Pre menopausal symptoms and conditions

I work for an OBGYN and I was getting samples of Ortho Tri Cyclene Lo, and had been on it for 2 years due to my cysts rupturing. Well Ortho went generic and we no longer carried it in the office and i was recommended to just try Loestrin before going to pay for an RX of my ortho. Well im in my 2nd week, and grant it i KNOW they say wait 3 months before you decide to switch but i CAN NOT take this any longer. Ortho gave me no problems, maybe cramps a few times out of the year, and with those, some heavy periods, which is normal for any pre-menopausal woman. Other than that it was great! No loestrin is almost giving me the same problems as Yaz did... yet Yaz was far worst, i am now experiencing moodiness, manic and depressive mood swings, uneasiness, nervousness, constipation, tiredness, and it really does not help that i am also in full time college while experiencing all of these side effects. I think the 35 dollars a month for ortho may just be well worth the price.

I'm 45 years old and I have been on Nuvaring for about 2 years, and I think I will stop this month when my cycle is over. I have had severe depression, mood swings, crying incessantly at times, mad about everything, wake up in the middle of the night, hot flashes (that's probably pre-menopausal), but for the most part, have had weight gain, insomnia, and a lot of the other symptoms other people on this board are describing. I'm not going to have kids, so I think going back to condoms will be the best option for me and my spouse, he's been very worried about my mood swings lately, as they always happen the week before I take out the ring. When I asked my doctor about it, he said that's probably not the cause, but he's not experiencing what I am going through, so I have to attribute this problem to the Nuvaring. I have also lost all my sex drive and have dryness and need lube for intercourse, which never happened to me until I got on the Nuvaring, I'm done with this crap too!

Have had the Mirena for a year due to needing some hormone therapy during menopause.I am 54yrs old and had my last period over 2 yrs ago-look physically like I am in my 30's. Had a breast reduction and weight reduction surgery over 10yrs ago VERY successfully lost 10# off my chest and 168# off of my body. SINCE having the Mirena I have gained over 30# and gained 2 cup sizes in my breasts! HELP!!! I have been treated by my regular doctor for mood swings with WellbutrinSR, Lexapro, Lamictal, Topamax and others-nothing has worked more than to ease some of the edge. I have gone from a size 2 to a size 10-12 in 9 months and am desperate for an answer! I feel as if all of the previous progress I had made with the weight reduction and breast reduction is all being undermined! I had a tummy tuck last September 08 and I swear my stomach was flatter before I had the surgery! I look pregnant! The surgeons have done a CT scan and can find nothing to indicate the surgery went bad. I don't know what to do as my OB-GYN tells me that "this IUD" is my best bet for hormone therapy and that it is ABSOLUTELY NOT the cause for the weight gain or breasts. Has anyone else "my age/menopausal" experienced this? Most of what I have read has been very helpful BUT all but a few are pre-menopausal and way younger. PLEASE let me know your thoughts!!

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 have been on Lisinopril for 10 months and I have experienced horrible side effects. I am 48, pre-menopausal and I believed the side effects we due to my aging. I thought I was dying on this medication. I started having stomach problems, diarrhea, bloating, swelling in my throat, dizziness, cramps in my feet, constipation, weight gain, hair loss, shallow breathing, increase in my glucose levels making me pre-diabetic. Most importantly, I believe the drug contributed to the heart palpitations I experienced one month after starting the drug. I rushed to the hospital and had to wear a holter monitor for a day to monitor the irregular heart beats I was experiencing. My blood pressure was never stabilized until I started a new drug. I am now off this Lisinopril and taking a wonderful drug called Tekturna. Tekturna dropped my blood pressure down to 122/72 from 150/80. Talk to your doctor if you have experienced these side effects and demand a change.

I've only been on it for just over a week, taking 25mg daily x 7 days and now !00mg daily. I am experiencing mild stomach cramping but nothing else. Have not seen any improvements yet either. I am menopausal, so I can't gage my periods. My facial acne developed when I became pre-menopausal at around age 45. I am now 52. I sometimes get very slight headaches if I don't take the medication on a full stomach.

