Q: Hello,
While searching for guidance and answers to "do I have fibromyalgia (FMS) or is this issues with perimenopause" I found your website. I do not accept that I FMS as a specialist said but have believed for years that what I am experiencing has to do with perimenopause. Most of my FMS symptoms kicked in the same time perimenopausal symptoms began. I believe that most doctors, including my female GP, have very little idea what women's bodies go through with peri and menopause and lump everything under fibro. I have been wondering for the past few years if FMS and menopause were linked because of hormonal changes and have found some information on the internet to support this theory. Your website is one of the first to state my thoughts on all of this.
Thankfully I do not experience any of the emotional aspects of perimenopause but my body is falling apart and I am in constant pain. Living here in Canada, it is almost impossible to find any doctor that deals with saliva hormonal testing, the basic blood tests for hormonal levels are not sensitive enough for an accurate reading so I am told. How long do I have to experience this pain and disability I ask myself.
I have hit the wall with the lack of care, guidance, knowledge and doctor's not knowing what I am truly experiencing. I have watched my life deteriorate over all of this, not being able to work fulltime, starting an educational program where I am halfway through and now may not be able to complete because of FMS/Menopausal related health issues. Right now, I can barely carry a coffeemug because of the pain in my shoulders and neck. I am contemplating pursuing a disability pension because of all of this.
All of this to say, I would appreciate as much information on FMS/Menopause related subject that you can guide me towards.
Thank you for having this website.
D.
A: Hello D., I hear, understand and share your frustration with the ability of doctors to really help and understand what is going on, and the lack of information knowing the depths of what a woman goes through especially through menopause. I understand wanting a label on what is going on. Let me say all that you are feeling is real and deserves your utmost attention. It sounds like it is the forefront of your life at the moment, whether fibromyalgia or menopause. You need the care you are hoping the doctors will give. You may have to give it yourself and/or ask it of those who care about you.
I imagine this is the article you read on Fibromyalgia. I am glad you read here things you have come to believe on your own, and may now validate for yourself. I know it may seem like a brief article, but it is packed with ideas to help you. I know many of them may seem way too simple for the extremity of the pain you feel and how incredibly this pain has effected your life. I do speak from experience when I say some of these simple ideas may help, even enough to bring some relief so you can think straighter on what to do next. I know for some of us, perhaps you, when in so much constant pain, feeling like we are falling apart and going downhill fast, it is hard to think straight about what to do to help ourselves. In these moments many of us want someone to step in and do it for us or offer a simply pill we can swallow to make it go away.
Please try some of the ideas in this article. Are there any that you felt attracted to reading it? If not, I would suggest first drinking about 2 cups a day of oatstraw infusion. It is a simple nourishing food, and the effects are slow and very undramatic, but in a couple weeks I would guess you will realize, "wow I have been feeling better, when did that happen?" This is especially helpful if your sleep is not restful. It is amazing that even if we seem to get 8 hours sleep, if our sleep is not deep, the toll we feel in our awake lives can be dramatic.
Of course I would make the suggestions I have personal experience with, and we are all unique. I found that the homeopathic Rhus toxicodendron had similar slow but helpful effects. And for me even a little bit of touch, massage, can make a great difference. This is not so much direct, like I get up from the table and the specific sore spots are gone, it is again something I notice a little while down the road, a lessening of the severity of the pain.
I also highly believe in something as simple as our posture, reflected easiest in how we walk, can over time have great effects on our functions through our whole body. For this I value a book called Walk Yourself Well.
There is so much more to this pain. Some may be emotional. Some may not relate directly to muscles or bones or posture or anything so concrete. For some we find we get more achy a day or two past eating particular foods. For me this is white sugar and white flour (I love my pasta and now do so much better with rice pastas; and do fine with maple syrup or even rapadura).
There may still even be more for you, but even a little lessening may help you find the reserves to be more proactive in finding and asking for the help you need.
Many going into menopause find they wish some time to themselves, some time off. It may come out as dissatisfaction with being a spouse, or with motherhood, or with their home, or it may come more dramatic. Whether this natural tendency of menopause or the pain or any combination, I hear your wish to take time off, and support you in doing so. I hear, perhaps incorrectly, that you feel it is not your want but moreso being forced on you by the pain. If this is correct I would love to share more of my thoughts on this if you wish to hear.
We love you and support you and want to help in any way able. Please write any time.
If you are wishing to speak with Susun Weed, know she does not have internet to be able to correspond through email, though in spring may resume her free Tuesday night phone consultations.
Blessings,
Karen Joy
[email protected]
www.wisewomanweb.com
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