Women of a certain age...

[Catkins]

Mine started in my early 40's, before that I seemed fine. It's incredibly frustrating!

[Carnation]

It is and seems to come from nowhere.

[alpacagirl]

I haven't got an acid stomach as such but have developed silent reflux in the last few years which causes some throat issues. Also morning sickness type nausea at times and yes certain smells will set me off. I've always had a really strong sense of smell so that doesn't help the situation. My digestion has always been a bit dodgy since I was in my teens ( IBS type stuff or indigestion) and that's definitely worse lately. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what still agrees with me now. I've been gluten free for years and have always been sensitive to dairy but some weeks it feels like nothing agrees with my gut. I think partly it's just because my anxiety has increased from all the hormonal ups and downs and the early morning adrenaline rushes often lead to morning dash to the toilet. Ugh.

[Scass]

Can I join too? I blame everything on perimenopause now. I’m trying to get back to sleep though so shouldn’t be reading this, I’ll come back later!

[Carnation]

Yes, of course Scass.
That's another thing, waking up in the night, sometimes several times. I used to sleep right through.

Alpacagirl, silent reflux is awful. Have you had to change your diet apart from being gluten free?
Bread can sometimes set my tummy off too.
I do eat a lot of dairy which seems ok most of the time, but you are right, when anxiety is in play it's not the best thing to consume. Chocolate another one.
I'm interested to know what people eat for lunch if they don't have a sandwich.

Yesterday the clocks went back an hour in the UK, and I couldn't believe how hungry I was at dinnertime. Whether it was the miserable weather or change in routine but Mr C was the same.

[alpacagirl]

Yes, of course Scass.
That's another thing, waking up in the night, sometimes several times. I used to sleep right through.

Alpacagirl, silent reflux is awful. Have you had to change your diet apart from being gluten free?
Bread can sometimes set my tummy off too.
I do eat a lot of dairy which seems ok most of the time, but you are right, when anxiety is in play it's not the best thing to consume. Chocolate another one.
I'm interested to know what people eat for lunch if they don't have a sandwich.

Yesterday the clocks went back an hour in the UK, and I couldn't believe how hungry I was at dinnertime. Whether it was the miserable weather or change in routine but Mr C was the same.

Yes I used to look forward to going to bed and was the best sleeper. Now I wake at 2, 4, 5.30.. pretty much exact time every night. Weird dreams too. I have dreams to do with my mobile phone haha. I always end up somewhere alone and try to use my phone to contact my husband or someone, but either the battery is flat or I can't get to the contact numbers or can't enter the right numbers. I have variations of that dream a lot. The other one is driving a car where the brakes don't work properly. I guess I'm processing not being in control or something LOL. I've been gluten free for over 20 years so that's not a recent thing. The ENT wasn't much help as far as diet advice for acid reflux goes so did my own research there. Loosely follow the advice in the "Acid watchers diet" and " Dropping acid" books. That's helped a lot. Dairy definitely makes it a lot worse. It's not 100% gone but much better. When I saw the ENT I had one sided throat and ear pain etc. Now it's just a mild cough at times. I tried Pantoprazole but it made me so nauseous, I use liquid gaviscon as needed. I often have leftovers for lunch from the night before but mainly some gluten free bread with egg and some vegies on the side or a salad in summer/soup in winter. We don't have daylight saving anymore where I live. Most people voted against it years ago, especially the farmers.

[glassgirlw]

I get many of these symptoms and more. And it feels like no two months are the same symptom wise. Some months palps, some months crazy emotions…random acne breakouts have started up again after 20 years of clear skin. Not sleeping thru the night is a pretty constant one. So fun being a woman sometimes. 44 here!

[Carnation]

Alpacagirl, I have the same thing with waking up constantly during the night. It's so annoying and usually I know what the time is going to be before I even look.
And the weird dream, several a night sometimes and like you, repetitive dreams. Did you know time doesn't exist in your dreams, apparently.

[BlueIris]

I've had constant bloating and gas for a week or so, with nausea. I get really worried that it's going to be ovarian cancer even though I've had gut problems on and off through my life.

Don't get me started on the weird dreams, either. Every night I dream somebody's mad at me and telling me how worthless I am.

[Carnation]

glassgirlw, so many symptoms, like you say, fun being a woman. Dry skin I noticed come gradually. Actually my mum never washed her face with water because it dried it out so much, she just used cleanser.