New to this forum. I turned 38 in the summer, but recently noticed a couple of things: Until recently, prior to getting my period, I would experience breast tenderness (they would also grow in size), and upon getting my period, they would last at least 5 days. As of this past fall, and currently going through a lot of stress, prior to my periods, the breast tenderness has gone away and my periods are irregular (lasting only a fews days and they aren't as heavy).
Yesterday, I was at a neighbour's condo and noticed immediately upon walking in that the temperature was too high/hot and she agreed. After standing and talking for a while, I told her that I needed air (because it was too warm in her apartment and I was sweating) and had to get a glass of water. I was going to pass out if I stayed any longer and I began to feel my knees buckle. When I got back to my condo, I barely made it through the door before throwing up a little in my washroom.
Same thing happened to me a year ago (a day after my period started) when I was out shopping. I got hot, clammy, took my coat off, and before I knew it, my knees buckled and I collapsed. At this point, I had a heavy period.
Have any of you experienced any of this before? Any ideas?
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I get breasts enlargement almost two weeks before my period. Sometimes, I get tired and my body is always hot before they start. I have never collapsed but when my period is heavy I do feel unwell. Maybe you should discuss it with the GP?
Thank you for the reply, Masyanya. I do have to speak with the gp, which I'm going to this week. Just frustrated that my one episode of feeling faint yesterday happened on a weekend and my gp's office is not open. My concern though is my age, and then the drastic changes in my period: No longer breast enlargement or tenderness, period not lasting as long, feeling warm and faint. I just don't want it be be pre-menopause; or whatever the term is. I want to get married and have children - so this is my worry.
I do understand what you mean. I’m 34 and I am also concerned about the menopause as I also don’t have kids. I’m not sure how the whole pre menopause thing works but you are still young. Stress and anxiety can change our periods. But the feeling when the body gets hot is a horrible one. I don’t even mind breasts getting bigger but sweating all the time is not nice
I know. I feel the same - the breasts getting bigger was not an issue for me either. But the signs are there - even a lower sex drive; not even interested in it these days and haven't been for a few months. Ugh.
And the sweating is not nice either. Normally I've always been cold - needed layers! But these days, I can't tell if the heating in my building is too high or if it's me.
Oh, I lose my sex drive either 😂. Sorry this is not funny but it’s still funny. Good luck to us I guess 😂
Welcome to peri menopause, about a decade of hormonal fluctuations lie ahead and it’s gonna get more intense so buckle up! Read up about BHRT, Vitex, Sepia and 5-htp, the miracles that have helped me through this wild ride. Please please don’t live your life with no sex drive. Get BHRT testosterone and have the best times of your life, now is the time to get your hormones balanced and deepen your relationship. You don’t hear much about BHRT because it can’t be patented, it’s derived from plants and the human body recognizes it whereas synthetic hormones come from pregnant horse urine... ugh. Do not get a hysterectomy, do not get on birth control pills or antidepressants while figuring this thing out. You need Functional medicine, natural and to the root of the issue, no band aids. Find a compounding pharmacy near you. Dr Christiane Northrup and Somers book Ageless will tell you the rest. Big doses of B-6 ladies will keep your neurotransmitters happy and 5-htp if you are not on antidepressants. Magnesium cures anxiety. Stay away from shots, coils, and synthetic gunk that mucks up your liver. It’s already struggling to metabolize all that excess estrogen (swelling boobs)... estrogen dominance... sets the stage for disease to thrive, breast cancer, etc... get your blood drawn and see where your levels are for estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, thyroid, adrenals and cortisol. Get your diet right: greens, dark leafy greens, micro greens, good fats, sweat at least once a week, hike, commune with nature, cuddle your dog, kiss your cat, laugh with your kids, ravage your spouse, connect with your community, settle your spirit and find your purpose. Peri menopause: Chapter 2 of Your Life when all the pieces fall apart then fall back together better than ever. You can have the most passionate connection ever with yourself and your partner/spouse, when you’re free of all the unpleasant symptoms of peri menopause. Don’t waste your relative youth in misery!! Do the research, seek the care, get the cure, flourish and thrive!!
