Flu like symptoms with my period

Welcome! Unfortunately, none of us has figured anything out yet. I've begun tracking everything I eat again to see if there's any pattern there.

Sadly, my gynecologist was of no help. The ultrasound showed nothing unusual & she recommended I return to my GP. Asked a friend for the name of her gynecologist the same week. Perhaps she'll actually be of help....

Do you drink water. I never do anymore & was wondering if it might be dehydration during that time....with all of the blood loss. Just another stab in the dark.

Yeah, I try to drink at least 8 glasses a day. I find that, even though it doesn't help with my soar throats, it does help alleviate my cramps.

Just out of curiosity, why'd you stop drinking water?

I just got out of the habit. Plus I drink a lot of coffee since the new addition to our family.

Check to see if you are vitamom D deficient. I've been taking supplement D3 and eating things that contain D as well as trying to get some sunlight . Symptoms are better. just a thought.

I'm in the same boat and was about to have my tonsils removed. I went for a second opinion though and the doctor told me it only has a 50% chance of helping and the tonsillectomy procedure can be a really painful recovery. I'm now taking Zyrtec every single night and flonase and it seems to have mitigated the sore throat and runny nose. I did get the fever and chills for 2 days during my period but thats much better than what used to be a neverending sore throat, achiness and malaise for weeks.

Has anyone tried getting their tonsils removed? My ear,nose, throat doc seems to think it will help. I'm very scared though.

I wanted to share with you all the road I am currently on...I have had this problem for over 2 years and it actually turned into being sick every single day. They diagnoised me with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I am seeing a naturopath doc now after a year of MDs and we are discussing the possibility of "estrogen dominance" b/c my symptoms worsen 10x exactly a week before my period. Just thought I would share the term in case anyone wants to reserach it....evidently estrogen dominance can cause a WIDE range of symptoms and problems.....good luck :-)

Hi Everyone
I am 22 years old and have recently stopped taking birth control. I have NEVER had cold/flu like symptoms when I get my period, but for the past 3 months I have been getting HORRIBLE headaches, a very sore throat, and sinus congestion right before my period. I just recently realised these symptoms occur with my period, and it has only started happening after I stopped taking my birth control.
I noticed that many other women posting have just gone through changes which would affect and change hormone levels (breast feeding, pregnancy, stopping birth control, aging etc). I started looking into hormone imbalance and a common symptom is "flu like symptoms." So this may be a link... I am not positive if it is, but it seems odd that these symptoms have started after a change that would effect hormone levels.
I am going back on birth control (not because of these symptoms) but I will post again if my flu like sumptoms stop again once I am back on birth control.

Mine started after I stopped taking birth control also. I'm back on birth control because I couldn't deal with all of the changes to my period and mood and feeling sick every single month while still trying to take care of a 2 year old and a 3 year old. It's been a month and I'm noticing moodiness when I should be on my period but there are many reasons for that. -laughs- (I'm skipping my period, btw, because of symptoms of endometriosis.) But anyhow - things have smoothed out for me.

No solution, just reporting the same flu like symptoms (feverish, sore throat, runny nose), this has happened several times in the past few months, not every month, but always on the 1st day of my period, and getting worse as the months go by. Off sick because of it today, so that gives me time to google the problem :-) I can't say I'm glad you are all experiencing the same thing, but it does give me some comfort that it's not just all in my head. I haven't seen any doctor about it.

From what I read here, we all seems to be pretty healthy and active, (btw, I'm 35, mediterranean origin, living in London UK, no kids, no birth control for some years now, odd drink now and then, no smoking, eating well, exercising a lot, etc...). One thing is that I do not have dairy, but soy products and I've heard people talking about soy and oestrogen. Nobody mentioned this here, and I'm wondering if there could be a link. If some of you are on dairy, then I'd like to know, so I can rule out this possible cause.

Thanks and good luck
Cathie

I am a 25 year old student, and I have been a vegetarian for about 2 years. I first noticed that I would get sick (cold/flu like symptoms) around my period (a few days before or during) at about the age of 14. I also noticed that would get urinary tract infections (UTI) more frequently around my period. The instances when this would happen varied. Some months I would get sick, and some months I would be fine. As I got older I began to get a lot sicker during my periods (usually bed-bound for several days). When I became a vegetarian I stopped getting very sick, but I started get sick more consistently. Now almost every moth I get a cold.

