Topic: Why are symptoms so bad before women's monthly cycle?
Haley
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Member # 22008
posted
I'm sure there are different variables going on with me but I seem to get really sick before that time of month.
I remember back when I first started getting ill, the first doctor I went to was my gynecologist because I got so sick at that time.
I had all of my hormones tested, they were normal. She wrote out a prescription that said wheat grass.
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janet thomas
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Your estrogen level is lowest at the start of menstruation.
-------------------- I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice but only my personal experience and opinion. Posts: 2001 | From NJ | Registered: Mar 2005
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lyme in Putnam
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Hormones play tricks, plus your immune system is down during that time.
-------------------- He took u to it, He'll you through Posts: 2837 | From NE. | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Interested in this too...I have the same issues. this past weekend, sleeping for nearly 24 hours straight, then returning to bed after being up for 3-4 and sleeping 8 hours. This happens every-other month or so. I don't understand what role estrogen plays in lyme. ?
Posts: 42 | From St. Louis, MO | Registered: Aug 2010
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TerryK
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There is an intensification of immune response before and after menses. Increased symptoms may be a result of die-off.
Terry
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sutherngrl
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LIbby, my LLMD put me on hormones, due to the fact that I seem to be in the early stages of perimenopause. I take them every day also, never have a period. I am much better off on the hormones!
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sammy
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posted
I also started the NuvaRing about 3mo ago because my symptoms flared so severely before and durning my periods. My LLMD recommended that I actually suppress my period for awhile.
The NuvaRing seems to have been helping, at least with lighter shorter periods. I was having a terrible time with heavyness and clotting. I've been doing 24 days on and 4 off so I may ask my Gyn if I can stay on it for the next full 28day cycle.
Posts: 5237 | From here | Registered: Nov 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Magnesium depletion can account for a great deal of problems with cycles.
The liver actually has an enormous influence on the menstrual cycle, too. So, since lyme usually brings on liver disfunction, it's important to be sure liver support is in place for many reasons, including women's issues.
Adrenal issues also influence women's health. Big time. And there just are not even the kinds of tests to really determine this as we'd like. Much goes with how we feel. Next post details that.
Not at all about lyme, still this is a wealth of information: --------------
Women's Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Alternative Therapies and Integrative Medicine for Total Health and Wellness
- By Tori Hudson, ND
About $17 at Amazon
Forward: ``This is a book that should be in every woman's health library and every alternative practitioner's library. It is a resource for the new breed of conventional practitioners who are open to a more integrative health-care system.''
--Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- ADRENAL LINKS: -----------------
This book is specific to lyme and other chronic stealth infections. The author discusses the endocrine connection and effects of STRESS on a person with such infections. You can read customer reviews and look inside the book at this link to its page at Amazon.
The Potbelly Syndrome: How Common Germs Cause Obesity, Diabetes, And Heart Disease (Paperback) - 2005
by Russell Farris and Per Marin, MD, PhD
==================
Remember that lyme really messes up the HPA axis (Hypothalamus/pituitary/adrenal network). The pituitary has much to do with weight/growth. Mess up any part of the endocrine system and other parts suffer, too.
Curcumin Prevents Some Stress-Related Changes (By CP Staff)
Excerpts:
A recently published study investigated the effects of curcumin, a constituent of the botanical turmeric, on changes in cognition and memory caused by stress. . . .
. . . In this new study, researchers investigated the effect of curcumin supplementation on stress-induced learning defects in mice. . . .
. . . In addition, curcumin reversed the stress-induced increase in the levels of serum corticosterone, the primary hormone secreted during the stress response. . . .
. . . The researchers concluded, ``Thus, curcumin may be an effective therapeutic for learning and memory disturbances as was seen within these stress models, and
its neuroprotective effect was mediated in part by normalizing the corticosterone response, resulting in down-regulating of the phosphorylated calcium/calmodulin kinase II and glutamate receptor levels.''
The Potbelly Syndrome: How Common Germs Cause Obesity, Diabetes, And Heart Disease (Paperback) - 2005
by Russell Farris (Author), Per Marin (Author)
Much about stress reactions here. - you can read customer reviews at the link. Attention is given to lyme and other chronic stealth infections however, it does not go into details about solutions.
===========================
This is not a lyme book.
This book has only one reference to lyme (in the historical use of sarsarparilla for another spirochetal infection). However, it is a vital first book to read - or a reference - for anyone interested in understanding nutritional methods.
Search for Ashwagandha; Cordyceps; Siberian Ginseng in this book:
Graciously, much of this book is on line. It can also be purchased from this site or through Amazon where you can look inside the book and see many customer reviews.
The Rhodiola Revolution byt Richard P. Brown, MD and Patricia L. Gerbarg, MD, et.al.
See this at Amazon. -
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Haley
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Member # 22008
posted
Thanks guys.
A lot of good information.
I know of one LLMD that asks his patients if their symptoms are worse around this time, He says that is a big clue that the patient is dealing with Lyme.
Posts: 2232 | From USA | Registered: Aug 2009
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Some kinds of porphyria can also make this worse. I don't have the direct link but it is in here, somewhere. I think it is the KPU/HPU links that mention menstrual pain and dysfunction: --------
This disease cycles. Thus in women our 'die off' with lyme cycles with our 'other' cycles.
