I seem to get off and of, this strange cramping (tightening of certain ligaments for better explanation) in my feet and hands...all time of day but especially at night...is this another peri symtpom....or do I have someting WORSE? slowbear (ouch)

I have had the exact same sensations - they were intense for a while a few weeks ago and now, they're completely gone. For me, I know they were yet another peri "thing". Hang in there! Kathleen

Based on my knowledge and experience, there are two things that can cause this.....low potassium or low on anti inflammatories, both of which can be directly, or indirectly, caused by peri.

If low in potassium: heart palpations, headaches, and fatigue usually go along with the muscle cramps. "Charlie horses" are a dead giveaway. Drinking enough water? Heavy exercise? Duretic meds or diet? Restricting salt? Taking a combo of potassium/magnesium/calcium should provide relief.

If inflammation: digestive issues and joint pain goes along with the cramps....VERY common in peri. Load up on antioxidants adding fish oil and/or flax seed/oil should help quite a bit.

Lori

Hi Slowbear,

This has been one of my very, very minor problems, but I've noticed it. The cramping in my right foot began happening this year (age 52) and is periodic. The cramping in my right hand began 3 years ago.
I have constant tingling in my little finger and the finger next to it. Orthopedic surgeon can find nothing wrong. However, sometimes, my hand gets a cramp and closes up!!!!!! If it is in just the wrong position, I can bring on the cramp...you know...like when you bend your foot in just the right way and get a foot cramp? Sometimes when I'm writing, it wants to cramp up. I have to shake it vigorously to get the cramp out. So far, it's a minor problem, but quite bizarre!

When I began peri 8 years or so ago, I had major muscle and joint stiff/achyness. Dr ruled out arthritis and fibromyalgia. During that time, I would often wake up and find that fingers on my hands were numb. I keep thinking I had something wrong that the orthopedic surgeon couldn't find. Then 3 yrs ago when the cramping and tingling became rather continuous in my right hand, I was really scared. Now I believe it is simply another body process that has been adversely impacted by the loss of hormones.

We women spend so many years being afraid because of all the new symtoms we start having. I don't suffer from anxiety, but I believe living in constant fear of disease is one reason that many women have terrible anxiety during peri/meno! And, it's all because the medical industry fails to address the issue of symptoms and peri/meno when it begins happening! Drs! Ick!

We just keep running to drs and paying through the nose for every inexplicable, new problem we have. And, the drs happily take our money and send us away with no answers. I hate it!

I have also been noticing an increase in cramps in my feet....Ill have to start to eat a bit more things that are high in potassium. Thanks LA99!

Peace
AA

Thanks for all the replies! I will try the supplements...yes, it is a rather minor problem compared to OTHER problems I have....yes, sometimes my hand will sort of close up too! and the arch of my foot...tighten and it is kind of like that is trying to close up as well.....good description!

Everyone keeps saying that perimenopause and menopause are natural....is it "natural" to go through all this for so long?

Evolutionary developments have yet to catch up with longevity.....years ago we all be dead or almost so by menopause....ok, ok, I know...happy thoughts!

I agree with you Slowbear! Here's another thing:

I've read many times that "peri/menopause is puberty in reverse." I find it very hard to relate to this statement. So many things MYSTERIOUSLY go WRONG with our bodies during peri/meno that appear to be quite INDIRECTLY related to becoming fertile (which is what puberty is). Take for example our hand cramps where the hand is trying to close up. In puberty, my hand didn't suddenly go from cramping and closing up to a relaxed state and staying open!!!

Take the dizzy/vertigo that many women have: They were'n't feeling faint and dizzy before puberty, and then suddenly become balanced steady AFTER puberty!!!

Most of us were normal functioning little girls before puberty (if so blessed), whose bodies went through a hormonal change at puberty that made us fertile and gave us breasts, hips and a waist. We didn't start out as little girls with 34 symptoms of physical disability, who at puberty had those symptoms disappear!

For the statement to be true, our bodies would have to be sick & tired BEFORE puberty, and made healthy AFTER puberty.
Because with peri/meno, we are heathly women BEFORE peri/meno, who become UNhealthy DURING and AFTER peri/meno.

