Women’s changes and gbs

Susan,

I hate to say this, but I think I may be starting menapause early 😮 . Some ‘tut tut’ me and say that at 39 its faaaar tooooo young, but I have this feeling …. 😮 In anycase, I suffer from post GBS 20 years after onset, I personally (and believe me it could change) dont believe my two are connected (the gbs and menapause), but who’s to say. Only heard of the word peri menapause a couple of weeks ago and havent really looked at what it means, I will have a look in the morning. Post GBS symptoms ……. Extreme fatigue, slurring comes with that, burning/cramping pain in hands and feet (and general body pain not AS bad), weakness in limbs at times, cramping in limbs and often face at times, and only rarely, I find it a little harder to breath or swallow, but im not sure what that is .. :confused: . Now for my fuzzyness, well that seems to have developed over the last couple of years, and I dont know if that relates to possible menapause. Feet are generally very cold, nose is like an iceblock even under the duvet, and hands sometimes too – This seems to be something that has been with me since gbs at least – even being hot doesnt warm my feet, and nose at times either.

I know its a long post, but, in a way Im talking myself throught it trying to understand too. If doctors all give a different answer, and more often than not dont know, or cant explain, then the only way is to try and sort it out for ourselves. Just as you are doing, I dont like to blame it all on gbs, but try and see if it fits into another category before lumping it in with the other residuals.

Hi Sus,

Having a wife, going through it for sometime, from what I’ve seen, age now has to be thrown out the window. As you may know, statictics show maturity in young women are starting at earlier ages, and it is showing up at the other end too. We have one friend go through it in her 30’s. Talk to your doctor about it and you might hear that age is no longer a consideration in diagnoses. Acts as more of a tip to the doctor to check it out. Unless that old school thinking hasn’t changed.

I guess anything is possible. Now I know menopause has its own slew of annoying symptoms, but with the periods I’ve been blessed with (extremely bad) I ve been on birth control even though I had my tubes tied after #2, :confused: b/c I get period so bad – I dont know which will be worse for me, menopause or bad periods and PMS!! 😀

Yes, 45 soon to be 46 and [COLOR=”Red”]FLASHING!!![/COLOR]:eek:

QueenDuchess
aka
Jennifer

Queenduchess, you are wonderful!

My 39-year-old daughter is having symptoms of perimenopause. We think the early onset is due to stress and her immune system seems to be out of kilter.

Regrds,
Marge

Hi Ladies,

Nice to meet those ladies in their perimenapausal years. I have experienced shorter and heavier periods in the past few years. Since gbs in 2004 I seem to get more leg pain during my menstrual cycle. My doctor says gbs residuals will be more heightened during these times. Im 48. Hope you get the help you need.

Caroline

You dont know how good it is to hear another woman say her residuals are worse around that time. I thought I was going nuts. But for a week I felt awful and then it was much better. Not sure I am looking forward to this month thats for sure.

Hi,

This is for QueenDuchess, aka Jennifer. I see you are from Michigan. Just wonderieng where? You can email me at [email]cmulder@altelco.net[/email].

Caroline

Hi

I have wondered on and off about the menopause and various odd things occurring. I read the term peri-menopausal on here, memtioned it to my doctor who laughed so loud she startled me, but offered no explanation – neither for her laughter nor for what we were discussing.

Anyway, at one time when having a bloodtest done, they also checked for menopausal signs (there’s a blood test that can sometimes show it, but I forget what it is – I think it’s to do with the thyroid). I was told “Nope, not menopausal”.

BUT, that was in my mid 40s, now I’m 50.

Menopausal symptoms can start 10 years prior. Also, menopause means after your periods have stopped, not the run-up to that event. It’s quite possible to go through the menopause at a young age.

Over the last few years I have had ‘warm moments’ – I wouldn’t call them hot flushes. Lately, they have got warmer! The time between my periods has shortened, definitely and they are heavier too.

With regard to the cold hands and feet thing – I didn’t notice it immediately after GBS but after a few years and I have worn bed socks and used extra coverings for a number of years now, on all but seriously warm nights. I sometimes wake up sweating but find that preferable to the cold. My feet used to go numb on a cool day and my hands will do it, no problem, and it is made worse if I wear tight-fitting gloves. The cold hands and feet seem (to me) fairly common after GBS.

