1) Poor sleep
2) Anxiety/hypochondria
3) Heart Palpitations
4) Loss of Libido (absolutely no interest )
5) Feeling tired during the day when I never did before.
chills and temperature swings
digestive problems (acid reflux, burpy-ness, mild queasiness)
sudden weepy feelings
apathy (lost my enjoyment of living somehow. Low grade depression?)
increased irritability and loss of sympathy/empathy for others
Few night sweats and palpitations, they don't bother me too much at this point. I still have weird body feelings, but I think they might be part of anxiety...hard to tell...
I feel woozy in the head, too, sometimes. Today my stomach feels a bit upset, it has been relatively stable lately. I hope it's just because I'm expecting a period within four days or so. The wooziness is new. It's not exactly like dizziness, but sort of like it.
I don't feel quite as depressed lately. We adopted two nice black cats, (one is a handful) and I got a bike. I hadn't been on one in about 35 years. It's true what they say. You don't forget how to ride it!
I've been going through the peri for so long, it's getting to be very depressing already! My top 5 when peri started were:
1. ANXIETY/PANIC ATTACKS - went on meds....helped tremendously
2. Hot Flashes/Night Sweats - disgusting but those have subsided
3. Digestive issues - bloating, IBS type symptoms, loud noises, feels like
someone turned a hose on inside my guts
4. Lack of energy/fatigue
5. Loss of libido
There is so so much more I've gone through that I probably can't even list all of it. I had a hysterectomy when I was 37 years old, but my ovaries were left because they were healthy. If I would have known then what I know now, I would have told them to yank those puppies out and let me get through the menopause then. I started around 41 y/o with all this peri stuff, and I'm currently 50-1/2 y/o and still experiencing all of it. It is not as constant, but new things have developed such as severe back problems, swollen feeling in my low abdomen (almost like before your period swollen). I've had my FSH levels checked and according to the results I'm "right around the corner" from menopause. I'm starting to wonder how long "right around the corner" might last. I feel like I'm in hormonal hell!
At least I know I'm not crazy and that there are many other women going through the same. Hugs to all my sisters out there. We are in this together.
rkossman - Sorry for all your suffering! My gynecologist removed all my organs for a benign ovarian cyst (I curse him to this day!) and even though I'm on HRT, it's been hellish.
Hysterectomy causes the displacement of the bladder and bowel since the uterus is no longer there to hold them in place. This can cause elimination issues and even prolapse down the road. Constipation seems to be common after hysterectomy. When my bladder is full and I haven't had a BM recently (sorry if TMI), I can get incredible pain in my lower abdomen and it gets worse just be walking. My bowels alternate between loose and sluggish (constipation).
Your back problems may also be from the anatomical / skeletal changes caused by hysterectomy. The uterine ligaments that are severed to remove the uterus are the structural supports for the pelvis. After hysterectomy, the spine slowly compresses and the rib cage falls toward the hip bones leaving us with that post-hysterectomy thick midsection, big belly, and a flat looking butt (no more curve in the lower back). I've been lucky enough not to have the typical post-hysterectomy weight gain but I now have a big lower abdomen and a more scrunched looking midsection. I used to have very flat abs even though I was almost 50 at the time of my hyst.
Have you tried HRT? I quickly became severely depressed and anxious (along with many other estrogen deficiency symptoms) and getting a good amount of estrogen in my system has done wonders. I'm still not close to the old intact me but I can function.
Sometimes I wonder if I am going crazy....I just went on BC to hopefully help with the sleep issues and depression I'm experiencing. I'm 44 and even though tests confirm I'm not menopausal, I do have estrogen on the low side (59) - don't know about my other hormones because they were not checked.
I had a nervous breakdown in early March and I don't know if it was hormonally charged but I've been in a funk ever since...
Worst symptoms:
*Sleeplessness (and I mean I did not sleep at all last night or the night before maybe one hour - even with Trazodone - got some Ambien today)
*Depression - sadness over a lot of things...like kids getting older, my parents getting older....stuff like that
*No motivation other than to read or lay around or sit on the computer reading forums like this.
*Anxiety (got on med for that but weaned off because I was scared of becoming addicted)
*Guilty feelings because I can't be there "fully" for my family...I want to be there in the moment but I'm always thinking about and fearing the future...never had this before. I try to be mellow and I rarely yell or get angry. Also my husband annoys me because he doesn't really understand - and even though he loves me, he doesn't communicate much. Prefers snuggling and watching TV
The insomnia has been the worst symptom for me. I went through a year where I slept anywhere from 1 1/2hrs a night to 5 if I was lucky. I ran from doctor to doctor with no answers. I was given lots of prescriptions I either never filled or filled and then threw in a draw, like Lunesta. Anti-depressants were shoved at me continuously. I knew I wasn't depressed on my own, I was tired, I couldn't sleep and without sleep nothing in your body works right, mentally or physically.
I think if you can figure out how to get some sleep, the rest of the symptoms will decrease or at least not be so overwhelming. I still don't sleep great but I sleep better than I did during the worst. Though I'm going through some pain junk right now after some dental work and I can't sleep well. I really hate not being able to sleep, you feel worse, things hurt worse, you feel blah and uninterested in everything.
Hopefully the bc pills will help level out your hormones and you can get some sleep. That will probably make the biggest difference in the world for you.
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