So to say that peri/meno (where our total bodies appear to break down) is the reverse of puberty just doesn't register with me. {shaking me head in confusion} I just don't get it.

I agree with you TPOW. I think that puberty in reverse is a nice little catchphrase thrown out by
doctors to make us believe that we are supposed to feel like crap at this time of life. It takes the onus off them - we should just wait to "revert back" like in some sort of weird time machine.

I've also read (was it Susan Love, not sure) that this stuff about women not being "meant to live this long"
is also bull. When they say that the average woman died at age 50 or whatever many years ago, the reason for this average age of death is from a number of factors. For example, deaths in early childhood from diseases that we can now prevent, death during childbirth, etc. There were always lots of women who died at a ripe old age. I think that the truth is that many of us "wish that we were dead" because we feel so bloody awful. There is a difference. Are we having fun yet

I understand what you are saying with this, and when I first heard that statement myself I couldn't relate to it either.

However, as time goes on and I learn more about what is happening with my body and track/tweak my symptoms, I can see peri/meno being the puberty in reverse rings true in some ways....if you take into consideration the age factor between a little girl and mature 50+ woman.

As children, everything about our bodies is growing and changing, and at a rapid rate...nutrician, vitamins, exercise, sunlight, mental health -- all very important to support the body in this developmental stage.

As peri/meno adults, our bodies are once again changing (sometimes at a rapid rate), and these same things are once again extremely important, just about a flat out necessity to feel feel good. We need, once again, maxium support as our bodies decline just like we did as children when our bodies were...um, climbing? LOL.

I don't think we necessarily are unhealthy during peri/meno -- perhaps our bodies just have different needs? Not knowing what those needs are and how to support those needs can make us feel sick, and over a long time period, can make us unhealthy. Not too much different, IMO, than a child not getting enough calcium in early life developing rickets, or cavity prone teeth. Environmental neglects start a nesting ground for disorders such as Autism, ADD, etc.

I think the medical establishment has let us down, and it is a strong contributing factor in why we feel unhealthy. Doctors know much more about child development than peri/meno, making the transition for a child much easier. Vague diagnosis', inaccurate treatments, sometimes absolutely no acknowledgement for our symptoms whatsoever leaving a woman to learn and self treat on her own....it isn't easy to do alone.

Lori

Hi Lidge! ((((((Hugs)))))

Yes, drs have created this nice little catchphrase to make us think this process is "simple" and natural and we should just accept feeling bad and falling apart. Like you, I feel the "longer-life" explanation s*cks too!
I have NEVER, EVER heard of millions of men being told that the reason they have a particular problem, (like impotency, prostate growth and/or cancer; heart attack, etc) is because they are living longer than nature intended!!!!!! Noooooo!!!!! They spend gazillions on research and development fix the problems men have.

By the time a man is 30, he begins having difficulty sustaining the hardness of his erections that he experienced in his twenties. By the 40's erections become a bit more difficult, but with patience they happen. By the 50's sometimes patience isn't enough and they need medical assistance from drugs like viagra (and the MANY, MANY drugs developed since viagra). Have you EVER heard anyone suggest that impotency is a "natural" state? Or that men should just suffer with the lose of hormones and stop having sex? Or that they've lived longer than nature intended, as the reason for the impotency?

I just get sooooooo angry with what women are expected to accept! Aiiiggghhh!

Thanks for these funny statements, Lidge. They kept me from running out into the streets to find a dr. to spit on.