Thank you for the reply, strongheart. But my main concern is that I am NOT married, and I want to have a husband and kids one day. My heart feels broken knowing that this could be happening.
This is why you need to get your hormones balanced with BHRT. Estrogen dominance causes deep, dark depression and then paralyzing anxiety, bloating, weight gain, lots of stuff that will not help your dating life. Your assignment at our age is to go full force into total health overhaul. You have no choice. It may seem overwhelming what I’m putting out there but it’s the reality you are now faced with. Takes a while to see it’s all in your hands and you must seek medical advice with this from a specialist. Endocrinologist. Perhaps a very enlightened gynecologist. You are your own best health advocate now. I’m trying to save you some misery by laying it all out bluntly. I’ve read a zillion books on this and there’s a lot of misconceptions out there. Be a critical thinker. Find out for yourself in your own time. Your hormones are taking the wheel. Take it back and steer yourself into a future that you design. You’ll be a “high risk” pregnancy but if you get going now preserving your health, you’ll be in a peak state to conceive. Best to you!
Further to what I wrote below, I’m hoping this is just a blip, and something that can be fixed. I’m under a ton of stress right now and I can’t help but think that it might not be pre-menopause, but something else.
Wish it were a “blip”... it’s a blip that lasts about ten years, then your period goes blip, and once again you’re reborn. Embrace the hard-won wisdom you are about to endure. It’s a new world. Youth isn’t everything, mid-life is more rewarding, fulfilling and mentally and physically challenging than any other time before it. It’s thrilling and daunting and real. It’s not a blip. It’s a fundamental evolution of your whole being. You’re just entering or realizing you are, this brand new world and you’re going to lose some control of your body and mind, so get help from a wise woman doctor or friends who’ve been through this. There’s still time for marriage and family and love. No doubt about it. Worrying won’t help. Take action. Bring up your quality of life in one area, and the rest start coming up. Then you will connect with others going upward as well, people who don’t whine, but see a challenge as an opportunity for growth. Let go of the past, embrace the breath in your lungs, then the next, each with gratitude!! Somers’ book titled I’m Too Young For This!! is a must-read. I promise it will give you hope. x, strongheart
No, I was prescribed BHRT testosterone and progesterone and the other things I take after much personal research. As soon as I started on BHRT, I felt brand new. But it’s got to be made for you, not sure I’d trust over the counter natural hormones because the carrier could be toxic or impede the absorption unless it’s high quality. The progesterone I use is in olive oil and my doctor says it’s the only way.
I agree with Strongheartforever. Be careful of the one size fits all estrogen over the counter. I was on Estrovera for years which did relieve symptoms for awhile. But, then spun me into estrogen overload and ovarian cysts. Best to have something that can be adjusted to your particular needs.
So many of us are on that island, thinking we are alone, bewildered, confused. It’s a transition period between youth and maturity. It’s so beautiful, nothing to mourn. I can say that now that I’m on the other side of it. Seriously, I went to the library and read every book on it. Then I found the best compounding pharmacy near me and went to a free class they offered with a hormone-balancing Functional medicine (natural) doctor. She saved my life. This was a private doctor. I paid a few hundred dollars out of pocket but I got my life back. The sooner you accept peri menopause and make friends with it, laugh in its face, honor it, cry with it, become inspired by it, become the alchemist and spin it into gold, the better. Every woman will go through this, and every woman has since time began. Step through the door into deeper experiences, deeper love, deeper pain, deeper fulfillment, deeper truth; you’re going to fall in love with the woman you’ve become. But first you’ll fight it. Embrace change and be willing to take a loss in order to grow and gain more than you could’ve dreamed of. Make room for miracles. They’re coming your way!!!
