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[Kathleen]

Hello ladies

Can I pick your collective brains please? I am post menopause and I have been using  HRT for six years. Like most of us I have struggled with various symptoms both physical and emotional but the one that is distressing me are mood swings. This may sound crazy but I worry that they are not 'normal‘ meno mood swings but something more sinister ( it doesn't help that my mother died of a brain tumour at age sixty and her moods became very odd before she was diagnosed). 

I wonder if anyone feels their mood changing in a chemical way? For example I was happily doing something in the kitchen but when I finished a low mood came over me like a wave. I suddenly felt very tearful and bleak  and hopeless. Nothing had happened to cause this change in mood, it just came over me. Feelings of anxiety occur in a similar way but I can also experience positive moods, for example at lunch time I noticed that a calm sensation came over me but unfortunately it didn't last. Also I can go about my day and chat to people etc but sometimes there is another emotion just below the surface, usually a tension or sadness.

Can anyone relate to the above? These problems certainly feel hormonally driven but are they? Perhaps they are more intense than normal or I am being over sensitive and making them worse?

I would be so grateful for any comments ladies, I've never had much in the way of health anxiety about my physical symptoms but I do fret about my emotional/mental issues. Perhaps I'm wrong to blame the meno for these horrible mood swings and there's something else going on!

Wishing you all well ladies and I look forward to reading any comments.

K.

[CLKD]

Good thread!  Yep I can relate.  I take anti-depressant medication, a beta-blocka as well as my emergency as necessary drug.

I can feel fine as you describe then suddenly mood dips.  I think it's because I am in automatic pilot then have to think 'what next' all in one swift moment.  When with family recently I sat and thought "I'm doing OK here despite worrying about anxiety" and sailed through the day - go figure.

Adrenaline spikes?  When I was very ill with depression I would find that if I met people in the street whilst walking  having a chat would lift my mood.  Even those days when I dreaded meeting with anyone on getting home I would realise that my mood had lifted.  It usually stayed that way.

News can make me sad.  But not despondent.  I can be enjoying something then think "OH" as a dip happens.  So my mood swings are chemical, I have both organic and clinical depression.

How likely is a brain tumour to be inherited?  MinL died of an inoperable tumour in her 80s.  She made a recovery from biopsy and TLC but it took over 2.5 years later.  Her symptoms were none discript really - sudden falls and muddle speech after, hazy sight at times, losing track of conversations as the tumour pressed and released in the area of growth.  Probably been present for a few years B4 diagnosis.

Could U discuss with your Mum's Consultant who may be interested enough to do a scan ! 

[Walkies]

Hello ladies , I hope I'm writing this in the right place, I can empathise with you , I have been taking premique for five years & suddenly felt as I did before I embarked on hrt , my GP was very understanding & put me on kliofem   6 weeks ago to boost me up, in the past week or so I've been experiencing dreadful mood swings & anxiety & feel very close to the edge, today I feel desolate & very tearful but yesterday I felt fine, I spoke to my GP yesterday about my feelings & she suggested staying on this medication for the 3 months & said maybe I had an underlying cause for my feelings , it's so difficult to know whether it is menopause symptoms or mental health issues that we are experiencing , decision making is an impossible task at the moment which just makes matter worse ! You are certainly not alone down that hole , it's just that the ladder only seems to appear occasionally, I think I'll ask to go back to my other treatment but it may help you to change yours with the help of your GP & share your thoughts & concerns with her too , best wishes & good luck  🤕😊

[CLKD]

Sounds menopausal Walkies .......

I've hit a low this afternoon.  I had planned to go to a Herb Garden but it's been too wet.  A package which was supposed to have been delivered on Wed. is lost, we were assured it would be with us yesterday so we gave up a planned day out  and it hasn't arrived.     More rain today after a sunnier start has laid me low ...... and I'm hungry 

[Perinowpost]

Kathleen hormones are precursors to mood, the effect this can have cannot be underestimated.  During peri/meno I have veered from having the sorts of mood swings you describe (including health anxiety) to feeling really well.

The key for me seems to be about the balance of hormones (hrt) and whether I've got it right or not.