"we should just wait to "revert back" like in some sort of weird time machine.
I think that the truth is that many of us "wish that we were dead" because we feel so bloody awful. There is a difference. Are we having fun yet "

Hi LA99,

You make some good points. And, I really do know what drs are trying to say with the phrase, "meno is puberty in reverse." It's just that I find the phrase to simplified, and not directly analagous. I think if drs took the time to explain medically and scientifically in what ways meno is the reverse of puberty, women might understand it better. You've tried to show me another perspective, and I thank you.

tPOW-

You took the words right out of my mouth with the viagra analogy. Even though the commercials seem to show younger men in them, we know that they are aimed at men "of a certain age". No one suggests that nature didn't intend for men to have erections in their later years. No doctor, when faced with a man's
"limp dingus" will tell him to take an anti-depressant so he can feel less depressed about his affliction.
Is impotence merely "virility in reverse"

Also, from a purely evolutionary point of view, I find it hard to imagine that women would be able to bear children naturally into their 40s (granted it gets harder) if they were meant to croak in their 50s. Minimally, nature would like us to live long enough to raise children to adulthood.

YES! you ladies have been making me laugh with some of this...feels good!

I feel like a throw away most of the time....yep, no longer cute and thin....now sagging here and there, wrinkles appearing, age spots, buns a-draggingand soon I will be flipping the "milk for the baby" over my shoulders........and I am in pretty good shape for my "age"....but somehow I get the feeling that the rest of the world is finished with me now....the last hurrah was over years ago and now only prune juice to look forward to....having days like that now....now viewed as the shapeless hairbrained (fogbrained) blob and hard to even convince myself otherwise...

I AM MAD that do many in the medical establishment just shrug their shoulders, pat us on the back, (there there) and send us home with a perscription for happy pills.....can't we get any of them to read this site? I am not saying that menopause is un-natural, but how can we all ease ourselves (and families) though this with the least amount of discomfort........I would gladly return to those puberty "symptoms"....where I may have been emotionally up and down, but my "top" and "bottom" was definitely always "up".....

I hear ya...and definitely share your urge to run out in the street and find a doctor to spit on. Its very hard to not get angry at the medical establishment for the lack of information, lack of preparation. I've done my regular paps for years, always given lots of information on reproductive health and signs to watch for....but nobody ever mentioned to me that peri can begin in your 30's and possibly last 10-15 years. I had absolutely no information whatsoever until my symptoms started. I expected that the "change" would hit around 50, last for a couple of years and be done with it. I had no idea what peri-menopause even was.

It seems to me that society has almost made this a taboo subject as well. I've found women to be embarrassed about their symptoms and nobody wants to hear about them....unless you are going through it too, nobody understands. Its almost like, until we hit post meno (the point that nobody can deny actually happens to all women), we are expected to suffer in silence.

My own mom and my MIL entered post meno about the same time, and granted, I rolled my eyes at their complaints. They sounded nutty, they sounded like they were pulling imaginary symptoms out of thin air. I tend to refrain from discussing my symptoms with anyone myself, cause I know I sound like that too. How do you explain to someone that "I just don't feel myself"? Yet, a woman that has spent a lifetime in her own body through puberty, PMS, TOMs, pregnancy and childbirth is going to KNOW when her hormones are off.

These symptoms we get....some of them are very hard to describe and can change by the hour. Alot of peri symptoms tend to overlap with other things as well, which contributes to the confusion of what is really happening with our bodies. It does make sense, IMO, to a degree, that the medical establishment is going to run all sorts of tests, and when they come up empty, send us on our way with a clean bill of health, especially when it is apparent that testing hormone levels, unless you are advanced enough, isn't always accurate enough to clinch a diagnosis.




Hey now, you are not a throw away!

I'm pushing 40 and no spring chicken myself. I have to wear a good support bra, support panties, tan to cover up capularies and age spots, wear Depends when I exercise, and only wear a bathing suit in the privacy of my own back yard...but that doesn't mean I no longer have the ability to be sexy and attractive, and I haven't had my last hurrah yet -- perhaps the definition of that last hurrah is just a wee bit different than what I had in my 20s, LOL.

While I am still in the early stages of peri, and don't have years behind me suffering from symptoms which I am prepared may wear me down, I've met many 50+ menopausal women that look and feel fantastic, and it does give me hope that I can be menopausal and still enjoy a high quality of life....I do think this is quite possible, even without the support of the medical establishment....seems we may be better off not listening to these doctors with their attitudes that we ARE throw away older, nutty ladies.