As to increased weakness, I would have said no, not me, just a week ago. I don’t say it now! I had a strange hour or two yesterday and today also, though milder. I could put it down to lack of sleep but that doesn’t make your fingers tingle and your thighs feel a little weaker. They scared me yesterday as they were the first two symptoms of GBS for me, over 13 years ago.

I’m going for nerve conduction studies next week and I think I want to hear that yes, there is some damage. Because, if not, what is the alternative – making it up? imagining it? Were I to know that there is nerve damage, I would deal with the symptoms better, when they arise – I wouldn’t be scared any more, I would just deal with it and think myself brilliant for doing so. At the moment I just get a bit scared and feel foolish, and wonder.

I am dreading the next week. Since my GBS symptoms started, I experience awful residuals for a week. Its as if I am going thru everything day by day instead of how it was originally…week by week. Now I am only going on what I experienced last month, maybe this month will be better. But it is very scary to have symptoms that started this whole thing. I get panicky and of course that stress adds to residuals freaking out.
Also, around that time of the month I get very warm. My hubby loves snuggling with me on cold nights because we dont need an extra blanket LOL! I am only 36 but I have noticed for hte past couple of years my periods are shorter and not so heavy. Warm flashes around that time, and very emotional. I didnt suffer from PMS until I had my 3rd child and turned 30. My mom had a total hysterectomy at a young age so I get to turn to my sister for advice. I do beleive that women are going thru the change much earlier than before. It may be due to all the soy in our foods, it may be do to normal “evolution”….more people, more people having less children, we dont need to reproduce like our great grandparents did. I dunno, just a theory. I did talk to a genetist (sp) a while back and he comfirmed that girls starting development earlier, boys being effeminant, are directly linked to all the plant estrogens in our food and our environment. Soy can be helpful, but the amount is a huge deal. In Asia they consume much less than we do, hence the health benefits. Too much of a good thing and all that.

~Lori

i

Well, apparently at one time, soya was considered a no-no.

🙂 HI, New to this, got gbs on nov 9 2006, was happy with my nuro doc until i called for an apointment and was told she could not see me until march 13, seems like a real long time to wait. im 73 years old been reading this site every day been very helpful thank you all, i guess i had a mild attack all the doc thought i was not going to make it. walking without walker tired all time pain in hands, taking neurontin 2000 mgs seems to be helping. take care and god will help us all, gene73

Hi Teresa Anne,

I can relate to your mixed feelings about the outcome of the EMG test. I had the exact same feelings today, feeling very weak and telling myself it’s from exhaustion and at the same time secretly (well, not anymore…) wishing there would be some nerve damage for a change if an EMG would be done. Hoping for something tangible to work with and to be noticed, I guess…

I think you are very strong and intelligent about this, so don’t think of yourself as being foolish. But I can understand that you are scared right now and I still hope you don’t have any nerve damage, of course. Take care.

Thanks Eva

You are a sweetheart (and God love you, I am neither strong nor inteligent). I was so glad to read your post cos that means it is not just me. As strange as it sounds yes, I wanted the doc to tell me that there was nerve damage simply because, as you mentioned, that would be tangible.

Thank you for puting it into words for me.

The thing I have realised as regards the menopause is that doctors won’t say anything about it – until you are the other side of the menopause. If only because menopause means that your periods have stopped. They make no meniton of the 10 years that your body may spend gearing up to it.

In doctors language, I reckon I wiill know when I am menopausal – cos my periods will have stopped. It’s the strange things that occur prior to that which puzzle me and puzzle a lot of women I suspect.

The term peri-menopausal seems to relate to the time leading up to the menopause. I’m 50 and have had odd stuff going on for years. If I am not ‘peri-menopausal’ the devil’s a witch.

It’s late, I have been drinking. What can I say? The next doc that laughs when I mention peri-menopausla is going to see a case of PMT in action.

God bless

I was in perimenopause for several years and had 4 doctors tell me to have a hysterectomy. One even said I couldn’t last one more month due to the heavy cycles. I told them that if I could not see doing that since there was probably just one little chemical out of whack. My mother was “elderly” and I moved her in with me. Bingo…no more cycles. So, “mind over matter” really does work!

