(( VaginaPagina ))

I wish I could help you, but I just want to say that you're not alone.

For some reason, around my period I get really really hot for no real reason. I think they might be able to be classified as hot flashes. It happens in the few days leading up to my period and in the first day or two of it. I'll just randomly get really hot and miserable, then it will go away as quickly as it started. It's strange, because it just started happening like 3 periods ago.

I'm sorry that that probably doesn't help, but you're not alone!

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Thanks for answering. I'm glad to know I'm not alone, maybe it's not that unusual then.

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A quick scan of Google (hot flashes thyroid) reveals that hot flashes can also be caused by a malfunctioning thyroid, yes. (I'd do more links, but Google's new "hai, dis site has gots malware" function is buggy and saying everything has malware, and it's making me more paranoid about clicking links than when it didn't have anything. >_< ) So I'd suggest not just an ultrasound, but also a test for thyroid antibodies, TSH, free T3, and free T4.

Good luck!

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Hi,

Google is also going all strange on me. I did go for blood tests yesterday and will be getting the results on Monday. I know that thyroid problems can cause a whole host of issues. When i goggled my symptoms, the majority of hits were for menopause specifically if they happen before/during your period, so that's why I was a little worried.

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Now I'm worried I could have a thyroid issue. Wouldn't my doctors have picked up on something by now?

Thyroids control metabolism right? Or am I imagining that?

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Thyroid controls a lot of metabolic functions and can be linked to a whole host of conditons including weight gain, weight loss, tachyardia, fatigue, hot flushes etc ..If you're concerend about it, perhaps go for a general blood panel to see if anything's up?

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If your doctors haven't tested for thyroid -- or if they're using out-dated ranges for "normal" (which is why you always need to get your numbers for TSH, free T3, and free T4) -- then no, your doctors might not have picked something up. I had to ask special to be tested, at the ob/gyn's, at one of my "year-or-two-after-birth" visits. And that only because my mom got diagnosed by accident and had been harassing me. (The only time her nagging worked!)

Yes, the thyroid pretty much controls metabolism.

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Well, I've been really skinny my whole life, as is my dad and my brother, so I always figured it was just genetics. But now, like I said before, I'm having the hot flashes around my period.

Maybe it's nothing and I'm just grabbing at straws here, but who doesn't sometimes?

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Skinny can be genetics!

Skinny could also be thyroid related -- usually hyper, not hypo, but autoimmune disorders that attack the thyroid can swing someone back and forth as the immune system slowly destroys the thyroid.

Or skinny could be in spite of thyroid. *grin* I have no idea what my kid's going to do -- my bum thyroid, from family history, has probably been in my maternal grandfather's line for generations (undiagnosed, of course, but the symptoms...). The kid herself is, from dad's genetics, the sort who has to stand twice to cast a shadow, as my mom'd say.

I'm not saying it's FOR SURE, mind! I know full well that thyroid issues are my pet hobby horse. But I do think that thyroid-testing should be something everyone does every 5 years or so, just in case.

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: ) I'm sure your kid will be fine...you're fine!

If I remember, at my next physical I'll ask them about thyroid testing.

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wordpainter77.livejournal.com

Don't know about the other two, but I wake up disgustingly sweaty the first few days before my period and I believe it can just be from normal hormonal fluctuations. SO unpleasant, though.

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I've always thought it must be due to hormonal fluctuations, but it's never been this bad. I must just be hypersensitive to them I suppose, but it is really unpleasant. I dread the day I really hit menopause, that'll just ge a bag of laughs..:P

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moonshine5.livejournal.com

i have this problem - my dr. said it's probably low estrogen due to taking birth control, and can happen generally to women who have been on birth control for 5+ years. I'm on nuva right now, and still having this problem, although it seems a bit less frequent now i guess. another symptom of low estrogen is vaginal dryness. if you ask your ob/gyn about it, and they think low estrogen is the case, you can get a prescription cream - Estrace - to help at least with the dryness, but i haven't clarified with my dr. yet whether the cream has any chance of helping the hot flashes :o/

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Hmm, I'm not on birth control at the moment. I currently don't suffer from vaginal dryness. It's really quite a mystery.
Perhaps you can change your birth control if it's giving you these side effects ? I really can't handle any form of birth control, but I think I also had these symptoms a while back when I was on birth control. I hope you find a solution to you hot flushes as they're really annoying.

