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[Kerrw21]

Hi there I am need of advice, I’m 38
I have just had a negative result after having my FSH levels checked because of my symptoms which are terrible night sweats going on 7 years now, they have gotten worse this past 2 years! Heart palpitations and the most recent one sore breasts every month lasting 3 weeks & sometimes continues through to the following month
I don’t know where to turn for help my doctor doesn’t seem very interested! I am also waiting on 24hr heart monitor results too! Is there any other tests I could have done to check for perimenopause?
It was the nurse at my doctors surgery who recommended asking for help here. There is never been a night for years that I haven’t needed to change my pjs! 😞 thank u. 💛

[CLKD]

Hi! do look at the Daisy website too, for 'early ' menopause advice and support.

Blood tests are reliably un-reliable.  Medics should listen to their patients and treat on symptoms unless it's an emergency.

GPs often have no knowledge about peri-menopause and think that women can 'be too young' .  However!  U could ask for a referral to a dedicated menopause clinic.  There are waiting lists, both in the private and NHS sectors.

   ask away.

[Kerrw21]

Thank u both for your help & advise il look to see if there are any clinics near me, I'm going to go back to the doctor anyway as he’s not listening to me! I have complained so many times to him about the night sweats as they are really bad, although one of his reply’s to me was “I don’t know what else I can do for you!! 😞 the nurse also told me even if my bloods came back normal that this doesn’t mean I’m not perimenopausal! She told me to keep pushing for help! Thanks again 💛

[Dierdre]

Have you been tested for thyroid problems?

[Wrensong]

Hi &    like Dierdre I wonder whether your thyroid is perhaps playing up, but imagine your GP has ruled this out?  Night sweats & palpitations though classic for menopause, can also be a feature of thyroid dysfunction.  Can I ask do you have other symptoms such as weight loss/inability to gain weight, fast digestive transit, feeling too hot pretty much all the time (not just at night), unaccountable anxiety, racing thoughts, difficulty falling asleep, changes to the appearance of your eyes?  It's fairly common to have 24hr heart rate monitoring during the menopause transition & usually the outcome is entirely benign & reassuring & this should hopefully help give a clearer picture of what might be going on.
Wx

[Kerrw21]

Hi my doctors practice doesn’t have a female doctor unfortunately 😣 I am phoning him tomorrow again to see what else he can do for me! I honestly don’t like to phone anymore as I feel like they’re judging me!
I have had my full blood count done recently & my thyroid checked too,
Also recently had my FSH levels and now the heart monitor!
I don’t feel much difference in my weight I’m stuck on the same weight I have been for a while now I’m 9st 4 & I’m 5ft 2 so I’m not underweight or overweight but I do tend to wake up drenched every morning and I tend to see a difference on the scales then due to water weight loss, although it does climb back up as the day goes on! I can relate to the Anxiety, palpitations, racing thoughts and feeling too warm and times but my issue is I’m more cold throughout the day I cannot get a heat in my body and it makes me feel unwell when I’m so cold! I feel like I constantly want to sleep & I feel like I have nothing to look forward too because I’m feeling so low at the moment! Thanks again for your reply’s it really does help. 💛

[Dotty]

Hi have a look at the Nice guidelines for diagnosing menopause under 45:

Women experiencing menopause under the age of 40 with menopausal symptoms and absent or infrequent periods should have diagnosis confirmed by 2 blood tests for FSH level taken 4 to 6 weeks apart.

[Wrensong]

OK, well that's good that your thyroid has been checked out & you are not underweight to raise the suspicion of an overactive thyroid.  Like you, I struggle to get warm during the day - sitting here wearing multiple layers, after a very substantial breakfast, with 2 hot water bottles on my lap as I type & the heating on at 22 degrees yet hands, feet, lower legs & face are ice cold & I was like a furnace overnight!  I'm hypothyroid & as optimally medicated as it gets with me, but many women struggle to regulate their body temperature at menopause, so your sensitivity to cold could just be another indication of peri.  If you constantly want to sleep as well as feeling excessively cold, with low mood as well, I'm wondering now whether your thyroid could be a bit sluggish rather than overactive & perhaps deemed OK by your GP as within normal range.  If you are worried that might be a possibility & you don't mind sharing, you could post your thyroid results on here (together with ref ranges) as there are several members with some thyroid experience who might comment to make sense of what's going on for you.


Is your diet nutritionally balanced with enough complex carbs, protein & fibre to help with blood sugar control (which becomes less stable at menopause & can lead to night sweats, palpitations & anxiety).  Also, are you eating enough calories to help keep you warm by day?  Not fasting, or on a low cardb diet by any chance?  Just possibilities to think about, no need to reply if you don't feel that can be relevant.

Let us know how you get on with the GP & the heart monitor outcome if it helps to chat about it.

