Is ANYONE at all going through perimenopause????????????????

[LovebirdsFlying]

Originally Posted by 1whoiswaiting

I am 47 years old and can relate to most of these symptoms. I have never had children (also not married) so don't know if that makes any difference. I just feel so out of wack and not my normal self. I used to be so regular and just within the last year my body is changing. I am having alot of trouble sleeping through the night and then have to get up and go to work. With the way I am feeling...I just want to crawl under the covers and be left alone. I don't like being like this....I am tired, depressed, moody and on edge. Don't really want to take any meds so am trying other healthier ways to get through this.

Not sure if motherhood status makes a difference or not. I've had 3, and I'm going through all of that.

Today I just haven't been able to get *warm*.

[Hope in Him]

I am 45 and going through this as well. The worst is the foggy brain....my kids call me Dory.....and the pms symptoms. I cramp, I don't start on time...and I cramp whether I start or not.....so it is like having to deal with pms for multiple times a month. I am sad for no apparent reason off and on....I feel stressed easier than I use too. Alot of things just annoy me now that would have never bothered me before.....and I really, really hate not being able to remember things. Someone says something to me and it just flys right out of my brain. I laugh about it alot but it is frustrating. Is there anything that really helps with the brain function? Also I seem to lack motivation for things. I can't remember what I am suppose to do....I make a list and then can't find the list or stare at it mindlessly. Last week it was cramps, this week I am listless and sad....and next week, well who knows! Good news is no hot flashes! Ok, guess that is enough! lol thanks for listening!

How long will this go on? Do you just get used to it?

[LookingUplinda]

i LOVED FLAXSEED OIL IN CAPS:! When I had to stop taking them for surgery, my hot flashes came back like FIRE! In about 7 weeks. I also have great help with GABA, it helps depression, moodiness, and hormones, look it up on the web. Both of these were MIRACLES for me, inexpensive too! Be sure to check them out. No side effects either!

[LovebirdsFlying]

Good to know about the flaxseed oil and GABA, Linda. Hope: I don't get "Dory." Could you educate me? Thanks.

[Mishkins]

Originally Posted by 1whoiswaiting

I am 47 years old and can relate to most of these symptoms. I have never had children (also not married) so don't know if that makes any difference. I just feel so out of wack and not my normal self. I used to be so regular and just within the last year my body is changing. I am having alot of trouble sleeping through the night and then have to get up and go to work. With the way I am feeling...I just want to crawl under the covers and be left alone. I don't like being like this....I am tired, depressed, moody and on edge. Don't really want to take any meds so am trying other healthier ways to get through this.

Yep - crawling under the covers and being left ALONE is exactly how I feel and sometimes i do get the chance to do this - and end up with 3 cats on my bed with me!! I too never sleep thru the night anymore and I used to sleep like a log. Hot flushes, cold sweats and a memory that doesn't remember what it was told 5 minutes ago. SUCH fun (NOT). It's so lovely at work - working with a patient and sweating all over them and my hands leaving little sweaty marks everywhere. I've tried all the natural stuff - doesn't do one iota for me. A friend of mine just stopped and that was it had no symptoms and I wanted to kill her!! LOL. Def genetic - all the females in my family have suffered big time. The pits is the week leading up to my period which is now becoming irregular. I am HOT ALL THE TIME - it's unbearable. I'm seeing an endocrinologist and in the midst of lots of hormonal tests to see what help is available. Also - does anybody else just almost drop off to sleep during the day (like "waves" of tiredness that are almost impossible to resist?). Bless you all - at least one day it WILL get better!! My 85 year old Mum can run rings around me!!!!! xxx Mishk.

[Hope in Him]

Originally Posted by LovebirdsFlying

Hope: I don't get "Dory." Could you educate me? Thanks.

LovebirdsFlying.... Dory is from Finding Nemo....she was this fish that was well...kind of brain dead.....People would tell her something and 15 seconds later she had forgotten all about it. So my kids call me Dory....and some of the younger ladies at work also call me that sometimes. Poor me!

[LovebirdsFlying]

Originally Posted by Hope in Him

LovebirdsFlying.... Dory is from Finding Nemo....she was this fish that was well...kind of brain dead.....People would tell her something and 15 seconds later she had forgotten all about it. So my kids call me Dory....and some of the younger ladies at work also call me that sometimes. Poor me!

Thanks for the education. I never saw Finding Nemo, but I know about "goldfish memories," and I have described my own thinking as "a swiss cheese brain."

