Adrenals and Cycles

I'm thinking aloud here and evaluating recent experiences....

You know, my recent experience with an inflamed Thyroid gland due to a tight rollneck really wasn't a normal occurrence.  

If I think about the whole episode now, I realise that significantly, it happened in the lead-up to a migraine, and that was the day after I noticed some very strange things happening to my abdomen.

The very first symptom I noticed of a 'disturbance' in my body, was the day before the rollneck and thyroid emergency.  

I'd spent the whole day virtually standing up and remember feeling that I needed to get a lot done.  I wasn't rushing around exactly, but I was under pressure. 

Then I noticed by about 3pm, I had a lot of gas.  I've had this symptom before, but I didn't link up until now, that my stomach had registered a drop in oestrogen.  Or rather, a drop in oestrogen had signalled a drop in serotonin.  A drop in serotonin had consequently slowed down peristalsis, which meant the contents of my guts were by then fermenting, hence the gas.

I remembered reading in 'Psychological Thoughts on Tension and Migraine headaches' that Tom Hersh said something along the lines of 'migraine begins with a disturbance of the abdomen'.

The disturbance I had this time was completely natural and stress had not set the whole thing off, as the stress was under control.  

I can see now that I'm pretty well, powerless, as to what my guts are doing in response to a drop in serotonin.

For this reason, I decided to start taking 5-HTP, so that hopefully I can make more serotonin and not have these steep declines?  Obviously, I started taking it after the event, so I will only be able to tell next month if it has any bearing as a preventative measure?

Even though I'm excited about  the help 5-HTP might offer, something tells me even that isn't going to work and my real problem is that HRT does not contain Estradiol.  Or if it does, its more suited to a horse, than a human. If it is part of the HRT bag of tricks, I'm pretty certain its not as powerful as human estradiol.  

Estradiol was in all likelihood responsible for my losing my temper all those years, each time I used to get the curse.  Whereas now, HRT, sets off a lot of the essential mechanisms to end my cycle, but it certainly doesn't give me that tremendous surge of sex hormone that used to turn me into a mad person.

Instead I get just enough surge to warrant a migraine, but my energy levels stay about the same, coupled with a fair amount of mild depression.  I never used to get 'depressed' before my menses before, but I used to get quite tearful.  

I wish I didn't have to take HRT but I'm determined to keep taking it, for the sake of my bones.

The hard dieting generation has yet to hit menopause and it will be very interesting to see what happens to their bones, if they resist HRT?

Both my ex-sisters in law (5 years younger than me) used to diet for 20 years or more.  

I dieted only for 3 years, but that was more like starvation in the end, because I was so determined to lose the weight I'd gained from being Hypothyroid (which I didn't know at the time).  

I've done some substances too.

They weren't really bad, but while I was doing them, I wasn't eating very well.  

I'm also a person that wont eat while coping with stress.  And I've had quite a bit of that.

So, even though I haven't dieted as much as others, I haven't eaten as well as I might have.

Clearly before I was hypothyroid, I was hyperthyroid.  And I had a very bad appetite then.  

I've lived on adrenalin, I've been an adrenalin junkie.  I now realise that that was to compensate for the abysmal energy levels you have with a Hypothyroid condition.   

Here's a link to a really great article.  Its incredibly informative but for my part, utterly depressing:

Hypothyroid Symptoms
   
When I read it, I could see my personality all the way through.  This sounds bad, but I'm going to say it anyway, I've virtually wasted my life in feeling like crap without a diagnosis and without help!

Anyway, enough about that.

It would appear that now, after popping so many pills, my overall health and particularly that of my nerves, is in much better condition, so much so that I'm able to isolate specific cues to a migraine, such as abdominal disturbance.

My guess is that the inflamed Thyroid is another indicator of a lead-up to end-of-cycle migraine.  

It doesn't take a kilo of brains to realise that my Thyroid gets the signal to increase my metabolism in the lead-up to my menses.  Trouble is that my Thyroid is sluggish, so without yet reading about this, I think my adrenals have had to compensate.  This swapping of one hormone for another could well be the real cause of my migraines??    

So, it possibly follows that in the lead up to my period, I probably need MORE levothyroxine, rather than less.

Next month I'm going to experiment and take more Levo as soon as I start taking the little progesterone pills.  As that's when all the fun really starts round here! 

(I don't think when it comes to managing homeostasis, that the same level of endocrine output is manufactured everyday, so why should I think that one tiny levothyroxine tablet will meet all my needs?)