Exploring Hormone-Related BFS Symptoms

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MsMaverick

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Ladies, I have noticed alot of us that are experiencing this with change in hormones. Some of us are at the age of perimenopause, and others during or after pregnancy. I've read on menopause sites that this is pretty common, and pregnancy is also a surge in hormones. I don't think it causes BFS, but I bet it sure helps it along. Not only are our hormones going nuts, but your more likely to have anxiety during these times too. What do you all think?Gentlemen, although you don't get menopause, your hormones also fluctuate with age-manipause :) .
 
Many people here have or are experiencing stress and/or anxiety both of which are known to cause and be caused by hormone fluctuation. Even though some fluctuation is normal, as you said, levels can get out of whack. I went, early on, to an specialist on the recommendation of my GP but she said that blood tests and an exam can usually pick up serious hormone irregularities. However, current research is showing that abnormally high levels of cortisol (usually present and fluctuates like other hormones) in people and animals who are under stress and the findings have some interest to us bcfs/bfs-ers. Higher levels over longer times lower immunity and there are lots of little problems that also creep in like weight, control, and sleep problems. Cortisol is peaked during stress/exercise to help the body spring into action but our bodies and minds do not always know the different between stress (look out it's a saber tooth!) and stress (my job is threatened, I am worried abut my health, I'm anxious about a test/finances, etc). Some reading about 'stress hormones' is available in books and research by Sapolsky if you are interested. Oh, guys, one paper I just found said they discovered an inverse relationship of cortisol and testosterone levels.IMO we have to remember to see ourselves as not minds and bodies but a well-integrated unit. What you think affects your body and what you do physically affects your mind - it is how we are made even though we are not often aware of this integration. Only recently with the explosion of medical testing have the healers introduced this dichotomy of mind and/vs body rather than seeing individuals as a mind-body system. Some people are getting back to it or being forced back to it by research.Ladies, I know there used to be many that would try to ask us, while carrying children, to remain calm, eat well and relax, listen to certain music to affect a healthy child. I guess you'd have to go to a naturalist gyn to get this stuff now as it is all about ultrasounds etc. Is that your experience?What do you think? Is this something you can accept, or something that you think is hooey? What is the basis for your reasoning and how can this help you to heal from this syndrome? It seems many here do not accept this as it does require some taking of responsibility - even if it is a cascade effect that causes this syndrome it puts the individual in the driver's seat for healing. It can't be that it just happened to you like a lightening strike, or that you will go find a doctor that 'cures' you; if you accept this thinking you have more of a role to play.
 
I don't buy that pregnancy hormones cause this because I got this before I was pregnant. I ended up pregnant 3 months into all this and noticed a sudden drop in symptoms from 2000+ a day to hundreds..it was so instant, I calculated and it happened days after concieving. So, it seems pregnancy has had a positive affect, at least for me. I have been a chronic worrier all my life and was under a lot of stress when this all started. The cortisol and long-term stress mixed with lower immune system issues seems like a better fit. I have had certain illnesses in the past that are indicitive of a weaker immune system (shingles, epstein barr, and I have geographic tongue)I also have seen a decrease in symptoms slowly as I get closer to delivery...now I am not "more" pregnant than I was before so obviously getting control over my anxiety has played a huge role in easing my symptoms. I do believe in the mind/body connection. I started yoga, walking, and this website for support and the decision that I was going to fight this all around the time I got pregnant and getting pregnant just made me even more determined to fight...it seems to me this had a tremendous effect. I am around 100 twitches a day now, some days even less...maybe even just a few. It never goes away completely. As I write this I am actually having more than I have been having so I am a little down, but I am trying to remind myself that being fatigued and getting over viruses often makes it worse ( I am just getting over bronchitis)Tanya
 
I wholeheartedly believe in the whole mind/body connection as this is how I dealt with my anxiety in my teens/early twenties. At my onset here was my scenery:prolonged bout of stress-more than average6 mos prior dx'd with perimenopause 2 weeks prior to onset I had the H1n1/ flu shot I don't know if any of these had anything to do with it or not.But, more importantly:I'm here.I'm alive.This isn't going to kill me.We should spend more energy worrying about the chemicals on our veggies than on our BFS. :sick:
 
I agree, I don't think it was the NinaPost hormone changes, but my anxiety was sky high after I gave birth. It really started before, but it peaked shortly after. I started having hot flashes which gave me panic attacks. About 8 weeks NinaPost the twitching, buzzing, and electrical shocks started, which only fueled my anxiety even more. IMO there is definitely a mind/body connection with this garbage. I can't believe this just happened for no reason and I've always been healthy and taken good care of myself. I honestly think that in my situation I need to fix my head before I can heal. It's just so difficult when you are in a cycle of dealing with BFS symptoms that are unexplained.
 