Thank you, strongheart. This really just all hit me today (what it could be), when I was on the phone with my mom, so it’s still very raw. This is actually a big fear of mine becoming a reality. Two years ago, an older friend of mine told me about a girl she knew becoming menopausal at 38. I kept thinking, I hope it doesn’t happen to me. And when discussing it with my mom she says, “can’t be hormonal, you’re too young.” Ugh. I’ll admit, I’m angry. Just trying to get my life on track and this happens. Just started dating someone too and the sex drive is NOT there, but it WAS there during the summer. 🤦🏼♀️
Sister, I’m so with you on this. I totally get it. It’s not menopause. It’s what leads up to it. Some women sail through this. Some commit suicide over it. And never know why. That’s the reason I’m passionate about getting women informed. It starts around age 35. Nobody talks about this. You start feeling off. You try all kinds of meds. You want to crawl outta your skin. You feel hopeless. Then you start reading about it, you recognize all your symptoms are hormonal. You get this natural cream made for you, custom made for you by a compounding pharmacy after your doctor shows you your lab results. Badabingbadaboom you start feeling like a teenager again. You feel happy and your orgasms blow the roof off. What’s happening in my life now, at 43, wasn’t happening at 38, before BHRT. I’m balanced, I’m off all meds, even BHRT itself. But I’ll get more and know how to fix myself whenever I need to. This certainly may not be the answer for all, but it saved my life. So I have to tell other women, cuz if it helps even one, it’s worth it. You have no testosterone in your system. That sets the stage for disease and inflammation to thrive in the body, it will start eating you alive. I call it the beast. You can’t fight it on your own, you need a good doctor. I’m sorry to be so blunt with you as you’re just coming to see that indeed it is peri menopause and it must be addressed. A lot of women live in denial, sit on the couch, eat junk and wonder why they feel like hell. Because your body demands more now. It wants clean, living food for fuel, it wants authentic connections with others, no more fluff. Again, as I’m not on antidepressants I occasionally take 5-htp, Vitex, Sepia , a high-quality multivitamin for women, and b-complex and magnesium supplements. Never felt better. Hope this info helps you. The answer to all you face now: take action, seek wisdom, use natural medicine, connect with and be inspired by strong voices who send you healing messages. Let the wisdom sink in, keep learning, keep growing, incorporate new rituals into your days. Leave the old ways in the dust.
You’re a kind soul, strongheart. Thank you. I’ve been moping all day and in tears and was a bit short with my mom on the phone today because of this, so I’m mad at myself for being upset and the circumstances. Honestly, I want to crawl in a hole right now. I feel like my spirit’s broken.
Did you have all of these things prescribed by your gp, or a naturopath? Clearly I’ll have to get tests done this week, but eventually I know they’ll want to prescribe. Do I ask for all of these things you’re taking? I can just pick up the vitamins you refer to at our local organic shop.
You’re so helpful, and a saving grace! Thank you! So so much.
Your message gave me happy chills of joy. The organic shop will have homeopathic Sepia, take 5 little pills maybe twice a day, under the tongue. They’ll have 5-htp, it should have B6 and B12 along with it in the supplement if it’s high quality. This stuff is incredible. They’ll have Vitex too. I don’t take this anymore, but if anxiety comes up, I find it helps balance me. The BHRT you must get by prescription. It’s the magic bullet, worth every penny and every effort. You need testosterone to have motivation and energy and it helps your muscles stay intact and your libido to soar. The BHRT will have the tiny, tiny amount that will give you back that spark. No weird side effects. Except when I first took it the muscles in my legs got hard and tight, then that went away, but there may be a funny thing that happens in the beginning to tell you it’s working. Highly recommend a naturopath, yes. Or a holistic doctor. Integrative. Functional. These are words you should look for. You need concrete answers from lab results, interpreted by someone who is up on current science, current research. Follow your gut and don’t be afraid to fire your doctor and find another. You’ll know when you feel like you did in your teens, early twenties: energetic, up, alive, free from intrusive thoughts, ready for the challenges of each day, hopeful, strong, out of the grip of debilitating symptoms. Don’t stop til you get there. Get balanced. Get the answers: what’s low and what’s high? It will all be revealed and then you won’t blame yourself anymore. So liberating!
I've not seen that before, so don't know anything about how effective it might be, or if the ingredients are helpful. The ingredient list looks simple though, which is positive.
It doesn't contain magnesium though, and I think magnesium is a big help (magnesium citrate or magnesium malate).
