Menopause :: Anxiety? Perimenopause? Both? Overwhelming Physical Symptoms
Jun 27, 2014
I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder last March, after suffering a panic attack while traveling for business. Since then, I've had a multitude of daily physical symptoms...dizziness/lightheadedness, body aches, headaches, insomnia, night sweats, increased body temperature, feeling weak in my limbs, general fatigue, shakiness....you name it, I've had it. I've just about worn out my welcome at my GP's office, I've been there so often....I've been to the emergency room four times, had an MRI, multiple ECGs, countless rounds of bloodwork, an upper endoscopy...everything comes back clear. So why do I feel so sick all the time? I did have my hormone levels checked, and my doctor confirmed that I'm at least perimenopausal (I'm 45 years old)....could all of these symptoms (and truly, they occur daily) be related to perimenopause? I've developed a serious issue with health anxiety due to all of this, because I can't accept that these symptoms are harmless...I'm convinced that something catastrophic is wrong with me.
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These are very real physical changes and conditions. Some symptoms alarm a woman that she may be suffering from a serious disease. Perhaps you know the more common ones related to menopausal symptoms in this list. But many of these may surprise you, as they have not been typically associated with this normal physiological transformation.
1. Change in Menstrual Cycle, Cycles may get closer together or farther apart, lighter and shorter in duration or much heavier, lasting longer than one has been accustomed to. Menses may seem to take forever to begin with dark spotting for days until you actually flow, or you might feel like you have your menses every two weeks.
2. Menstrual Flooding can come on with sudden onset and feel like you may hemorrhage to death. Or it can be a gradual build up just when you think your menses will end and you start gushing for days. Flooding commonly accompanies the woman with uterine fibroids as she transits into menopause.
3. Headaches, Migraines, especially before, during or at the end of your menses debilitate and radically interferes with normal functioning.
4. Decreased Motor Coordination, Clumsiness, almost begins to make the woman who experiences this feel like she is a bit spastic, certainly less than graceful during perhaps an already awkward period in her life.
5. Lethargy, a persistent feeling sluggishness physically and mentally, that seems to negate ones ability to do much.
6. Physical Exhaustion , and Crushing Crashing Fatigue that can come on so suddenly and grip you into feeling like you will collapse unless you stop this instant.
7. Exacerbation of any Chronic Illness or Existing Condition transpires as hormones decline or deviate from their normal balance.
8. Insomnia, this includes a new or unusual pattern of either difficulty falling asleep, or dropping off to sleep for a few hours and then awakening with the inability to return to sleep.
9. Sleep Disturbances sometimes are from nightmares, night sweats, or just a vague sense of restlessness keeping you up or disrupting your precious revitalizing retreat from this realm of responsibilities.
10. Night Sweats often begin between a woman?s breasts, initially a night or two before her menses, waking her from sleep, later more profoundly disturbing with up to total body saturation, followed by damp or sweat drenched chills.
11. Interference With Dream Recall interrupts the sense of normal sleep, if you are someone accustomed to vivid or at least some detailed memory of your dreamtime.
12. Muscle Cramps can occur anywhere in the body from legs to back to neck, and sometimes reflects the need for more calcium, or simply that your progesterone levels are too low.
13. Low Backache often worsens before or during menses, but if your hormones remain at low levels, you can experience it on a regular basis.
14. Gall Bladder Symptoms of pain, spasms and discomfort felt in the right upper abdominal quadrant under the ribs, which may be accompanied by belching, bloating, and intolerance to certain foods reflect the increased liver load with declining hormones.
15. Frequent Urination, or sensations that mimic urinary infections is a disturbing symptom often unrelieved by actual urination. It is often experienced as the sensation of needing to urinate all the time, even immediately afterwards.
16. Urinary Incontinence, the uncontrollable and spontaneous loss of urine, or the Urge for Incontinence, can occur suddenly or feel continuous, and not only in response to coughing, sneezing, jumping or running.
17. Hypoglycemic Reactions happen when suddenly your blood sugar crashes and you must have food now.
18. Food Cravings, often for sweets or salty foods, but can include sour or pungent foods.
19. Increased Appetite, especially at night and after dinner contributes to that unusual and unwanted weight gain.
20. Dark Circles Under Eyes can also be caused by adrenal exhaustion and thyroid dysfunctions, but no amount of sleep seems to eliminate it.
21. Joint and Muscle Pain, Achy, Sore Joints, Muscles and Tendons, which sometimes develop into actual carpal tunnel syndrome, or give rise to the questioning of other disease possibilities.
