Hormonal Hell....Scream!

[TigerLilea]

Are we talking about two different things here? For "normal" women, the transition to menopause, or perimenopause, can be difficult, emotionally and physically. But I find it hard to believe that normal perimenopause is devastating.

I don't know of a single woman who lost her career, home, hopes, plans, family, etc to menopause. I know of many who lost all that and more to ME.

I know it's semantics, but while I am living with this truly devastating disease, I'm sensitive to the term. Or maybe it's just my hormones talking

Are you serious, Sue?? You need to check out some menopause forums. Too many women have lost careers/jobs, have watched their marriages fall apart, have their kids turn on them (teens and adult kids), have parents/siblings/friends who don't understand, have to put up with doctors who don't understand, have lost five to 10 years of their lives, as they go through the h*ll of perimenopause/menopause. Sound familiar??

For me, menopause has been much more devastating than CFS/ME has ever been. And not all women ever see an end to their symptoms. My mom has a friend whose symptoms are just as bad now at 79 as they were when she was in her 50s. About 10% of menopausal women will live with this reality.

 

[SDSue]

Are you serious, Sue?? You need to check out some menopause forums. Too many women have lost careers/jobs, have watched their marriages fall apart, have their kids turn on them (teens and adult kids), have parents/siblings/friends who don't understand, have to put up with doctors who don't understand, have lost five to 10 years of their lives, as they go through the h*ll of perimenopause/menopause. Sound familiar??

For me, menopause has been much more devastating than CFS/ME has ever been. And not all women ever see an end to their symptoms. My mom has a friend whose symptoms are just as bad now at 79 as they were when she was in her 50s. About 10% of menopausal women will live with this reality.

Wow, I really don't want to go there - "there" being a place where I discount or discredit other's suffering. Too close to home.

I have to wonder if the women who experience such horrid menopause are also suffering an underlying condition like ME that is exacerbated or triggered by menopause? Maybe it's easy for doctors to lump it all under "hormones" and stop looking. Maybe the hormonal upheaval shuts down methylation. Who knows. I don't have the answers, and I certainly don't want to insult other suffering patient groups.

 

[Misfit Toy]

I would have to agree with Tammy and Tiger. To me, CFS was and is awful, but I had a life with it. A small one, but something.

For me, perimeno has been the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I cannot function because of it. I could function with CFS.

I am a mess and devastated because of it. I feel like I am in a prison of pain, insomnia, night-sweats and fear. I have a heart that flys, a stomach that is always sick and I panic and now have migraines which I never had.

No one talks about this crap. No one. We are women who only talk to other women about it. I feel doom out of nowhere. I have felt suicidal, looked up ways of killing myself, etc.

With 19 years of CFS, I never ever did that. CFS was and is awful. Perimeno put me in the ground. And, I can't get out.

 

[TigerLilea]

@Misfit Toy - I thought perimenopause was going to be hot flashes, night sweats, and whacky periods. No one said anything about the rage, crashing fatigue, all over body pain, the creepy crawly feeling in my legs, the sudden feeling of doom right before a hot flash would start, constipation, periods so heavy I couldn't go out anywhere, insomnia, waking up feeling like I couldn't breath or swallow, weeks of insomnia, heart palpitations, sudden on-set of arthritis, loss of stamina, needing to nap most afternoons, etc. etc. etc.

Like you, CFS has been much easier for me to live with than menopause.

 

[Misfit Toy]

@TigerLilea , thank you so much. It's much better for me to talk with someone who has CFS and meno or perimeno. No, no one tells me that either. My mom was done by 41 and sailed through it. She can never relate and shakes her head at me. I am unable to be in a relationship because of perimeno. I can't. I am too all over the place mood wise, health wise, you name it. I am not stable physically and emotionally. Ever since this started, my pain has skyrocketed, I developed Sjogrens and all of these other diseases that I didn't have.

If I so much as t urn my head, I can mess it up. Its' like all bones, joints, etc are easily injured. I used to be able to walk, jog, play tennis with CFS. Tennis was rare, but I could do it...and pay for it dearly. Now, I drive down to the corner to mail a letter. Yup. Now, I can barely do anything. I did jump rope last year in my apt and tore a muscle...it has never recovered. I can't believe it. I have never injured myself like I do now. You could throw me up against a wall before and I would be fine.

I tell docs that I feel all of these new illnesses occured because of perimeno. They shake their head, but I know it's true.

I too have insanely heavy periods or scanty periods and they last for 10 days now. Before, they lasted for 2 days. 2 to 3 days. I am due for my period in 2 weeks. Can I tell you how much I am dreading it. I dont' know why because I am already so bad now.

Also, with each period...it's so different. Migraine one time...the next time...hot flashes profusely....next time...breast tenderness for 21 days.

JUST. SHOOT. ME.

 

[xks201]

BHRT is easy to screw up. What exactly did you take and in what doses? I am hoping you took sex hormones, dhea, and potentially thyroid hormone - and I'm hoping you checked cortisol levels and igf-1. If not you had an incomplete workup if all of the above was not checked therefore do not blame BHRT.

 

[Misfit Toy]

I was on Estrone, the least of the side effects of BHRT. I was also on Progesterone, ACE for my adrenals, Pregnenelone and later DHEA. Right from the get go, the estrogen made me nuts. Then the whole combo made me nuts. I would NEVER do it again. I would never take estrogen again and the only thing I would take is Progesterone and that's it.

My DHEA is lower than low at 25, but I what I am seeing is that no woman on here really does well with it.