I posted a couple weeks ago that I was not having any side effects other than severe depression. I have more to report. I developed such terrible acid refluxe, that I literally could not EAT. If I ate lunch, I would not be able to eat dinner as the acid was literally coming up my throat, continuously and NOTHING I took helped.

The only good thing i noticed was I had more lubrication (I had none before) and it upped my libido some. You have to understand that I am pre-menopausal though so my hormones were very low to begin with.

I have done much research on this, since I was on Loesterin before this and did not have the depression, I wondered what the difference in the pills was.
Loestrin has more progesterone and a little less estrogen. Fem Con has a little more estrogen but LESS progesterone than loestrin.Ok, so if we're ALL going skitzo nuts on Fem con, maybe it's because there is not enough progesterone to balance it out? That would also explain the weight gain. Too much estrogen vs too little progesterone. I am going to try some progesterone cream at night to see if that helps. I don't know why they put only .4 mg of progesterone in a pill that has more estrogen when loestrin had 1 mg.

We'll see what happens.

night sweats, hot flash, panic feeling, fast heart rate, headache. AND THAT WAS IN ONE DAY! Felt spacey and out of this world. No joke. It started out good then it was like whamo! I took it on Thursday and Thursday night I was in the ER having an EKG done and blood tests done. Even in the hospital, laying in the bed, I had stomach pains, burning in my stomach and my heart started jumping. No heart issues, everything fine. I got severe thirst and anxious. Doc said it was reflux.. Mmmhuh. I only take Synthroid for my thyroid disorder and Prevacid for reflux. (And I don't take it every day) That is it. Friday, woke up feeling like I was drugged, flu like symptoms. Friday was little better, still kind of out of it, like I was coming off a high, kind of down. That night, around 5, I woke up with the heart palpitations and the anxiety and I just had to tell myself to calm down and I went back to bed. Today, my tongue feels funny, dry. And I only took one. I turned the meds back in..... If one day side effects are like that, I am not taking anymore. It is about trust in God!!!

Hello,

I read about how YAZ birth control pill affects the body and psych and I am now scared. This is my 2nd day of YAZ (I've never been on birth control pills ever and I am 27 years old), it's all new to me but after reading all these negative posts about Yaz I don't know what to do. Before the birth control pills, I was depressed, annoying, serious weight problems - 210 lbs :~~((, low energy, low libido, always tired, terrible migraines every 2nd day, ridiculously increased appetite and excessive hunger, hair where it shouldn't be, menstrual blood clots, excessive cramping etc
I have all these problems for 3 years now and now that the family doc. put me on YAZ birth control pill I am even more scared - mainly of more weight gain, it would be a tragedy for me, I am fat enough already and what's worse I can't lose the weight, exercise doesn't help, diet doesn't help, NOTHING. Will YAZ birth control pill worsen my already tragic condition? I just don't know what to do and what to believe ... I appreciate any advice or help you can give me ... Thank You to all!

I have been on Lisinopril 20 mg since
February. After a few weeks I kept waking up every morning around 5 am and felt my heartbeat all over the place, like I just had run a marathon. After 4 weeks, this subsided. Then I started hearing weird sounds in my head like a church bell ringing in the distance, this was going on along with waking up for the past two weeks every morning at 4 am with a rapid heart beat, a creepy sensation going up my arms and legs and getting cold. On top of that I was getting very anxious and shaky. My doctor seems to think I suffer from anxiety attacks and put me on Zoloft. I also start getting out of breath just bending down, tieing my shoes and I feel tired and shaky all the time. In the beginning I had the cough, that has subsided but I seem to develop all these other side effects. After reading all these emails, I will stop my medication tomorrow and see what happens. I might try the apple cider vinegar approach. By the way, my blood pressure went down to 92 to 55 most of the time and my doctors thought, that was great! I was under the impression the bp to shoot for was 120 over 80.