22. Increased Tension in Muscles demonstrates itself in those hunched up shoulders as you work or talk about anything uncomfortable, along with promoting lower back pain and a stiff neck.
23. Increased Hair Loss or Thinning anywhere on body, including your head, armpits, pubic area.
24. Increase in Facial Hair especially under your chin, or along your jaw line. It may be defined by generalized hair growth, or a specific and coarse single strand of hair that pokes out, even curls.
25. Unusually Hair Growth, around Nipples, between Breasts, down your back, places where your hair was finer, less coarse.
26. Acne, quite disturbing to any woman who dealt with this in adolescence and never thought it would recur.
27. Infertility causes grief in the woman who postponed pregnancy in her earlier years and now wishes to conceive, carry to term a healthy baby, and discovers she is unable to do so.
28. Loss of Breast Tissue begins with the decrease of progesterone production. Women often feel as though their breast have become empty sacs devoid of their normal fullness, with or without sagging.
29. Breast Soreness/Tenderness/Pain/ Engorgement and swelling, occurs particularly a few days to one week before bleeding actually begins, which usually potentiates complete relief of any pain or swelling.
30. Painful, or tender nipples have been described as this exquisite localized pain only in the nipples and suggests estrogen excess.
31. Cold Extremities feels quite strange especially in the presence of a hot flash, the combination of which is not impossible.
32. Being Accident Prone, bumping into things, not even realizing it until the bruise reveals itself later and then lacking the ability to recall the causative incident feels perplexing and a little scary at the prospect of something more damaging.
33. Hot flashes initially may be described as mild to severe flushes of heat waves, and for some women these evolve into intense outbreaks of sudden heat with sweating and turning bright red all over.
34. Loss of Sexual Energy, our Libido, can be marked by a gradual or sudden disinterest in sex, to the development of an actual aversion.
35. Painful Sex often described as if one?s vagina would tear open at the point of penetration along with feelings of abrasion during intercourse.
36. Vaginal Dryness, Irritation, sometimes accompanied by a consistent unusual discharge - typically odor free, negates a woman?s ability to be sexually active, or able to enjoy or be comfortable in her body.
37. Dizziness, feeling lightheaded and the loss of physical balance, and even a bit wobbling at times, requires pause in movement to prevent falling over or deepening into vertigo or feeling faint.
38. Ringing in the Ears, Tinnitus, can be experienced as a pulsing sensation, a whooshing sound, an almost musical or buzzing sound with a fuzzy sensation.
39. Abdominal Bloating comes on suddenly often after eating, or seems to be all the time, and can be visibly evident making you feel that you look like you are pregnant.
40. Weight Gain disturbs most women, particularly when it seems to happen over a couple of days, settles in the waist, buttocks and thighs, promoting a visceral thickening from the waist down, the classic middle-aged figure.
41. Fluid Retention, Edema, commonly with swelling in the legs and ankles, though not limited to this area and it is unrelieved by urination.
42. Palpitations or Heart Racing usually comes on suddenly, without warning or provocation, and dissipates spontaneously. The experience can be so wild and intense that a woman may become alarmed and wonder if she is having a heart attack.
43. Irregularities in your Heart Rate may feel more like your heart has just done a flip-flop or skipped a beat.
44. Constipation/Diarrhea, intermittent or alternating, results from declining hormone levels, which increase the demands on liver function and alters intestinal motility.
45. Tendency towards Candidiasis can increase, even if you have no prior known history ? and if you do, it may worsen.
46. Gastrointestinal Distress, Increased Flatulence, Unrelieved Gas pains, Indigestion, Nausea all can reflect intestinal changes due to hormonal imbalances.
47. Slow Digestion often goes along with the bloat ? what previously took four to five hours to digest, now seems to take all night. It seems worse in the evenings.
48. Lack of Appetite may be experienced as more of a lack of interest in food, going to the frig and standing there with the door open and staring blankly. Feeling completely uninspired, you busy yourself with something else and forget that you need to eat.
49. Changes in Body Odor especially disturbing when it seems to focus in the groin area, but can be anywhere on the body.
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Im 37 and have been experiencing almost every symptom of perimenopause. The worst ones being, anxiety, insomnia, night sweats, hot flushes, periods areso unpredictable. I have suffered with pcos but know how that affects my periods etc. My periods have never been this far apart.... Ever! They have also become lighter and shorter in duration. I have mood swings constantly and feel irritable but this could be due to the sleep deprivation. I have been backwards and forwards to my gp. He did some blood tests on my hormones which have came back within normal range.......am I right in saying that blood tests are normal during perimenopause??
