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[Errol]

Hi
I'm brand new to this site, and to posting to any site!

I'm interested to hear from people who have any similar experiences to me. I have suffered on and off with mild anxiety for many years.  If I get very stressed it gets a bit overwhelming and I might use beta blockers, but generally it is manageable or in remission.

Since the summer, though, it is much more frequent and seems to switch on and off with no obvious triggers.  It has really started to affect my ability to do my job.

Do you think this is menopause related (I'm 55) or am I looking for a link which isn't really there?

Can anyone comment?

Thanks

[honeybun]

Welcome to the forum.

Can you tell us a little more about yourself. Are you still having periods.....have they stopped. Any other symptoms.
Anxiety is very very common during meno. If you did a search on this site you would be reading for a week 

If you give us a few more details then lots of members will be along to help.

You are not alone though and that in itself can help.


Honeybun
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[CLKD]

  from me!

Anxiety is common - HORMONES    …… eating regularly can stop anxiety surges and keeping hydrated is important.  Gentle exercise can dissipate surges too.

Browse round, make notes 

[Kathleen]

Hello Errol and welcome to the forum.
Hello Errol and welcome to the forum.

I too, have always been a nervy type of person but I have noticed with the menopause that my anxiety comes out of nowhere and doesn't seem to be related to circumstances. In other words I feel anxious and then worry about how I'll cope with events and not the other way round!

There is a lot of help and information on this site, all from ladies who know understand how you feel.

Wishing you well and take care. You are not alone.

K.

[Galadriel]

How timely! Welcome to the forum Errol.

I've just finished a telephone consultation with my GP a few minutes ago. She wanted to know how I was getting on with the increased patch dose... I told her that on the whole there was an improvement but that I still get the jitters in the morning. By late morning to lunchtime it's better (or at least it doesn't bug me as much) and like sparkle, I'm fine come the evening.

You're in the right place for sympathy and advice 

Galadriel x

[dazned]

I've been told that cortisol is at it's peak time early mornings and cortisol is the precursor of adrenaline I believe so that's what can cause the awful jittery feelings to occur. When I used to get it whatever the time of early hours I would have to get up !
If adrenaline has nowhere or nothing to work on ........ 

[Galadriel]

Hi sparkle - she reckons it's the fluctuations. Sometimes we are running on HRT only and when our own hormones decide to join the party we end up with more than we need which can give us the jitters. I personally think this is why it is so hard to stay on an even keel during the peri-stage.

Dazned, you're right, the cortisol peak is in the morning. I think it's supposed to get you up and going in the morning. I sometimes wonder if our body clocks are affected during peri and we get our morning surge in the middle of the night.

Galadriel x

[Taz2]

I hate that morning dread feeling. What's it all about? You can go to bed feeling absolutely fine and wake up a few hours later feeling like the whole world is going to come crashing down. It seems impossible that you will even get out of bed let alone through the whole day before you can crawl back into bed.

This site has some useful ideas - they  may sound a little weird but it's all about positive thinking. I think it's ok to post it - I can't see a commercial buy now facility anywhere http://crystalcalm.com/crystalcalm/Morning_Anxiety.html

Taz x

[dazned]

You have a biscuit or banana etc by the bed as low blood sugars add to the excess cortisol feeling. Also try and have milky drink or small piece toast , or whatever last thing at night to stave off blood sugars dipping too low it really does help ,as if you are eating say at 1830ish or even earlier by the time you wake/get up your body has been 12hours or maybe more without fuel,,not good !

[GypsyRoseLee]

For me, probably the defining symptom of peri menopause is the awful, sickening, dreads and jitters. At my lowest I woyld meerkat-wake before dawn feeling like I had just been told I had only a week left to live. The feeling of despair and hopelessness was awful. And of course you can't escape it because it's creeping around in your own head all the time.

Even now that I am doing so much better on the BCP I still wake a good hour or more before I'd like. And while I don't get the dread and despair anymore, I feel preternaturally alert, not nicely sleepy.

[Hurdity]

Hi Errol

 

Are you still having periods or have they stopped recently? If you are still in the menopausal transition then hormonal fluctuations will occur which cause "the jitters" in the morning - although I'm not sure what these really are?

All I can say is girls please can you give me a little of what causes your jitters so that you will have normal energy in the morning and so will I!!! In the last few months ( and it has been developing over the last year or two) I am the opposite in the mornings. I used to leap out of bed ready for action and now I can barely move. My husband brings me tea and I can hardly speak nor open my eyes! It takes me ages to get going. Fine when I'm up but I hate feeling like a sluggish sloth - the opposite problem. I am wide awake in the evening though! I've got quite low blood pressure though so perhaps this has something to do with it?

I don't know what could be the cause in post-menopause though - except for some of the progestogens (eg in Evorel conti) which could cause jitters - otherwise I don't know the cause?

Hurdity x

[Taz2]

The jitters aren't really energy though Hurdity (be great if they were!). It's that horrible jumpy feeling in your tummy where everything is racing around but you can't actually do anything. Makes you feel sick or as if you are about to need the loo really quickly and then so panicky but there is nothing to panic about!  In the link it does talk about the cortisol levels being high and the blood sugar levels being low but doesn't mention hormones. One of my sons also suffers from this and the doc mentioned cortisol to him. The advice in the link to keep a piece of fruit by the bed is good I would think to raise blood sugar levels to try to counteract the cortisol?

Taz x

[Kathleen]

Hello again ladies.

My jitters used to follow a worse in the morning pattern but lately they seem to occur in the early evening. I've mentioned before that if I wake in the early hours I feel calm. Go figure!

The thing I hate the most is the way these horrible feelings seem to percolate down to my abdomen and I worry that I'll need the loo. Sure doesn't help lessen the panic.

Best wishes to jitterers everywhere.

K.

[dazned]

Hurdity you really wouldn't want them ! They can be horrendous,your hearts hammering in your chest,your insides are shaking ,it's very frightening !

[honeybun]

Oh no, stick with your slow start. You would not want even a little of this, and until you have had it you don't realise just how horrible it is. Churning, racing, jitteriness......you would not wish that on anyone.
I often wonder if this is it....will I have this forever.....and it's not a happy thought at all.

Most of all.....anxiety makes your life a very lonely place, it's a very isolating thing as you struggle for control.

Honeybun
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