This has nothing to do with sex, other than it is a female issue.
Have any of you gals, as you start getting older (hovering around 40), started to have more serious issues with your periods? The hormonal part of it?
Okay... I'm... what... 3 months away from turning 40. I've never had issues with my period. Sometimes I'd have mood swings, a little water retention... but for the most part... not a flipping problem.
Okay, so this week, I'm having all kinds of emotional issues. I figure it has things to do with my life... you know me, I'm looking at every psychological problem and issue I've ever faced in my life and I'm trying to find a reason for my wackiness. I mean... really weird back and forth, highs and lows sh!t.
I had to take my dog to my brothers two days ago, and he (my dog) may end up staying there permanently (sorry, this is tough for me), and I came unhinged on the way home. Balled like a baby for hours. I HATE feeling raw like that, as many of you may well know. Yesterday... can't find a scrap of motivation in me to do anything, darn near anything. I figure I'm depressed about my dog... okay... but really? Like this? Jesus.
I've felt like I was close to losing my marbles, and I keep thinking...wtf is WRONG with me... oh, and now that I think about it... I had some HOT FLASHES... real ones...<shudder>
I wake up today... period.
I know I am premenopausal, and menopause just doesn't happen overnight... but I have NEVER gone through stuff like this with a period. Do any of you go through this? Has it changed on you like this?
I'm not sure that my period has caused my wackiness this week... but when I started this morning, boy did it all click into place... and I'd rather it be that than some fear I am going off the deep end.
Is there anything I can do about this? And yes, now that I think about it, my mother's periods...at least her hormonal part of them, started getting much worse for her in her 40s. Oh, Jesus... boy... if I am heading that route...
So sorry to hear that you are going through that. Nothing like a little mental gymnastics (is this real? is it hormones?) to make a person feel nutz, eh.
I don't have any advice re: hormones. I have never suffered from PMS and only have a couple of periods a year. The only time in my life when I was certifiably hormonal was when I was pregnant. (shutup hairdog..) That was why it freaked MrH out so bad, he just wasn't used to seeing his even-keeled wife go off the deep end.
What have you read about perimenopause? Is this typical? Any other symptoms that would indicate a hormonal problem, like (God forbid) hair loss or sleep problems? Can stress cause whacked out periods? I know I'm asking more questions than answers but perhaps it will trigger something from someone who actually knows something.
If it's any comfort I experience something similar to what you are talking about. (I'll be 39 in Sept)
I NEVER used to PMS. In fact my H still can't tell when I am having my period, unless I tell him...because I do maintain even keel so well LOL. BUT, there have been a few times I've noticed in the last oh 4-6 months specifically that one day a month (maybe 2)...just prior to my period I feel such rage inside....and it has NOTHING to do whatsoever with anything anyone has done. I'm just royally PISSED! So I do my H the favor of letting him know that for some odd reason I'm simply mad at the world today...so if I give him a glare or snap back (which is so not me) it's absolutely unintentional. I also promise to tell him that if I am upset with him I will tell him, otherwise assume my hormones are whacky. This works fairly well for us. It's completely foreign to me though as I've NEVER been this way before.
Also, I'm now beginning to experience night sweats (what fun). I'm a regular heater at night anyway (always have been)...but now I'm a friggin furnace. My H tells me I heat the entire bed...so there's never any need for an electric blanket of any type. Oh & My energy level has dropped to nil. I'm so exhausted by the time I get home from work I can barely do anything.
Personally...I plan to go to my Dr. to see if there's anything we can do to help improve my sitch. I believe it's just my body changing a bit...but it's damned frustrating at times LOL.
Well... I have had a, oh, I don't know, slightly stressful year, so I'm not willing to blame it all on hormonoes. But I do believe that stress and hormones don't mix well.
And yes... I have had two nights this week where I could not sleep. Am I losing hair? Well... I certainly shed. I have a ton of hair, and I'm growing it out, so the longer it gets, the more I shed. I don't think I'm having hair loss more than normal...
Definitely severe mood swings in the past week. The dog sitch, I'm sure, did not help... and I'm sure it just gets thrown into the 'amplification' mix.