My mum seems to think i'm heading for the menopause as she got similar symptoms, she was only 39 when her periods completely stopped.
I really don't know where to go from here. Cant seem to convince the drs this is hormones
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I am 54 years old mother of three and grandma. I am in perimenopause, symptoms bad depression where I wouldn't get out of bed. I was told years ago to have a hysterectomy because of fibroids but I haven't yet thinking I will get through this. I have a enlarged uterus due to fibroids and thickening wall of the uterus . I go in August for an sono and ultrasound to check uterine wall. This hormonal stuff is driving me crazy. I stay home, don't get out much and scared when my husband leaves to go to work.
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I admit I have had multiple Anxiety attacks, I am a cashier at Walmart, I usually get them if I had rude customer like after I had a nasty customer who came down from self-check to customer service towards me, I was in tears before that, then my manager told me to hide behind the Customer Service desk. My worst anxiety attack I had a lady who's coupons would not work, I took the coupon price off the items she could not understand that and told me to take the items off period and demanded I give the coupons back to her, I already did. My brain got foggy so I asked her if she wanted me to take the items off, she said yes so I kept doing it, suddenly I wasn't feeling to well, I went to go see my manager to ask for help when I started hyperventilating, my manager had me sit down right there at the empty register. Another cashier was able to take over and finish it for me. My manager helped me over to the bench at customer service, where I suddenly lost feeling in my hands, they ended up curling up from the pinky in. I tried prying them apart using the metal bench but that didn't even work. That scared me, the same manager asked if I was okay I told her that I couldn't feel my hands, staring down at my fists. They finally unfroze after 10 minutes. The lady was so upset with me she left all of her items.
Anyway I will get dizzy, like it ranges from feeling as though I am spinning, I have to clutch on to something to keep from falling over, to the world tipping around me with every step, to not being able to see, not sure if that's exactly dizziness, but it started with dizziness. I'll get flushed randomly. I'll have PAC's. There have been a few times I have almost fainted, one time it was from not breathing, like I noticed that I wasn't breathing, my body was just like woah what's the matter you aren't breathing, I had to have a manager finish while I sat down. I was up and doing my job before I was supposed to so I did not feel well the rest of the day. My arms will also get exhausted suddenly if I have to lift them to head level, like I can barely do a pony tail without them being exhausted, the kinda feeling you get after a hard work out.
I've had the flushing and dizziness when I was talking to my mom and hanging out with my friends. My friends all know and are really accepting if they need to stop doing whatever so I can sit down.
My doctor originally thought it was POTS if anyone knows what that is, I'm getting a tilt table test in 2 weeks, now he seems to think it's anxiety. I'm sitting down while working just in case, it does seem to help slightly. It's just annoying, this has been going on for 3 months and I'm sitting down because of the time I have almost fainted also. Anyway people will say you're lucky you get to sit down, I don't consider everything and almost fainting lucky.
I'm not sure if it is anxiety since it is just physical symptoms, I've had no mental or emotional ones. Just feels like mental ones from fear of my physical ones.
I've done a stress echo and a holter monitor and blood work done.
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Hi. I just wondered if what I'm experiencing is normal. For the past 2-3 months I've had constant anxiety symptoms. I'm not just talking anxious thoughts (although I have those all the time), I'm talking physical symptoms. All day long, I have a horrible tightness in my chest, butterflies in my stomach, dry mouth, internal shaking in my legs and adrenaline rushes up and down my body. I can't control the symptoms, no matter how hard I try. When it first hit, it was different. I had constant nausea & a general feeling of not being able to cope. But I could switch out of it sometimes and feel normal. Now I can never switch out of it. It's there all the time, although the nausea has stopped. I even have it in my sleep because I've actually felt it in my dreams and when I wake up, it's still there. (Not that I can sleep much in this state. 5 hours is the most I ever have.) I'm on Citalopram but if anything, it's made my anxiety worse. The leg symptoms weren't there before I went on the drug and nor was the chest tightness.
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My first post focused on Anxiety and the possibility of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It has recently been brought to my attention, there is a possibility my symptoms could be hormone related. Something I never actually considered.
Brief list of symptoms...
