hormones

[thrice3]

does chiari affect hormones? how?
before my surgery, i was blessed with nearly painless periods. thats DEFINITELY not the case post-op :( all of my symptoms amp up the week or two before. my acne is also much worse now.
i have no thyroid issues or anything like that going on.
this is frustrating! any of you have something similar happen? also, does it affect the age that most female chiarians go through menopause?

[thrice3]

thanks! acne just seems to get worse and worse :( was very clear after the surgery for a month but its just gone crazy now lol

[GIRLIE_GIRL520]

My hormones were horrible before the chiari for me was finally diagnosed, and now my monthly are so much pain free. I'm only 1 month post op and see a difference in my hormones. I still have a low vit d issue and acne,  but I think that's mostly stress! Good luck with everything

[Rylanesmom]

I too am messed up after surgery...missed 2 then finally returned with horrible cramps

[thrice3]

i've never experienced stomach cramps bad enough to not be able to walk until after my surgery! that happened during class too and the day was far from over.
sounds like they should hopefully be getting better within the next few months though.

[selmaS]

  I believe my early menopause was due to the Hashimoto's thyroid issue no one caught, and it is an auto immune condition which we as a chiarian are prone to....so, I feel it is related.

Not chiari directly.

  Keep in mind I went thru all of it long b4 I got my chiari dx....and I did have very bad monthly's....HA's would be worse....stay home from school kind....

  2 of my sisters had endometriosis and I felt that was in part some of what my issues were, I had many UTI's and tried going to the Drs for answers, they said my 2 monthlys a month were intermittent bleeding, not a true period, that was b4 they dx'd me with menopause, then they said that the 2 montly cycles was peri menopause????really, but no one knew at the time,  if that is the case I was in peri menopause from the time I first got my period....I lost faith in Drs and is part of the reason it took so long to get a DX as I would go, get no where and then not go for a few yrs...

I must say tho I actually thought what if after surgery I get it back, and it wasn't menopause at all.....nope, didn't happen, but I will say the easiest menopause ever....nothing like I ever expected, just the timing was off.

[cash242]

It was the opposite for me my hormone issues were so bad before my surgery that I thought it was all due to hormones. Then I got my dx and surgery soon after and a year later I have the easiest periods. Right after surgery was tough I didn't have a period for 2 months and they were bad but now 1 year and a couple months they are good.

[itsy1]

I'm sort of jumping in here.

I'm having endocrine issues as well, and I believe it's due to my cmI squishing my pituitary.  For me it's weight maintenance and vitamin D levels that are being affected.

Fwiw, I'm 41 and far from menopause.  My sister who has CMI, tethered cord, eds, and bassilar invagination does have a lot of cycle related issues.

I also found that the meds I was on post op adversely affected my skin and cycles.  Like you, before my surgery I had pretty painless "easy" periods.  For 6mos after surgery I felt like my body was going through puberty again.  After the 6mos though I was good to go.

[thrice3]

i'm hoping it will level out. do you think the early menopause was because of chiari?

[selmaS]

  Hi...yes, many of us do have our hormones affected as out pituitary glad can get compressed as well as our brain stem.....

It could be the release of that pressure is giving u everything full throttle for a bit, but it should calm down as with many symptoms post op it can go into overdrive as the nerves begin to work again.

As for menopause early, I did, had no idea about my chiari dx until well after I went thru and was done a good 10 yrs....my thyroid was affected as well,...if I had one Dr listen to me yrs earlier I may not have had this happen....but, to be in ur  40's and be done makes u feel old.