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[EmmyWemmy]

Hi,
I'll try not to make this a long post.
In September last year, my grandmother died unexpectantly. We were on holiday at the time. All very stressful. Shortly after, I started getting odd stabbing headaches. Not ice pick, exactly. More like somebody was throwing a rock at the back of my head intermittently. About a month after that, I developed tinnitus. I went to the docs but that wasn't much good as they just kept telling me to take OTC painkillers, despite me saying they did nothing.

Anyway, six months later and the headaches stopped. The tinnitus is constant, all day, every day, for seven months now.

As well as all this, I've developed other symptoms. Random pulling sensation in the back of my left hand. Achy left arm. Pins and needles in left hand. Crampy sensation in left foot. Stabby feeling in thigh. Feeling like there's hair touching my face. Sciatica-esque pain in my left leg. All of these come and go.

Then out of nowhere, I had an 18 day cycle. I am very regular, always 26-28 days. 18 days worried me. Then straight after, I had a 15 day cycle.

Stabby headaches returned for three days and are now (thankfully) going again. Tinnitus persists. Other symptoms come and go. I'm currently on day 17 and period is a no show at the mo so I have no idea what's going on.

I'm 42. No kids. Only other condition is coeliac disease.

Could this be perimenopause? Apart from the short cycles, everything else seems completely random. Doctors have suggested stress or anxiety.

[CLKD]

Yep.  Certainly could be peri.   

Is your coeliac under control-ish?  Hormone upheaval can certainly affect the digestive system  and bowel transit 

Some women experience carpal tunnel syndrome during pregnancy where they need to hang arm/s over the edge of the bed to relief pins and needles.  So your sensations may well be due to hormonal changes.

Migraines are known to increase during The Change.  Browse round, make notes ;-)

[bombsh3ll]

I was 42 when I got my first peri symptom which was vertigo. Cycles had also reduced to 27 or 28 days after I lost access to my combined pill during the pandemic. Before I went on it 10 years earlier my cycle was about 33 days.

I think your symptoms do sound like peri but the only way to find out is to treat it as that and if it gets better, you'll know. If you take hormone therapy at a decent dose and it doesn't help after a few months, maybe there is another issue!

Me, I went back on continuous combined pill Zoely and it's great, no periods, no hormonal ups and downs, no vertigo or any other peri symptoms!

The hysteria paradigm is still alive and kicking with women's physical systems frequently ascribed to psychiatric causes, but if your GP is resistant to MHT, the combined pill taken continuously is a good option for healthy women under 50 that they may be willing to prescribe instead.

[CLKD]

What might MHT mean?

It is known that many women suffer intense cyclical premenstrual syndrome symptoms .  The National Association for Pre-menstrual Syndome [NAPS] have a lot of advice.

[sheila99]

Your periods are irregular so it's starting. Your symptoms can be meno symptoms but they can also have other causes. I have tinnitus because of an ear infection. Perhaps discuss it with your gp?

[Sarahkins]

Hi,

Your symptoms sound very similar to mine. I'm 42 and up until early last year my cycle was predictable to the day and 28 days long.

My dad died in October and despite being estranged for 20 odd years, my periods stopped for 4 months then came back. Cycle varies between 18 and 22 days but I'm now over a week late and anticipating another long spell.

I started to get weird head pains like a tight sharp pain in the left side of my head. I get a weird pain in my left index finger sometimes and recently feel very light headed and off balance. All of this happens at random and is intermittent. I noticed lately that I get what I think is night sweats where I get a sudden rush of heat at night, lasting for maybe 30 seconds or a minute. It's enough to make me uncomfortable and wake up, then I'm unable to get back to sleep for a couple of hours afterwards!
I'm not clued up on coeliac disease but I do think your symptoms sound like mine and I'm thinking I am perimenopausal.

[CLKD]

Peri-menopause are the years when we begin to notice strange symptoms: intermittent loss of periods; raises in anxiety, food intolerances i.e. alcohol  ; some have flushes.  Those that have diagnosed thyroid function problems may find that other hormone upheaval affects the levels of thyroid that is comfy.

After the last period we need to count 12 months to think we have reached menopause ........

Some find that keeping a mood/food/symptom diary to chart progress which helps to see how many good days we have ;-)

Sarahkins - sorry about your Dad, shock can do strange things to hormones.

[EmmyWemmy]

Sorry, I couldn't see that there was a multi-quote option so I'll just answer like this. Thanks to everyone for your responses.

CLKD: Yep, coeliac disease is under control. I've been diagnosed for ten years now so well versed in it! I get migraines anyway, both with and without aura, but the stabby ones I've been getting are just so odd! They totally baffled the doctors, too. Had it a couple of times today but luckily not all day like they usually do.

Sheila99: I've had all the tests the doctors will give me for the tinnitus. They've checked my ears (nothing wrong there), I've had hearing tests (all fine), and I've even had an MRI to look for acoustic neuroma and that's all fine. The only thing they'll do for me now is give me CBT, which I'm currently having (and not finding that useful!). I don't have (and can't find!) a dentist so am unable to check for jaw issues.

Sarahkins: Sorry to hear about your dad. Yes, your symptoms do sound similar to mine. No night sweats for me (yet - fingers crossed I don't get that!) but the rest of it is all so random, isn't it! I do get light-headed sometimes, too.

I am thinking it must be peri-menopause, mostly because of my cycle now, but a lot of the symptoms are also similar to other things (such as MS, for example), so...

I'm just waiting to see when my next period appears before I bother the doctors again. Feel like I've been too much already what with the weird stabby headaches and the tinnitus.

[CLKD]

Tinnitus is common for those of us who went to noisy concerts when a lot younger  .  The condition can be overcome to various degrees by substituting other noises, i.e. music in headphones.  There is a UK Tinnitus Support Group.

Mine is like a whistling behind my head 

[EmmyWemmy]

Yep, already visited all the Tinnitus forums. And have CBT for it. Mine's not caused by concerts, or loud noises. Pretty sure it's peri-related.

[sheila99]

Sorry, when I suggested discussing it with your gp I really meant with a view to taking hrt. I think that's the only way you'll know if it's definitely a meno symptom. Might be worth reading the Advice for Husbands pinned post in case you have other symptoms you hadn't connected with meno.

[EmmyWemmy]

Thank you

[EmmyWemmy]

Hi again,
So my period's just started today. That's day 20 for me. So I've just had an 18 day cycle, followed by a 15 day cycle, and now a 20 day cycle. So I've just been to the doctors. She doesn't think it's peri-menopause! Doesn't think any of the other symptoms are related, and says it's "premenopause!" (I'm sorry, but isn't 'pre-menopause' just the term for any woman who has started their periods?)

So that's that. I've been told there's nothing they can do and just keep an eye on it.

[CLKD]

She's not on the same page.  What U R experiencing is peri-menopause 

My periods were like that ......... with longer gaps in-between.  I knew it was 'the change' so it didn't concern me.  It did make planning events difficult though on an 'in case' basis 

There is a list somewhere on the Forum with all the possible symptoms women might experience  .  Her turn will come ;-).  In the mean time ring the Surgery to ask for a referral to a dedicate menopause clinic: not a gynaecologist: both NHS and private Clinics have waiting lists if an appt arrives that you no longer require, you can cancel it.

No GP should tell any patient that 'there's nothing they can do'.  There are always routes for GPs to refer to specialists etc..  I wonder if this is written in your notes? 

[sheila99]

You could always 'keep an eye on it' for a month or two then develop hot flushes...