Is It Over Yet? The Perimenopause Thread
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fitoverfortymom wrote: »Does anyone seem to have alternate hell months? I'll have one month that is just terrible with cramps and sore boobs and all the PMS in the world. Then the next month it's barely noticeable?
Mine weren't like that. Mine were: one month physical hell, next month emotional hell. lol.0 -
For those of you talking about the dizziness: I have had this for years and it seems particularly bad this year. I am truly menopausal this year as I hit my one year mark without a period on December 30th (which also happened to be my birthday!!).
Anyway, I don't think (for me) this is blood sugar at all. It do not feel faint or weak in the slightest. I believe it is a balance issue: as others have said, there is a disconnect between my brain and my eyes.
A declining balance (vestibular) system is common when aging. I think the lack of hormones exacerbates this for some people. My inner ear/vestibular function as never great to begin with (easily car sick, can't spin well, etc).
Anyway, it's pretty bad these days. I am doing more exercise to try to help my vestibular system but I probably need to focus more on balance. And then if I have fluid in my ear or something due to allergies, it's so much worse. I hate this!0 -
For those of you talking about the dizziness: I have had this for years and it seems particularly bad this year. I am truly menopausal this year as I hit my one year mark without a period on December 30th (which also happened to be my birthday!!).
Anyway, I don't think (for me) this is blood sugar at all. It do not feel faint or weak in the slightest. I believe it is a balance issue: as others have said, there is a disconnect between my brain and my eyes.
A declining balance (vestibular) system is common when aging. I think the lack of hormones exacerbates this for some people. My inner ear/vestibular function as never great to begin with (easily car sick, can't spin well, etc).
Anyway, it's pretty bad these days. I am doing more exercise to try to help my vestibular system but I probably need to focus more on balance. And then if I have fluid in my ear or something due to allergies, it's so much worse. I hate this!
It's always been my least favorite symptom. So far, right now, it's a bit better, but I've also been using bio-identical HRT lately.
Hope the vestibular training helps.
A friend of mine calls it the eye wobbles. That's exactly how it feels to me.0 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »It's always been my least favorite symptom. So far, right now, it's a bit better, but I've also been using bio-identical HRT lately.
Hope the vestibular training helps.
A friend of mine calls it the eye wobbles. That's exactly how it feels to me.
The worst part is that NO ONE that I know in real life has mentioned this so I keep feeling like I'm some freak and something is REALLY wrong with me.0 -
The worst part is that NO ONE that I know in real life has mentioned this so I keep feeling like I'm some freak and something is REALLY wrong with me.
That part is very hard! It wasn't until I really started typing "vertigo menopause" and "dizziness menopause" "balance problems menopause" into google that I realized how common it is.0 -
fitoverfortymom wrote: »Does anyone seem to have alternate hell months? I'll have one month that is just terrible with cramps and sore boobs and all the PMS in the world. Then the next month it's barely noticeable?
It's not usually monthly for me now anyway, but my last period in October was horrible - much more painful than they used to be, and a bunch of other symptoms too. This most recent one was almost painless, just annoying because it dragged on for about a week and a half!0 -
Glad I found (& read) this thread. I've not heard about the peri-dizziness before. I did think it was just 'aging'. I would be walking down steps and "miss a step", etc. I'm generally not a klutz but was really starting to feel like one!0
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It is pretty common from what I understand (dizziness/weakness due to perimenopause). I have seen HRT really help with this.0
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It's helping me. I'm doing a low dose bioidentical estrogen, in addition to the bioidentical progesterone I was using. And I can even look up in yoga without falling over lol.Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »It is pretty common from what I understand (dizziness/weakness due to perimenopause). I have seen HRT really help with this.
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
It's helping me. I'm doing a low dose bioidentical estrogen, in addition to the bioidentical progesterone I was using. And I can even look up in yoga without falling over lol.Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »It is pretty common from what I understand (dizziness/weakness due to perimenopause). I have seen HRT really help with this.
