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[S.J]

Hello Ladies,

This is my first time posting, after reading some of your posts I finally feel like I might fit in somewhere after months of holding in a roller coaster of emotions.
I am 39, 40 in april, and sincle last summer I have been noticing strange symptoms that would come and go, I was admitted to hospital last July as I went to AnE with tingling in my hands and leg cramps, turned out i had very low calcuim levels, which was sorted, but the whole hospital stay I found very traumatic, I can't tell you how many times they brought up cancer and other illnesses while they were investigating why I would have such low calcuim levels, I brought up whether it might be that I am in Peri - menopause, but that was shrugged off due to my age, to be honest the whole ordeal has really stuck with me.
After the hospital stay I was also diagnosed with low iron which has been an on going issue on and off for years as my periods are so heavy.

I was then checked again in October by an endocrine consultant, everything was ok (except iron), I brought up Peri- menopause again as I had been suffering with other symptoms, my periods although regular have shortened in length but have become very heavy for the first 2 days/painful and my mum hit peri around my age also, but he said the blood test they did was fine and shut me down, and said possible long covid. I was due to be seen again in January, which has been postponed due to covid.

Well since last year I have been whats felt like a never ending rollercoaster 😦 , I have never suffered with anxiety before and now I am frightened to be alone, I seem to focus on health, petrified I am dying of some terminal illness but too scared to do anything about it, I have symptoms that bounce from one to another to name a few.. racing heart wakes me up in the middle of the night, backache that comes and goes, joint pain sometimes stiffness in the morning, odd pains here and there, muscle twitches, heartbeat feels it skips every now and then, low mood, irritability, anger and inability to tolerate what I would normally, vivid dreams, tension in my neck and shoulders, clenching my jaw and more recently hot red hands, sunburn feeling in places and burning tongue .. I cannot believe how much I have changed in a year 😦

I have had a lot of stress, I am a mum to three, two of my children have additional needs, asd, adhd, spd, and my youngest (5 year old) also has type 1 diabetes, she was diagnosed at 2 and I also care for my mum who is pretty much housebound.
I feel so alone, everyone around me thinks I am becoming a hypercondriac 😦 and not understanding.
Thank you if you got this far, I am sorry for the long post, I just really needed to open up and talk to others that might understand.x

[Taz2]

Hi S.J. - sorry I haven't got time to post properly - vets appointment in a little while (for the cat not for me  ) but just wanted you to know that your post has been read.

We are all here for you and I'm sure you will fit in just fine. Lots of support on here from women who really understand just what you are going through. I feel tired just reading all of the stresses you are under. You sound like an amazing woman with very little time for yourself. No wonder anxiety is high. 

Taz x 

[CLKD]

Hi! not alone now 

I can't understand why the medical profession doesn't listen to their patients 

Some ladies find that keeping a mood/food/symptom diary useful.  Something to wave at the GP etc.!

What support is your Mum getting?  She should get 'carers' allowance' to help with funds, is she living with you or in her own property?  Social Services, if you haven't had them to visit, will advise on what issues they can assist with, i.e. hand rails in the bathroom.

Do your children get support?  Difficult during lockdown, I think everyone is beginning to feel hemmed in.  Services have been cut, extra support etc. which I think is totally out of order - shows that the Governments of the day have no idea as to how most people keep their house holds functioning.  Add hormonal upheaval on top   

You are 39 so your GP and other clinicians should have accepted that you may well be peri-menopausal, however, not many medics are aware of this state of a woman's Life.  You are not going mad, you are not a hypochrondriac.  You are approaching menopause. 

.... and breath ;-).  As oestrogen levels drop, the body may become dry: inside and out; deep in the ears, eyes, skin, vagina, scalp and the muscles may become lax = aches and pains, so most of what you have experienced seems to be within normal limits. Do read the 'bladder issues' and 'vagninal atrophy' threads, 4warned is 4armed.

Make that list of your symptoms.  See if you can find out if one of the GPs at your surgery is interested in womens health, also contact a womens physio who can give advice. 

Let us know how you get on.

[RebJT]

Hello there

In haste also, I've just had an iron infusion, I've been battling iron deficiency for the last ten years.  I am a different woman (still trying to figure hormones out, but that's a different shooting match).  I can promise you if you have low iron you will mad as a hatter and all over the place emotionally, I would strongly urge you to sort that out, you'll probably have to do it yourself as GP won't help you, as it's very poorly understood in primary care https://www.oatext.com/iron-deficiency-without-anemia-common-important-neglected.php  You need up to 200mg ELEMENTAL iron a day (ie don't just go by the total mg, look on the label for the actual amount of elemental iron, take with tonnes of vit C ie) with fumerate the box might say 325mg iron, per tablet, but the actual available elemental iron is 65mg per tablet, so you'd take three tablets: 3 x 65mg = 195mg, your daily amount needed). 

Tingling may be low B12 and low folate, and poss low vit D, these are your blood builders and tend to travel in a pack along with iron.  These will alll also have a bearing on your mood and emotions - bear in mind supplementing these will put any iron in your body 'to use' so if your iron is low, I'd get supplementing with that first otherwise you can make your iron numbers drop further, and you want them going up not down.  Again, primary care useless at this as the reference ranges are so broad (the modern state of medicine seems to be chucking a dart at the barn door of 'normal references ranges' and then 'computer says no' - do not accept this as your fate, take things into your own hands), and they tend to only step in when you've hit the deck (doctors need to learn the difference between in range and optimal, and normal and the 'norm' - in menstrustating women iron deficiency is the norm, it does not mean it's normal!!)

Also, low calcium, assume they've ruled thyroid and parathyroid trouble?  All OK with your gut absorption?  Not taking anything like a proton pump inhibitor, or an antacid that is wrecking your nutrient absorption?  Not on anything like metformin?  The amount of times I've come across people in a pickle because docs don't know their interactions, or unintended consequences of certain drugs.  Really important to check all this.

However, I think you will feel so very much better if you can sort your iron out, it's crucial to billions of processes in your body, no wonder you feel terrible .

Reb
x

[CLKD]

   RebjT