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[Mini2005]

Dandelion,
I was on Femoston for most of last year and was fine until I started getting a lot of anxiety.  I was so anxious I was avoiding doing anything out of my normal routine, I even cancelled our holiday as I didn't feel up to it.  I've never been an anxious person so it really threw me.

I started on Evorel Sequi patches in January which are great but I still had some anxiety.   I then started taking Omega 3 Fish Oil daily and I don't know whether it is a coincidence or not but after about a month of taking them, my anxiety is all but gone.  My blood pressure is down, I have booked a holiday which I am really looking forward to and I have recently started going to the gym.   As I say, I don't know how much the Fish Oil is doing and how much is just my hormone levels changing, but thought it might be worth a go for you.  They certainly wouldn't do any harm.  Good luck x

[hotstff]

Quite true about too much estrogen and anxiety, a lot of women feel much calmer when hormones start to fall.

http://www.psycheducation.org/hormones/estrogenbasics.htm

Interesting read Silverlady.

I think maybe I should stick to the 1mg and not go up to 2mg.   That's if I make it past the next 3 months without chucking in the towel.

[hotstff]

Hi Dandelion!

I completely sympathise with you.

I used to be a 'fairly' anxious person. (looking back on it, I spent most of my 20's and 30's feeling anxious)
But, as I approached menopause and my oestrogen levels started to drop, my anxiety levels seemed to dampen down - a lot.  Between the ages of 40 until recently, I have been in a fairly calm state.  The last 10 years of my life have been brilliant because of this.
It was almost as if the oestrogen levels dropping made me calmer! (but I never made the connection, until now)

Trouble is - I started to suffer horrendous hot flushes at the age of 51 (am now 53) so am now on the HRT (beg. of 2nd month) and the hot flushes have gone - but my anxiety levels are back up to what they were in my 30's! 

I am now thinking that anxiety is closely linked to High Oestrogen levels.

So I now have a bit of a problem:-

Do I stick with HRT, in which case I will no longer have hot flushes and will get a good night's sleep, but suffer anxiety again,

or do I go the Non-HRT route and suffer horrible hot flushes but otherwise, live my life in a calm, relaxed manner.
Decisions, decisions 

(or maybe I need to be on a different type - am currently on Elleste Duet 1mg)

Hi

Do you find that the anxiety is worse during the progesterone phase of your hrt?
I ask because elleste contains a synthetic progestinn called norethisterone that a lot of ladies don't get on with.

It's really strange that a reduction in oestrogen has calmed your anxiety because from what I read, normally ladies who's oestrogen drops they suffer anxiety more.

I've got a lot of non hormone related actual physical stress as I have problems with the lease on my flat and it's causing me untold worry, because I need tens of thousands of pounds to put it right.
I don't know if this anxiety is affecting the way my femoston is working.
It stops flushes for me during the day, mostly, but each morning I wake up very warm with a sweaty neck and chest, and I need the fan on in bed, because if I didn't have that fan on it would make me more hot and sweaty and I would probably wake up several times during the night, so the fan allows me to sleep.
I begrudge using a fan as well as HRT though, because the HRT is supposed to take away the flushes, but my HRT may have a harder job to keep mine under control, because of the lease problem which won't go away unless i find those tens of thousands of pounds to put it right.

Anxiety was worse during the white pill stage.   I had some pmt and a slightly depressed feeling towards the end of the green pills.
Now I'm back on the white pills (2nd month), I'm feeling anxious again, but not as much as the first time around.

HRT is still early days for me, so I'm not sure which symptoms are 'me' and which are down to my body adjusting to the HRT

[Dandelion]

Hi Ladies and thanks for your help

I'll forget about the utrogestan - thanks for explaining why it wont work all of you. I apprciate that.

[CLKD]

Little steps.  Our bodies don't get where they are suddenly so it takes a while for the system to build up again  ….. sometimes we have to accept that we feel better with what we are currently taking and to alter the regime may well upset the apple cart! 

Rome wasn't built in a day  ………

[Suzyq]

Sometimes you just have to try to look on the bright side! I have air conditioning on every night but if I take more estrogen I go loopy! I am taking the minimum to just about control the worst of my symptoms - as has been said many times to you - it does not cure everything! Try to enjoy what. You have, or if you can't, change hrt but the key is to make a decision and stick with it rather than constantly double-guessing what you are doing! If you think another regime might be better then try it, but as has been said many times, hrt is not perfect and maybe you are just expecting too much!

[Hurdity]

Re oestrogen anxiety and depression - here is a published paper on the use of transdermal estradiol as treatment for post-partum depression, from 2009:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2782667/#!po=91.6667

If you want to read current thinking about oestrogen and depression then John Studd has heaps of information on his website:
http://www.studd.co.uk/

There are various articles in the menu on the left. here is one of them:
http://www.studd.co.uk/reproductivedepression.php

He is a UK based eminent gynaecologist who recommends (and has had success with) the treatment of all forms of reproductive depression with oestrogen.

I can't work out who's said what once you've got more than one quote in a box - best only to quote directly from someone otherwise it's confusing!

Dandelion - From what I can make out though no-one has said Utrogestan won't work for you  - but only if you were looking for it to alleviate some specific menopausal symptoms eg hot flushes. All it is, is a different type of progestogen - micronised progesterone - as you know - which is recommended for anyone who is intolerant of all the synthetic progestogens. If you are coping OK with the dydrogesterone in Femoston then no need to change. if tablets are suiting you, then again, no need to change to patches. You are already taking bio-identical oestrogen in the Femoston.

Hurdity x

[Taz2]

I was depressed when off HRT between August and April and was prescribed anti depressants from the doc which I didn't take. I sneakily used one box of  HRT which I had found at the back of the bathroom cabinet in April and then had to confess to the doc (who had asked me to stop HRT due to being 60) when I got to the end of that month and she thought I looked wonderful and that the "anti depressants have obviously worked". Her face was a picture when I told her the real reason for me feeling and looking so much better!  I am not allowed any more HRT at the moment due to an upcoming op and the depression has returned over the past two weeks. For me HRT lifts my low mood and depressive thoughts. It doesn't do much for anxiety in my case though.

Taz x

[peri]

I'd have liked to been a fly on the wall when you told your doctor Taz but seriously sorry your depression has returned and hope you can do something about it soon. I agree with you hrt lifts my mood and depressive thoughts. Hope it's not too long to go to your op x
 

[Taz2]

Thanks peri. It's the beginning of July and then the battle will begin to "persuade" my GP to let me stay on HRT.

Taz x 

[CLKD]

So start the ADs ?  Depression can get a grip and with anaesthetic, operation and recovery can be difficult to shift.  St John's Wort? though I don't have any success with it.

[Dalhousie]

Trying to learn about this.  What's wrong with Utrogestan??

[Dancinggirl]

Dalhousie
Utrogestan is a bio-indentical progesterone that many women are using if they find they cannot tolerate other forms of progesterone. Look under the heading 'HRT Preparations' to the left of this screen and the info is under progesterone.
Some women use it vaginally as it can cause heartburn and drowsiness.
I'd start your own thread about this if you want more feedback.  DG x