Held Hostage by Hormones

My dr gave me BC pills too. We were trying to get pregnant, so I avoided them.

For me, I get really bad when I ovulate and then again when I Pms.

After this third baby, I'm going to have to figu something out so I have more than a few good days a month.

I'm 40 too.

Try taking magnesium all the time,that should help with the PMS. And if you have caffeine in any form,try weaning yourself off it for a few months and see if the migraines go away. My doctor told me about magnesium years ago and it works. I figured out the caffeine correlation on my own when we had started trying to get pregnant with our daughter,who is now 22 years old.

Good luck

I'm gonna want to follow these responses! I totally understand! I hate the whole "just pop a pill" answer! I agreed to do that for a minimum of 2 months to see if that would help, after saying NO for years - all because that's the only answer my doctors had. I have a cyst and a fibroid - small, but they thought that was contributing to the pain and moods. So, I tried BCP for the 2 months and ended up in the ER and urgent care twice with severe migraines (floaters in my vision, fingers tingling, loss of feeling in my left side....) it was scary, so no more BCPs. There has to be something else! I am currently trying progesterone cream to see if that makes a difference...... Just started it this week though. Looking forward to seeing what others post - nice to know you're not alone!!! I will say another reason that I didn't want to go on BCP is because my hubby and I have been trying for 5 years to have a baby. I'm 40 years old.

I'll be very interested to see if any one responds, I feel your pain! Although mine is not just about PMS, it's also pre-ovulation, post-ovulation, and post-menstruation. So generally I get about 3 nice days in a row MAX before the next part of my cycle sends me into a rage, or a weep-fest.

When I talked to my Ob/GYN, he said the same thing, even after I told him I never take BCP since my breast cancer was hormone-receptor positive, I will never take hormones. And he was like "well, not forever, just to see if it makes a difference..." Argh.

I did see an alternative medicine RN who tested my hormones over the course of a few days via saliva tests. I'm not sure how thorough that it, but she claimed they were basically within the normal range. She talked a lot about nutrition and supplements and gave me handouts about foods that should be avoided and things that may help. I haven't found much success there but it's completely due to my own inability to pay attention to it and change my cooking habits, as I find it overwhelming and hard.

A couple years ago I was easing myself off Lexapro and used a supplement kit I found online. There were several different mixtures that had a variety things in them (vitamins and herbs) in different combinations, used at different times in varying quantities. Clearly I should have kept better track of what I took and when, because looking back I do think that my moods were more stable then than ever since. Makes me think I would like to try and see if similar things exist for monthly hormone fluctuations.

Very generally speaking, I find a lot of relief from tracking my days and anticipating them. If I know that tomorrow is day 18, I plan accordingly: make a simple dinner, clean the house today, make sure I get some exercise in early. Trying to avoid the stress I know will set me off, make myself feel good on that day, and make sure I don't attempt to tackle any big issues in that mood. It can wait until the chemicals pass.

I've posted this so many times on here, but it's worth repeating.

I'm 42, and a couple of years ago I was at my wit's end trying to deal with extreme PMS. I have a great gyno, and he suggested I try taking calcium, magnesium, and a B-complex vitamin. He said that it helps some women, and others don't notice any difference.

Well, for me it's been amazing! I have absolutely no PMS anymore. I don't even realize when I'm supposed to start my period unless I look at a calendar. It's fabulous!

As for the migraines, I've had horrible migraines (is there any other kind?) since I was 14. For the past year my neurologist has had me track them for insurance purposes, and I've averaged 17 migraines a month. In April, I tried Botox for migraines, and it has worked wonderfully for me. I went from 17 migraines a month to 6 migraines in 3 months. There were a ton of hoops to jump through for insurance, but it was so worth it, and my doctor helped a ton. I just had my second treatment, and my doctor said my results should keep improving. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about it.

I hope you find solutions to help you, as well! :)

I just had my hormones tested through my holistic md. The testing he does is very thorough and looks at all your hormones so that if you need HRT it is the correct ones in the correct dosage using bioidentical hormone replacement therapy which is different than HRT. I am on pregnenolone and if I do not notice changes in several more weeks than I will start on the bio-identical. He recomended that I read up on it and Suzanne Somers books on it are a good place to start he said-which I still need to get. I do not know what state you live in, but find a dr who you trust and who is familiar with the bioidentical hormones. If you live in CO I can recomend my Dr. good luck.

I hope you get some great answers! I also did not like the birth control idea. I found Premysn (over the counter) helped with the giant mood swings, and Alleve at the first sign of pain helped with the horrible headaches (Advil and Tylenol did not) After a few yrs of this my monthly headaches suddenly came at a diff time and are very mild, Last May I had one week of breast pain so bad I went for mammogram/ultrasound (NOT good time to do this) and since then NO monthly breast discomfort. So even though my periods are still regular, symptoms are changing for the better... just to give you some hope!

