I had a uterine ablation in November and symptoms of menopause kicked into high gear shortly after the surgery. Makes no sense to me because I still have my ovaries.
Two years ago I went to a pituitary specialist, and good ones are just as hard to find as our LLMDs are. Anyway, was low in growth hormone, testosterone, progesterone and also had adrenal problems. Doc prescribed bioidentical hormones and they're compounded at the pharmacy.
Now my estrogen is low (wah!) and I'm having power surges (sweating) like you wouldn't believe. Sleep is suddenly disturbed and I'm fatigued beyond belief. Depression and anxiety are the worst. I do feel suicidal, but I would never follow through with that.
I thought I'd put most of the depression and anxiety behind me a couple of years ago when I started treating lyme & co.
LLMD told me to take black cohosh and wild yam, which I am. He said if that didn't work he'd prescribe bioidentical estrogen.
Is anyone else having good luck with cohosh and yam? What dose are you taking? How long did it take before you noticed any relief?
I'm not "supposed" to do HRT because I had breast cancer in 1994. My breast cancer was not estrogen receptive. Anyway, that was 12 years ago, and both of my docs feel HRT should be safe for me at this point in time.
Thanks!
Posted by Biting Back (Member # 6018) on :
Hey lpkayak,
Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it. It's definitely menopause. No doubt about it.
I've had sweats and hot flashes for 21 years with lyme & babs. I knew it wasn't menopause even though mainstream docs tried to convince me it was. C'mon, perimenopause at age 24? And lasting 21 years? Huh-uh. I know it can happen, but that just wasn't the case with me.
Interesting that the sweats went away when/while I treated babs, lyme & co.
Anyway, this is distinctly different. 100% sure it's menopause.
Thanks again lpkayak!
Posted by liz28 (Member # 4946) on :
A former mentor went into menopause in her late 30s because her mother took thalidomide. She developed uterine cancer at age 26 and had surgery, but still had her ovaries.
She probably took more than she was willing to talk about, but she did say high doses of Vitamin E helped her.
Provigil has helped a lot with fatigue, which can cause all the emotional issues you described by itself. In fact, it has been a little too helpful, since it makes you feel so awake, you don't realize how much you need more sleep.
Posted by hiker53 (Member # 6046) on :
Would a low dose estrogen birth control pill help?
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
Up for more responses.
Posted by tabbytamer (Member # 3159) on :
There's a family history of breast cancer so I was concerned with HRT.
My OB/GYN offered prescribing just Estradiol, 1 mg. If I understood him correctly, he said that taking just the Estradiol is less likely to encourage breast cancer as compared to taking a prescription of the tri-estrogen compounds.
Posted by ArtistDi (Member # 2297) on :
I am also headed into menopause, and the thing that helped the depression, anxiety attributed to it, was a SSRI. I take a very small dose of Celexa as I tend to be drug sensitive, but it helps to regulate moods and my cycles more.