CHEST PAIN AND MENSTRUATION LINK

After being completely perplexed as to why every month, I am experiencing these horrendous chest pains I found two pieces of research that are of particular interest about women's menstruation, varying levels of oestrogren and heart disease. I haven't previously found anyone that understood why/how this happens, but loads and loads of women on medication.com who reported sometimes, almost immediate chest pains.

The first published by BBC in 2004 (google chest pains and menstruation) basically confirms that a woman is more vulnerable to sudden, serious heart disease during the time of the menstrual cycle when her oestrogen levels are at their lowest. (Known as 17-oestradiol which circulates in the bloodstream and dip sharply around menstruation. -Experience of chest pains during this time when there is not enough blood flow to the heart. This study was conducted by a team from Laval University in Quebec Canada. Their research confirmed a rise in reported cases of serious heart disease among pre-menopausal women. Aged 35-47. These women were admitted to the hospital for heart attack or chest pain. What is particularly interesting, is that 20 of the women reported heart related problems within five days of the beginning of their period when oestrogen levels are at their lowest. What is particularly interesting is that even though this article points to this being more common in women over 55, yasmin has been identified as having more risk to blood clots and heart troubles than other pills and am wondering how its effects on our hormones make us more suscectible to heart disease.

The second a piece by the Annals and Internal Medicine. Google chest pain and menstruation.

After being completely perplexed as to why every month, I am experiencing these horrendous chest pains I found two pieces of research that are of particular interest about women's menstruation, varying levels of oestrogren and heart disease. I haven't previously found anyone that understood why/how this happens, but loads and loads of women on medication.com who reported sometimes, almost immediate chest pains.

The first published by BBC in 2004 (google chest pains and menstruation) basically confirms that a woman is more vulnerable to sudden, serious heart disease during the time of the menstrual cycle when her oestrogen levels are at their lowest. (Known as 17-oestradiol which circulates in the bloodstream and dip sharply around menstruation. -Experience of chest pains during this time when there is not enough blood flow to the heart. This study was conducted by a team from Laval University in Quebec Canada. Their research confirmed a rise in reported cases of serious heart disease among pre-menopausal women. Aged 35-47. These women were admitted to the hospital for heart attack or chest pain. What is particularly interesting, is that 20 of the women reported heart related problems within five days of the beginning of their period when oestrogen levels are at their lowest. What is particularly interesting is that even though this article points to this being more common in women over 55, yasmin has been identified as having more risk to blood clots and heart troubles than other pills and am wondering how its effects on our hormones make us more suscectible to heart disease.

The second a piece by the Annals and Internal Medicine. Google chest pain and menstruation.

I have recently (one and half weeks ago now) had an epidural spinal injection to help alleviate severe lower disc and leg pain. I was not told what steroid was used but have recently learnt that it was probably Kenalog.

The pain has almost totally alleviated which is great and long may it continue but I have had some very strange side effects. I seem to have a permanently salty taste in my mouth and I cannot easily tolerate caffeine or alcohol in any small quantity (one glass of wine). I have also been feeling very tired due a constantly heavy menstrual period that has now lasted eleven days which is very unusual for me as I am pre-menopausal and they usually last around 3 to five days max. I have also had a couple of dizzy spells and feel quite nauseous sometimes during the day. I have not been able to sleep very well at night (insommnia) - my sleep patterns seem to be all out. I get tired during the day and am wide awake until four or five a.m. in the morning. I also had several hot flushes just after the injection (far more than usual and of longer duration) but these do seem to have alleviated now. I have lost some weight and have little appetite although I do try and eat as I am not overweight at all and need to keep to a normal weight.

All in all, even though the pain has gone, I seem to have acquired different problems which I was unprepared for and not informed about from my consultant or hospital staff. They just said I would feel tired from the sedative for a few days I had at the time when the injection was administered.

