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[mamma1027]

 Since my last post re:norethisterone - I started bleeding heavily 3 days after stopping the tabs, which eventually dwindled to spotting which I get every 3/4 days. I piled on a good 10lbs, and have a face full of spots. Great. But, far worse are the mega flushes I am now experiencing. At least 20 a day/night - far worse than a year ago when I was put on clonidine which seemed to stop them in their tracks. I don't know whether it's the norethisterone that has caused this to happen or if it's just a coincidence, but I feel really rough. Fortunately I'm seeing my gynae this Thursday. I finally had a letter from her saying that the polyp I had showed oestragen stimulation, so she wants to discuss the mirena coil with me.......obviously forgetting that I told her I had had it twice before, and removed twice due to unacceptable side effects (weight gain, acne, constant but light bleeding). Sorry if I'm coming across all whingey, but I'm so fed up. Everything seems like a battle. It took three visits to my GP to get referred back to gynae (didn't qualify for an automatic follow-up as the poly wasn't cancerous) even though I was still bleeding and have had menstrual-like cramps for months. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled I haven't got cancer, especially as my mother had it, and an oestragen-hungry breast cancer, but I know something's not right and I feel yucky day in, day out. Thanks for reading, and God bless you all xxx

[Kathleen]

Hello mamma1027.

I don't have your exact problem, probably because I am at a different stage to you but I am also struggling atm and wanted to send hugs.

The menopause has given me lots of problems with anxiety and today I feel nauseous as well. Oddly I've never had the mega flushes you are unfortunately experiencing so it seems mother nature has many ways to torture us!

Take care.

K.

[mamma1027]

Aw, thank you so much Kathleen. I feel worn out at the moment - no sooner have I dropped off to sleep at night when I'm awoken feeling like someone's poured hot coals in my belly and the fire's creeping up my neck and head. Then the profuse sweating starts so I get up and waft my nightie up and down (trying not to disturb hubby), climb back into bed, and then the whole rotten cycle starts again. I haven't had any anxiety problems (poor you ) but I have had nausea. As you say, mother nature really does have many ways to torture us xxx

[mamma1027]

I'm still on clonidine, Stellajane, but since the norethisterone it has stopped working for the flushes. It's good for my blood pressure though, as I am taking leflunomide and prednisolone for my arthritis. If I take many more tabs (I'm on several others too) I think I will rattle

[CLKD]

I sound like a tin with pebbles inside 

How R U otherwise?

[mamma1027]

I feel like pants! I have fibromyalgia, polymyalgia rheumatica and seronegative arthritis. My spine is degenerating from top to bottom, my knees keep giving way, but apart from all that I'm fine . At 51 I feel more like 91, BUT.....I keep smiling and laughing and won't give in. Having had peri symptoms for several years I was thrilled when my periods finally stopped last May, and that my then flyshes were halted by the clonidine. All this palaver now is both painful and more than a nuisance. It will be interesting to see what my gynae has to offer today. Tbh, if she said I needed a hysterectomy U'd be over the moon. I've had constant cramps for 6 months now - I honestly thought that once the polypectomy and d&c was done they would stop. They are worse. Hey ho

[CLKD]

Ache all over, inside and out then?

Let us know how you get on!

[mamma1027]

I've seen my gynae today. As the polyp I had showed oestrogen stimulation she thinks that either my ovaries are having a final flurry (as she put it) or something else is driving it, so she's going to have me scanned to see if I have ovarian cysts. She would only give me a hysterectomy as a last resort as I have had abdominal adhesions in the past. As for the pain I'm in it could be a cyst or musculoskeletal, but I've got to put up with it for the time being. So the waiting game continues.

[CLKD]

Hysterectomy sometimes doesn't solve all problems  .  Do you know how long you will need to wait for the scan?

[Taz2]

I definitely wouldn't recommend a hysterectomy unless it was really necessary.

Taz x   

[mamma1027]

She's marked the scan request form as urgent, but couldn't give me an idea of how long it will be because things tend to be slower in the summer

[dangermouse]

The final flurry is indeed true for a lot of women where the brain panics about the plummeting oestrogen levels, so over stimulates the ovaries to pump out more oestrogen causing unnaturally high spikes.

These mid-peri surges can cause a sudden worsening of symptoms (and some extra ones like nausea), along with cysts and benign liver growths, and I've read they can last between a few months to a year or so.

Mine were very bad where I had no choice but to be on the combined pill without breaks (as intense nausea so couldn't eat at all) after many years of all the other peri symptoms. I also had liver growths which were captured via CT from nausea/gastro investigation and confirmed benign after an MRI. A lot of pregnant women also get them due to the oestrogen surges.

I'm just testing stopping the pill (a year since spikes started) as been feeling overwhelmed by the Norethisterone in my pills the last 2 months (when it was making me feel better) to see if the surges have stopped. Terrified the nausea will come back but 2 days in and, apart from bursts of tachycardia, ok so far...

Try not to worry about the polyps as it all sounds in line with peri surges.

[mamma1027]

Thank you dangermouse. Out of interest, did/do you suffer with persistent cramps? And any pmt-like symptoms? Since this all kicked off I haven't had one jot of the awful breast tenderness that I used to get for a week prior to my periods. Just the constant, no let up cramps that I've had for the past six months. Aren't our bodies strange

[dangermouse]

I've been fortunate to have never had painful periods. I was told by an endocrinologist in my 20s that I had low oestrogen for my age, so that may be why. I did get a few heavy, crampy ones prior to the surges and going back on the pill though.

As we're all different it could be that any over stimulation from oestrogen surges will increase the symptoms we normally have perhaps?

Mood-wise, it's been bad for the last 5 years or so (and semi bad since puberty) with lows and lack of motivation, rather than anger or classic PMT, but this did dissipate briefly when I first had the surges, as despite unbearable nausea all day from 5am to 9pm, I'd suddenly feel in the best mood I've ever felt for that short reprieve in the evenings! I suspect this was the oestrogen leaps settling back down to a higher but optimal level.

I haven't felt so good on the pill but it kept the nausea away so hoping to sort the mood out later with oestrogen therapy once I know the surges have stopped. I did also have physical anxiety from the adrenaline rushes that came with the surges and a tachycardia of about 90-120bpm resting in bed.

Yes, the whole hormone thing is beyond strange and has been a very frightening experience for a lot of us! It does really help to know why it is happening though, as I had months of being told it was stomach ulcers by doctors and that the weird full head, muscle twitches, tachycardia and waking like a meerkat at 5am on the dot each morning was me being anxious about the ulcers?!! Despite me being a psychotherapist who specialises in anxiety... 

[mamma1027]

Have just come back from having my ultrasounds (abdominal and transvaginal). Ovaries normal, endometrium thin, but I have multiple fibroids. I'm not bleeding at the moment, thank goodness, just occasional spotting, and the hot flushes are as bad as ever. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long before I get a follow-up appointment