Just a few days ago I got strep (right after healing from a cold), and I had it! I'm tired of getting sick. Those of you who said that its too much to be coincidence are right. Doctors don't seem to have a clue for soe reason. I complained about my chronic UTI for years to doctors and none of them were able to help me. Finally, I realized that I would get a UTI when I hadn't drank enough water for the day. It works like a charm. Five plus glasses of water, no UTI. Less then water then that and I can make a sure bet that I'll get a UTI. Of course when I went to my doctor with this news, she had nothing to say. Why don't doctors dig a little deeper for information?

Well, I have. Because I don't want to wait around anymore to see if a doctor will destroy my body with poorly prescribed antibiotics, or whatever other quick-fix solution they come up with. Or even ruder still (which I am seeing many of you, and I, are dealing with) is the no response reaction. They don't know, or don't care, I'm not sure what's going on there.

Anyway, I did my own little internet search and here's what I've found:

SORE THROAT (cold or flu like symptoms)
It seems that we get sick and experience a sore throat because bacteria and virsus that enter through our nose and mouth are filtered through our tonsils. Our tonsils need white blood cells (WBC) - medically known as leukocytes - in order to fend off bacteria....Keep this in mind for next part....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonsillitis

LOW WBC (white blood cell count)
We need white blood cells to sustain a healthy immune system...
If our WBC count goes low, then our bodies will have issues with bacteria.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_blood_cell

MENSTRUATION and WBC
There is a poverty of literature on the subject, but I was able to find two studies connecting the mentrual cycle with low white blood cell count. From what I understand, our periods can have an effect on our WBC count. This seems logical to me - but why some women and not other? And why the variations in how it affects us? I'm not totally sure, but it looks like CONTRACEPTIVES may influence the onset and how strongly the cold/flu like symptoms will occur. Also, abortions, surgery, or medications such as penicillin may enduce the cold-period symptoms.
Check out these articles (a bit dated, but still worth reading):
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM193401252100402
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1673417/pdf/brmedj01449-0025.pdf

NEUTROPENIA and/or AGRANULOCYTOSIS
These two terms are the medical names for low WBC count. Neutropenia is more of a disorder of the WBC count, whereas Agranulcytosis is a more serious condition. From the articles I found, it seems that those of us experiencing colds or flus around periods may have low WBC count, and in more sever cases, neutropenia or agranulocytosis. This is something you should each look into more yourselves, but it makes sense to think that we're getting sick from a lack of blood around a time when we are in fact loosing blood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutropenia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agranulocytosis

INCREASING WBC
This is important I think. Even if the condition isn't all the way to neutropenia, I believe it will greatly help to increase the defenses of our bodies and build up our immune systems.....the next sections expands on this more.

HAIR LOSS? BRUISING? CRAMPS?
***edited by moderator*** ** inappropriate posting**
Please read our Terms of Use


VEGETARIANS and VEGANS
We need to be extra careful. Although our diets tend to make us a lot healthier in many ways, we need to make sure we're getting the right amount of minerals and vitamins into our diets. B12 can be affecting our immune systems, calcium, vitamin D, copper and zinc. We need all of these in addition to protien in order to ward off infection. I'm still looking into this, so I'm not sure as to how much of each yet. But I do know that some vitamins/minerals are more helpful for absorbing other vitamins/minerals than others....I just need to research the combinations.

I hope this helps a little. I'm going to keep on digging, but that's what I was able to find tonight. Also, I plan to go see a few more doctors, and directly ask questions about this information. If I get back any straight answers I'll be sure to share them with you. Its such a relief to see that there are other women in this position. I wish you all the best.

From what I've heard is that there are a lot of different symptoms associated with hormone imbalances. And from what I heard on Dr. Oz - what doctors consider the "healthy" range for different hormone levels (which normal is unique to each person) are not necessarily the "healthy" levels for that individual. I personally try to stay away from soy because of everything that I've heard about it. I've heard Jillian Michaels is against soy because of hormone reasons, I believe. Maybe this is all due to hormone imbalances for each one of us? And these are the symptoms?? Everyone's hormones fluctuate... Maybe our levels are off for something and periods do start because of changes in hormones....... I haven't tried to research this, but it would be very interesting to do so. Haven't taken the time to do it yet..... If anyone else looks into it, let us all know what you find!

I drink lots of milk & I eat yogurt. No soy.

Hey there, Cathie,

I think we can all understand what you mean about finding us & restoring your faith in your intuition & body. My gyn still doesn't believe there's a connection--because she's never heard of it.... It's time for a 2nd opinion here....

Sad to debunk the soy/dairy connection. I drunk tons of dairy & have had this symptom for the better part of 2 years now.

Keep on keepin' on, though & please let us know if you get any leads!

-fifi