Panic disorder and early menopause - from the old board

[savannah]

(I clicked over here from the old board- hope someone will remember this thread)

I am sitting here is utter amazement by what I am reading. I can totally relate to every one of your stories.

I started feeling strange right after the birth of my now 5 year old son and more pronounced after I stopped breast-feeding him some 6-8 months later. I was then 29. I started having scary thoughts and anxiety/panic attacks that were unbearable. My heart felt as if it were racing and skipping. I could not fall asleep for nearly 2 weeks it seemed. I had gone to my doctor and pleaded for help; I was so afraid, as I also had 2 kids to care for plus a full-time job and all the stresses and responsibilites of single motherhood. He ran some tests - thyroid and hormone levels- and all seemed to be normal. I then had to turn to an anti-depressant to get to sleep. I am now 34. Since then these symptoms have come in waves, most pronounced before my period; PMS is severe, occasional insomnia, heart palpitations, panic attacks, agoraphobia. Bleeding lasts around 8 days, and I can feel myself ovulating again within a week after my period. I'm beginning to think I am in early menopause, perhaps triggered by the hormonal changes of childbirth. Even though the hormone tests were normal, I have heard that many women are indeed going into early menopause and sometimes the tests don't show it.
My GYN wanted to put me on the pill to regulate my hormones because of my irregular periods, but I declined for many reasons, including ethical, considering the source of the hormones in the pills.
I was given some supplements (shaklee phytofem) by a friend and have started taking them a few days ago, only in half dosage (one capsule instead of two) because I am always nervous about taking any sort of pills and such. Anyway, I will mark this board and keep you posted on any improvements I get from them.

[JB*]

Just because your Dr. says your hormones are normal doesn't mean they are for you. TSH levels for thyroid are "normal" between the range .5-5.5 (in most labs). New information is coming forward that is pointing to normal for women being more around 1. Find out your TSH number. If it is over 2 you may want to change Dr's to one who will treat this. Check out the thyroid site at about.com. They also have information on menopause.

[dmearn]

I am so glad to see that I am not the only one. I always here......oh you are to young to be starting that......well someone forgot to tell my body. The panic and mood swings are just horrible. My cycle is so messed up I am thinking of buying stock in pregnancy tests. Thanks to everyone on this board. How many have had missed periods and how do you deal with the fear that comes with it.

[BEVGEO]

To all of you ladies out there who think they are going crazy---your not. I had a hysterectomy immediately after the birth of my son in 1994. I have one ovary. About 4 years ago, my head hair, arm hair and leg hair fell out. Was diagnosed with underactive thyroid and put on Synthroid. My wonderful female doctor also tested me f for everthing from lupus to rhuemetoid arthritis and hormones. At that time,everthing was normal. Since that, I'v had a lymph node removed and biopsied, and a pollup removed in a colonoscopy. The last year or so, have been having heart palpitations, stomach inconveniences, and now my left eyebrow is falling out. My hair on my head never did grow back. These "attacks" come only at night every 3 or 3-1/2 weeks. At first, heart attack was my first thought. Have had EKG's, and worn an "event heart monitor". As of right now, I am due for some more blood work, hepatitis C, sed rate, anti nuclear, and I insisted on a hormone check. I believe it does have something to do with peri/pre menapause. What I want to say is just be persistent with your doctor. Keep a journal of times/symtoms. And if your doctor won't listen, find one who will. Educate yourself. It's your body and nobody knows it better than you. If you think something is not right, then it's probably not. God blessed us with the ability to bear children, now we have to deal with the wrath our bodies are bearing on us. Good health to everyone and HANG IN THERE.

[Cat54]

There's a DEFINITE connection between hormones and everything that is described here. I started these symptoms when I was 39 (46 now), I too have only one ovary and I've been miserable all these years. I went through 2 doctors before finding my wonderful GYN, who is my age; and discovering a wonderful book that could answer all my questions. It explaines in detail how our hormones cause stress, anxiety and palpitations, and has great information about thyroid problems and tests. I've posted this below so I guess this is redundant, but this book has helped me so very much, it's so thick but it explaines EVERYTHING. It's "Screaming to be Heard: Hormone Connections Women Suspect and Doctors Still Ignore" by Elizabeth Lee Vliet, MD. I encourage everyone to either check it out from your library or purchase it, it's worth every penny. (I myself just started on a low-dose birth control pill today--I'm hoping that helps!) Take care, everyone!