Hormonal imbalance, hot flashes, severe PMS

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I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar symptoms and found out what causes it or what to do about it.

I have night sweats pretty frequently and also have hot flashes during the day. I'm nowhere near menopause or even perimenopause. During the day I get hot from moving around, and get cool if I sit down. At night it's the opposite, I wake up hot and then have to get up and walk around to cool off.

With PMS my mood can go either way...sometimes I feel really happy, and I mean downright elated, and have surges of energy that make me want to get a lot of things done, but then I crash immediately when I start my period. Other times I just get really irritable and angry, and have no patience with anything whatsoever.

Either way, once I start my period I just feel really exhausted and drained and disoriented. I usually spend 1-2 days in bed, or mostly in bed. I get so out of it I don't even feel safe driving a car.

Sometimes I get really severe pelvic pain, a very hard, sharp, intense pain that is brought on or made worse by standing. I get cold and clammy and feel like I will pass out. It starts right behind the pelvic bone, then after awhile moves towards my right ovary, then gradually it becomes a dull pain that spreads out through my entire abdomen.

I had a pelvic ultrasound during one of those episodes and they didn't find anything...no cysts, no fibroids, absolutely nothing. I can't stand the thought of going to see a doctor about it because they are so patronizing and they are no help at all. They usually ask if I could be having a miscarriage and then act like they don't believe me when I say no (are you [I]sure/[I]?)

I'm really afraid to do much of anything while I have my period, other than stay in bed, because I don't want to have one of these episodes. It comes on very suddenly, like I could be feeling okay, and thinking maybe this period won't be so bad, and then I get up to take a shower or something and just getting up for a short time triggers the pain.

I tried progesterone cream for about 6 months and it was a miracle...no pain at all, no exhaustion...but then I noticed it was making me gain weight. And I was concerned that it might not be a good thing to rely on it all the time.

I have been able to take time off with my current job, but I really need to move on to another job and I know this isn't going to work if I have to take a day or two off every 3-4 weeks.

Any ideas? other than taking birth control pills which I do not want to do?

I have problems with hot flashes too, ever since my 20s and no one believes me. "Oh you're too young to know what hot flashes are" older women say to me. My doctor did take me seriously though.

Have you looked into hyperhydrosis? I know someone who takes pills that help with the constant sweating, but I'm not sure if her diagnosis is hormone related and you can apparently get botox for it. The pills have an adverse side effect of making you constantly thirsty though.

I was put on microgynon, but it didn't help much at all. Then I was put on anti-depressants which helped with the low sink in mood around my period, I get crazy unreasonably sad around that time of the month about things that normally don't concern me, it freaks me out, but the anti-depressants don't help with the hot flashes and cramping.

I was so desperate I looked into getting my fallopian tubes tied, but after a bit of research I realized that it doesn't always help with the pms symptoms, some women said it made matters worse, which I was very disappointed to discover.

Are you able to see a female doctor about it? My doctor is male, but he's really nice and always listens to me, I wonder if a woman would be more understanding.

One of my friends has been put on a special diet by her doctor to help with her symptoms, she off gluten and dairy. It's still early days, so not sure if it will help in the long run.

It's really frustrating when they can't get to the root of the problem.

Thanks hurtloam. I don't have a doctor right now and I need to find one. Yes female doctors are usually better, however when I went to the ER a few years ago I had a female doctor and she wasn't good at all.

My periods got a lot worse after I started my current job, a little over 8 years ago. It might be because my eating habits changed (too much sugar) and/or job stress may have a lot to do with it.

I used to see a male doctor who was really good, however now I can't get in to see him anymore because he's not accepting new patients. I argued that I'm not new, but if you haven't been within the past year the office considers you to be new

When I saw him before, I had a different job back then, but he thought the stressful environment at work was making me sick. He had a lot of patients who worked at the same place I did and he knew more about the goings on there than I did. lol I have a different job now, and more/worse symptoms, but I bet he would still attribute a lot of it to my job.

I actually don't sweat that much, except at night. During the day I only sweat for normal reasons, like if I'm working hard in a hot environment, or getting in a hot car. At night sometimes I wake up totally soaked in sweat, even if the room is cool. I've had night sweats since I was a teenager.

Have you looked into salicylate intolerance? The symptoms can vary widely from person to person, but I've had problems with hot/cold sensations when I eat too much stuff with sals. Here's a link if you want to look into it: http://fedup.com.au/factsheets/additive ... alicylates

Thank you Ivory, I didn't know about salicylate intolerance. I don't think I eat many foods (or use products) that contain a high level of salicylates...I mostly eat meat, rice, and potatoes. I eat very few fruits and vegetables, and also try to avoid herbs and spices because some of them irritate my stomach. And I mostly eat organic and avoid things that have additives. I do drink grape juice pretty routinely though, and eat tomatoes off and on (this time of year, lots of green tomatoes) so I'll have to watch how those affect me.

I think the bigger problem is I eat too much sugar...it can put the ratio of estrogen to progesterone way out of balance.

I put a Vornado fan on my nightstand, so far it's keeping me cooler at night.

In any case, I hope you can resolve this! I've had some of what you described for a while and I know how icky it is.

Thank you Ivory.