chrisoakey@msn.com

boards. Thanks for the support girls. I didnt want to hear another
3 or 4 years though! So tired and dizzy cant get off the bed.

My age, yes, thats the big 50. Any other conditions. Plenty, how long
have you got. Migraines for years, daily headaches and dizziness, achy
and stiff, terrible fatigue, neck pain, low back pain, left arm pain,
waking jittery and shaky (anyone else get this?) Cant go back to sleep
after 4 in the morning.

Diagnosises.. vestibular migraine, basilar migraine, menieres (then notm
then inner ear dysfunction, reactive hypoglycemia, B12 deficiency,
litchensclerosis, possible thyroid (lots of antibodies) possible adrenals
(still getting this checked) lot of auto immune stuff going on, oh and
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (which I dont really believe in having found
all this other stuff auto immune going on).

Well I know its not terribly relevant to menopause, but you did ask!!!

Best Wishes

Chris


It's not at all unusual in perimenopause to have heavy, frequent, and

eva

news:<F1Qjb.4680$Ec1.409042@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...

----------------
Oh, dear. But it *is* relevant. Especially the thyroid part of it, as I
understand it. I'm not familiar enough with any of these to comment, except
for the migraines. We do have a number of other women here with CFS,
thyroid, etc., and hopefully some of them will respond.

Eva

chakolate

Just so you know, this is usenet, a newsgroup, not a message board. They
often behave the same, but are actually different mechanisms. Just call it
by the right name and nobody will know you're not an expert. :-)

And we're not especially picky about where you put your message; other
newsgroups might flame you for posting in what they consider to be the
wrong spot, but there's 'support' in our name so we try not to do that.

Some women find that migraines stop with menopause; others find that they
start then. Here's hoping yours stop.


Fatigue and jittery-ness along with insomnia are common features of
perimenopause. If you don't already know, perimenopause is the time when
your hormones start dancing of their own volition, completely out of
control. It lasts until you hit menopause. Menopause or postmenopause
begins when you have your last period, but you won't know it's your last
period until you've gone a full year without any.

So we generally refer to this time as peri, which has the advantage of
being easier to spell. :-)

Holy crap! I think you may be in the running for sickest menobabe of the
month.

There are others here who have suffered through CFS, and I'm sure some will
come tell you about their experiences. The rest sounds an awful lot like
Lyme disease, or some other syndrome that masquerades as many other
diseases. Have you checked that out?


Everything you go through during peri is relevant to menopause. The more
we understand about what you're going through, the better we can help.

For starters, here are some websites to help.

Land o'Links:

http://menopause.tripod.com/


Menopause and Beyond:

http://www.geocities.com/menobeyond/beyond.html


HTH, and I hope you're feeling less alone!

Chakolate

--

On sadness:
The cure for this ill is not to sit still,
Or to frowst with a book by the fire,
But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,
And to dig till you gently perspire.
--Rudyard Kipling

sue

HI Chris!

Lots of thyroid antibodies generally means you have "Auto-Immune Thyroid
Disease", aka "Hashimoto's Thyroiditis". I have it, many folks have it, its
estimated that one in 10 women will have it in their lifetime, and its
OFTEN unearthed in Peri-meno. You can "google" on either term and be
rewarded with tons's of info. About.com has a great thyroid disease site,
with forums, and I do suggest you look in on it and start learning about
thyroid disease. The more you know the better!

Thyroid disease DOES impact every system of you body. It can mimic Peri
symptoms, exacerbate Peri Symptoms.

Docs have widely divergent ideas about treating early stage Hashi's. Your
antibodies may be elevated but your TSH may still fall in normal range, this
makes you "sub-clinical" even though may be physically symptomatic. Some
docs will treat "sub-clinical" with thyroid replacement at low dose, some
won't.

When you get your lab results back, you'll have better information on the
status of your thyroid!
The most usual tests are TSH, Free T4, Free T3 and T3 uptake. Some docs
only run TSH, don't let yours go that route. You need ALL the numbers to
know whats going on.


