Early Menopause and ME

Hi everybody…..

WOW……..just WOW

I cannot believe the response I have had already from this. It has sent me through a rollercoaster of emotions and I am so lucky to know such fantastic people. I am also lucky to welcome new faces who are reading my blogs and joining my facebook page; ‘justovaryacting’

Today (Weds 13th April)

I have felt ridiculously fatigued, sick and dizzy today. So, when getting petrol I bought myself a Lucozade. MISTAKE….. It turns out that dizziness is a common symptom of the menopause but doesn’t affect every woman. In order to prevent feeling dizzy you should avoid caffeine. I obviously thought that by putting caffeine into my body I would feel better, I felt 100 times worse. I couldn’t look side to side because it was almost like my vision was catching up with my head movements, I felt weak and unable to support myself sometimes. Imagine, or remember a time when you have been so drunk, everything is spinning. It was just like that but sober.

The thing is, I was scared. Not being able to control what is happening is just awful. Wondering if you are going to faint, where you are going to faint and also if anyone will be around to help if you do. I visited my local gym on Tuesday (12th) and had to leave because I felt so dizzy, I was petrified something was going to happen to me. For those who know me, I love the gym. It gives me an emotional release as well as obvious health benefits, so for me to feel like that somewhere I love being, I just feel that this menopause is taking over my life.

So when did this start?

I would say that my symptoms started a year ago if not before. That’s one whole year of not having a clue that this was happening to my body. All of those conversations I’ve had with my girl mates about babies, periods and life in general and talking to other friends about my future wishes etc, it’s just so hard to get your head around.

The important thing I want to raise is that the symptoms I had all seemed like separate concerns, when actually they are all more than likely linked. The sweats I noticed first and is the most noticeable symptom in my opinion. All I have to do is walk into a coffee shop and my face goes red and I get beads of sweat on my face, making my hair wet and make up smudged. It may seem quite trivial and vain, but imagine being on a date when this happens and you have no explanation for it……….yeah that happened! I even looked into BOTOX as I had heard it prevents your face from sweating. This is how much it has affected me and makes me feel down. It’s hard to explain but sometimes out of nowhere I feel like I cannot breathe in my own body. I am either too hot or too cold and it can be described as a claustrophobic feeling in your own skin. I have since found out that your skin temperature and tolerance can change during menopause too, which explains why I feel so cold most of the time when I used to always feel the heat!

I had UTI’s that didn’t seem to go away. When I went back to the GP with the same problem, the female doctor assumed that because of my age I drink a lot of alcohol. So was disappointed that I had seemed to have brought on another UTI myself. FYI, I have a binge weekend every now and then, but other than that I don’t even have a drink once a week! Then I was having trouble sleeping, so I was prescribed zopiclone which didn’t work because I was fatigued too. So I was literally zapped of all my energy after taking those and had two days off work sick. Great though if you literally want two days solid in bed.

Then I went back to the GP with fatigue, this was a few months ago now. I told him I am having trouble sleeping but feeling so tired too. He decided to do a blood test and wanted to rule out everything. I was hoping it was to do with my thyroid actually as it would explain the issues I have with my weight (that’s a whole other blog in itself by the way, which I will do soon) Anyway, I went to see the nurse after the blood tests to get some Sumitriptan, migraine relief tablets, another symptom of  menopause. She explained to me that my results came back fine. So, disappointed but also relieved I left the surgery.

The week after, I was enjoying a trip in Bournemouth with my friend when my GP phoned to say he wasn’t happy with my results, even though the nurse had informed me they were fine. So, we repeated the blood tests again but this time 6 weeks after the first lot to see if they were a ‘one off’ result.

They weren’t. And this is where I am at today. I may or may not need to see a specialist, I hope so and I definitely will ensure I do because I am just so young to go through this and I want some answers. Potential next steps are to start hormone replacement therapy (HRT) which will prevent me from getting Osteoporosis. BUT…. the GP told me that they don’t like you taking HRT for over 10 years because it means you are at high risk of getting Cancer (that bloody awful C word! The only C word I like is C U NEXT TUESDAY……..) 😉

As I am 26, I would need to take HRT until the natural age of menopause, which they say is 52. Therefore that is 26 years of HRT. Obviously this is more than 10 years………. I am sure you can work out the rest.

Anyway, until I see a specialist it is important that I don’t think about that quite yet. Medicine is changing all the time and a lot can happen and be introduced in 10 years and this I am very hopeful about.

It’s late and I am tired so I am going to leave it there today. Thank you for reading and please do share your thoughts and experiences with me! I will post more about this soon, especially the symptoms. Please look after yourselves and if you are not feeling ‘well’ see your GP. It may be more than you realise.

My sister always says – ‘Your health is your wealth…..’

Much love

Steph X