I've been away from the forum for a while as one of the ‘tactics' for reducing my health anxiety was to stay off health-related forums. I did miss you all though 😊
I think I must have been under the misapprehension that peri was the worst bit, and then once you hit that magic one-year without a period the crazy symptoms would stop and life would return to normal. But, it would seem from a bit of research here that not, and some of you get symptoms after 3 or 4 years and use hrt at this stage too. So, I am 54 and about 18 months-two years without a period. So I must be in menopause now. Peri was bad – periods that would give a CSI scene a run for its money, crippling health anxiety (HA), joint pain, night sweats, palpitations, adrenaline surges, depression, mood swings, crying at nothing, stomach issues, you know the score.
Some of these have gone, except for the HA which I am battling with various tactics and the night sweats, not really daytime flushes, but always wake two or three times in night covered in sweat. And now, adrenaline surges wake me earlyish and I get them in the daytime, too. I can literally feel the cortisol rush in the pit of my stomach and the churning ‘butterflies'. It's that nervous/excited sort of feeling in the stomach. Weird. And I hate it, as it makes me want to ... ahem... rush to the loo (or worry about needing to). I can't work out what sets it off.
Except, I've just noticed that these events seem to occur over a couple of days every month. It's a similar pattern to how I used to be when having periods. A day when I felt brilliant, I could do anything and was really motivated. Next day, crying at nothing, really depressed, stomach issues, then (previously) a period would start. Except now, no period, no period pain, no ovulation pain (used to get really bad mid-cycle pain), maybe a bit of bloating and backache. Could these adrenaline surges be due to hormonal fluctuations, still? I'd like to sort it as it makes my HA worse and I was doing quite well, not sure what if anything I can do.