Hi All!! I go to a rheumatologist next week.....I have been hurting real bad all over but mostly in my hands. I can not close my right hand without screaming....it hurts so bad...When I wake up, it's like I can't hardly walk and I can't hold my toothbrush. Last night I got feed up with it and took half a pain pill. (Vicodin).... My regular doctor go all mad when I kept complaining about pain. I also have Hepatitis C. Just found that out last year....I had back surgery a year ago in January, almost 2 years now....and I was complaining about my belly being bloated then....well, now it looks like I am PG...A older lady friend at work came up to me one day and said *you looked PG*.....I said, *I know*.... :-(....I went from weighing like 120-125 to 140-145.....It's really not the weight, it's how my belly is.....I also have had an under active thyroid for years.....now, it is all messed up, too...I have had to change my meds 4 times.....this last time, instead of coming back in 2 months, they say 6 weeks.....Sooooo, have I bored you all yet?? LOL....I could live with all of this if only MY HANDS worked....LOL....Now I almost can't wait to see the rheumatologist. Oh, I forgot the best part...LOL...How I found out about the fibro, was I had went to my normal GP doctor and him and I got into a little disagreement. I was complaining about hurting and he was say crap like *look at your file, look how big it is, and there is nothing wrong with me...Yada Yada, Yada....* Well about 2 weeks later I came across my bill and he wrote on it Fibromylagia. I didn't even know what the heck that was.....LOL... How can I get up in the morning without my 3-4 cups of coffee?? I need that....LOL Thanks for listening.....:-) Good Luck to you Lawmar!! LucyGoose:-)

Hi Lilli22 I UNDERSTAND. If you have not had your heart tested with an echocardiogram, I would consider that on my high priority list. This way you will rule out any heart disease. (Remember: Heart disease is the number one killer of women. Now that I have scared the daylights out of you, take a deep breath and keep reading. I KNOW what it feels like to suddenly out of the blue start having irregular heartbeats. April 11 2007 my world, as I knew it, came crashing down, when early one morning I stood up from my desk, climbed the stairs and when I reached the top I could not breath, my heart was pounding in my ears,my thigh muscles were quivering and I was near fainting. I am a retired nurse. I calmly found my blood pressure cuff and noted that both B/P and Heart Rate was rapidly accelerating. I called the rescue squad. Long story short, I was sent to a cardiologist where they proceeded to do a 24 hour holter monitor test. Diagnosis: non-specific tachycardia (rapid heart rate) that is "not to be concerned with." August 2007, I found myself back in the ER with the exact same symptons. This time my cardiologist ran the Echo. My heart is in fine working condition. While laying there having the test, I had a nice conversation with the technician who is about 47 and a very healthy runner. She told me she too has non-specific tachycardia and her heart will race up to 177 beats when she is sitting still and then will immediately drop back down to her normal resting heart rate. She works in the cardiology department and there is no reason for her racing heart, other than the theory that has yet to be "proven" by what appears to be an ignorant medical research society. That theory? Estrogen flucuation. If you go to reputable websites you can read this theory.. irregular heartbeats are connected to estrogen flucuation..there is just no proof. As far as your herbal usage I think it is wonderful that you are open to other means of treatment, however I have found that sometimes the very herbs we take can have a negative effect. By taking so many one would never know which one could have that effect. I do know from speaking with other ladies that Don Quai has negative side effects for some. I also know from personal experience that taking yam extract natural progesterone can have a negative side effect too. What I am saying is: I believe if I wasn't sure an herb was working I would want to know which ones were and how would you go about finding that out? By eliminating one at a time..just a suggestion. But first I would have that echo..just another suggestion and then if your tests are fine..perhaps you might need your thyroid medication adjusted. My mother had thyroid disease and she had to have her medication adjusted many times over her lifetime. That little "butterfly" at your throat can make ones heart flip flop unmercifully.It is such a powerful mechanism that is so readily overlooked by the medical profession. Now for what I do..sometimes I am like my name "serenely frantic" meaning I may look calm on the outside but on the inside I am going batty with the racing heart...but now that I know it is "the change" and I know that I am not going to die...I exercise..eat right...dropped my coffee to a small cup in the a.m., stay away from simple carbs, colas, negative people, anything containing stimulants, (over the counter cough, cold, or even prescription drugs) I also take time for me. It is a MUST as it appears that irregular heart beats are the norm for a lot of peri and post menopausal women. Now it appears that you are an educated researcher and advocate for yourself, so please make sure you have a doctor who takes you seriously. If they do not then it is time to move on. Hope this has been of some help and that I was not too blunt.

I had a sleep study last May, which showed I had various sleep problems (apnea, alpha wave intrusion, no REM sleep). It makes me wonder if lots of women going through menopause begin to have these kinds of problems. I guess I'm finally going to think about trying a cpap machine, but I think it will be a challenge. In retrospect, I really think its been my sleep problems that have made the past 10 years pretty much a constant struggle. I think sleep deprivation can cause all sorts of craziness. Even if you think you've had a good night's sleep, it doesn't mean you have.

Hi figittts, A beta blocker is a drug that blocks the various beta receptors in our blood vessels. They are in our arteries in our brain and also in our hearts. (I'm no expert, so I'm just saying what little I know). When something activates our beta receptors, it causes our vessels to constrict, our BP and heartrate to rise. There's something about the beta blocker that prevents the spasming of blood vessels in our head, which is what causes the aura and the migraine. Supposedly, we get auras because the vessel spasm is in the vicinity of our optic nerve. Beta blockers are not without their side-effects.......like listlessness, lack of energy, motivation and for those who already have low blood pressure, it can make you feel dizzy. I'm on the drug Toprol XL and take just a smidgen of it. I'm not sure it keeps me from having migraines now, since the headaches really started easing up when the further away I got from having periods. I have the auras about every 6 months now, with just a very mild headache. How long have you had them? I'm almost afraid to say this, in case your's just started up, but they say that if you've had them your whole life, you tend to get over them during menopause. But if they just started up at menopause, then you're likely to keep them. That happened to my sister-in-law. she's on Topamax. I think it made her gain weight.......but most drugs that affect the brain do. You may have to try several different meds for migraines, until you find one that works. Are yours around the time of your period (or when your period usually is)? Look up Migraines on the internet and you'll find places that tell you things to modify, to help reduce your liklihood of getting migraines. when mine were really bad, I had to give up chocolate, nuts, MSG, and others. And I absolutely positively couldn't eat ANYTHING after 6:30 in the evening, or it would cause a migraine in the morning. I've heard that people with sleep apnea can get migraines, and once they start using CPAP, their headaches improve.