Is it menopause or something else?

[bsr1962]

Hi, this is my first post! I have had symptoms since January, gone to multiple specialist and still no diagnosis. It is so frustrating! A little background first. About a year ago I had my thyroid removed due to questionable cells and difficulty swallowing. I had been on synthroid for 8 years. Four months ago, I had 2 syncopal episodes, and started having dizziness, HA, crazy flushing constantly, heart palpatations with minimal exertion,  shortness of breath, weakness, shaky, slight chest pain on occasion, mind foggy & changes in bowel habits, After several doctors and test and no diagnosis I started researching and it sounded like I may have had vegus nerve damage from thyroid surgery. I got a referral to Vanderbuilt Neurology because they have an autonomic center. Yesterday I had a second tilt table (a cardiologist did the first one in Jan. - Normal) and the second one was normal, as well as the valsalva and deep breathing test.  After follow up with my neurologist, he suggested no answers, prescribed propranolol to regulate my heart rate and recommended we repeat the testing again in 6 mos. Maybe this is related to my thyroid medication, I just don't know ( the endocrinologist at Vandy said everything looked good) or maybe it's a case of Menopause from hell ( my period stopped in Oct.)! I am at my wits end, I have had to quit working & I can't even pick up my 18 month old grandson for near syncopal episodes. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[AnnieBrooke]

I was having really thumpy heartbeats every night, and my nurse practitioner signed me up for a Holter monitor.  By the time my HMO's cardiology department finally got around to calling me (three months later), I was on a noticeably large dose of hormones (for a different reason).  So now I have the darn monitor, and of course my heart is NOT doing thumpy heartbeats, not once.  I'm not sorry except that I have to give the monitor back in three weeks, and if it has not recorded one episode, I'll look like I was fibbing about the issue.  But I'm glad it's just a hormonal thing (as it looks now) and not me about to drop dead.  It's either that or I was drinking too much caffiene, which I coincidentally quit at around the same time as the monitor came.

Anyway, good luck.  Sometimes diagnosis is made by doing the thing that might solve the problem and seeing if the problem is affected.

[bsr1962]

Thanks for the response...GYN is the only specialist I haven't been to as of yet....it's worth a try!

[AnnieBrooke]

It's easy enough to test whether it is menopause related.  Ask the doctor to put you on HRT (an estrogen/progesterone regime) for about 6 months, and see if things calm down.