From October of 1995 to April of 2000 I fought all of what you posted in
your first "non-stop bleeding" post. Anxiety and panic attacks, non-stop
bleeds, painful cramping, huge clots, recurring ( never go away) sinus
infections, I could go on and on. My doc at the time just said
"peri-menopause" and not much else. I changed jobs and insurance providers,
so changed docs, and at the first visit I was screened for thyroid problems.
BINGO. My TSH was 11 ( range then was .5 to 5.5) I started on thyroid
replacement and my dose has been steadily increased over the last few
years. I did have my last period in November of 2001. There was a blessed
ending to the <floods>.

Post back to us when you get your labs back. Squeeze your doc to give you
a COPY of your thyroid test results. If you do indeed start on thyroid
meds, you'll be tested periodically and you WILL want to know what your
numbers are to correlate your physical symptoms.

Best wishes to you--

Sue

merry

news:<F1Qjb.4680$Ec1.409042@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...

Hi Chris:

I'm a fairly new poster to ASM, but many of your problems I had as well.
The longest period I had was 49 days. My ob-gyn ruled out fibroids but
told me I was anemic and started talking about an endometrial ablation. I
was so afraid of surgery that I talked him into continuous hormone therapy
(estrace with prometrium). I took it for one year because I didn't ever
want to bleed again, nor be exhausted. I'm not sure what I would do now
considering the fact that HRT is no longer considered safe. I also went to
my endocrinologist and had my thyroid tested as I was showing signs of
being hypothyroid. And I've always had hypoglycemia, which did contribute
to my anger outbursts if I hadn't eaten correctly. Fortunately, my obgyn's
wife had migraines, so he recommended that I take Maxalt. I think that
perimenopause just brought all the problems I was ignoring to a head.

After reading this newsgroup and following the links concerning the
negatives of HRT, I stopped taking it. So, essentially, I think I had the
worst years of my life during perimenopause. When I stopped taking HRT, I
had one regular period, then I never had another one again. I'm finally
getting my life straightened out, and slowing down to the new pace my body
(and mind) is forcing me to take. Life is getting much better.

Merry

chakolate

Oh, for a minute I thought Sue had been fibbing to us about being the
oldest living menobabe. Then I realized it was a different Sue.

For your sake, Sue of Kevin-and-Sue, I wish you had been fibbing. :-)

Chakolate

--

On sadness:
The cure for this ill is not to sit still,
Or to frowst with a book by the fire,
But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,
And to dig till you gently perspire.
--Rudyard Kipling

sue and kevin mullen

Your original post about irregular bleeding etc, does sound normal for
perimenopause. The FSH test, as I am sure others have said doesn't mean
much at all, it just tells you where your hormones are at the time the
test was taken. It is because our hormones vary so much that the FSH
test is a waste.

I have had CFS for 15 yrs now, but I am not clear if you don't believe
in CFS or if you don't believe you have it because of all that is going
on with you.

The first thing to properly diagnose CFS, is to rule everything else out
and meet a set of criteria which is posted on the CDC website:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/cfs/defined/index.htm

A lot of what you say in this post is possible to be caused by CFS. Such
as your being so tired and dizzy can't get off the bed, a lot of people
with CFS have this problems. I know of PWCFS, people with CFS, who have
different kinds of migranes, terrible fatigue, menieres, huypoglycemis,
many vit deficiencies including B12 and lots of other things.

When you mention that you are stiff, neck pain, low back pain, left arm
pain, I think of Fibromyalgia which often goes along with CFS. I don't
wake up jittery and shaky, but if I do too much, I get very shaky and
jittery. If I allow myself to rest it will go away.

Another question, you say you are "So tired and dizzy cant get off the
bed". Is this for a day or so, a week or all the time?

