I'm 57 yrs old, had a hysterectomy before I was 50, began having terrible anxiety, lost my desire for sex, was tearful and bitchy, not sleeping but 2-3 hrs a night, edema...I also started having this heart squeeze thing and since I have a heart issue (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) I assumed it was bothering me. I thought I was losing my mind, eventually, a woman asked me if it could be menopause. Duh I said, YES! So started the adventure. First my doctor said I was too young, I pushed and insisted he do blood work, eventually he did, and said all was fine. But from all the books and online reference, I was NOT fine. I pushed some more and eventually he gave me Premarin, well that helped with some of the anxiety, but not much else. I got patches different pills...nothing really helped.
And a few years later I found a hormone doctor, she prescribed estrogen, testosterone and progesterone cream (have been off testosterone for several years now). I did see some relief, no more night sweats, no more hot flashes, less bitchiness, less mental confusion, less depression, and almost no heart squeezes. But eventually stopped sleeping again, got hot flashes...so would decrease or stop one of the hormones trying to figure out which one was causing the problems. My regular doctor said you don't need progesterone since you had a hysterectomy, the hormone doctor said I do. And I did regain my sex drive with progesterone and had not with just estrogen.
So...now we're in 2016 and I began to have shortness of breath, racing heart...every doctor shrugged at me. One day I lost consciousness on a neighbors lawn and woke up 3 days later in a hospital. Turns out I had afib and received a pacemaker for it. I also had ablation surgery December 2016. I did began to feel better again and continued with my hormones when I got home.
Now, it's May 2017 and I stopped sleeping again, super bitchy, cranky, depressed...so again I think it's got to be the hormones. And occasionally having that heart squeeze no doctor could diagnose, and couldn't find anyone online who would say "heart squeeze" but that's exactly what it feels like, and then it passes as fast as it comes....so I stopped all of the hormones for 3 weeks. I was ok, it didn't fix bitchy or the sleep issue, but I felt fine. Well then I began to get mentally confused, dizzy, depressed, hot flashes, weight I can't lose despite the healthiest diet ever (no caffeine, no chocolate, rarely sugar--oh yeah, I developed silent acid reflux too with menopause)...so 5/19/17 I went back on the hormones and get blood work next week.
Still would love to know why the heart squeezes, is it not enough estrogen? Is the progesterone causing me problems? If I don't take it and only estrogen will I become even bitchier and sleep even less. Some says estrogen relaxes you and others say no it's the progesterone. I just don't know anymore and can't seem to get the right balance. I'd love to sleep again, not have situational or stress induced anxiety, not be hot at night as I try to sleep...and I'd love not to feel dizzy again.
So for me, I agree, doctors are only human, and they call it "practicing" medicine for a reason. But I'd love to find any that could agree on what is wrong with me, and which hormone or lack there of is causing the problem. If it's even that. But this heart squeeze really scares me, you feel like you're fading out or going to pass out, and then it's gone.
Any insight or experience anyone has with any of this I'd love to hear it.
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Hello,
I'm 57 yrs old, had a hysterectomy before I was 50, began having terrible anxiety, lost my desire for sex, was tearful and bitchy, not sleeping but 2-3 hrs a night, edema...I also started having this heart squeeze thing and since I have a heart issue (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) I assumed it was bothering me. I thought I was losing my mind, eventually, a woman asked me if it could be menopause. Duh I said, YES! So started the adventure. First my doctor said I was too young, I pushed and insisted he do blood work, eventually he did, and said all was fine. But from all the books and online reference, I was NOT fine. I pushed some more and eventually he gave me Premarin, well that helped with some of the anxiety, but not much else. I got patches different pills...nothing really helped.
And a few years later I found a hormone doctor, she prescribed estrogen, testosterone and progesterone cream (have been off testosterone for several years now). I did see some relief, no more night sweats, no more hot flashes, less bitchiness, less mental confusion, less depression, and almost no heart squeezes. But eventually stopped sleeping again, got hot flashes...so would decrease or stop one of the hormones trying to figure out which one was causing the problems. My regular doctor said you don't need progesterone since you had a hysterectomy, the hormone doctor said I do. And I did regain my sex drive with progesterone and had not with just estrogen.
So...now we're in 2016 and I began to have shortness of breath, racing heart...every doctor shrugged at me. One day I lost consciousness on a neighbors lawn and woke up 3 days later in a hospital. Turns out I had afib and received a pacemaker for it. I also had ablation surgery December 2016. I did began to feel better again and continued with my hormones when I got home.
Now, it's May 2017 and I stopped sleeping again, super bitchy, cranky, depressed...so again I think it's got to be the hormones. And occasionally having that heart squeeze no doctor could diagnose, and couldn't find anyone online who would say "heart squeeze" but that's exactly what it feels like, and then it passes as fast as it comes....so I stopped all of the hormones for 3 weeks. I was ok, it didn't fix bitchy or the sleep issue, but I felt fine. Well then I began to get mentally confused, dizzy, depressed, hot flashes, weight I can't lose despite the healthiest diet ever (no caffeine, no chocolate, rarely sugar--oh yeah, I developed silent acid reflux too with menopause)...so 5/19/17 I went back on the hormones and get blood work next week.
Still would love to know why the heart squeezes, is it not enough estrogen? Is the progesterone causing me problems? If I don't take it and only estrogen will I become even bitchier and sleep even less. Some says estrogen relaxes you and others say no it's the progesterone. I just don't know anymore and can't seem to get the right balance. I'd love to sleep again, not have situational or stress induced anxiety, not be hot at night as I try to sleep...and I'd love not to feel dizzy again.
So for me, I agree, doctors are only human, and they call it "practicing" medicine for a reason. But I'd love to find any that could agree on what is wrong with me, and which hormone or lack there of is causing the problem. If it's even that. But this heart squeeze really scares me, you feel like you're fading out or going to pass out, and then it's gone.
Any insight or experience anyone has with any of this I'd love to hear it.
Sherry
May 26, 2017 - 1:37pmThis Comment
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