And no, I know NOTHING about premenopause or bad PMS or anything like that, for I've never really had an issue with it... so hence.
It does get that way at times. Of course in my situation I start freaking out that I'm becoming a manic-depressive like my Mom when I go through some hormonal hell and that makes it worse. Dr.Mojo recommends fish oil capsules. You can't overdose on them so just keep taking them until you chill out. Works every time but you will be burping fish taste if you buy the cheap ones.
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver
Wow.... ME TOO!! See? Jesus, I'm ready to cry... serious. I have tears in my eyes... dam it. Well... I'm certainly going to discuss this with my gyno... do me a favor, though, would you? Would you let me know what your doc tells you whenever you go? I'd appreciate it... christ, I feel like a living version of frankenstein...
<giggle> thanks. I already take fish oil capsules everyday, but I WILL up the dose. I take a B complex with Vit. C everyday, too. Helps IMMENSELY with stress...
I've never taken the fish capsules (sounds yucky)...what are they supposed to help with? I'm not very learned on these things....need to do some research I guess.
Oh corri... {{{hugs}}} I suppose part of it might be hormonal or hormones may contribute to it.... but honey, look at the past year: you got a divorce. Hel-LO! That is a huge step and a huge thing to grieve. I don't care if it was necessary or if there is a lot of relief or even if you're having a pretty good time right now. This was a big, big step. Please don't minimize the effect on you, okay?
And giving up your dog? Omigod! (BTW, the expression is "bawling" like a baby, not "BALLING" like a baby, kwim? ) I'm assuming you can't have a dog where you live right now? That loss alone would kill me, but on top of the loss of your marriage, it seems too much to bear.
Don't get me wrong. (I'm divorced as well as widowed, so I know whereof I speak): even when divorce is the right thing, it's so immensely sad. It's an agreement between two people to... well... to kill the thing that they created together. Even if it's euthanasia, it's still a death. And a deliberate death. It's the death of the future you were supposed to have. That is an enormous thing to grieve... please don't trivialize it by attributing your rollercoaster feelings to hormones alone. I was married for less than five years when I was in my early 20's, and I never regretted the divorce, but even so, I couldn't listen to the radio for TWO YEARS because every song made me cry.
July 21st was the sixth anniversary of my husband's death, and strange as it may sound, I feel that I'm finally getting some perspective on the event. When you're in the initial grief, it is huge-- it's like being in a forest fire and there is no way out. Obviously, six years later, it's different... I came up with this way to describe it: when you're standing next to the Grand Canyon, you get the sense that it's a really really big thing. You can barely see across to the other side, and you know that the bottom is about a mile down-- that's BIG, and you feel it. But now, six years later, it's as if I'm flying over the Grand Canyon in a plane and now I'm REALLY seeing how immense his death is... my God... when I was in the deepest grief, it felt like all there was in the world was grief... and now, yeah, I've "moved on" (whatever that means), but looking at it "from the air," I can see the enormity of the Grand Canyon that I was in.
So your divorce is something very very big to be very very sad about, and exacerbated by the loss of your dog... oh baby, I'm so sorry you are hurting so much... and then the next minute you're up... until something reminds you... and then you're down. Yeah, hormones may be making you more vulnerable, but you've come through an emotional train wreck, so be easy on yourself, k?
P.S. For myself, I found that the best way to move through grief is to cry every single time you feel like it, no matter where or when. I didn't wear eye makeup for a long, long time... and carried handkerchiefs in all my pockets and purses. Journaling helps too, just pouring your heart out. ALLOW yourself to feel all of this stuff (I know you probably do that anyway). {{{{{corri}}}}}
I had another thought. Don't take this the wrong way. Maybe the problem is that you haven't got laid in a while. For me going more than two weeks without sex starts to feel like a real bad hormone ride too. There is a reason why they used to label undersexed HD women as "hysterical".
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver
) I'm assuming you can't have a dog where you live right now? That loss alone would kill me, but on top of the loss of your marriage, it seems too much to bear.