Fatigue (groggy and heavy type tiredness)
Brain Fog
Feeling detached and 'spaced out'
Weak and Shaky
Jelly Legs
Weak Fingers and Toes
Sensitive to light and sound
Sometimes feels like I have flu or a bad virus (even though I know I don't)
Light Headed
Light Dizziness
Easily tired out
Occasional Palpitations
Frequent urination (occasionally)
Anxious (more so than usual)
Brief History...
I have had anxiety issues, on and off, for many years and also hormone induced migraines. This year the migraines are definitely worse and so too is the anxiety. I had an 8 day brutal migraine early/mid September, followed by 8 days of severe brain fog/dull fuzzy head. I haven't been the same since. I'm also wondering if my symptoms are migraine related? I've had 2 full blood tests done and 2 urine samples taken. All came back normal/clear and healthy. I've also been to see an ENT consultant who ruled out an inner ear virus. He also checked my throat and balance. I had a full eye examination last week and my eyes are in great shape. I have an MRI booked next week and also an appointment to get an ECG recorder fitted for 48 hours.
My symptoms are so broad and general, it could be a number of things... I have even considered CFS. Now I'm thinking it could be hormone related? I feel more anxious not knowing what this is.
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Thought it could be hopeful sharing anxiety symptoms, I know for sure mine are very diverse! Such as Twitching and jerking all over the body constantly, eyelid, hands, arms, legs, back, neck, butt etc. Aches and pain throughout body,arms, legs, back and neck, jaw etc...
Floaters in both eyes.
Tingling, pins and needles
Headaches (had one that lasted 3weeks night and day)
Sweating more than normal at night.
Skin problems
And at the moment the most concerned about pain in the middle of my chest which comes on now and again daily
Oh and IBS which has settle down for the time being but still have heartburn.
I'm 26 year old male, had clear MRI of brain and spine, full blood count down 3 times this year all normal! Been told it's anxiety related.
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What physical symptoms do people get with anxiety please?
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I am really suffering at the moment and I'm into day 35 of an anxiety/depression dip. I have been suffering this on and off for over ten years. The closer I get to the end the dips seem to be lasting longer and coming more frequent. I really don't know how much longer I can hang on. My quality of life at the moment is very very poor. I am starting to consider HRT as I've really had enough of this horrible roller coaster. I was hoping to hear from some ladies who have tried HRT and it has turned their lives around or offer experiences from other ladies. I have a doctor who will prescribe bioidentical hormones which I would prefer to the synthetic ones. I just have to make a decision. I so wish I didn't have to and wish I could sail through this like other ladies. Last year I had 7 periods and its 3 months since my last one. I'm just wondering if you can take HRT with this scenario.
I really need the strength to keep going.
Have cried all day today as it's all becoming to hard.
I would love to wake in the morning and it has lifted.
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I feel like my anxieties are getting worse at times. It seems when I am anxious my bowls leak out with me not even taking a bowl movement. When I was at the movie with my brothers wife and their kids and my boyfriend seeing Annie around 6pm I started feeling like my heart was racing again and feeling like I was going to pass out or just scream like the other day when I was ran up to someone in the building next door to our building screaming I'm scared my heart was racing then and I felt like I was going to pass out then I felt so weak and when the fire department came in with me to my Apartment I went to the bathroom and I wiped away some stool that leaked out. Could this be because of a heart problem or what because I feel like I am having flu like symptoms tonight or is this part of perimenopause would like to know i feel like putting myself in the hospital.
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I'm a 26 year old female I'm a bit over weight and I'm tall but since I was about 18 I started getting anxiety at first it was social but I worry about EVERYTHING ! I always think I'm dying or have a serious illness like now I'm obsessed with peeing I think I have to pee then I do and I'm scared I have a uti which I've been checked and I don't I don't have diabetes but I'm just scared can anxiety do this ? Can my mind trick my body ?
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Started questioning my state again since i saw many anxiety complains go around physical symptoms like heart rate or dizziness and i got none!
Not that i'm upset about that but was thinking if it is normal ?
In fact my mental symptoms overwhelming i can't talk to people almost i feel dumb with foggy brain everything seems strange sometimes and i seem to get almost confused and i can barely sleep and when i am in transitional state between sleep and conscious i start hearing sounds and i get completely random thoughts that makes me wake up frightened so i can't sleep .. Most strange that apart of me being obsessed with whether i becoming insane or not nothing seem to trigger it ! Its not that i think negative but it just starts on its own. Really worried about that, i also experience throughout the day attacks of fear , my heart is normal but everything starts seem to be scary for no reason and my hands starts to sweat ....
