Dealing with Amenorrhea (loss of period) for 3 years among other health issues, what should I do? [22F]
I had my first period at 15 after quitting competitive gymnastics. I switched to another less vigorous sport. My cycles were never normal and sometimes I would go 3 month without one but my mom had the same and never had issues so I didn't think much of it. She conceived naturally and had no problems with fertility. Around the same time, I began dealing with pretty severe physical symptoms of anxiety like being unable to breathe well, rapid heartbeat, and severe hyperhidrosis under my armpits which was debilitating to high school me.
Around 18, my sex drive disappeared and I am not sure why. I have always had an abnormally high libido which might have been due to high testosterone levels associated with sports and around 18 is when I quit all competitive sports. Around 19, I was exercising vigorously and was in a calorie deficit for a couple months due to dieting and I lost my period. 5 months later, I visit the endocrinologist who put me on birth control due to blood tests showing little to no hormone production. I didn't know much about BC but went on it and immediately began sleeping better and feeling better in regards to that, but overall, side effects started to become unbearable (severe anxiety, panic attacks). I stopped the birth control last year and finally am free of panic attacks but my period has yet to come back. I realized that I never truly gained the weight back to what I was before I lost weight, so I am attempting to eat more to see if that will help. I am visiting an OB/GYN to check my ovaries to make sure their is no ovarian failure or cysts that have developed. If so, that would stink but it's my fault for not seeing an OB/GYN for so long even with all my issues.
Most recently, I got my TSH levels checked. Over the years, I had them checked and some things were a little off but not enough to warrant treatment. Well this time, my levels were at 0.024mlU/L (normal range is: 0.4-4.00 mlU/L). I got referred to a better endocrinologist this time, and am doing a full panel soon. I guess this might be the reason I've barely gained any weight over the past year despite eating ample amounts of food and incorporating all protein, carbs, and fats into the diet. It seemed like things would just go straight through me and never cause weight gain no matter how much I ate. So I potentially might have hyperthyroidism. If so, I would be happy to get treatment because it could be the cause of my insomnia as it affects sleep. What I find weird is that my TSH was normal last year so not sure how it could have changed so much.
I know I have anxiety issues but I do not understand the severe physical symptoms that I began having right around my first period that seemed unrelated to stressors in my life. I know sports can cause imbalance of hormones and I might have a dysregulated HPA axis but I really really want to believe there's something that can help me. I already tried getting help for anxiety issues but nothing has worked long term and I believe that is because there is another underlying issue that isn't being addressed. Obviously I need to be having regular cycles, and be sleeping better but I've tried so many relaxation techniques, supplements, medication, etc etc and nothing seems to relieve me. If this is just the way my brain is wired and something is wrong with my amygdala or neurotransmitters, that would be a shame as well because no psychiatric medication worked for me. All had side effects that were unbearable and none of them made me feel better so I didn't take any long term.
I'm on my last straw, I don't know what to do about hormonal problems and obviously the OB/GYN and Endo should give me answers but I wanted to see if any doctors here have any other suggestion for what blood tests I should ask for, thanks for reading if you did.
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