Hi Harriet--ah, I'm glad you remember. I would definitely suggest getting seen soon, although it's not an emergency situation (or even urgent care). But I would make clear at the earliest possible opportunity that you want meds to get your bp down to 120/80. Every day that it's high does permanent damage to your organs :(. If you exercise and get it lower, and you find you can go off the meds, that's great. But IMO (and of course this isn't official medical advice, just my experience and what I've read, so do more research--I'm just a lonely data point : )), getting it down as early as possible is what's important. The meds may very well knock you for a loop until you adjust to them, too. The docs said no driving for a month but I was back behind the wheel of a car, no problems, in a week and a few days. terri, that was another odd thing - my cholesterol is beautiful. I'm not the highest in HDL, but my LDL was *quite low* (blanking on the #s) at the time of the heart attack. As much as I believe in taking bp meds (within reason), I was *staunchly* against statins, and got out of it only by digging my heels into the ground and saying I'd take red yeast rice. I took that for a while and then stopped. My LDL isn't bad enough for me to worry about. There's also debate over what numbers are o.k. and what are worrisome wrt cholesterol anyway. But this little lonely data point would encourage you to take action on the bp as soon as you can (non-rush).

So far, I have seen 4 different cardiologists, 3 of which are electrophysiologists who specialize in arrhythmias. I have had every test under the sun. I even wore a portable heart monitor for a month. I do not have A-fib, I have "ventricular tachycardia" and PVC's -- they have seen it on the monitor so they know exactly what the abnormal rhythm is. When I ask why it is happening, they say that some people are born with abnormal pathways in the heart that can get irritated and misfire, especially when exposed to things like caffeine, adrenaline (from exercise or stress) and hormonal changes. I have had bouts of palpitations on and off since I was in my 20s, but each time, cutting back on the caffeine fixed them. This was the first time I've had the VT as well as the palps, and while cutting back on caffeine helped a lot, it hasn't made them totally go away -- and like I said, they seem to be related to my menstrual cycle. So I'm guessing that if I was prone to palpitations my whole life because of some inborn tendency of my heart, menopause may be rough going for me....which is why I would consider the HRT, even though I am normally very anti-hormone meds in general (like I said, I've never even taken the pill). I did see the endocrinologist for a thyroid workup after one of my thyroid numbers came back abnormal. But apparently, it wasn't an important number because they tell me my thyroid is fine -- all the important numbers like TSH and T3 and T4 are right in normal range. I do have an appointment with a second endocrinologist in a couple weeks -- I made it a few months ago (she was out on maternity leave) before I saw the first endocrinologist and I figure it can't hurt to get another opinion on both the thyroid and the menopause stuff. Thanks for all the suggestions so far, and for the links. I will spend some time checking out those sites today and see if there's something I can try supplement-wise that might help before I go the HRT route. Please keep the feedback coming if you have any experience with any of this -- supplements, HRT, or menopause in general. I am so not ready for this, LOL!

I think it's just a rumor that potency varies. Most doctors don't lie Armour t. becuase there's more money to be made in the synthetic versions. Synthroid has had problems with potency. There are a lot of doctors who don't know much about thyroid disease and how to manage it, so study up on it yourself to help you to know if your doctor knows much about it. I was so ill with many of the hypo symtoms, but the MDs I went to never mentioned putting me on meds becuase my tests were within the 'normal range'. Well, normal wasn't good enough for me. Fortunately, I found someone to help me. You shouldn't have to take more than one pill a day for the dosage you need since it is sold in several diff. dosages. You're spending more money than you need to that way. A good doctor will start you on a low dose and work up to a higher one if tests indicate it.I'm going to start up on 30 mg again and see if that and my homeopathic treatments will improve my health again. The books 'What Your Doctor Didn't Tell You About Menopause' and his other book about premenopause talk about hormones and other things that help the thyroid function. There are books about thyroid disease too. Us females are complicated creatures. Remove the x if you want to e-mail me, since I'm not having much luck in opening posts on here lately. I don't know what the problem is yet, so I don't know when I'll be able to get on here again. Best of luck to you.

Hi linnea, It's a little disconcerting to hear that your gyne doc didn't have much to say to you. She should have told you that when our progesterone starts getting low, our uterine linings keep building up, which leads to more bleeding. Sometimes they give women progesterone pills to help. That's how my periods started going when I was in my late 40's. I refused the progesterone, and my bleeding got out of control. I ended up losing alot of blood and needing a D&C, and was put on hormones for awhile, to keep from bleeding again. It seems like your doc might want to do an endometrial biopsy or a transvaginal ultrasound, so she can understand why you're bleeding. Lots of women just put up with this bleeding during perimenopause. In some women, it just works itself out. For me, I think I would have bled to death. The biopsy of my lining showed that I had cells growing in a weird fashion.....which caused my bleeding. Plus, sometimes, the lining can actually get so thin that it bleeds constantly... But the cause of the bleeding needs to be determined. Are you getting tired easily from the blood loss? If not, I'd say give it a few more months, but don't overlook it too long. Once your hemoglobin gets low, it takes awhile to build it back up. Is there another gyne you could see?? Did she say anything at all about your heavy bleeding?