Menopause and MAV

Women's Biz 💁‍♀️
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So I have not been diagnosed with MAV but I am wondering of this is what I have. I am 50 and in peri-men. About 5 months ago I started to feel my anxiety rising (and I have never been an anxious person), and then two months ago bam I started to get dizzy/off balanced, and have been that way since. There is no true vertigo just constant random head issues like my brain is moving at a different pace than my head. I am also much more motion sensitive and get nauseous. My head always feels like it has a vice grip on it and my ears are plugged a lot. I also get headaches and one sided pressure (sometimes). Very sore neck.

I have always gotten headaches around my period but not what I would consider migraines. I started Lexipro at 5mg about 3 weeks ago for anxiety but doesn’t at this point seem to have made any difference to the dizziness. I have no idea if this is just Menopause, anxiety, neck issues or maybe MAV? Really how do you know? I have had an MRI and Cat scan which were clear. I am going to my GP in a few weeks so I guess I should ask for a neuro who knows about headaches???

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Hi JLC123 -welcome
I’ve also had hormonal issues along with the ones that you describe. Because the hormones naturally fluctuate they affect the migraines for me. My best advice is to read the VM Survival Guide linked to this site and see if it opens avenues for you to explore . Most Dr’s don’t know much about this, so it’s definitely a journey ! But as you can see, there are many on the same path :slight_smile: best wishes!

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According to this article ‘fatigue, brain fog, anxiety’ (all listed MAV symptoms) all attributed to menopause, as I suspect are quite a few cases of MAV! Think it was within, though could be elsewhere, I read that hormones fluctuate wildly for some women generally over a four year period (when exactly varies between individuals) around menopause. Just maybe that extra variation is what tip some over the edge into MAV. Who knows? Where are the researchers?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7438585/Dont-let-menopause-murder-career.html