That's great!1 -
This is hands down, my most visited thread on this web site. I always love to see what others are adding to it. I feel less crazy all the time!2
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fitoverfortymom wrote: »Does anyone seem to have alternate hell months? I'll have one month that is just terrible with cramps and sore boobs and all the PMS in the world. Then the next month it's barely noticeable?
Okay, first...
EIGHTEEN years of peri? Great Caesar's ghost. Oh dear goodness.
Second...regarding the above: I had a "barely period" for my most recent one, five months ago. I mean it was literally just spotting for a day and a half, which is crazy for me, the Queen of the Heavy Flow (sorry). BUT I figured it must be a period and I counted it as such.
But. Holy guacamole. This one? Okay. This is definitely a period...
So I can't say yet that I'm alternating cycle for cycle or anything, but yes, I am seeing a couple drastic differences here...this isn't the "New Normal" because my "New Normal," apparently, is that there simply isn't any "Normal." I think a lot of us have that in common...?1 -
ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »This is hands down, my most visited thread on this web site. I always love to see what others are adding to it. I feel less crazy all the time!
THIS! To not feel like I'm going crazy! I just had my first 50 day cycle and holy schmoly! It's so heavy compared to my "normal." I am so hoping I don't have ten years of this. More and more considering going back on bio-progesterone. I snapped with my kids the other day for no reason and it was entirely hormonal.2 -
Another vote for favorite thread! Thank you LAwoman. You have all my sympathy for the whiplashing symptoms, too. It's hard to mark some of these posts "like" or awesome" because it sounds so awful. The "awesome" is for your admirable humor in the face of it all, LAWoman!
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fitoverfortymom wrote: »Does anyone seem to have alternate hell months? I'll have one month that is just terrible with cramps and sore boobs and all the PMS in the world. Then the next month it's barely noticeable?
Okay, first...
EIGHTEEN years of peri? Great Caesar's ghost. Oh dear goodness.
Second...regarding the above: I had a "barely period" for my most recent one, five months ago. I mean it was literally just spotting for a day and a half, which is crazy for me, the Queen of the Heavy Flow (sorry). BUT I figured it must be a period and I counted it as such.
But. Holy guacamole. This one? Okay. This is definitely a period...
So I can't say yet that I'm alternating cycle for cycle or anything, but yes, I am seeing a couple drastic differences here...this isn't the "New Normal" because my "New Normal," apparently, is that there simply isn't any "Normal." I think a lot of us have that in common...?
I've gone from 29-31 day cycles to 25. Coincides with starting weight loss a bit, but this alternating hell months thing is WEIRD. Sometimes I feel it coming on for what seems like weeks. Other times I wake up and BOOM SURPRISED OMG THIS IS STILL A THING FOR YOU.
UGGGG.0 -
YES!this isn't the "New Normal" because my "New Normal," apparently, is that there simply isn't any "Normal." I think a lot of us have that in common...?
I'd almost be willing to deal with the hot flashes and other side effects if I just knew when it was coming, how heavy it would be, how long it would last, and/or how I would feel during it. In other words, the stuff I knew for 30 years.
(I know that I'm lucky to have had a predictable period back in the days when I was regular...I'm not sneak bragging, just commiserating!)1 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »fitoverfortymom wrote: »Does anyone seem to have alternate hell months? I'll have one month that is just terrible with cramps and sore boobs and all the PMS in the world. Then the next month it's barely noticeable?
Mine weren't like that. Mine were: one month physical hell, next month emotional hell. lol.
I went through about 18 months of the emotional hell ... it was like I'd turned into a completely different person. And all the time, not just around my TOM, although it was definitely worse around my TOM.
And then, rather suddenly about 2 years ago, that stopped.
I still get irritable once in a while around my TOM, but not even close to what it was during those 18 months or so.
