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[ladyunlaoised]

HI Girls,

I haven't been on here for quite some time but I need your help & advice if possible.  I have been on Femeston 2/10 mg for over 8 years and it suited me fine up to about 5 months ago.  Things in my private like have been very stressful anyway, marriage breakup and leaving the family home haven't helped.  But I'm having terrible anxiety attacks so badly that I have visited my doctor who prescribed Xanax 250 mg to take the edge off the anxiety which has helped somewhat - although he is reluctant to re=prescribe them as he claims I may get addicted to them - which scares me as what else can I take when I get these attacks - which are happening everyday.  I have read on a post here from another lady she thinks that the Femeston can be the trigger for these anxiety attacks too.

Any help would be appreciated as I lost my sister who was 10 years older than me when she was 56 yrs old to suicide & depression and I often feel thoughts of that nature creeping into my mind    As I was 10 years younger at the time I often think now that she too was going through lots of hormonal changes & I don't want to be another statistic, I want to be there for my family and be happy again with this terribe condition taking over my life all the time.  Should I stop taking the Femeston and see how I go without it ??  Any help please 

I am 55 years old and have my womb intact.

[Hurdity]

Hi ladyunlaoised

Sorry to hear about your severe anxiety attacks. From what you say about your feelings and in your own personal circumstances as well as because of your sister, please go and see your GP and ask for a referral to someone who can help you talk through these feelings.

Femoston is extremely unlikely to be the cause of your anxiety attacks - unless you are severely progesterone intolerant and they are happening either during the second phase of the tablets, or immediately following withdrawal. As you are 55 then you are probably post-menopause by now especially if you've been taking HRT for 8 years so have you thought of going to continuous combined HRT which would prevent the ups and downs of the cycle which you are still getting due to the HRT? Unfortunately Femoston comes no higher than 1 mg in the continuous version and the reduction in oestrogen would not be advised if you have low mood and anxiety.

There are other HRT possibilities: you could change to a patch for example, with separate progestogen - but you would need to know if you are progesterone intolerant as you wouldn't want to take one that would make your moods worse. Also maintaining a cycle would help minimise exposure to progesterone but could continue the mood swings (if these are affecting you).

In addition to your life circumstances - it may well be that you would benefit from a higher dose of oestrogen anyway - and this would be better obtained from transdermal oestrogen ( patch or gel) since some women do not absorb so well from tablets and they don't come in a higher dose than 2  mg anyway. Low or insufficient oestrogen can cause low mood and anxiety in susceptible women.

If you can identify whether these feelings occur at a particular phase in your cycle (even if every day for two weeks for example) - this is a starting point - but if your anxiety attacks are not hormonal - then you need and must seek additional help.

Hurdity x

[ladyunlaoised]

HI Hurdity,

Thanks for your suggestions, although I have been through "the mill" personal wise - I'm only experiencing really high anxiety levels since beginning of May - my Doctor prescribed Xanax (250mg) which I've found very good - it takes the really bad edge off the anxiety.  I know he's not happy with keeping me on them but they are really helping me and I think I might need to go back to him and either see about changing my HRT to a none "bleed" type with high enough levels of Estrogen for my body.

Does that make sense?   Sorry, I'm a bit all over the place.