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moonshine5.livejournal.com

thanks... yeah they are really annoying. asked the dr. about switching and apparently nuva ring is the least hormonal there is of hormonal birth control, and anything non-hormonal is permanent, besides an IUD which they generally don't like to do unless you've had kids... so, no luck :( but hoping the cream she prescribed works. good luck with getting to the bottom of whatever's causing yours!

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poppleshatesyou.livejournal.com

Actually, it is a common misconception that doctors won't insert IUD's if you are nulliparous. They are becoming a much more popular form of birth control again. VP and

iud_divas are prime examples of the amount of nulliparous women who have IUD's.

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loonylupinlover.livejournal.com

Have you been tested for STDs recently? It's VERY unlikely, but night sweats can be a sign of HIV. Again, VERY unlikely, especially since you don't mention anything like losing weight or getting ill more frequently, but if you haven't been tested for HIV recently it might be something to rule out.

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breesteinke.livejournal.com

It's possible that it could be related to your thyroid. I was recently diagnosed hypothyroid. I didnt have hot flashes before but since going on meds and going through the process of regulating my thyroid, everything else has gone out of whack including missing some periods and hot flashes in the days leading up to my period.

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acs80.livejournal.com

I get hot (and cold!) flashes the first day of my period. In fact, I'll sometimes feel like I have a little furnace inside of me -- it's very uncomfortable. A few hours after I start bleeding, though, the hot flashes tend to stop.

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red-rage.livejournal.com

I also think that your hot flashes could be caused by your thyroid. Aside from anecdotally experiencing symptoms similar to yours before being diagnosed with hypothyroidism, the fact is that thyroid hormone is responsible for heat generation in humans, as well as being responsible for basal metabolic rate, which is essentially your body's heat production at complete rest.

Thyroid function also impacts the metabolism of (and the bodies sensitivity to) adrenal hormones, and adrenal estrogen is necessary to avoid hot flashes during normal menstruation. If your thyroid is making your body unable to process adrenal estrogen, it follows that you could very well have some significant hot flashes before and during your period.

I strongly suggest that you don't ignore this, and that you ask your doctor to at the very least test your TSH, antithyroid antibodies, and free T3 & T4. Also, I recommend that you do some research on thyroid issues, because the list of things impacted by your thyroid function is enormous, and covers everything from miscarriages to heart disease, to increased susceptibility to infection, to weight gain/loss.

HTH, and good luck!

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Hi,

Thanks for your response. I've been for a bloodtest and one of the things been tested for was TSH. I didn't see free T3 or T4 on the script though :/.

I do have a possible thyroid nodule to be confirmed by an ultrasound. I hope that just testing for TSH will be enough to get an indication that everthing is OK thyroid wise??

The hot flashes have been with me for many years whenever I've had my period, and I kind of chalked it down to normal hormnal sensitivity at that time of the month. The night sweats are more recent though. My doctor's also having me tested for a whole host of other conditions that could be related to the night sweats.

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red-rage.livejournal.com

yw, I hope that what I've said was of some help.

It's good that you've had your TSH tested. An abnormal TSH level indicates an excess or deficiency in thyroid hormone available, but doesn't indicate the reason why there is either an excess or deficiency. To truly determine the cause, it's necessary to test levels of T3 & T4.

Additionally, you'll want to be aware that often, people who feel some symptoms but don't have seriously high or low levels of TSH are often suffering from subclinical hypo or hyper thyroidism, so I suggest that you ask for a paper copy of your test results and use that data to measure based upon statistical information that you can easily find online regarding what is considered normal, and how your numbers compare.