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I was already apprehensive or should I say anxious about my GP appointment today. I had a panic attack while I was there and just couldn't seem to calm down. He gave me a script for Ativan and said I need to relax. My anxiety this week has been through the roof. I've never had issues with anxiety but since all my other symptoms started I have been on edge. I can't focus on my health because i'm always thinking that something is going to happen to me. I know the numerous tests tell me I'm ok but I can't shake the doom and gloom feelings. They just come out of nowhere. Does anyone else ever feel like the doom and gloom and is this normal? I am starting to think I have generalized anxiety disorder where i'm just out of sorts all the time.
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This has been the worst 3 weeks of my life with these perimenopause symptoms. I'm soon to be 49. I thought my symptoms were getting better. Then on March 8th started having bad stomach cramps and low back pain which lasted 2 1/2 weeks. Then the terrible indigestion started with heart palpitations and then of course major anxiety. My period which has been about every 18 days since December is now late. I live each day in fear and terror of heart palpitations and anxiety. I seriously feel like I might die everyday. This is absolutely no way to live. I feel bad for my poor husband and daughter. I am no wife and mother at this time. My daughter is 21 but I still feel horrible about the state I'm in. Sorry for the vent. Feeling hopeless like this journey will never ever end.
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Suffered on and off with serious depressive episodes (mostly on). Up until new year I was drinking too much which I seem to have a handle on now. Was also taking paracetamol and anti inflammatories every day for the dreadful muscle aches and pains. My only relief is keeping warm in bed but then the sleeplessness is worse at night.
Does anyone else experience this? My doctor doesn't have any ideas and I really cannot take painkillers etc every day...
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I get physical symptoms from my anxiety and depression and wondered if Citalopram has helped anyone get relief from this ? Does it also work to relieve pain does anyone know ?
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I have had a panic disorder for 15 years. During that time I have been on several benzos to treat my episodes. I seem to remember back at the beginning being able to take a pill and feel completely relaxed and calm. Now when I have an attack, my medicine only seems to calm my mental state but it has absolutely no effect on my physical symptoms (tingling, rapid pulse, the jitters, sweating, etc.). Do I need to try a higher dose of my benzo (Xanax) or is there another benzo that might work better for me? Has anyone else had this happen?
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I have now lived with what I think is an STD for the past 4 years and it has completely ruined my life. I have many physical symptoms, but what affects me the most is how it affects me mentally. Extreme depression and anxiety, thoughts of suicide, significant memory loss, complete loss of sex drive, inability to think clearly are some examples. You may be thinking this is depression, but i've been treated for depression over the entire 4 years. All the medications I've taken, all the therapy I've done, none of it has improved anything. Both physical and mental symptoms get better and worse together as if the disease goes dormant, and I feel a lot more like my old self.
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I will probably be starting Mirtazapine next week and wondered if it has helped anyone with the physical symptoms of anxiety or depression. Does it help anyone with pain relief at all ?
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I have been hearing multiple voices threatening my life constantly and tormenting me 24/7 since 1/1/14, but mine goes beyond just voices. I just woke up and began hearing voices. First day the voices made me see demonic face patterns on walls and patterned surfaces. That stopped after the first day. Since then, they have been giving me all kinds of physical torment from pulsating head pains and stomach aches to anything u can possibly name except external cuts or bruises. They can inflict pokes, itches, scratches, and pain of all sorts on any parts of the body including the eyes. I have no idea what this is but it's not just psychological. I have no history of mental illness and am straight as an arrow as far as drugs and alcohol.
I believe this may have started when i recorded myself sleeping about 10 months ago and listened to it for 2 weeks. Then I stopped. I heard voices in the recording of all sorts when amplified. Didn't think much of it. Then on 1/1, i woke up with voices in bed. I am new to paranormal and considered this to be Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP). I am thinking that I may have opened a portal when I head the voices in the recording.
This is so bizarre beyond words.
I am not even religious or christian but the initial story they would play on me was that they were Succubus, Lucifer, and Jehovah. That lasted for 3 days or so and now they just constantly keep saying that they are my demons and they are essentially controlling my body functions to some extent. Their voices are 24/7.
I have so much more to say, but too much to type out. They use the slightest emotional change in me and amplify the side effects into physical symptoms. Like slightest of anxiety you might not normally notice is amplified and i would get physical side effect symptoms as if I was having massive anxiety. They are constantly causing pressure sensations in the head.
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