As for SOY,be careful if you are Blood type O. I was eating soy cheese and started losing the vision in my left eye. I stopped and my vision returned in two days. Soy is good for some blood types, but not O. We get too much soy in other foods – such as salad dressings. Can you imagne if I had gone to a doctor? It would have started a downward spiral with tests and medications and no one would have blamed the soy!!

An interesting subject, eh? Due to some unusual symptoms I have been aware of, I did some research. Low and behold! I am quoting from womenshealthlondon.org.uk/leaflets/prolapse:

“Spinal cord injury and conditions such as muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis dramatically increase a woman’s risk of prolapse. [I][U]If the pelvic muscles are paralysed or movement is restricted, the muscles wate away and cannot support the pelvic organs.”[/U][/I]

Bingo! I have always known that my bowels were not working at full health and now my bladder has issues. Thankfully “someone” discovered Kegel exercise :p Everything I read recommended that before surgical measures. This is something all of us women should have an awareness of. (I didn’t read anything on how this may affect men)

I’d been thinking that I would experience the menopause early – I’ve been thinking it since my late 30s – because I smoke, I’m a twin and I’m left-handed (don’t ask!). Now I’m 50 and as of last month, no menopause.

I’m not sure myself that the menopause is occurring earlier generally but I well believe the body starts to change in your 30s. I don’t know for myself as I got GBS at age 36 and that threw a bit of a spanner.

Good for you Carolyn. I wonder if your Mum moving in with you had something to do with it? After all, it’s said that women who live in close proximity find their cycles become similar. Your Mum may be through the menopause but you are still living together. Would I be right in thinking that the 4 doctors you saw were male?

Judi, thanks for that. It makes such sense. If the muscles in your legs and hands etc are affected by GBS, doubtless your pelvic muscles are also. I must find out about those Kegal exercises you mentioned.
God bless

Absolutely….Teresa Anne….my mother moved in with me and the cycles stopped……after 6 years of wondering if I would last through another month. And she was not a burden in the slightest. I felt privileged to be able to take care of her. She was able to move about tentatively,but was getting scared of living alone. There was no coincidence.

Your question as to were the four doctors male? Three were male and one was a female dressed in men’s shoes and pants. I have nothing against one’s sexual preference but if you are a female gynecologist…..don’t wear men’s clothes……especially the wingtips! But had I listened to any of these doctors, I would have had a hysterectomy. It is hard for us to take a stand and say that 4 doctors are wrong. (Actually, now that I think about it, there were FIVE doctors……three male and two female.) I think we have to stop treating them as if they have all the answers. WHat is the difference between God and a doctor? God doesn’t pretend to be a doctor.

Carolyn, God love you, and more power to your elbow for being strong enough to stick to your own convictions because I well know how hard it can be.

Personally, I have asked questions of doctors for a long time and those who do not want to answer, well, I do not want to see again.

I shall long remember your mesage that ‘God doesn’t pretend to be a doctor’.

It took gumption to stand your ground – and aren’t you glad you did? You are a lesson to us.

God bless

judy in response to the info on the prolapse—i have cyctecel and rectacel which is the herneation and dropping of the bladder and the rectum. my uretha has also fallen. i have been seeing a urologist/gynocologist. she said it is a direct affect of the gbs. exactly as you said the pelvic floor is a muscle and it could not hold every thing up. i was cathaderized for only one day in the hospital but i guess my bladder was hit harder than i thought. she did a test on me they call a ero to check the capacity of the bladder and i was able to hold at least twice as much as most women. hhmmmppphh so now more to take care of. but at least the surgery is more successful now than it used to be. now if i can get the financial help i need for this. another hhhmmmpphhhbut they did do a hormone test and im not menapausal and im 47years young;)
barbara:

Wow Ladies,
I’m not alone or abnormal after all. Susan my GBS sounds just like yours. I’m 42 years old and I was diagnosed in August 2005. Cold hands and feet are new to me also. And the not being able to sleep for very long. I work 12hr shifts and to go home and not be able to sleep I know is not good for my recovery. It’s no wonder my face is always stressed out and feeling it.

Does anyone have problems with their vision? Blurred, red sore eyes that always look tired?????? And most of the RX states right on the bottle that it can cause blurred/double vision. I know the LYRICA I take states it can.

Paula