If your TSH level is either high or low, and your doctor suggests medication, I'd be concerned that he/she doesn't have a thorough picture of your thyroid function without T3 & T4 numbers.

And as a final note, (hopefully you're not tired of hearing me blah blah about this), if you find yourself still having symptoms of either hyper or hypothyroidism but have borderline normal TSH, T3 & T4 levels, ask to have your antithyroid antibodies tested. Subclinical thyroiditis can make you feel horrible, and without treatment is statistically very likely to lead to full blown thyroiditis, so it's best to treat the condition early.

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Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it!

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erinleigh73.livejournal.com

Well, it could be Thyroid or hormones, which go hand in hand. I have terrible night sweats monthly, and though I am only 35, my periods are all screwed up. Plus, I have abnormal hair growth on my face and breasts which is uncommon in my family. I also haven't been able to lose weight through diet and exercise, the way normal people do. Also have insomnia on occasion, and trouble getting out of bed and feeling positive. (no matter how many positive affirmations I make.) I have a goiter on my thyroid, and though I have so many bizarre thyroid symptoms, have never been diagnosed with a thyroid condition as every time I tested my TSH, Free T3 and T4, I was technically "in the normal range." I think this "normal range" for others is not normal for me. Be careful with what the doctor passes off as normal, if you don't feel good. Myself, I'm so tired of not having this diagnosed and being on the proper treatments to alleviate these issues.

Check out Oprah's website. She recently has been discussing thyroid and hormone replacement therapy. I learned so much just from her shows that I am seeing a different doctor about it this coming week and will be looking into bio-identical hormone therapy.

Bottom line: Do your research, and don't stop at what the doctor's say is "normal". Normal for you may not be normal for me, or others. We women have to trust our bodies and what they are trying to tell us.

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I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one!!!

I don't have any of the other symptoms you describe except that my cycle is rather short (21-24 days). It's strange that you have a goiter and that you haven't been diagnosed with anything ? A goiter is usually a surefire sign that something is out of kilt with your thyroid function.

Perhaps you have PCOS, that could explain some of your symptoms ? Luckily I have pretty good doctor who is thorough and hopefully I'll get to the bottom of this. I've always struggled with temperature regulation ever since I screwed up my body when I was anorexic as a teenager :/. Going from hot to cold in a matter of seconds and literally it just takes a cup of coffee to make me feel uncomfortably hot. Unfortunately eating disorders have the tendency to mess up a lot of a body's vital functions and even when recovered the damage is done. I hope you get to the bottom of your nightsweats too. I'll check out the Oprah site, thanks for the link.

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Have your doctors tested you for PCOS as well? (And what are the absolute numbers for your thyroid tests? They may be using an old range of "normal" that is Way Too High.) Also, you may want to get the coritsol/adrenal test, too -- a friend of mine had that problem, and her symptoms mimicked hypothyroid symptoms in many ways. Also like thyroid issues, many doctors don't care about poor values till it's life-threatening. O:p

Good luck to you, too! (And you may want to check

thyroid also, since there are people who know all kinds of stuff I don't. O:> )

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Just to add on -- many doctors think that TSH testing is the be-all and end-all of thyroid testing. (Mine included; she's at least good in that she wants my treated TSH down around 1.) If you have really simple thyroid issues, such as mine are, then TSH alone is okay. If you are one of the more rare people who has a different sort of problem, such as turning T4 into T3, then you need to have the free T3 and free T4 tested as well. (And thyroid antibodies are important if you think you may have an autoimmune disease that is attacking your thyroid -- that can actually swing back and forth from hypo to hyper, through "normal," so you get a different result depending on when you test.)

For even more people, you can also check out

thyroid, which is where I learned most of the above stuff. (My own thyroid issues being really simple. It just don' work, and synthetic brand-name levothyroxine (Unithroid brand) works great for me.

Crossing fingers for ya!

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