Looking back I was experiencing symptoms but not really realizing how they were connected and making every excuse for the symptoms I was experiencing, after all it was 2020 and we were all feeling STRESSED!
I began experiencing hot flashes and thought it was my nightly glass of wine during the pandemic 🍷 turns out it's a hormonal imbalance and I was going into premature menopause at the age of 38 (now 39 as I write this) As estrogen levels fall, this has a direct effect on the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for controlling your appetite, sleep cycles, sex hormones, and body temperature. The drop in estrogen confuses the hypothalamus — which is sometimes referred to as the body’s “thermostat” — and makes it read “too hot.”
This was also around the time I started not sleeping very well. I was having trouble falling asleep as well as waking up in the night and struggling to get back to sleep. I have always been a good sleeper with no trouble falling asleep and would wake in the night with my newborns, nurse them, and fall right back to sleep. So when this began I chalked it up to being stressed plus I still had toddlers waking in the night and getting into to bed with my husband and me. I was also experiencing nighttime hot flashes where I would wake up from extreme heat, sometimes covered in sweat and sometimes just hot and throw the covers off take off socks etc. I thought it was the weighted blanket my husband got me for Christmas last year 😂
I previously posted about my Amenorrhea, or lack of menstrual cycle for a few months. This was the first symptom that I recognized as an issue and what caused me to seek out answers from my OBGYN and next a Fertility Specialist. The fertility doctors asked me about other symptoms, like hot flashes and sleep troubles once my FSH levels came back so high. I had made excuses for these symptoms and definitely was not thinking about Menopause! I have listed below the most common symptoms of POI or Premature Menopause but I have since realized I have experienced additional symptoms not on this list that have led me to do additional testing in an attempt to uncover the root cause of my Premature Ovarian Insufficiency, more to come on that.
Symptoms of Premature Ovarian Insufficiency:
Night sweats / Hot Flashes
Irritability and Mood Swings
Insomnia
Fatigue / Brain Fog
Anxiety
Irregular or Intermittent Menstrual Cycle
Vaginal dryness / Pain during Sexual Intercourse
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