That estrosmart stuff makes a lot of claims. Halts abnormal cell growth and helps the conversion of bad into good estrogens; it’s claiming to do what a whole food diet does. It’s claiming to help you avoid cancer. I’d be wary of messing with your estrogen this way, it’s a tricky thing indeed. This could be a temporary help, just don’t take it long term. But it’s true that the bad estrogens cause abnormal cell growth a.k.a. cancer, and it’s true that this is very, very serious. Hormonal imbalance is a dangerous condition and if you’re over 35, be aware. Estrogen is just ONE aspect of your changing health in peri menopause. And it’s a big, huge thing. It effects everything, it can darken your thoughts and take over your body. So looking into estrosmart may be a good idea. But don’t get too focused on one thing only when your testosterone, progesterone, thyroid, adrenals, vitamin deficiency, food intolerance, gut microbiome, quality of your diet, whether your food is alive or dead and overall vision of your purpose in life are all things that also need your attention. Just some ideas.
This is what I've had. I'm your age and have been getting dizzy, bumping my head a lot, getting sick and feeling low in confidence. I have endometriosis-like symptoms and awful headaches and exhaustion with weepiness. Is it perimenopause or worse? I'm actually really worried guys. Peace n love
Your symptoms are: Estrogen dominance. Hormonal imbalance. Peri menopause. Thought I explained this above.... why worry when there are mountains of information all about this everywhere. Dr Sara Gottfried and Dr Mark Hyman have good books. Get to work learning what you need to do to get your health back because you’re gonna start feeling a LOT worse as the years progress. There’s no hiding from this!! The longer you worry and cower and hide and fret, the worse it gets. It’s not depression that you cover with a band aid, a pill with a long name with lots of z’s and x’s with a commercial on tv showing happy people over a narration of warnings of death and disease. Don’t brush this under the rug when your doctor brushes you off and gives you an antidepressant. That’s not the answer. You need to get your hormones balanced with BHRT and/or overhaul your diet and mind with clean, powerful fuel and clean, powerful thoughts and educate yourself about what is happening to you. It gets to the point where you can’t ignore it anymore.
Thank you so much. What drives me is to help others avoid the vicious and cruel pit of despair that almost took me from this world, due to hormonal imbalance, which I tried to fix unknowingly, with synthetic antidepressants. The wise learn more from the fools than the fools from the wise. Learn from my ignorance. Don’t get as close to the precipice as I did. Thanks again.
I’m sorry for what you had to go through, strongheart. I can’t imagine. Even yesterday I found myself not wanting, or getting, out of bed. I just felt empty. Today is a bit better, but I think I just want some answers from a doctor and feel somewhat in limbo. I’ve had so much on my plate lately that piling this on makes it feel almost unbearable. I even told my mom today, as embarrassed as I was to admit this, that I felt worthless as a woman, and what man would want to be with me. Horrible, right? Plus, my lack of libido and sex drive makes me feel unattractive, for some reason (didn’t tell my mom this part). Being on my period made me feel womanly, and honestly, my libido would be on fire just prior to my period. Over the last couple of months, notta...nothing there. But I have my moments.
But thank you for helping me, for lifting me up.
I just signed up for this forum yesterday and boy am I glad I did.
The internet can be overwhelming, with so many different online discussion forums, but I’m so happy I found this one.
I totally relate to all of that. Thank you for your empathy. I just read an article that said lack of estrogen in the brain causes a loss of magnesium which leads to lowered levels of serotonin, which makes us feel super, extra crummy and sad. The day before our period starts is the lowest our estrogen gets, makes sense we feel so low at that time. So maybe that estrogen supplement will help you, as well as magnesium. Did you know your body can absorb magnesium in an Epsom salt bath or even in the ocean? There are also fizzy magnesium powders that you stir into juice or water. Please, please take lots of B6. I think that may be why I’m feeling so great lately. The B6 in my multivitamin (mykind organics) is 400% above the minimum requirement and the 5-htp also has B6 with it as well as B12. The b vitamins really help us over 35 ladies. Sending you strength and love today!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. If I can find the energy (have been having horrible period cramps as of Sunday and energy is non-existent), I want to go to a store around the corner from me (a great natural foods/organic store) to find these items which you recommend.
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Night! 
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