Is this another peri menopause symptom?

[mandmsmummy]

I've posted in general health about having cystitis/uti. I don't ever remember having one of these and I can't say I'm enjoying it!
I've got antibiotics now but the feelings have down below is driving me crazy. I feel itchy, achy and just uncomfortable. Is this part of the infection or could it be the peri?
X

Also feel a bit like I'm 'falling out' down there. Has this before but not often x

Whenever I take antibiotics, without fail I always get thrush, I just buy caneston at the same time as I get my AB prescription now, get theeself back to the pharmacist

Thanks Scarlett
I should have mentioned I've only started the antibiotics today so I don't think it would happen that quick would it?
X

Hmm I find it comes on pretty quick, and if you've started off with an issue down there I wouldn't be surprised. Definitely within the first 24hours - I remember having to go to the late night pharmacy in Leeds station once, which was when I realised it was linked to the ABs...

It's not a perimenopausal symptom I've had but Google tells me the urethra can be affected by drops in oestrogen. So that might explain the UTI, but I'm not sure the UTI explains the itchiness? I do know that every single time I take antibiotics I can guarantee I'll also get thrush.

Thanks both xx

Took self in hand just before Christmas. Switched to really healthy eating, joined gym, gradually lost nearly a stone , felt great. Until my next period didn't arrive. Thought this could be weight loss as this used to happen when I was younger.

Then the palpitations and hot flushes started. Scared of own shadow. Anxious, depressed, exhausted. Waking multiple times in night. Constantly weeing.

Bad eating habits have returned. I've gained weight and at least the flushes have stopped, but otherwise still feel utterly shit. I don't recognise myself.

I'm a happy introvert generally but my desire for solitude is now nearly pathological- to the extent I've let a new friend down for the second time as I simply can't face going out. May have jeopardised the friendship, I realise.

Dreading work tomorrow.

What is going on? Why has healthy lifestyle made things worse ?

Wanted to start new thread. Sorry.
See??

Words I'm glad you posted!
This could be me, all the symptoms are me.
Has anyone tried menopace? X

words It's not that a healthy lifestyle has made it worse- it's that your hormone levels have fallen even further and / or are more erratic.
Without a healthy lifestyle you might be in an even worse state!

What you are experiencing is a deficit of oestrogen. The answer is HRT- if there are no medical reasons why you can't have it, then why not give it a try?

( waves feebly at m and Ms)
So , pink, has my weight loss contributed to oestrogen deficiency? Something about it being stored in fat?
Not against hrt - tho I do have sig risk factors for cancer.
Just find it ironic that my most disconcerting and sudden onset symptom (flushes multiple times a day) disappears when I regain weight and cave to an overwhelming desire to eat rubbish.
Pies, anyone?

I'm not sure if it's an exact science ( ie weight loss = more flushes) because everyone's threshold will be different. I've thin friends who haven't had many flushes. It's true that fat cells promote oestrogen production but what level of being overweight to do this, I'd not know.
But in any case it's not healthy to be overweight and being overweight post meno actually gives a higher risk of breast cancer than HRT.

Risks

This shows the stats but remember this is based on the old and discredited research (MW and WHI).

My consultant regards 'high risk' re. cancer as breast cancer in 2 first degree relatives ( mother / sister) before the age of 45.

Did someone say pies?

So at what times of the month are your oestrogen levels low? X

I think you are describing vaginal atrophy OP which is a common part of menopause - lack of hormones to your bits in other words. You can get HRT which you apply locally...

words you describe exactly how I started feeling all of a sudden, just over a year ago. I thought I was suffering from a mental health problem. The random anxiety and depression were awful. The sudden insomnia was dreadful.

My GP diagnosed me with clinical depression. I tried ADs but they just turned me into a zombie and I gained weight. Plus my symptoms kept resurfacing for 2 weeks each month which was curious.

I stopped the ADs and felt less like a zombie but anxiety/low mood were often crippling. I cancelled play dates for my children and missed a friend's wedding because I just couldn't cope 'with people.'

I was a wreck. I didn't recognise myself anymore. I used to be Miss Party Girl and now I just wanted to hide from everyone and everything.

Finally saw a gynaecologist who immediately diagnosed me with early ovarian failure resulting in fluctuating oestrogen levels. Oestrogen is apparently largely responsible for our feelings of 'well being' etc. It also plays a large role in the quality of our sleep.

