Men, you might wanna skip this post…just sayin’ LOL
Posted on August 8, 2010So, for about a week now I have been sick…no, not really sick, just OFF. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why… This weird pressure in my head, then headaches, night sweats, sweating out of the blue during the day, nausea, fatigue, sleeplessness, the list goes on and on. And that’s not all…
Then last night I really didn’t feel good and I thought I had a fever, so I took my temperature. The thermometer said 103 degrees. I thought that wasn’t right so I took it again, right away. Then it said I had a temperature of 99.1. I thought that was strange. Buster told me to take some Tylenol and lay down, so I did. I thought I was coming down with something.
About an hour later, exhausted, I went to bed only to not be able to get comfortable and not sleep. Then when I finally did fall asleep for a couple hours, I woke up around 4 drenched with sweat and freezing!! Then I tried and failed to get comfortable some more til I finally fell back to sleep, covering myself up with the sheet and taking it off again as I went from freezing to overheating several times…Then this morning I was laying in bed feeling not very rested and it came to me….MENOPAUSE!!!!! What was happening last night were extreme HOT FLASHES!!!! I have had them before, but never like this!!
I had a radical (they took EVERYTHING) hysterectomy three years ago and I think it’s finally catching up to me. See your body converts fat cells into estrogen so us “big girls” tend to store up estrogen longer than those who are not as “fluffy”. So all the symptoms I have been having…night sweats, extreme hot flashes, pressure in my head, fatigue, sleeplessness (ironic, huh??), headaches, body aches, dizziness, nausea, the whole works is stinking menopause. I should have known. I figured if I hadn’t had much problems by now, I wouldn’t. HA!!!
My next problem is, I don’t want to take anything that isn’t natural, but that’s all my insurance will pay for, is something I can get from my doctor….I have progesterone cream, but it won’t take care of everything, so I’m not sure what to do. Any suggestions??
AND, I just read that this can go on from 1-10 years!!!! UGH!! Pray for me please!!!
Carry On =)
Tags: general, health, life, personal
Categories: blogging
I also had a complete hysterectomy 3 years ago. I seriously did NOT want to take anything afterward but I was having 20-30 serious hot flashes per day plus the sweating and frequent headaches and nausea — it was totally interfering with my life. I also particularly wanted to avoid taking premarin — I have a friend who “rescues” premarin horses. My doctor gave me no choice — if I was going to take anything, it had to be premarin. I did take it for about 18 months and it did help a lot. Then my doctor’s office refused to provide any more prescriptions until I came in for a check up — I wasn’t living near my doctor at that time and couldn’t get home to GET an appointment in time to refill. So I just simply quit taking them. I had been down to about 3 hot flashes per week … jumped to 1-3 mild ones per day for awhile … but over time, they have pretty much disappeared. I do have to be careful about chocolate (a common problem) and I have to avoid caffeine. Regular exercise helps a lot of women as do regular sleep hours — not sure why sleeping on a schedule can help, but it does (and I can tell if I’m way off schedule for too many days). A lot of women use soy — but I ended up having MORE hot flashes when I used it. And even if you get rid of the hot flashes, one of the problems can be the interference with your sleep — as you’ve been experiencing. Do all you can to “de-stress” …. stress can be a major trigger. You probably need to see your doctor — I’m not sure why you should be having symptoms, especially symptoms this severe, this long after surgery — and I don’t like things that like this that don’t make sense. Know that even if you start using a hormone replacement therapy, you DON’T have to take it for life! And if your doctor thinks so, find another doctor. If you do end up having to take something, take the lowest strength that’s effective — and define effective as “managing” the symptoms, not eliminating them.
{{hugs}}… and email me on fb if you want to talk.
Love ya! Sue
23.08.2010 14:32
sue….thnx for the response!!! the dr that did my surgery tried telling me i had to be on hormones til i’m 70!! i knew that would be a mistake, but my MIL took premarin for 12 short months and ended up with breast cancer and they are telling her the hormones probably had something to do with it…i don’t want to take that chance…btw–which sue is this?? LOL i have three sues on my FB list of friends and it doesn’t give me a last name on here….
23.08.2010 17:45
I have had a hysterectomy also. I quit taking my replacement hormones when I found out that they can cause breast cancer. My line of the Sprik family is rife with breast cancer. I have had very, very few problems.
Karen Sprik Becker
23.08.2010 19:51