Peri menopause symptoms and conditions

Hello Ladies,

I am 41 years old and it was suggested that I go on Mirena to help with my heavy, heavy periods. I had it inserted in May 2009. I too have experienced many similar side effects that many of you have mentioned such as tiredness, irritable, bloating, sore joints, foggy thinking, tingling sensation in my fingers(? weird), bloating, no sex drive, bigger breasts (OK, the only plus for me:),nonstop bleeding for about 2 months straight! I have been taking Lexopro for anxiety for several years now and have experienced a little weight gain, but this Mirena has me up to almost 10 lbs. since I started it! I am 5' 2 and have always been an active person. I exercise and try to watch what I eat. Nothing has seemed to work to get the weight off! I was wondering if I was going through pre- or (peri)menopause and it all had to do with my own hormones. Well, I am sure it is the Mirena. I am tired of feeling tired, but I do get out and jog, bike, etc. and ZIPPO has it done for my weight gain! It just makes you so frustrated and upset! My legs are starting to look like sausages. I am definitely having this removed ASAP after reading everyones comments. Thank you for sharing. My husband and I are all done having children, so it's just a matter of finding something to help with the excessive bleeding that I have with my periods. Has anyone ever tried the Novasure procedure yet? I know those who are not done having children would not have this offered as an option to them. It basically removes the endometrial lining. Goodbye hormone treatments for me! Best of luck to all!

First I want to say, after reading several posts, that it seems a lot of you are taking Topamax without food, which may be causing your "spaciness." My doctor suggested always taking it with food, even though it says with or without food, and I only experienced spaciness the few times I took it at bedtime without food. Once I started taking it with breakfast and dinner, that never happened again.

I am a 48 year old woman, prescribed Topamax in September of 08 for migraine associated vertigo without headaches, with facial numbness. The first thing I noticed was I immediately had headaches, which to me indicated it was dehydrating me as that is the only time I get a "normal" headache. So I knew I had to drink a lot of water. Soon after starting Topamax I developed a dry cough that lasted the entire time I was on the med. I did not relate it to the drug at the time, however. It never even occurred to me. After about two months on the drug I started having trouble breathing with extreme dryness in my airways. I was prescribed an albuterol inhaler which did not help. I was then prescribed a corticosteroid inhaler which also did not help. I thought the trouble breathing was from taking Nadolol which I was prescribed for occasional heart fluttering - the neurologist said this was a normal side effect of Topamax. I stopped taking the Nadolol but the trouble breathing continued. I also had more migraines with vertigo and facial numbness than before I started taking the drug. I hoped it would eventually stop and the drug would kick in to help the vertigo, so I stayed on the drug. I had very minor tingling in my feet, but it was tolerable. I became very stressed out, had trouble sleeping, depression, my face started breaking out in November (and still is), I lost interest in everything that I normally enjoy - reading, photography, following politics in the news (sort of an obsession of mine). In December I was so depressed that for the first time in my 11 year career I started canceling appointments and eventually took three weeks off from work to "re-group." In January the neurologist decided that we would increase the dose from 100 mg to 150 mg for one more month, and if it did not get rid of my migraines with vertigo, we would discontinue the drug. The first day on the increased dose I had a killer headache, and I drank 150 ounces of water before it went away. That night I did not have to go to the bathroom during the night, unheard of for me. That's a lot of water to drink and not have to pee. Within two days of increasing the dose, my cough became much worse, and within three days, the breathing became more difficult. Within five days, I was having trouble speaking because my airways felt so dry. I called the doctor the next morning and he said it was not the drug, but if I wanted to, stop taking it. So I went off it cold turkey, per his instructions. I had rebound migraines every day for a week or two and my heart was pounding, sometimes for three or four hours at a time. Eventually the cough and trouble breathing went away, however, I had to continue drinking lots of water or I would notice that I didn't have to urinate, sometimes not at all. Again, unheard of for me. I saw a cardiologist at the neurologist's urging and they said the heart pounding was just anxiety. I disagree, as did another doctor of mine. We both believe it was withdrawal. I have now found out (by getting copies of my medical records) that the neurologist is now attributing all of my side effects from the Topamax to "somatization." In other words, psychosomatic - not a side effect, but just a way of getting medical attention. I am seeing a few people on this board who have also experienced a dry cough and trouble breathing. Can I have the same side effects as other people and have them still be psychosomatic, even though I had no idea those side effects could occur? I don't think so.

I have a theory that Topamax interferes with hormones which causes a lot of the side effects like lack of concentration, memory loss, anxiety, depression, insomnia, acne, and hair loss - all symptoms of peri-menopause and menopause. Ask any woman in her 40's or 50's if she has these symptoms and most of them will say yes. My face has not been this broken out since high school! My hair is falling out at a rapid rate. I won't even bother mentioning these to the neurologist. He'll just say it's not the drug.

I'm very frustrated and not sure what to do at this point. The neurologist has me taking a supplement called Migrelief now, but I think it takes three months to kick in, so I have no relief at this point.

Has anyone else experienced the trouble breathing with dry cough? I don't believe for a moment that it was psychosomatic.

I'm about to start this in 7 days. I am switching off of Desogen (taken for 10 years for endometriosis - though I was off for 2 years while conceiving and pregnant 3 years ago). I'm 41 and suspect peri-menopause (hard to tell when on BCPs). My CURRENT complaints are v. dryness, weight gain and low drive... I'm hoping the lower progesterone in Loestrin will help. Any one else had expereience going from Desogen to Loestrin?

Hi all...WOW, hard to believe that so many of us are experiencing similar side effects.

I started taking Yasmin almost 2 1/2 weeks ago. Two days after I started taking it, I noticed I was starting to get nauseous, brief sharp shooting pains in my abdomen just under my left rib and sometimes a wee bit of a burning sensation in the same area. These sharp but brief pains occur anywhere from 4 times to maybe 15 or 20 times in a day and I almost NEVER when I am just sitting still or laying down. These pains are almost always in the same spot so I find it hard to believe it could be from gas although I AM much gassier. Wouldn't gas pains travel? I find I am burping alot and just generally gassy feeling. The other thing I noticed is that I dropped 8 pounds in the first 5 days of taking Yasmin. WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?

I pretty much have to continue taking BC because my doctor put me on them to see if they would stop my epileptic seizures which occur only when I ovulate. We are testing to see if stopping ovulation will stop the seizures. They think it is all related to peri-menopause. I'm 48. Sheeesh. Does anyone else have these sharp intermittent shooting pains under their ribs???? This is scaring me.

I've been taking snthroid for about 6 or 7 years I think. I had Graves so took the radiation cocktail. Started at .088 then got to hyper so dropped to .075. The last year or so this seemed to high so went to 0.64 (half of .125) Then got SO COLD went back to .075. Now I have been cutting that in half for a couple of months but now cold again so taking 3/4 of that. I have panic disorder too so if It get too high what a mess. Any thoughts? I'm also now in menopause as opposed to peri-menopause when all this started. Yikes.