My period is a week late and I am not pregnant. I always feel awful during pms but it has been even worse this time, a lot worse, hot flashes like Wow! I do get the hot flashes here and there but this is bad.
I don't know what to think? Period is just late or could it be menopause already?
I turned 28 yesterday. I know I should get some blood work. This is the first time I have had a major change in my cycle.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I know Lyme can really mess things up. I would say that once you get the Lyme taken care of, you'll be OK!!
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Yes, if lyme attacks your gynecological system, it can give you a false menopause. It did it to me. I have met one other woman who also had it.
Regular (non-lyme) doctors don't know this, so they declared me in menopause. The same with the other woman.
Once I got GOOD lyme treatment, everything went back to normal. So, for 5 years I was post-menopausal, then I went back to pre-menopause.
For 5 years I produced no estrogen, testosterone, etc. My ovaries were shriveled up to nothing. I went on hormone replacement therapy for the bad effects it had on me. It was the "menopause" from hell.
Lousy lyme treatment did not reverse this. But, once I got good lyme treatment and the lyme went away, over a few months time I went back to normal and was able to stop the hormone replacement.
See the list of lyme symptoms on pages 9-10 of Burrascano, and you will see the following:
Unexplained menstrual irregularity
That's what you have so far. So, the lyme is continuing to progress.
I got the gynecological symptoms after I had undiagnosed lyme disease for 5 years. As long as your lyme treatment is inadequate, your illness will continue to progress. This is what Dr. Burrascano once told me. So, if you are currently on lyme treatment, I advise you to get a new lyme doctor.
Let me know if you would like the names of doctors I recommend.
You can't just let this go because if your estrogen level goes way down at your age, in 5 years or so you could have osteopenia. It affects your bone density when you go into an early menopause. You don't want to end up with osteoporosis. My gyn says osteoporosis is called "the silent killer of women."
So, please take this seriously and get yourself on good lyme treatment. I hope you don't go all the way into menopause before you get this stopped.
I did, and I have had osteopenia ever since.
I had undiagnosed lyme disease for at least 10 years. Then, lousy lyme treatment for 2 years. So, it really had an effect on me. I have been well now for 8 years but I am still fighting osteopenia.
So, these are the dangers when lyme attacks you gynecologically.
Posted by gigimac (Member # 33353) on :
TF, what would you consider good treatment? Right now I am not taking anything cause I feel so bad but when I get over this hump I can go back to azith, diflucan, and flagyl.
If I added something like septra, minocycline shouldn't that be enough?
when u say adequate treatment do you specifically mean lyme or covering lyme and all co infections?
Posted by OtterJ (Member # 30701) on :
gigm, I agree, lyme really screws up your hormones. Are you sure the problem is in the target organ and
not the pituitary? You can test for pituitary hormones, too. I was 47 and went into
"menopause". I kept informing stoopid, uninformed med students that this wasn't menopause. All the
women in the family are menopausal late 50's. I kept saying, 'its my pituitary...' you know, deaf
ears. Anyway, make sure the problem is in the ovaries/uterus and not in the pituitary.
Minocycline is a good drug, its the only antibiotic that I've been on. Unfortunately, my
pituitary didn't come back on line.
Posted by Robin123 (Member # 9197) on :
I can date all symptoms and went into artificial menopause 4 years after the tick bite - age 31. I suppose this is par for the course, with the bacteria messing up the brain early on.
Interestingly enough, I am treating my pituitary successfully, I think - my high prolactin count has been steadily dropping with anti-inflammatory treatment, like mangosteen juice, noni juice, grapeseed extract, turmeric powder that I put in capsules.
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
gigimac: My definition of "good lyme treatment" is lyme treatment that lines up with the Burrascano protocol.
So, it would be at least 2 meds for lyme, one of which kills the cyst form. Some people may need 3 meds just for lyme.
It also means that your dosages of each med are what Burrascano recommends. Dosages have to be very high to be effective in killing lyme. Too low of a dose results in treatment failure.
Since you never had the symptoms you are describing now, something is wrong with your treatment. Acquiring new symptoms means that the lyme is progressing! In spite of your therapy, it is successfully attacking you gynecologically as evidenced by the increasing malfunction of that system. Things can get much worse, believe me. You can develop severe vaginal atrophy. This can be unbearable.
My good lyme treatment was high-dose amoxicillin with probinecid and flagyl every single day. (This is just 2 meds for lyme, but it worked in my case.)
So, compare your meds and dosages to Burrascano. You may need to request that your dosages be raised or meds changed.
I am no expert on treating lyme, so I can't recommend what med combo you should be on. But, if you want to private message me, I can give you some examples of combos Dr. H has used and recommends.
My false menopause went away when the lyme was treated properly. Then, my doctor moved on to the coinfections. However, don't think that he spent months on just lyme. He didn't. After the first month of lyme treatment, he added meds for coinfections. So, while coinfection treatment is absolutely necessary to regain your health, it appears that all that is necessary to reverse the gyn symptoms is good lyme treatment.
In other words, as I understand it, it is lyme and only lyme that attacks gynecologically. So, your symptoms are pointing out that your lyme treatment (as opposed to coinfection treatment) is what is inadequate.
Posted by Kat1777 (Member # 39231) on :
I suspect Lyme led me to an early "menopause". My periods started getting really screwed up around the age of 31, right after I was bit by a tick. At 41, I stopped getting periods altogether. By that point I had major thyroid issues so that may have contributed too, not sure. NO ONE in my family ever experienced early menopause. I'm now 43 and have been treating about four months. Still wondering if I'll ever get back to normal. Posted by gigimac (Member # 33353) on :
Ok, I started my period today, Thank God!
It still leaves me wondering why things are so screwy and why it was so late.
This past month I was doing low dose mono therapy and while I actually felt better than usual when doing all the meds. I feel like the removal of other abx is what allowed this months cycle to get so out of control.
Thinking back,I have noticed, I believe, a correlation to when I take more lyme specific meds and a less severe cycle. It seems keeping lyme at bay or killing it off, which makes me feel awful at the time, results in much less miserable cycles.
Sound like you are right on TF.
Posted by ESG (Member # 4816) on :
simple answer: yes
Posted by jlf2012 (Member # 36002) on :
YES!
Posted by luvema (Member # 26650) on :
I get my period every 3-4 months.
I feel like I am going through menapause too, with the hot flashes and everything and I am 21.
It def messes up the endocrine system
Posted by gigimac (Member # 33353) on :
Yes, the hot flashes are soo awful. I was talking to a friend of my mothers and she said, "Oh, just wait until you get the hot flashes."
I am already there, soo hot yet I can tell the room is not hot, it is me. It might not be everyday but if this is what menopause is like I want to postpone it as long as possible!!
![[bonk]](graemlins/bonk.gif)
Anyway, make sure the problem is in the ovaries/uterus and not in the pituitary. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)