Tanya - Yah! good for you taking charge like that and knowing to do it. It took me a while to do this - mostly because I listened to all the specialists leading me on with appointments like one more test was going to find something - all it did was eventually convince me that this syndrome wasn't an actual disease but more of a dis-ease. MIssBehavin - well, yes, but best not to worry at all if you can manage it. I never worried really until I had kids - especially the teen years - arrgh. That protective mommy biological process got to me (we must protect our offspring yeah but it really should be more action and less hamsters running on the wheel in your head). Now I'm getting back around to remembering that worry accomplishes, for me, just upset. The successful parenting I did was due to action, not worrying (my kids came out great BTW).Amaranth - hot flashes are alarming - too much like fever so makes you feel like things can't be right. It isn't for "no reason" that you got this syndrome: the only good advice/explanation I ever received after all those docs was that one guy who had been in neurology for many decades said he saw a lot of bfs/bcfs in stressed (physical and/or emotional) individuals. A cascade effect or overload he guessed. Must be your first child? Are you a perfectionist? Parenting can really feel like an impossible task for people who want to do everything right; everyone has to stumble and pick themselves up (or they are fibbing is they say not). I don't know you, but it was a little like that for me as I had no support group after my first child. Really trust me on this one, stressing doesn't get you there - being really present for them will. Good luck everyone!
 
Im OK- OMG that is me. I was mostly a slacker until I had kids. Then I turned into super Mom-or at least try to be. I am a classic Helicopter parent. I hover over my kids, and am a complete perfectionist. I constantly pressure myself about what I should be doing and how it could effect my kids. I am working on it. I have to keep reminding myself that my kids are happy and well adjusted if not spoiled. I am not doing them any favors by doing everything for them. Now that they are getting older I see that I am not letting them learn from their own mistakes or letting them learn the value of working to achieve a goal. I can't even take them to the fair because I can't put them on the rides without panic a panic attack. My husband has to take them. I don't hide my issues from them, I am honest with them and they think Mommy' s quirks are funny, we don't let it stop them from doing anything, they just know I'm not gonna be the one taking them to do it. LOL it could be worse, I could be a parent that doesn't care!
 
What used to help me was just asking myself "Is this (your mommy action) going to help my kids in the long run? Will it make them more able to succeed and be self-sufficient when I'm not here (which will happen more and more as they grow)?" It helped put things in perspective and you figure out what is for them or really your own needs (like being over-protective to feel as if you are doing your best) in relation to them. Really - the best you can do is to let them know you love them and you are already doing that. LOL they will make you question yourself all over again in puberty. Then they grow up and finally tell you how great you are and how much they appreciate you (but it takes a while! like mid-twenties at least!) Parenting is a tough job but rewarding.
 
Hi ImOk, Yes, first baby! I'm definitely not a perfectionist so at least there is one way that I am well-adjusted! :) If she is clean, fed, safe and happy then I've done my job! We went out to run errands earlier and I didn't even bother to change her clothes after she spilled bananas! :oops: I don't even obsess about her health. I love her to pieces, but by some grace I have been able to stay sane with regards to her! I want to be the best mother that I can for her obviously. My biggest fear has been something happening to me, leaving her without a mommy. I saw a therapist yesterday to deal with my anxiety. We talked for a bit and said that I sounded more anxious than depressed, but gave me a depression questionnaire anyway. I scored a 28 and was shocked! The range was: Less than 20 - mild depression, treat with talk therapy. 20-30 - Moderate depression, drug intervention with talk therapy and Over 30 - Severe depression. Holy smokes! So, I guess I'm suffering from NinaPost depression after all. I don't feel sad or hopeless, just scared out of my mind some days, but I guess there is more to depression than just sadness. I had some family tragedies last summer that are still with me and I guess they have affected me more than I realized. I really wanted to beat this without medication, but I think I've resigned to the fact that I need some help at least in the short term. If it were just me, perhaps I would try to tough it out, but with the baby I don't want to waste any more precious time.
 
Amarca - Depression is sneaky so it is good you got in to get some help. My symptoms came after some very stressful, ending in depressive, events. The connection may not be one we can suss out because we are really not aware of it anymore than we are aware of our mind working in other ways (automatic body functions for instance). I think we tend to bury a lot of this stuff and that doesn't mean it is not there - just that we're not dealing with it because we have other more pressing issues; a lot of therapists work on this type treatment & say that it is a natural protective function of the unconscious mind. If you can find a good professional that deals with mind/body issues that would be great as it takes a long time to do this kind of stuff on your own. I've read books about it but never found a therapist locally that I could afford (on my insurance).Yeah, I remember that fear too - the first time, after a close call with a dump truck driver who lost control just ahead of me on the road - my first thought was "what if I had been a second more down the road, what would have happened to my children?" Bought an annuity the next day but that only covers the financial part - you really do want to be there for them and not miss out on any of the days, weeks, years. But that isn't a problem for bfs'ers as we are not life-threatened - unless we are on the roads alot!!
 

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