Does anyone have any idea how long the menstrual problom will last???

hello ladies, hopefully you will be able to give me some advice! i stopped yasmin 4 months ago,my 1st 2 periods were 28 days apart which was my normal cycle before yasmin,my next period was 32 days,this one is later still,i am on day 36 and still waiting,i have a really bad headache,dry throat and a bloated tummy but no period! has this happened to anyone else? i saw my GP today,she said she will run some tests when my period arrives to see what my progesterone levels are doing as well as testing my thyroid again (am hypothyroid)....just wondered if anyone else has experienced this? on the plus side my anxiety is still greatly improved although i have a little bit more pre-mestrually but nothing like when i was on yasmin! at the moment i have all the symptoms of be pre-menopausal......i'm only 32!

For the past three months, I found my menses to be abnormal. Light and lasting a mere three days. I thought of the possibility of an early onset of Pre-menopausal sysmptoms. One Day I began to hemorage, and it persisted for five days. I get myself to the doctors and Norethindrone, is prescribed. Talk about being dillusional, anxious, hallucinating, irritable, frustrated, crampy, depressed and suicidal. Boy have I entertained thoughts...i almost feel very wierded out with myself. Like I do not like looking at myself in the mirror..Its almost as if I have changed...maybe due to all the bllod loss....i am recuperating thought, but this medication, has done me in...I stopped taking them, bleeding has stopped but now I am leaking and its clear, not urine...and gotch it smells Awful!!Pardon Me.....some medication is just not for everyone....My appetite is completely gone too..

My Lupron experience has been mixed.

I had 3 Lupron injections--7 months worth of the drug--before my November 2003 myomectomy for a grapefruit-sized fibroid. I consulted 4 doctors (including a family member) before taking the Lupron plunge, and opted not to read too many scare stories online. I'm 32 and I want very much to have children, and everyone told me that my surgery would be most effective if we could use Lupron to cut the blood flow to the fibroid. The good news is that it seems Lupron (and a very good surgeon) did the trick--my surgery was without complications and declared a success. (Now we just have to get me pregnant!)

Now I'm just waiting for the effects of Lupron to go away. I had my last (3 month dose) shot in September 2003, and my most severe symptoms were in the weeks after that shot--especially severe and frequent hot flashes, night sweats, the works. For the entirety of the injection, my libido was utterly shot. For me, these were all annoying, but not unbearable. I figure it's just a taste of what's to come when the real menopause happens in another decade or so.

Post-Lupron recovery:
The hot flashes finally went away about 5.5 months after my last shot, and I've been gradually feeling more and more normal, though my libido is still not back to normal. Most worryingly, and this is why I'm writing today, is what happened to me this last week. Noone ever seems to write about the hormonal hell that your body goes through when it's trying to return to it's pre-menopausal state. I'm 90% sure that my symptoms are in fact attributable to these hormonal fluxes, and not to something worse (like abdominal adhesions from my surgery).

Three evenings ago, I got extremely dizzy and nearly passed out. It took me over 20 minutes to get back to my office, since I was so dizzy (loss of vision, balance, and nauseaI had to sit down three times in the couple dozen yards. I also had a pain in my abdomen. I barely made it the final steps to my office, where it took me at least 45 mintues to get to the point where I could make it to the car to go home. I had strong stomach pain, tingling hands, and gradually decreasing dizzyness. At this time I also noticed that my entire abdomen was very swollen. While the other symptoms have not returned, I have continued to have a very swollen abdomen, which has been very tender to the touch. I have been unable to walk at my usual vigorous pace, and have spent much of the last 3.5 days sitting quietly or lying down. The whole experience has been very frightening--and NOTHING like any PMS I have ever had before. But then again, I've never been menopausal for a year before!

So, I'm writing this post so that others might be aware that the hormonal changes the body goes through while getting OFF Lupron can be even more severe and frightening than the ones you experience going ON the drug.

I am a postmenopausal woman. After 4 months of 10mg Prednisone a day I started vaginal bleeding in addition to weight gain, moon face, water retention, mood swings, abnormal hair growth etc. I wonder if any other woman (post- or pre-menopausal) expierienced abnormal vaginal bleeding or spotting while on Prednisone.