Hi everyone, I am new here. Until the last year I never had much female problems and never any emotional problems. Now I have both! In spades!

I have periods about every 3 months now. Before it starts, the cramping is just awful. It lasts for days. My who uterus area gets so tender and bloated that walking is painful. I had an ultra sound and endometrial biopsy. Both were normal, except for a small ovary cyst. The only advice they gave was to take ibuprophen. I do, and it helps some.

Fatigue, depression. I used to be a real powerhouse. Now I feel lazy and worthless. I'm still working and that's going well, but I have let other things go. Even small amounts of exercise results in aching joints and muscles. I'm trying to loose weight and that's not going well. I've gone from a size 10 to a 14 in the past 3 years! I hate being so huge. I kjnow my weight is part of the reason my knees and hips get so sore. I never had much trouble keeping a reasonable weight before, now I just can't leave the sweets alone.

I need help getting on the right track for taking care of myself and being productive again.

Hi Callie!
The day i turned 40 it seems like i began to fall apart in every aspect......

Have you had a good thyroid level work up?

This turned out to be my biggest culprit....also have your hormone levels checked?

I had NO idea how vital our thyroid is to our bodies before all this!

I'm here for ya! Feel free to send me a PM if you want to share more personal women's issues.
I've been thru the gammet and am willing to talk very openly about what has helped to get me turned back around....

Truly Caring
Rae

Hi Rrae. Does the large R stand for Rachel? I've always thought Rachel Rae is such a pretty name.

Anyway I actually did have a thyroid test and it came back normal, along with blood sugar, cholesterol, hemoglobin, and some protein that's a marker for something else. Hormone test shows "all systems go", but that has probably changed. Thanks for answering.

This forum doesn't get much traffic, does it.

Sorry my friend! I didn't mean to 'desert' you
I actually got called into work and had to put in a 12 hour day, so haven't been on much past 2 days......

Hang in there k! Please don't give up on us!

We'll get some discussion goin here! Believe me when I say there are MANY who care! I wanna make sure I help you find the most appropriate area of the forum.....

I truly care! Check your 'visitor message' on your home page.
I sent you a note!

Rae

Hi Callie,
Welcome to the NT forum. I am sorry that this part of the forum is so quiet. Also, you made more of a statement than a question. So I'll talk, okay?

I went into early menopause at age 36. I had that bad cramping, bloating but instead of missing periods I had extremely heavy ones. They did a few tests, and three D& C's along the way to stop the heavy flow.

It showed only a large cyst on one ovary on Ultrasound. This caused me stabbing pain until it broke. The egg that should be released into the tube. But it can get caught up on the tip of the ovary and cause a cyst to form Like a bag of water that fills and gets larger, pressing on sensitive nerve endings causing the cramping pain.

I had multiple cysts and fibroids but they were sitting on top of my Uterus, with Endometrial tissue all over the outside of the uterus. So the D & C's did not reveal any odd going on problems. This was a long time ago.

I was wiped out because the endometrial tissue bleeds when you do and loss of blood is inside too and makes you weak and wiped out. In my case.

I think you could take hormone replacement therapy in small amounts, or birth control pills for a while, depending on your age, Or you just might want to face menopause in a normal way. Just go through it.

Just wanted to let you know it is normal all that stuff that is happening with you, mine was a bit more severe and I hemorrhaged and need one ovary and the Uterus removed. They left one ovary to make hormones.

When ten years passed that one got cramping and painful so had to be removed. I went on HRT and I am still on it. I have MS and Estrogen is lacking so it is good for both my problems.

That's my long story. I am sorry I got carried away with a story about me.

Talk to your another GYN and see if you can do more than take a pain pill. Women suffer enough, peri-menopause should not have you suffering all the time. I hope you feel better.

Oh, have you any hot flashes or the sweats yet?

I had 70 hot flashes a day. That is a huge amount. At night I would get one after the other. That wiped me out. With the MS I stopped sweating so the flashes were coming from the toes up to the head and I felt hot but could not sweat. Lots of cold showers.

I better stop rambling. Let us know if you have more questions and call your doctor for relief. Good luck.

Most of my hot flashes have been at night. A few during the day. They really aren't too bothersome. If that's as bad as they're going to get, I won't feel the need to seek any treatment. I'd say the lack of energy and mental disorganization are my biggest issues, followed closely by anxiety.