I would be very grateful for any help, thoughts, advice.
I had a whole load of symptoms hit me like a truck just after Christmas, and I'm wondering if they are the menopause, or something else. HRT doesn't seem to have worked – my Doctor tried me on gel (working up from 0.5 to 1.5 over a month), and now Kliovance, for just over 2 weeks. (My periods stopped just over a year ago; I've only had one in the past two years).
To complicate matters, I've been virtually housebound with quite severe M.E. (known as CFIDS in the USA) for many years, but I know those symptoms well, and these are definitely different (although of course could be impacting on each other).
My symptoms are:
Internal chills to the bone in my torso (not my arms or legs) during the day, when the heating is on.
Hot sweats at night (when the heating is off!)
Constant internal trembly, shivery feeling – gets worse or better depending on the day I'm having, but never goes.
Foggier brain
An intense feeling of wanting to cry for no reason. This goes on and off like a switch. Can last for days, then disappear in a minute.
An inability to deal with other people, even a text message can get me all hot and bothered and unable to cope. Again, goes on and off like a switch.
Nausea (different to my M.E. nausea)
Exhaustion and feeling ill (different to the M.E.)
Loose bowels and diarrhoea, (2 or 3 times in a few hours) pretty much same time of day, whatever I've eaten.
I'd be really interested if anyone else has had similar symptoms. They tend to come all together and more intensely on my bad days. One of the reasons I'm a bit concerned that it isn't the menopause is that until Christmas all I had menopause wise was a few mild hot flushes in the evening and at night. These HAVE stopped with the HRT.
However, I did get all the above symptoms (although much more mildly) for about 3 months three years ago, just before my hot flushes started, so I assumed then it was peri menopausal.
As you can imagine, on top of my M.E. this is absolutely flooring me, and I'm finding it difficult to cope. If these symptoms are menopausal, then at least there is an end in sight. If they aren't, I'd be interested in any pointers for what it may be.
(My Doctor tested my liver function, CRP (infection marker), Thyroid and Full Blood Count, all of which I was well in normal range.
My FSH was 75, so I am clearly menopausal.
So sorry for such a long post, and many thanks in advance for any responses. It's taken a lot out of me just to write this, so if I don't respond that's why, but I will read and very much appreciate any thoughts.
