Hormonal Imbalance

[Cindyloo]

Oh the joys of being a woman.... I'm 33 and I stopped birth control pills last June and have felt funky since. Prior to going on the pill, my cycles were very irregular. Now they are irregular again with only two periods since June. I have read that in women with irregular periods, estrogen can become high and progesterone low because of lack of ovulation.

The stuff going on with me are: fatigue, anxiety, EXTREMELY greasy face, low tolerance to stress, can't remember for crap, and night sweats.

I plan to make an appointment with a doctor but wanted to know if anyone has experienced a similar imbalance especially prior to menopause and what was used to correct it.

Arrrgghh.

[cyclechick2008]

Sorry I can't give advice, but I can sympathize that going off the pill sucks and can do bizzarre things to you.

Kim

[shootingstar]

Wow, get yourself checked out with the doc, to make sure it's nothing else.

I've had somewhat irregular periods for at least 1/2 of my "fertile" life and never considered birth control pills to regularize. It always amazed me some women I knew who could time the start of their period near the hr. of a certain day. If my body did, I was too absent-minded.

I've been checked by doc several times. I don't experience any pain during periods nor mysterious lump(s). My symptoms never became like yours and you are still "young"! Well, part of my cause, was I used to be slightly underweight or I was under abit of stress.

[kmcmoobud]

You may want to ask your doc to check you for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome if you haven't been checked. They should test your testosterone levels, do a lipid panel test, check your insulin resistance and do a pelvic ultrasound--there are a few other things they check for but I can't remember those right not. If you have always had irregular periods that were regulated with BC pills, there is a good chance this could be what it is.

[evangundy]

Also ask to have your thyroid tested. Some of your symptoms are similar to the ones I had, and I have Hashimoto's Disease - now I get to take a pill every day forever, but symptoms are all gone.

Definitely calls for a doctor visit. Ask if there is a chart/list of symptoms that you can read through/check off. There may be things going on with your body that you never thought could be related to a health issue, and could help determine what to test for.

Edna

[pinkychique]

That actually sounds a LOT like the symptoms my friend had b4 she got checked out and she had ovarian cysts(with some special name which i forgot), for which they put her on birth control, and now she's much better.
She also had VERY thin hair, is your hair thin/thinning? that could be another sign of it, but since she's been on the pill her hair has gotten much thicker and looks great. Her skin has cleared up too.

Good luck finding out for sure!

[Jen-Jen]

Dear Cindyloo- I suffer with hormones all the time and infact, it also caused me to become type 2 diabetic. I have Polycystic Ovaries. My ovaries become over grown with cysts and then they pop and release to different kinds of chemicals into my body:

Testosterone and sugar. As both raise it alters my body chemistry. I deveoped a very oily face and lots of adult acne around my chin area. I began to skip periods for 3-4 months. My metabolism slowed down and I put on 50-75 lbs. My HDL (good chol) went way down. I also find it VERY hard to get pregnant. It also gave my diabetes.

Once the doctors started to adjust my hormones to help my get pregnant (WHICH HAS NEVER WORKED.), I found out just how important hormones play in our lives.

First, had to get me to have a period...they put me on a pill that had a name that was 25 letters long. I was calm to instant b!t$h within seconds. I yelled at people and had fits, which I do not do! I was also placed on glucophage (insulin pill) as well as a blood sugar pill too. Then given clomid to help with infertily. Well, I started to forget things and I cried and felt very sorry for myself.

So, yes, I have hormonal imbalances in the past and I still go through it everyday. Sometimes I get real sick of taking my pills, but I know that I would be worse off without them. I know what I blood sugar can do and I work with it everyday.

[Cindyloo]

Thanks ladies! To answer one of the questions, I don't have thinning hair right now. I went to the doctor (gynecologist) on friday. He took blood and is checking my thyroid and prolactin levels. He said my body could still be adjusting to being off of the pill or I could have PCOS. He suggested that I wait three more months to see how they go and then we will do a complete workup and more testing if the problems continue over those three months. I should get the blood test results back tomorrow hopefully. What an adventure this probably will be!