Are there any women out there who are having, or have had an extremely difficult time with Perimenopause or PMS? My Pms has recently gotten so bad.. it's almost to the point of non-functioning. A lot of the symptoms often feel similar to low cortisol and so i've increased my steroids, but I know that it's related to my menstrual cycle as I've been tracking it. I have an appt w/ gynocologist in a couple of weeks, which seems so far away given how lousy I feel. So fatigued all of the time .. absolutely no get-up-and-go..but never sleep through the night, depressed, headachy, night sweats,etc.
Anyway, has anyone had, or is anyone having a similar experience? And how are you handling it? I hate to keep increasing steroids to bring me to life.
I have had a terrible time with perimenopause. I was diagnosed with primary Addison's about 18 months ago, and the HC made an immediate and astounding improvement to my life. However, there were a bunch of symptoms that didn't disappear, and became clearer to identify once those associated with lack of cortisol had gone.
Night sweats is one of them. But worse for me was the terrible anxiety, the irritability, the tiredness, the incredibly sore, swollen breasts. In the end, my GP and I decided I was in perimenopause and we tried a number of solutions. What I've ended up taking is Depo-Provera. To be honest, the night sweats have not gone, but everything else has improved immensely.
I have not yet found a solution to the night-sweats, but if anyone out there does, please post.
I was diagnosed in 2003 and at that time went thru disease induced menopause
I had no cycle for 9 years with some hormone replacement
I ended up stopping all the hormone due to sudden breast tenderness and swelling. Now after a few years more I have started cycles again with breast tenderness and severe cramps bloating and weight gain.
I suddenly have normal am cortisol levels so I cut my cortisol dose in half
Also all of my estrogen and other hormones are normal. Although I feel lousy
I truley understand what your going thru and I strongly believe it is related tl cortisol We seriously need a endo that specializes in the relationship of all these hormones. None of them seem I interested and I think it's a lack of knowledge as research. I will keep you in mi d and post to you when I find the solution because I plan to master this merry go round!!
Re: addison's and perimenopause 
