Dancinggirl, one nurse practitioner that is more on the holistic side did do blood work, she said my hormone levels looked fine. I am 49 years old. She said the testosterone was a little low but that was it. But my understanding is that at this stage, one blood test is not going to give the full picture, correct? I mean, aren't my hormone levels going up and down all the time? Other than her, no other doctors (gyno or primary) have done any blood work. I just moved to a new state, and while I have established care with a new primary, I have not done so yet with a new gyno. I went to see the nurse practitioner because I found her listed under menopause specialists with my insurance company. She wasn't very helpful and she wanted to focus on all sorts of other illnesses instead of menopause. I kept telling her that I have had all the medical doctors check me from head to toe for any other illness and there is nothing else. There were other issues with this lady too, like over charging and lying to me about what things would cost, so I stopped seeing her and now I'm not even sure I trust what she told me about my blood work and hormone levels.
As far as symptoms go, well, I think I've had every one and more than the 34 on the list that I've seen on here! Everything from the hot flashes, night sweats, nausea, stomach cramping, headaches, fatigue, aches and pains all over, sore/heavy breasts, phantom pelvic cramps, agitation, mood swings, loss of appetite on some days to the point where I can't even eat anything, and then some days I'm so hungry I feel like I can't stop eating! There are so many more symptoms I have had, but basically these things come and go. Sometimes they will last a month and then I can go 2 months feeling fine. It seems very cyclical to me, yet it doesn't always match up to when I do have a period, which is usually every 2-3 months now. Although, I haven't had one since December, so this is probably the longest I have gone without one so far.
In addition to my primary care doctor, I now have a GI doctor and a Cancer doctor following my status as well. The GI doctor for all the stomach issues and the Cancer doctor because in all the testing they did, they did see 2 enlarged lymph nodes in my abdomen area, but after all the tests they have done, there is nothing that says "cancer" - so for now they are just watching them. They haven't changed size in 2 years and most likely I just have a couple of lymph nodes that are larger than normal. They clearly aren't very large because they said there is no way to do a biopsy on them because they are small enough that they would be hard to find in the difficult location they are in behind my intestines. But because of the hot flashing and night sweats which are also symptoms of cancer, I have had to go through the past year being scared to death I had cancer because the cancer doctor keeps sending me for all sorts of tests, even though his own General Surgeon evaluated me and he thinks it's perimenopause! He is the only doctor that I have seen between my old state and moving to my new state that has actually said this is probably hormones and perimenopause! Unfortunately, he is a general surgeon and can't do much to help me.
So, I just continue on with all the other doctors telling me there is nothing really wrong with me. I am still in search of a new gyno doctor in my new state, hoping that I find someone that might take my symptoms seriously for a change. It's so frustrating to have doctor after doctor tell you, "No, perimenopause wouldn't cause all these symptoms you are having." But yet they can find no other medical explanation!