I had no idea. I just thought I had developed a mental illness. My gynaecologist reassured me that she treated dozens of forty something women just like me, every month.

She dismissed ADs and suggested HRT. I have just finished my 4th week of taking sequential HRT and I already feel so much better. I feel optimistic and positive again. I went to a ball last weekend and was one of the first on the dance floor and had a great time! 6 weeks ago I was dreading the same ball and trying to make excuses for not going.

I wish that I had been correctly diagnosed by my GP a year ago. Instead Iost a year of my life to ADs and crippling anxiety and low mood. I let down friends regularly and ignored my family much of the time. I have a lot of making up to do.

Taking HRT has saved my mental health, given me back myself and possibly saved several friendships. It's also given my children their 'proper' Mum back again

gnushoes I have wondered this but read that atrophy is a post menopause thing? I'm sure I'm only peri

thegingertree what did your gyno do to diagnose? I'm pushing for a referral now

Xx

mandmsmummy - symptoms of vaginal dryness and discomfort (leaving women sometimes prone to infections) can start to occur in peri-menopause for many women.
Here's some info:
www.menopausematters.co.uk/vaginalsymptoms.php
www.menopausematters.co.uk/dryness.php

It is a long term thing though, so should not really be noticeable at times of the month when oestrogen is low I wouldn't have thought, but when oestrogen levels have declined overall.

Oestrogen declines in the second half of the menstrual cycle and rises soon after the bleed, to reach a peak just before ovulation. During peri-menopause this becomes erratic as the ovaries begin to pack up and ovulation takes place less often.

I haven't had a period for about a year now and have had 2 bouts of cystitis.
It is horrible. Still getting the flushes. Terrible at night. I take my nightie off and lean across the tiles in the bathroom.
I have also had thrush quite nastily but by the time I can wince to a chemist it has subsided.
My symptoms were way much worse 2 years ago, so I am hoping they will subside.
OP I still feel like you (I think) itchy, strange down there. It has not got worse, though, that general discomfort and hasn't got worse.

Urogenital symptoms - urge incontinence, urine infections, irritation of urethra, burning, BV, thrush, dryness, too much wet, bleedy wet discharge all symptoms of low oestrogen and available before post menopause Vagifem is your friend (other topical oestrogens available).

There is vaginal atrophy, but also atrophic vaginitis. I think one may lead to the other but you can have atrophy without the vaginitis. The vaginitis results from changes in pH and thinning of tissues from the lowered oestrogen.

Full hrt can help a bit, also actigel (multigyn) can help stabilise the infections. Lubricants and moisturisers like sylk, yes, Replens and balance active, can help with dryness but personally I find they make things worse.

Atrophic vaginitis? Goes off to google. Local oestrogen not enough any more for me and still peri....

Ah. Yes. Got it.

Thanks all, great advice.
Will treat my fanjo with care!! X

As as I understand it vaginal atrophy (VA) = atrophic vaginitis = urogenital atrophy and the terms are used interchangeably.
There is a lot of info out there on this including a delightful (!) article here
about it all www.aafp.org/afp/2000/0515/p3090.html
emmelinelucas - go and get yourself some Vagifem - VA does not go away and will only get worse without treatment.

How about some HRT?

The term atrophy usually refers to the dryness and 'shrinkage' which has always been thought of as a post menopause problem, or the result of long term lack of oestrogen. It can start quite early on though; you don't have to be 'old'.

The same changes in tissues also lead to inflammation, infection, swelling and discharge problems which you would not associate with dryness. You would not think of this as 'atrophy' or 'dryness' but it is all part of the same thing. I was quite surprised at the positive effect oestrogen had on it for me! It does take quite a lot of fiddling around to get things right, so patience is needed, and since in perimenopause hormones go up and down, it adds another layer of complication.

Also, the urethra has oestrogen receptors that benefit, and the bladder benefits.

madmsmummy my consultant gave me a 'clinical' diagnosis which is basically where they diagnose you purely on your medical history and current symptoms.

So, she noted that I had always suffered with PMS and that I had also suffered with PND. She was interested that whilst I was pregnant I had felt on top of the world and very calm.

She listed my current symptoms of extreme anxiety, periodic extreme low mood and random insomnia.

She was also very interested that the women in my family all go through menopause rather early (one cousin was only 29 and my Aunt was only 38).

Adding all these together she said I was 'a classic case' for hormonal anxiety/depression during peri menopause based on my previous medical history.