Hi everyone,
As I've mentioned here before, my health issues really started getting terrible after I had my last child. Before that, I mainly had numbness/tingling in my hands and pain in my shoulders and arms, as well as pain in my ribs. After I had my son, though, everything went to hades-pain in the joints and muscles, terrible fatigue, headaches, etc. etc. You all know how it goes!
Anyway..my symptoms have gotten progressively worse over the past 5 years. When I was finally diagnosed with fibro, it was by a gp who really didn't know much about
the dd, and it was of course after everything else under t he sun had been ruled out. (You all know how THAT goes, too!) Basically, I got a fibro diagnosis because nobody could find anything else wrong with me. Oh, also during this time, I was officially diagnosed by a neurologist with severe carpal tunnel in both of my arms.
Over the past year or so, though, I've been experiencing some terrible symptoms that are suspiciously like menopause. Awful hot flashes, periods all messed up and super, super heavy. Heart palpitations, skin that's not just dry, but feels like it's been invaded by crawly little bugs. HORRIBLE vaginal pain and itching and burning (but no yeast infection), awful mood swings, anxiety, feelings of dread and so on. Oh, and the zappy feeling like I've been shocked with electricity. Most of these are fibro symptoms, but they can also be symptoms of menopause. I've always chalked it up to fibro, but lately I've been wondering about
the menopause because of the extreme vaginal issues, mood swings, terrible hot flashes, and itchy crawly skin.
Well, last night I started doing some research on menopause, and I came across information on abnormal periods and their potential causes. I found out that abnormal periods can be caused by Tubal Ligation. As soon as I read that, a lightbulb went off in my head-I had my tubes tied after my last child was born!
So, I thought maybe there's some connection between my tubal and my menopausal like symptoms, so I did a search on that and I found out that tubals can basically
force your body into early menopause because the hormone levels become so out of whack in the body after the sterlization. I found a website that explained that because you aren't actually able to release an egg anymore, your body's progesterone (sp?) levels become terribly messed up and creates all kinds of problems. Then I found a website listing the symptoms of something called "post tubal syndrome" and oh my goodness was I SHOCKED by what it said!! Here's the list of symptoms:
*** SYMPTOMS OF POST TUBAL SYNDROME ***
1. Eptopic pregnancy or pregnancy (welll known risk of tubals)
1a.Hot flashes, flushes, night sweats and/or cold flashes, clammy feeling, chills
2. Bouts of rapid heart beat
3. Irritability
4. Mood swings, sudden tears
5. Trouble sleeping through the night (with or without night sweats)
6. Irregular periods; shorter, lighter periods; heavier periods, flooding; phantom periods, shorter cycles, longer cycles
7. Loss of libido (see note)
8. Dry vagina (see note)
8a.Itchy vagina-at time raw like, can radiated from whole area, with absence of yeast infections. (see note)
8b.Color change in vaginal area. (color gets darker - purple/black)
9. Crashing fatigue
10.Anxiety, feeling ill at ease
11.Feelings of dread, apprehension, doom (see note)
12.Difficulty concentrating, disorientation, mental confusion
13.Disturbing memory lapses
14.Incontinence, especially upon sneezing, laughing; urge incontinence (see note)
14a.Prolapse of uterus do to rapid decress in estrogen levels.
15.Itchy, crawly skin (see note)
16.Aching, sore joints, muscles and tendons (see note)
17.Increased tension in muscles
18.Breast tenderness
18a. Decress in breast mass
19.Headache change: increase or decrease
20.Gastrointestinal distress, indigestion, flatulence, gas pain, nausea
21.Sudden bouts of bloat
22.Depression (see note)
23.Exacerbation of existing conditions
24.Increase in allergies
25.Weight gain (see note)
26.Hair loss or thinning, head, pubic, or whole body; increase in facial hair
27.Dizziness, light-headedness, episodes of loss of balance
28.Changes in body odor
29.Electric "shock" or "stabbing" sensation under the skin.
30.Tingling in the extremities, (see note)
31.Gum problems, increased bleeding
32.Burning tongue, burning roof of mouth, bad taste in mouth, change in breath odor (see notes)
33.Osteoporosis (after several years)
34.Changes in fingernails: softer, crack or break easier
!!!!
!!!!
I have almost
every single one of these symptoms! I have never had an ectopic pregnancy, nor do I have a prolapsed uterus or incontinence issues or signs of osteoporosis-but the rest of the symptoms are totally me!
So now I'm thinking-holy crap!! Could my problems totally stem from having my tubes tied and NOT from fibro??!!?? Or, could having my tubes tied have made my fibro worse???!?
Oh-I cried SO HARD last night when I found this link and realized that maybe I did this to myself????!! Then I got SUPER angry because my Dr. never said a word about
any of these symptoms! I talked to my mom today, though, and she had her tubes tied after my youngest sibling was born and
she went through the exact same thing!!!! She ended up having a hysterectomy in '92, but she still has pain issues in her body because of this.
Fortunately, I found a clinic nearby that gives OB/GYN care to uninsured patients, so I called them this morning and made an appointment for April 3rd. I know I will have to see what they say about
all of this, but I plan on printing out the list of symptoms and explaining my horrible 5 year ordeal and seeing what can be done. Like I said, maybe it is "just" fibro again, but the symptoms of this PTS fit me so well that I have to wonder if there isn't something else going on....
I will keep all of you posted, but I wanted to share this with you in case any of you have had your tubes tied also and so maybe you're experiencing some of this as well. Also, I wanted to say to all of you still in childbearing age-DO NOT GET YOUR TUBES TIED!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, also-I didn't post the direct link to this info because the page contains some pretty graphic pictures of the internal female organs-didn't want to gross anyone out, lol-but here's the link if anyone is interested:http://members.tripod.com/~sterilization_rights/Symtoms_PTS.html
Hope you guys are all having a pain free, happy day.