Don't assume it's menopause

[sandnsea]

For the last 2, maybe more, years I have noticed the gradual changes that we're all told to expect as we age and as menopause begins to set in. The weight gain, memory loss, mental fog, and tiredness. Maybe cholesterol goes up, blood pressure, blood sugar levels. We're getting old, it sucks, maybe getting a little depressed and short tempered along with it. Periods are a little irregular, no hot flashes, but maybe that'll come later.

Like I say, that's been my life for at least 2 years now, maybe more. A couple months ago I got a cuticle infection and had to go to the doctor. She took one look at me and ordered a thyroid test. It was 92 and is supposed to be at least below 6.

All these symptoms are also symptoms of thyroid disorder, some of them can be high or low. So don't assume it's menopause and just muddle along because it's 'not that bad'. I've been on a simple thyroid pill and while I don't feel 25 again, I sure feel better than I have in years and years.

Just wanted to share that so nobody else suffers unnecessarily.

[moonlady0623]

1. Sorry it turned out that way

Very glad the treatment is working. Thyroid disorders have come to light during perimenopause age for more than one woman I know.

However, your thread brings up another story about assuming it's menopause:

A friend of mine who is about 8 years younger than I am (I'm 55) was convinced she was going through the menopause with me. Period stopped, weight gain, sleepy..............

.........turns out she discovered she was five months pregnant.

Our bodies are amazing, aren't they?

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Those symptoms can also mean lupus, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue,

celiac disease, etc. These all affect more women than men and are under-diagnosed or difficult to diagnose and may take years to diagnose.

If you are tired all the time, having brain fog, etc., keep bugging your doctor to run tests, maybe go to an endocrinologist -- or a rheumatologist if you have joint pain and/or muscle pain.

You were lucky your doctor picked up on your thyroid problem. I had classic hypothyroid symptoms and my doctor blew me off when I asked if I might have a thyroid problem. The real kicker is that he had a poster in his exam room that said "Female, over 50 and fatigued? Ask your doctor about thyroid." I even pointed to it when I asked him. Two months later when he did regular bloodwork he discovered my thyroid was low. If he had asked me questions about symptoms he should have known to test me when I asked, and I wouldn't have been miserable for two more months.

Thyroid disease is very much under-diagnosed. And the longer it goes untreated, the more difficult it is to get full recovery from.

At least one doctor and researcher in Canada believes that fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue are simply untreated hypothyroidism because the diseases didn't exist until a few years after doctors adopted the TSH test as the gold standard for measuring thyroid. In the past, doctors studied symptoms and based treatment on how the symptoms improved. Now they do it "by the numbers" (of your blood tests.)