Wx

[Kerrw21]

Hi someone else told me to get my blood level Results and take note of them, I will do this too’ I’m waiting on my results before I ask for a appointment with him so I can lay it all out and ask him to help me,
Regardless of my results he will still have to do his job and get to the bottom of it all!
 When I get thyroid levels I will post them too! Again many thanks to u all.
💛

[Kerrw21]

Hi ladies this is my results of my T4 levels you had asked me for! It does say it’s within normal range but any advice on the even being border line would be greatly appreciated. I’m
Not sure how to send the picture through to you! My levels say 15.3pmol/L
Next to it, it says serum TSH level 1.27 MU/L
I have just also realised my MCH levels are raised in my last blood test in decades and the doctor didn’t notify me! The levels are at 33.6! 💛

[Wrensong]

Hi Kerrw21, thank you for posting your TFT results  .  Your TSH looks good & your T4 OK, according to the range used at the lab that does mine, so I think your thyroid is probably fine.

If your GP is not concerned about the slightly raised MCH it's probably fine - he will have looked at other aspects of your results to help him assess what might be causing your symptoms.  But you could just ask about it to be sure if you are concerned, because sometimes it can be indicative of certain B vit deficiencies.
Wx

[Kerrw21]

Thank you I honestly don’t know where to go from here, these night sweats are ridiculous 😢 I will have to make a face to face appointment with him and ask for him to refer me to a menopause clinic! I’m still waiting on my results of the ECG holster monitor.

[pastie supper]

Hi, I just read this thread for the first time and your symptoms are very like mine, but I'm 54 so have no problem with doctors thinking it's menopause. It certainly sounds like meno symptoms.
If there are other reasons for night sweats I hope someone posts about it, wrensong you mentioned a lot, could fasting during the day lead to night sweats?
I fast during the day then have an evening meal and something sweet after that. The reason for my fasting is that it's the only way I've found to slightly control my lifelong IBS pain which is caused in my case by a hereditary condition I was born with.

In my 30s I had night sweats only when I was on fluoxetine and it stopped when I was taken off that med. Are you on anything like that?

At night I have three full length towels under me and one on top, they're in the tumble dryer now. I have a spare nightie by the bed and a change of clothes dotted around the house, not everyone living here is my family, we take strays, lol, so I can't run around half naked, I need to access dry clothes.
Then the cold sensitivity, I'm not sure who mentioned it first, but it is a huge problem for me. I dread having a shower and I haven't this month, we have a bath too so I use that and suffer the cold less that way, but I'd love to be able to shower again, it's just painful to get cold, I shiver so violently I can get sore muscles from it and I don't know why. I can be standing under hot water and the bits not touching the water at that moment are screaming too cold at me. I hadn't known it could be menopause related.

Often I just wash this bit, then that bit and get around myself without actually getting naked or into the water.
In the night when I need the loo it's awful. I get up wet, grab a dry nightie and my dressing gown, dash for the loo, freeze as I change, shiver uncontrollably and dive onto my husband to get warm again away from the wet towels. I'm lucky he doesn't mind!

Mind you it is January.

[Kerrw21]

Hi um sorry to hear this, it’s awful going through all that each & every night!
Im not on fluoxetine but I am on E-citalopram, I wonder if antidepressants play a part in having night sweats too or maybe even making them worse, I have been on these for a good 8-10 years now! I just wish they could get to the bottom of it now it’s so tiring not sleeping all through the night and then there’s the waking up so cold and damp it makes me feel horrible in the morning!

[buffy26]

Hi, I just read this thread for the first time and your symptoms are very like mine, but I'm 54 so have no problem with doctors thinking it's menopause. It certainly sounds like meno symptoms.
If there are other reasons for night sweats I hope someone posts about it, wrensong you mentioned a lot, could fasting during the day lead to night sweats?
I fast during the day then have an evening meal and something sweet after that. The reason for my fasting is that it's the only way I've found to slightly control my lifelong IBS pain which is caused in my case by a hereditary condition I was born with.

In my 30s I had night sweats only when I was on fluoxetine and it stopped when I was taken off that med. Are you on anything like that?

At night I have three full length towels under me and one on top, they're in the tumble dryer now. I have a spare nightie by the bed and a change of clothes dotted around the house, not everyone living here is my family, we take strays, lol, so I can't run around half naked, I need to access dry clothes.
Then the cold sensitivity, I'm not sure who mentioned it first, but it is a huge problem for me. I dread having a shower and I haven't this month, we have a bath too so I use that and suffer the cold less that way, but I'd love to be able to shower again, it's just painful to get cold, I shiver so violently I can get sore muscles from it and I don't know why. I can be standing under hot water and the bits not touching the water at that moment are screaming too cold at me. I hadn't known it could be menopause related.

Often I just wash this bit, then that bit and get around myself without actually getting naked or into the water.
In the night when I need the loo it's awful. I get up wet, grab a dry nightie and my dressing gown, dash for the loo, freeze as I change, shiver uncontrollably and dive onto my husband to get warm again away from the wet towels. I'm lucky he doesn't mind!

Mind you it is January.

Oh bless you, I have just read this and resonate with the feeling of night sweat chills! I thought I would share, I invested in pure linen bedding and its been a godsend. My bedding remains dry and I wake up without the clammy dampness I used to have with cotton. I am now wondering if the night sweats are from the small dose amytriptiline I take for a trapped nerve in my spine. I have been blaming poor absorption of the estrogel, I am on 4 pumps and I am not really feeling much benefit, my estrogen blood tests on the last 2 were in the 320 region. I have been worried thinking I have something terrible going on with not getting the sweats under control!