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For those of you talking about the dizziness: I have had this for years and it seems particularly bad this year. I am truly menopausal this year as I hit my one year mark without a period on December 30th (which also happened to be my birthday!!).
Anyway, I don't think (for me) this is blood sugar at all. It do not feel faint or weak in the slightest. I believe it is a balance issue: as others have said, there is a disconnect between my brain and my eyes.
A declining balance (vestibular) system is common when aging. I think the lack of hormones exacerbates this for some people. My inner ear/vestibular function as never great to begin with (easily car sick, can't spin well, etc).
Anyway, it's pretty bad these days. I am doing more exercise to try to help my vestibular system but I probably need to focus more on balance. And then if I have fluid in my ear or something due to allergies, it's so much worse. I hate this!
Yes, I agree that it is not a blood sugar issue. I can eat and feel quite comfortable, and then all of a sudden ... disconnect!
I too have always gotten car sick easily, have difficulty reading on the bus, seasick out on water, etc.1 -
fitoverfortymom wrote: »fitoverfortymom wrote: »Does anyone seem to have alternate hell months? I'll have one month that is just terrible with cramps and sore boobs and all the PMS in the world. Then the next month it's barely noticeable?
Okay, first...
EIGHTEEN years of peri? Great Caesar's ghost. Oh dear goodness.
Second...regarding the above: I had a "barely period" for my most recent one, five months ago. I mean it was literally just spotting for a day and a half, which is crazy for me, the Queen of the Heavy Flow (sorry). BUT I figured it must be a period and I counted it as such.
But. Holy guacamole. This one? Okay. This is definitely a period...
So I can't say yet that I'm alternating cycle for cycle or anything, but yes, I am seeing a couple drastic differences here...this isn't the "New Normal" because my "New Normal," apparently, is that there simply isn't any "Normal." I think a lot of us have that in common...?
I've gone from 29-31 day cycles to 25. Coincides with starting weight loss a bit, but this alternating hell months thing is WEIRD. Sometimes I feel it coming on for what seems like weeks. Other times I wake up and BOOM SURPRISED OMG THIS IS STILL A THING FOR YOU.
UGGGG.
I've been using a tracker to track mine for the last 8 or 9 months because I knew it was getting more and more weird. I confused the tracker completely! But since early 2014, I have been having a 10-12 day period, then I got a few days break, then I spotted for about 2-4 days, then I got about a week off, and then I had a 10-12 days period.
My gynaecologist determined that I had a large polyp in early 2015, which he removed and that improved the situation for a while. I was on about a 23 days cycle still with 10-12 day periods ... but that was an improvement.
Then the spotting and irregularity started up again ... and they found a haemorrhagic ovarian cyst which hung around for a few months. It resolved itself, and things kind of settled back into about a 21 day cycle.
Then the spotting and irregularity started up again ... and in early December they discovered precancer. But apparently it is a low grade and should resolve itself. I'll be tested again (probably more biopsies) in May. Both my gynaecologist and oncologist tell me that all the weirdness I'm experiencing is related to perimenopause and made worse by these other health issues.
However, I checked my tracker and my last couple periods have been on a 32 day cycle!! How exciting! I'm actually getting a bit of a break in between!
Who knows how long that's going to last though. As you've mentioned, there simply isn't any "normal" ... each day could bring something new. I simply don't go anywhere without my ginger tablets (they help the dizziness a bit) and feminine supplies.
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I want to know if any one started with a short cycle say 22-25 days as their normal in life and had it shorten further or did it lengthen? I think the idea that it could get any shorter sounds terrible!0
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ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »This is hands down, my most visited thread on this web site. I always love to see what others are adding to it. I feel less crazy all the time!
are you also part of our group? (I can't remember because...menobrain!)0 -
ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »I want to know if any one started with a short cycle say 22-25 days as their normal in life and had it shorten further or did it lengthen? I think the idea that it could get any shorter sounds terrible!
