Hi Dee
When I first started suffering with peri anxiety it felt dreadful. We didn't realise it was hormonal, so my GP started me on Sertraline. Like you, it sent my anxiety through the roof. I stuck it out for nearly weeks, but I felt so distraught and ill. Was barely sleeping, too. I had to stop it.
This was very odd because I had successfully used Sertraline years ago when I had PND.
After another 18 months og juggling various HRT regimes, seeing 2 specialists, and visiting a Menopause clinic, I felt I was fast slipping into a deep well of despair, and the anxiety was awful. I would literally shake with nerves, and was terrified to be on my own.
In desperation, I tried Sertraline 50mg again. My GP also combined it with 100mg Quetiapine to amplify the Sertraline and to ensure I started sleeping again. Within 8 hours my brain felt noticeably clearer and calmer. Within 2 days I felt very chilled and relaxed. I stopped waking at 4am filled with panic. spent the next 2 weeks in my own little Zen bubble. It was lovely. I gradually increased to 100mg, and have been on that dose for 9 months now. I sleep like a baby, and I am in a far, far better than this time last year.
I also use 4 pumps of oestrogel every day + 100mg Utrogestan for 7 days a month. I still get blips where I feel anxious and distressed, but it only lasts for 3-4 days, then I feel absolutely fine and great again.
I see Prof Studd, and he explained that for some women (like you and me) the symptoms of hormonal depresson and anxiety are so severe that we need to use several different approaches. He isn't against his patients using ADs, and he acknowledges that sometimes just using hormone therapy isn't enough.