I'm actually planning to get back on bcp so I can lose weight...waiting until I stop breastfeeding.

They are obviously going by their experience. I don't understand the concept of having a doctor I don't like or can't talk to. Never feel too intimidated to ask about your own health. Have you come right and said, "Will you explain to me what you expect the birth control pills to do?" Doctors tend to expect people to show up and say, "Fix me." In fact, they tend to default to that, and you have to get their attention to let them know that you are an active partner in your own care. Just like in other relationships, you teach your doctors how to treat you. If you don't ask questions, then they don't offer answers. If you're not seeking real understanding of what is going on inside your body and what role you can play to improve your health, then they're not gonna go out of their way to give you a bunch of information that you neither want nor understand.

Yeah, I get your frustration. The bcps are lower in dosages than they used to be, so there's less risk at age 40. And yes, I agree you need a new gyn if you hate the one you have (which I assume is not just for this one issue). But that can take time, and you don't want someone to just throw a pill at you - which means that, even if you get a good doc you like, you're stuck with these symptoms for a lot longer. And yes, endocrinologists are the specialists to see, BUT that takes time too, not just to get the appointment, but to get a full work up. There's a lot of research and controversy about HRT and I don't know how you feel about that.

Have you considered something other that medication and hormones? Something more natural? I work with a lot of people who have sailed through menopause by using nutrition. If you want to connect, PM me. Won't hurt, most likely will help, with no side effects.

I use a doctor that is pediatric and internal medicine. He seems to stay up to date on current research. He has a family nurse practitioner working with him, so I see her most of the times since my dr is primarily pediatric. Since he sees my children and I have asthma and thyroid problems, my OB/GYN that was retiring said internal med doctor would be good for me. I am 40 and started having all sorts of female changes with cycles and things. I told them I wondered about my hormones. They had me answer some questions and took blood to measure hormones. I wish I knew my "normal" as well, but oh well. They had me us a cream that is bio-identical type and also done at a compounding pharmacy so it's not an off-the shelf mix of hormone levels. Kind of customized to me. I did feel much better after using them, but also started taking some diet pills to lose weight since diabetes runs in the family and I was worried about getting larger and out of control. The diet pills are a stimulant type, so that could have some affect as well. I wasn't sleeping good so I didn't keep taking them all the time and eventually enough bills came up that I stopped the hormone cream since my insurance would cover 0% of the cost of it. Now I am feeling much better though. I used the hormones for about 6 months and have not been using them for longer than that. Another thing they tested me for was vitamin D. I was really low. They have me using over the counter sub-lingual 5,000 I.D.U. a day to try and build up higher. They absorb under tongue instead of digestion. The dr said that vitamin D seems to be like a hormone in itself (my wording of how I remember it). Help a lot with better energy once your levels are better. At our location, he feels everyone should be taking vitamin D at least during the winter, but especially year round if not outside much so body can't make it's own.
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I saw others mentioning things about calcium and magnesium. My internal doc said I could take 400mg/day. Most people don't get enough and it would also help with my asthma. Heard more than once now, how calcium is a "constricting" mineral and magnesium is a relaxing one. (Example of Milk of magnesia for constipation). So, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, potassium in good ratios you need could help. They all need to be there for good bone building and magnesium is huge in body cell functions. I rarely got migraines or even headaches but my husband had them a lot. Since staying off caffeine he gets them rarely. Also we believe MSG is a trigger for him. I used to get bad headaches if I didn't have caffeine within about 24 hours of the last, when I was drinking it everyday about 4 times/day at work breaks and after work from pop. I finally figured it out, it was always on Sundays, when I didn't get a pop on Saturday's. A food diary could help look for migraine triggers. Sometimes it could just be stress. My sister-in-law has had years of migraines called hemiplegic (spelling??) Weak on one side like a stroke. Finally this year the dr realized one of her arms was really weak and she wasn't in the middle of a migraine. She had spurs on her spinal disks in her neck pressing on her nerves. Had neck surgery before it was permanent. Her migraines are gone now as well. She could have had neck issues long before the arm problem was more obvious.
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I also like to use vitamin B complex if a multi-vitamin seems to have little. For looking for a new dr, pull your list of those covered in the area you want to drive. Get some recommendations from people covered by the same employer (if you have that situation). Then call the dr offices and ask for the nurse. Ask them if it is common for them to do hormone replacement, bio-identical, etc. You'll get an idea of who you may prefer by asking some questions like that.