep.And the hot flashes just keep getting more intense as each day goes by.This is starting to affect my marriage because i am not the person i used to be.....time for me to do something about it.

THANK you for the replies! It helps to know that I'm not the only one! I have tried Estrovin and it didn't work! Plus an HRT is not an option for me since my younger sister was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

The night sweats are bad and I wake up drenched! I also have hot flashes at work and sweat all day it seems. Nothing seems to help! I can understand the "affecting your marriage" problem. I suggest counseling with your husband when you go to the doctor so he'll understand what you're going through. At least maybe he will be more supportive.

The worst thing for me is the non stop period! I have now had a period for 41 days now. Some days spotting some days FLOODING. I did this once before about a year and a half ago and went to the doctor. The doctor laughed at me when I asked if I was having symptoms of perimenopause and she told me it was probably a ruptured cyst that I was too young. I was charged for some tests that showed NOTHING was wrong so I refused to pay for them. I left the office still with many questions and got a second opinion. I was put on Lexipro for stress and depression and that seemed to help, but it didn't help the irregular periods of course. The doctor suggested a low dose of Estrigen but I told him I wanted to hold off a while on that!

Had a recent pap and mamogram and everything was negative and I got a clean bill of health. It's strange to think that there's nothing physically wrong with me when I feel so crappy all the time!

Thanks again for your reply!

SASSY

I've been dealing with perimenopausal symptoms with all its delightful physical and emotional effects (NOT) since 2002. I've had almost all the symptoms you listed plus about 40 others. I've tried antidepressant, antianxiety, bioidentical hormones, herbal remedies, vitamins, minerals, soy, and birth control pills. I also now have high blood pressure since getting into the peri. boat.

Like so many other women here we wanted to treat these symptoms naturally, but when I began having multiple daily panic attacks which triggered a deep depression it was time to regain my life even if it meant taking medications that I use to despise. Thank God for birth control pill, blood pressure medication, and Wellbutrin XL .

You mentioned at the end of your post that you wanted some success stories, well I am a success story. The medications I mentioned helped me tremendously although I was still having many symptoms, but I was able to function. I'm now not taking the birth control pills because my blood pressure became elevated so the doctor refused to write another prescription.

The success story is that I've been off bcp for 17 days and although I don't feel 100% normal I'm functioning. Once upon a time I could not go longer than 2 days without the bcp without feeling dizzy, spacey, depressed, panicky, major hot flashes, chills, night and day sweats...and the list goes on. Now it's been 17 days and although the heat waves, sweating, and blah feeling have returned I'm still able to function. I believe that I'm finally able to see land after 3 years of sailing in this boat .