My LLMD told me that right off the get go the first go round of treatment. Always worse that time of the month.
-------------------- Lyme, Babs, Fry Bug..... Whatever it is, may a treatment be discovered to make us all whole again! Posts: 941 | From AZ-MT | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Ever since my tick bite, Lyme has flared for 3 days before my period, and my cycle has almost always been 15-18 days instead of 28 as it consistently was for quite a while before I got sick. (Twice a month! No fair.)
When I first got sick, I had a couple of flu-like episodes with fever and pain that happened right before my cycle, so at first I thought it was the worst PMS I had ever had in my life. The timing misled me into thinking maybe it wasn't Lyme, until I learned enough about Lyme to realize that I had many symptoms, and that flares lining up with a woman's cycle are common.
-------------------- Don't forget to laugh! And when you're going through hell, keep going!
Bitten 5/25/2009 in Perry County, Indiana. Diagnosed by LLMD 12/2/2009. Posts: 756 | From Inside the tunnel | Registered: Jan 2010
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TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
Doesn't seem like a good idea to suppress your normal cycles, especially since the increased immune response is really helpful in getting rid of infections. Doesn't seem like it would have a deleterious effect on your immune system but who knows?
Maybe a better solution would be to cut meds and treatments that are adding to the die off load or increase detox and anti-inflammatory support in order to reduce symptoms.
Terry I'm not a doctor
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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Kudzuslipper
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Member # 31915
posted
I wanted to ask about cycles and found this link.
I do not know what my hormonal cycle is anymore I think I am almost done. I get a period out of the blue about every 8-10 months for the past 3 years. But my symptoms are definitely cycling
Since being on abx since May, I have pretty much crashed around the 24th to 28th of each month except the first month where the whole month sucked. Everything hurts, I have burning, and intense fatigue. And have had to stay out of work. this month (last night) I was hot and sweaty all night and then had chills this morning. it's intense for about a week...then I am just "eh" and then I feel pretty good for a little more than a week and I remember what I used to be able to do. (august I had 3 good weeks) and then I crash again.
Is this normal? If I were going to pulse or take a break from abx...would I take the break when I feel bad (is that die off?) or would I take a when I feel good?
Thanks for your input.
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TF
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Member # 14183
posted
4-week flares are normal for those with lyme. I would NOT take a break from meds as long as I was experiencing the 4-week flares. If you do, your germ load will just increase again and you are back to square one. You could go on like that forever.
When you stop meds, the germs are free to multiply. You don't want that.
Here is a quote from Burrascano for you:
"It has been observed that symptoms will flare in cycles every four weeks. It is thought that this reflects the organism's cell cycle, with the growth phase occurring once per month (intermittent growth is common in Borrelia species). As antibiotics will only kill bacteria during their growth phase, therapy is designed to bracket at least one whole generation cycle. This is why the minimum treatment duration should be at least four weeks. If the antibiotics are working, over time these flares will lessen in severity and duration. The very occurrence of ongoing monthly cycles indicates that living organisms are still present and that antibiotics should be continued.
With treatment, these monthly symptom flares are exaggerated and presumably represent recurrent Herxheimer-like reactions as Bb enters its vulnerable growth phase and then are lysed. For unknown reasons, the worst occurs at the fourth week of treatment. Observation suggest that the more severe this reaction, the higher the germ load, and the more ill the patient..... If you are able to continue or resume therapy, then patients continue to improve. Those whose treatment is stopped and not restarted at this point usually will need retreatment in the future due to ongoing or recurrent symptoms because the infection was not eradicated." (page 17)
As you continue your treatment, if your doses are high enough and you are on a good med combo, your monthly flares will decrease to nothing. Then, you change meds to see if that brings on a flare. If not, then you are done treating lyme and can move on to the coinfections.
Some docs treat lyme and a coinfection at the same time. This shortens the treatment time.
The 4-week flare cycle is experienced by both men and women.
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tickled1
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Member # 14257
posted
I get so incredibly sick at the onset of my menstrual cycle. The couple of days before I get dizzy and can't see straight and hands and feet get tingly and I shake like crazy and feel like I'm going to black out. Also I get sweats/hot flashes and then chills. I also notice that my eyes look more yellow during this time so what somone said about liver makes sense.
Posts: 2541 | From Northeast | Registered: Jan 2008
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posted
I was treated with two months antibiotics. Since completing this abx, I continue to experience flare ups which begin a week before my menstrual cycle and continue well past. Each month the flare ups are worse and last longer. My pcp and ID insist I no longer have lyme, but cannot tell me what I do have. I am so confused. Flare ups bring on extreme joint stiffness, foot pain, general malaise. The pain in my feet and ankles during these times are so severe I cannot walk. My knee is swollen, itchy/burning, and sore all the time and I have hot flashes or night sweats you can set your clock to every night. They don't last long, but only occur at night about 10 - 11pm. I've had pink eye twice in 6 months.
I tested negative to the clinical lyme screening, but herxed bad about 5 days into abx. Everything SCREAMS Lyme except my doctors. Admittedly, my symptons since abx are different, but still present.
I'm not sure where to go from here. :+(
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tickled1
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You need a LLMD.
Posts: 2541 | From Northeast | Registered: Jan 2008
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tickled1
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posted
Or at the very least an integrative doctor.
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