[sunshine2777]

Originally Posted by Hope in Him

I am 45 and going through this as well. The worst is the foggy brain....my kids call me Dory.....and the pms symptoms. I cramp, I don't start on time...and I cramp whether I start or not.....so it is like having to deal with pms for multiple times a month. I am sad for no apparent reason off and on....I feel stressed easier than I use too. Alot of things just annoy me now that would have never bothered me before.....and I really, really hate not being able to remember things. Someone says something to me and it just flys right out of my brain. I laugh about it alot but it is frustrating. Is there anything that really helps with the brain function? Also I seem to lack motivation for things. I can't remember what I am suppose to do....I make a list and then can't find the list or stare at it mindlessly. Last week it was cramps, this week I am listless and sad....and next week, well who knows! Good news is no hot flashes! Ok, guess that is enough! lol thanks for listening!

How long will this go on? Do you just get used to it?

You described some of my worst symptoms to a "T"! I got desperate enough to find a doc who understands what is happening and got on some natural hormones. I understand this permenopausal stuff can continue for up to 10 years??? !!!! ... It got me so bad I can't function and I was afraid my memory or lack of memory would actually cause me to do something where someone gets hurt... not intentionally but through a mistake or error... like leaving a burner on or something else electrical turned on.. or forgetting to lock the door.... or not putting my standard shift car emergency brake on and the car rolls into something...the list could go on... my girlfriend dropped her cell phone in a glass of water by accident.. that could get costly too... try and find a doc who "gets it"... ask around..thats what I did... if you have it has bad as I do.... you'll need to do something... I'm 50 and this started about 4 months ago.... The saying "you are not alone" wont do any good if you can't remember "why you are not alone!".. Hang in there!

[JEHOVAHSHALOM]

2went thru it a few years ago, beginning around age 40 and lasting just under 10 years. Not too bad really. Had some bleeding so I was put on the Pill to control the bleeding and about 3 years into that I saw a change in my periods. When I stopped the Pill, my periods were no longer. The hot flashes were rough in the beginning, the Pill will do that to you when you go off. I read a lot of women stay on the Pill for that reason. It is not a good idea though. The hot flashes taper down as time goes on. I use a small fan aimed inches from my face at night, when the sweats are the worst. You'll get thru it fine and will adjust to your new body---it's not that bad.

[LookingUplinda]

Originally Posted by JEHOVAHSHALOM

2went thru it a few years ago, beginning around age 40 and lasting just under 10 years. Not too bad really. Had some bleeding so I was put on the Pill to control the bleeding and about 3 years into that I saw a change in my periods. When I stopped the Pill, my periods were no longer. The hot flashes were rough in the beginning, the Pill will do that to you when you go off. I read a lot of women stay on the Pill for that reason. It is not a good idea though. The hot flashes taper down as time goes on. I use a small fan aimed inches from my face at night, when the sweats are the worst. You'll get thru it fine and will adjust to your new body---it's not that bad.

but if they are bad(hotflashes), 1000 mg's of flaxseed oilmaaaaavelous!

[Barkley]

I always have taken flax seed oil, so I guess that's why I never had hot flashes.
I wonder whats good for concentration? Two days before my period I'm lucky I can say my name. Work is so frustrating especially when your multi tasking.
I might as well take the two days off stay home and watch the Golden Girls. that's abut all I can handle.

[LookingUplinda]

Originally Posted by Barkley

I always have taken flax seed oil, so I guess that's why I never had hot flashes.
I wonder whats good for concentration? Two days before my period I'm lucky I can say my name. Work is so frustrating especially when your multi tasking.
I might as well take the two days off stay home and watch the Golden Girls. that's abut all I can handle.

do a search on 'vinpocetene' for the brain also check out GABA, good hormone balancer, also great for depression.

[Sunny]

Letsee...

Utterly exhausted to the point of not being able keep my eyes open yesterday.... and bright eyed and bushy tailed at 1 a.m. after a sleeping period of about 3 hours.

Yeah, I used to be sort of intelligent. But the Dory thing has me too.

Yup. fun.

[LovebirdsFlying]

Originally Posted by Sunny

Letsee...

Utterly exhausted to the point of not being able keep my eyes open yesterday.... and bright eyed and bushy tailed at 1 a.m. after a sleeping period of about 3 hours.

Yeah, I used to be sort of intelligent. But the Dory thing has me too.

Yup. fun.

I *don't* enjoy the utter exhaustion, but there is an upside to the Dory thing.