I may not be able to get a date with a 25 yo guy -- but I wouldn't want one, and I can certainly get plenty of attention from men my own age and a little younger....which my husband is flattered by. I'd be willing to bet, being that you say you are in good shape for your age, that you get your share of admiring glances as well, but may not notice it.



Well, I think the good thing is that there is some progress being made. Twenty years ago, no site such as this existed. At least there are some support resources out there, a way to educate ourselves if we cut through the paper shuffling and able to find the information we need as individuals.

I think education is the key to easiest transition. There are many, many things we can do to make ourselves feel better, and the better we feel, the less stress we put on ourselves and our families.

Unfortunately, I am walking this journey alone, without the support of my family. They don't understand what I am going through and it is understandable. However, as I have my good days and bad days, I try to prepare them in advance, let them know that there are certain times where demanding my attention is not a good idea, and that I need time to take care of me, educate ME. By seeing my progress and my warnings, they see me taking control of myself, and can provide support in this small way...allowing me to do so.

In reference to the foot cramps...I myself will get such severe cramps in the arches of my feet that I can't even stand or try to walk. I've been to the doctors and what is the answer...its just menopause...here take this. I agree with the other ladies on here that if these doctors had to experience this, then they'd find a better treatment option. Even the female doctors don't seem to have any compassion for us. What'd they do...turn in their ovaries when they became doctors? If they spent 1/4 the money on the study, cause and effect of perimenopause that they spend on stupid studies like...Why do kids fall off of tricycles and Why do people like to fly frisbees...there'd be more logical treatments for peri already. And those 2 examples...they were real studies done that were given almost a million dollars apiece. GRRRRRR!!!

Yes, Yes, YES, Cadlady...the female doctors DID turn in their ovaries when they became doctors...Yes this has never ceased to amaze me how now none of the female doctors seem s to have anything goikn on with them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You hit the nail on the head LOL........

I get the foot cramps, too. My hands just feel like they have arthritis in them.

I am now beginning to contribute everything wrong with my body to perimenopause. (Is anything right???)

Hang in there!!

Sharon

Cadlady and Slowbear,

Know what I think? I truly believe that female drs who are in peri and/or meno self-medicate themselves. Drs have all the meds available to treat their discomforts at their disposal 24-7. When they feel bad, they can Rx something for themselves and feel better immediately. Female drs probably just take the best of what is discussed in the medical journals, conventions, or the locker room and keep it to themselves. They probably don't want to risk the liability that might result from telling and/or treating their patients with the Rx they are taking. Like male drs they just follow the safe, traditional paths and leave us hanging out to dry. It's the old, "I've got mine, now you get your's" syndrome. I spend most of my days dreaming of torturing drs now. {stomping on the AMA Directory...STOMP...STOMPITY...STOMP...STOMP...KICK!}

T'Pow (new username for URCYN)

Totally agree about female doctors. My old gyno, a woman prescribed a birth control ring for me last year -
I recall she said she took it w/o a break so as to bypass having a period. She did not tell me to do that.
They have everything at their disposal if something goes wrong. They can give themselves paps, breast exams etc. anytime they want. If I knew life would be like this, I would have become a gyno.

In my current practice, there is one male and one female gyno. Only the male doctor will even consider the bioidenticals. While it is more comfortable for most women to have another woman "looking down there"
I realize now that there is no real benefit to female doctors unless they are compassionate, knowledgeable and understanding. In that regard, I think its still hit or miss, whether its male of female.

Hi -

Just stopping by to register another vote for potassium/calcium/magnesium. And the reason you take all three is that they need each other in order for your body to metabolize them properly. One of them by themselves might help a little, but all three together will get you more results.

I've been getting hand, foot, and leg cramps, and this combo REALLY helps.

Cheers!
Solla Luna

Hand and foot symptoms you describe are very similar to what I have been experiencing recently. Mine feels like burning sensation in hands and sore fingers - a bit like you have been lying on your hands all night and my feet ache a bit mainly near my toes and my toes. I'm wondering if it is perimenopause symptoms too? and do we have years of this to go before the menopause?!! My doctor seems to have no answers.