When it's not right it is normal to worry. What I would say is what may have once worked perfectly may need tweaking as we progress through this Meno journey.  And therein lies the difficulty as it's not an exact science and we are all different in our responses to different types of hrt.

You don't say whereabouts in menopause you are, or what you are currently taking but what about revisiting your hrt regime and hopefully this will make all the difference.  Wishing you well x

[Kathleen]

Hello Walkies

I think you've hit the nail on the head when you say it's hard to know if these mood swings are menopause related or a mental health issue.  Can I ask, did you have mood swings before the menopause? I didn't and I'm sure I would remember if I did which is why I've always considered declining hormones to be the culprit but I could be wrong.

The fact that you are  feeling the way you did before HRT may indicate a move further into the meno so your regime may need tweaking even if it helped before. Many ladies on this site report that their HRT suddenly stops working and they have to look at alternatives.

Thanks again for your comments and please keep us updated.

Take care.

K.

[CLKD]

I had mood swings B4 each period ........

I know the difference between my moods, depression, anxiety - they have been a constant from an early age 

[Kathleen]

Hello  Perinowpost.

Thank you so much for your post. Infact I've just mentioned regime tweaking to Walkies so I need to look into that myself. I am 62 and post meno but I've continued to have definite meno symptoms despite HRT so it seems that I've never really got it right.

I'm reassured to read your experiences with mood swings and I completely understand the need for balance, I just wish it wasn't such a long hard road at times.

Wishing you well.

K.

[Anjia]

Hi Kathleen do you use testosterone I like you have days where I feel very down not like me at all .I have been on hrt for six years and starting to think it's not working so well, maybe testosterone could help just wish my gp would let me try it !

[Lynda07]

Hi Kathleen

whilst I can't offer any help as such, this paragraph that you wrote (below) is exactly how I feel/what happens to me.

"I wonder if anyone feels their mood changing in a chemical way? For example I was happily doing something in the kitchen but when I finished a low mood came over me like a wave. I suddenly felt very tearful and bleak  and hopeless. Nothing had happened to cause this change in mood, it just came over me. Feelings of anxiety occur in a similar way but I can also experience positive moods, for example at lunch time I noticed that a calm sensation came over me but unfortunately it didn't last. Also I can go about my day and chat to people etc but sometimes there is another emotion just below the surface, usually a tension or sadness."

It's only been the past three years I've felt like that so kind of ties in with my menopause although it also started around the time my mum died. I don't take any medication or HRT (that bit was just for info). It also reminds me of how my PMT used to affect me too.

Lynda

[CLKD]

I hit a low last night after someone on local Facebook 'had a go'  ....... obvious that the person hadn't read my response to her query correctly  but she got irritated when I tried to explain that the written word is static and that she had mis-understood my response  . I was low every time I woke and at breakfast but it's better now. 

[Kathleen]

Hello again ladies

Anjia - I don't take testosterone and it's never been offered to me which is frustrating. I may mention it next time I see my GP.

Lynda07 - thank you so much, it's reassuring to know that other women have the same experience. I don't recall having these chemical surges as part of PMT but in those days I still had lots of  lovely oestrogen sloshing about to take the edge off! Do you have any strategies for coping with your feelings?

Thanks again ladies and take care.

K.

[jillydoll]

Hi Kathleen.
I'm on hrt, and everything has been fine with me for the last few weeks, except for a little anxiety bubbling away now and then...my mood has been really good too lately, but when out shopping the other day, my OH went to get something from the deli, which was expensive because of the amount he'd got, and I just saw red! My mood changed from being lovely, to this really angry person, at the click of fingers, now this, just isn't me, after I'd had a rant, I couldn't apologise enough to my OH, who just said forget it, it doesn't matter!  But I felt awful, then a few seconds later, I was back to ‘me' again!
Sometimes, I think Ive got something else going on, but reality kicks in, and I understand it's all hormones, I was never like this before meno hit....thankfully, it doesn't happen very often, and when it does, I'm the most horrible person on the planet, and I hate myself after, but I suppose,it's all part of the course. Xx

[CLKD]

I've been that horrid person too  - I can remember every time I've snapped   

[CLKD]

Did he return