If you want some good websites for CFS, let me know and I will post some
for you.

sue

sue and kevin mullen

LOL...Oh how I wish it were me posting that I had my last period over a
year ago. Right now I am having a period and hope as always that it will
be my last. I won't be holding my breath!!

sue - who will go down in the guiness book of records.

shirley

Hi Chris,

As others have said thyroid problems can affect periods greatly, with
hypErthyroid they can be light and your cycle may be shorter, with
hypOthyroid they can be very heavy and your cycle may be longer (BTDT
both ways). Being hypoglycaemic can also go hand in hand with an under
active thyroid. I have hypoglycaemia too and the episodes usually
happened just before or at the start of a period and I noticed a
marked increase when I entered peri.

I'm not sure if I asked last time you posted but have you had a brain
& cervical spine MRI done ? Your headaches, neck pain, dizziness etc
are all symptoms of ACM, here's a link to some info.

http://www.thechiariinstitute.com

Shirley

w tea

Hello,
This may not be of any use to you as it seems your situation is much
different than mine. I started having irregular periods (from having none to
having non-stop and sometimes heavy) about 9 years ago at age 39. Seems my
irregular cycles are due to fibroids and cysts. My doctor suggested low dose
birth control and all goes well now. Another doctor tells me that many women
take birth control to regulate their cycles clear through menopause.

Jennifer


| "Eva" <EvaDStrucNO@NOatt.net> wrote in message
news:<F1Qjb.4680$Ec1.409042@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...
| > "cmo" <chrisoakey@msn.com> wrote in message
| > news:dcbe26f1.0310162311.3913503c@posting.google.c om...
| > > Hi, I have been here before but not for a while.
| > >
| > > I started irregular bleeding about 5 months ago, first missed a
| > > period, then bled for 8 days heavy, then spotted till day 25, then
| > > missed a period,
| > > now have bled heavily and clots for 14 days, is this normal? My FSH
| > > was 32 last tested. Anyone else had this continuous bleeding, how
| > > long does it normally go on for heavy?
| > | | --------------------
| > Not sure if I am putting this in the right place, cant get used to
these msg
| boards. Thanks for the support girls. I didnt want to hear another
| 3 or 4 years though! So tired and dizzy cant get off the bed.
|
| My age, yes, thats the big 50. Any other conditions. Plenty, how long
| have you got. Migraines for years, daily headaches and dizziness, achy
| and stiff, terrible fatigue, neck pain, low back pain, left arm pain,
| waking jittery and shaky (anyone else get this?) Cant go back to sleep
| after 4 in the morning.
|
| Diagnosises.. vestibular migraine, basilar migraine, menieres (then
notm
| then inner ear dysfunction, reactive hypoglycemia, B12 deficiency,
| litchensclerosis, possible thyroid (lots of antibodies) possible
adrenals
| (still getting this checked) lot of auto immune stuff going on, oh and
| Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (which I dont really believe in having found
| all this other stuff auto immune going on).
|
| Well I know its not terribly relevant to menopause, but you did ask!!!
|
| Best Wishes
|
| Chris
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| It's not at all unusual in perimenopause to have heavy, frequent, and
| > prolonged bleeding. It doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong. I once
| > bled for a month straight, and nothing was wrong. There *is* a light at the
| > end of the tunnel--I finally did stop bleeding. But it lasted about 3 or 4
| > years before that. At one point I had a D&C that was supposed to stop the
| > very heavy bleeding, but it only worked for a few months and then the
| > flooding resumed. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't have bothered
| > with the D&C, which was done in the doctor's office but required anesthesia.
| >
| > You didn't say how old you are or any conditions you've had.
| >
| > Have you read "Laura's Bleeding Pages?" Check out
| > http://menopause.tripod.com/lblanchsite/meno/bleeding.html
| > for some reassurance that you are far from alone.
| >
| > If you want to talk a little more about your situation there are many
other
| > women here who have been through bleeding hell!
| >
| > All the best, Eva