Years ago, a psychiatrist told me, "If we could find a valve and drain off a few of your IQ points, you'd be much happier." Not that intelligence is a bad thing, but people with above average IQ's do tend to be less happy. For one thing, they tend to be rejected socially, labelled a "know-it-all" or a "geek." When I was young, especially, my peers were even less tolerant of the mistakes I made, using them as an opportunity to gloat over me with an attitude of "See? You're not so smart after all, are you?" For another, according to my therapist, we tend to be acutely aware of the more subtle put-downs, and it's not as easy to slip them past us. "Well, it seems to me that someone as smart as you are should be able to figure that out." Combining the two--more actual rejection, and keener awareness of it--and we can be quite sad.

But becoming somewhat fuzzy is a comic relief, for myself and others. People no longer feel threatened by me, or get the idea that I consider myself above them. And since the majority of the women in my age group are all acting like knuckleheads, I fit in much better socially.

[pokeygucci]

My recommendation is to check out books on menopause and perimenopause at the library, especially ones written by female doctors. That is what I did and it goes into more detail of how to deal with various symptoms that your doctor will probably not have time to go over at an office visit.

[pokeygucci]

I recommend getting some books at the library on menopause and perimenopause, especially written by female doctors. You will be able to get more ideas then probably your physician would have time to go over with you at an office visit.

[marie2]

Originally Posted by LookingUplinda

i LOVED FLAXSEED OIL IN CAPS:! When I had to stop taking them for surgery, my hot flashes came back like FIRE! In about 7 weeks. I also have great help with GABA, it helps depression, moodiness, and hormones, look it up on the web. Both of these were MIRACLES for me, inexpensive too! Be sure to check them out. No side effects either!

you made me realize something. a while back every single hot flash disappeared for me. i thought it was the fiber i was eating (which helps alot but not completely). as i read your post i realized, it is the (deodorized fish oil capsules) i have been taking, because the timing lines up. fish oil does the same things for you that flaxseed oil does plus it is good for memory too.
So glad you posted this, i won't be taking a break from my omega 3!

[Hope in Him]

A nurse friend of mine recommended Estro...something. It is over the counter found in Wal Mart. I started taking it last week cause I started doing that whole...I want to cry, no I want to shot someone...no I think I'll just sit down and have a nervous breakdown....lol! It has helped with the whole emotional stuff....now if I could just get my back to stop hurting and find my brain. Guess from you guys are saying I should go take some Omega 's or flaxseed.

[God's Lamb]

Does anyone here know what to take for sleeping???? Gosh, that is the most upsetting for me. I need sleep, I'd like to get on something that is natural....anyone have any ideas???

Both SLE Lupus and fibromyalgia cause insomia, not counting finishing up
menopause.

Lovebirdsflying.....I love your sense of humor!

I grew up feeling like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz....I needed a brain. I had dyslexia and didn't know it until my child had it and was diagnoised with it. Poor kid, he got it from both sides, his father, my husband had it too! Doctor's have told me that people like us are very smart, it just that it is difficult to test us. He said we use both sides of our brains, where other use just one side. On school tests that were give yearly by the State, my IQ was between 45 and 75. I was so ashamed and embarrased that I was so dumb that I never told anyone my score tests, never not ever, until I grew up and didn't care what others thought.

You just say the word test and my mind would lock down, I'd forget my name, luckily my brorther was in several classes and either sat in front of me or behind me. I would hand him my paper and he'd write my name on it. The only thing that saved me was I did extra work in school, and was good in all my classes, the teachers thought I was a good student, it was just having to test was my downfall.

Today I am very well read, so much so that everyone around me thinks I'm really smart. My girl friend has an IQ of 140, and she told me that she thought that I was one of the smartest people she had ever met and not to feel ashamed about my Leaning disabilities and tests. We are each others mentor...we are like sisters I miss her dearly....she moved to Montana, but we still keep in touch by phone and e-mails. Anyhoo.....it's okay to be "Dory".


So if I had my choice, I'd rather be smart like you, LovebirdsFlying....


God Bless <><

[marie2]

Godslamb, up until the last year i have always slept like a baby, so sleepless nights were a misery to me. i told my doctor i did not want to go on sleeping pills but the loss of sleep was making me miserable. she put me on Rozerem, she said it works with the natural melatonin in our brain and is not addictive. for me it is a miracle pill, and i don't have to take it every night. you could ask your doctor if it's right for you.