PMT & Me

Well having posted on Veronica's blog @ sleeplessnights, that I would be posting on this here I am.

The thing is I haven't actually had a period for six months or so now. No I am not pregnant. I am forty five.

The link below in red is to an extremely well written article by Professor Bird a specialist in the UK with vast knowledge of Ehlers Danlos. It is on the marfan friends forum although is available also on various other forums if you join them and available in hard copy in the UK. I don't really like suggesting that one should use any forum although I am not quite sure why, maybe because what suits one may not another I guess. Anyway, if you have a few moments, have EDS then you may find this article of interest.

EDS Hormones

I come from a family with a history of early menopause and I spoke briefly on the phone to my GP recently who suggested I come in and have 'the' blood test. The one which will let me know whether I am menopausal. I should go get it done I guess. My excuse is that I am currently carless! I am not scared in anyway of the answer, my guess is I am in part simply because I have so many of the symptoms that I don't really need a blood test to tell me. My apathy in getting it done is probably part of it all!

I can no longer blame chronic behaviour though on PMT! My other half is perplexed it seems. My bendy joints are more painful now all the time and not more so pre-menstrually. I am grumpy and sometimes quite scary I think in my hormonal stupor, so when I can be bothered I shall go & get 'the' test. I'll let you know the outcome!

Anyone with EDS will understand that pre-menstrually bendy joints are very much more prone to the pitfalls of living with the condition than at other times (which by the way is bad enough) So because of hormones pre-menstrually we complain of pain a lot, we dislocate/sublucate more and we trip, fall & generally cannot co-ordinate our limbs as our propriproception (sp) worsens. Ideally it would be best at these times if we languished in bed (as women of a certain class were able to in times of old) having general attacks of the vapours! It would certainly mean that our injuries would be less & our mood improved possibly with regular doses of laudanum (sp again). However, we now know that lying in bed makes collagen deficient muscles - wither & become even less able to support our decrepit joints.

So next time you see a women staggering around, possibly wailing in pain, shouting at all 'n sundry. Swathed in protective supports. With bruises suggesting she may have been in a drunken brawl. Do not jump to the conclusion that she is a drunk. She may well have EDS & PMT.

Or it may be me - peri-menopausal with EDS! Until I have 'the' test that is the label for me.