For a while a couple of years ago, I'd go 80+ days without and think: this is it! then bam. Then it was coming every 2 weeks. Or lasting a month at a time. Then it just stopped. knock on wood?0 -
So I can't say yet that I'm alternating cycle for cycle or anything, but yes, I am seeing a couple drastic differences here...this isn't the "New Normal" because my "New Normal," apparently, is that there simply isn't any "Normal." I think a lot of us have that in common...?
Yes, "normal" is no longer A Thing with regard to my reproductive processes!ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »I want to know if any one started with a short cycle say 22-25 days as their normal in life and had it shorten further or did it lengthen? I think the idea that it could get any shorter sounds terrible!
My cycle used to be about 24 days, pretty regular... occasionally I'd go a day over or under, but not often. I've been very irregular over the past couple of years, but it seems like in general I go for much longer now - apart from a time last spring when I had three periods in the space of 8 weeks! After that it was three months until the next one, then 5 weeks, 7 weeks, 10 weeks. (I keep a spreadsheet of my daily weigh-ins, and note on there when I get a period so that I have a record of it now, when I need it! I don't have that for 2015, but as far as I remember I had 5 or 6 periods in total that year. End of 2014/start of 2015 was when things started going wonky.)
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I must wanted to thank everybody again for your input and insights...these mean a lot.
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »I want to know if any one started with a short cycle say 22-25 days as their normal in life and had it shorten further or did it lengthen? I think the idea that it could get any shorter sounds terrible!
For a while a couple of years ago, I'd go 80+ days without and think: this is it! then bam. Then it was coming every 2 weeks. Or lasting a month at a time. Then it just stopped. knock on wood?
My regular was the standard 28 days, up until 6 months ago now the cycles are every 16-18 days. My doctor says in time they will lengthen and that I'm just at the beginning of peri....ugh1 -
it will never be over.. sigh.....................the worst for me is anxiety., never had it in my whole life/oh, and I am up at 3,,, and get a total of 4 hours sleep usually.0
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I consider myself one of the "lucky" ones in that my cycles never, thankfully, got shorter. I was one of those every-28-days people. I mean, it was like clock work. Then, I think it was in 2012 (I was 48 at the time), I had my first skipped cycle. I think I had two that year. Then normal. Then next year, I might have had 3 skipped cycles. Then the next year I went six months without one. Then this past December, I made it a whole year. For me, the longer cycles were wonderful. My best friend is 51 now and has always been a person with shorter cycles. They seem to be coming even closer together now and I feel bad for her. She's always on her period it seems.1
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If you haven't joined us in this group yet... please do! We'd love more active posters!
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/506-near-or-post-menopausal-group3 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »I want to know if any one started with a short cycle say 22-25 days as their normal in life and had it shorten further or did it lengthen? I think the idea that it could get any shorter sounds terrible!
For a while a couple of years ago, I'd go 80+ days without and think: this is it! then bam. Then it was coming every 2 weeks. Or lasting a month at a time. Then it just stopped. knock on wood?
My regular was the standard 28 days, up until 6 months ago now the cycles are every 16-18 days. My doctor says in time they will lengthen and that I'm just at the beginning of peri....ugh
I used to have longer cycles (through my early 30s)...about 35-40 days. But they were regular. Then, in my early 30s, suddenly I went to 20-25-ish day cycles. That seemed quite short particularly since the period itself always lasted at least 7 days, and was very heavy for at least 5 of those days. In addition I'd have spotting beforehand so I felt like half my life was spent with something period or period-adjacent. But again, I remained regular like that, for years.
I was "short" like that all the way up until my mid-40s, and now in my late 40s I have these crazy long cycles, these 3- or 4- or 5-month things.
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »If you haven't joined us in this group yet... please do! We'd love more active posters!
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/506-near-or-post-menopausal-group
I've joined...I didn't see a lot of action...will try to get gabby over there!0
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