Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[bear]

Hello everyone, thank you admin for accepting my account.
I'm 53, 3 years post-menopause and not on HRT. I had a very troubled peri-menopause, but now my main issues are hot flushes at night, extreme morning fatigue, depression and weight gain (waistline and thighs). I'm still browsing the forum, lots of info!
My first question is about depression, I have the persistent depressive disorder type, also called dysthymia. Does anyone here have this? Do you think menopause has made it worse? Thank you.
BeaR.

[bear]

Hello Birdy, thank you!
Would you say your depression has improved with HRT?
BeaR.

[jillydoll]

Hi Bear....

Sorry to hear your suffering at the moment, but if we can offer support and advice in anyway, just post and someone will respond....

Jd xx

[Ladybt28]

I was on AD's for depression and anxiety on and off for 40 years (more on than off!  )  Meno sent the whole thing off the scale until I really thought I had lost my marbles and to be frank very nearly lost my life. Turns out I learned through meno that a lot of my problems were hormonal based before meno.  Ditched the AD's 3 years ago and it has taken 3 years to find right hrt.

Anxiety gone 98% of the time now (I spent the last few years to the point were I couldn't leave the house and didn't want any of my family to either cos I was so anxious) - depression bouts variable but not so bad as I can't handle them. Had bad bout after xmas and went back on Ad's for 3 weeks - decided "ooh o here come those pesky side effects, not doing that again and ditched them" decide to manage without which I can do so, I would say yes my hrt has mad a big difference but it's take years to fix it to that extent.

Don't know what type of depression, it started when I started my periods at 13.

[bear]

Hi Bear....

Sorry to hear your suffering at the moment, but if we can offer support and advice in anyway, just post and someone will respond....

Jd xx

Hello Jillydoll, thank you very much for the warm welcome,I will post a lot, trust me, so many doubts and troubles! 
BeaR.

[bear]

No, I have days when I feel I have more energy but I have suffered worsening anxiety.

I'm so sorry, Birdy. I had horrible anxiety in peri-menopause. I'd say I've always been an anxious person, but the hormonal type is a different thing entirely. I'm still the anxious person but the hormonal ups and downs are almost gone and now I only have the background anxiety instead of the sudden attacks.

[bear]

I was on AD's for depression and anxiety on and off for 40 years (more on than off!  )  Meno sent the whole thing off the scale until I really thought I had lost my marbles and to be frank very nearly lost my life. Turns out I learned through meno that a lot of my problems were hormonal based before meno.  Ditched the AD's 3 years ago and it has taken 3 years to find right hrt.

Anxiety gone 98% of the time now (I spent the last few years to the point were I couldn't leave the house and didn't want any of my family to either cos I was so anxious) - depression bouts variable but not so bad as I can't handle them. Had bad bout after xmas and went back on Ad's for 3 weeks - decided "ooh o here come those pesky side effects, not doing that again and ditched them" decide to manage without which I can do so, I would say yes my hrt has mad a big difference but it's take years to fix it to that extent.

Don't know what type of depression, it started when I started my periods at 13.

Hello Ladybt28, thank you! So sorry you're still struggling, it looks like your depression is truly hormonal. I have the impression that my anxiety was worsened by hormonal ups and downs, but my depression is an insidious entity that has been lurking around since my early childhood, and I'm not sure HRT alone could help. I also have fibromyalgia (well, that is the rheumy diagnosis) and a bunch of other co-morbidities that could contribute to depression, so it's all very complex. I want to avoid  ADs at all costs, but if I have to take them, I will see a psychiatrist before jumping into the ADs prescibed by rheumy and neurologist, Venlafaxine and Duloxetine. I am scared of side effects, addiction and withdrawal symptoms.

[Ladybt28]

yep I have a diagnosis of fibro too on my record because my joint pain as always been a problem....again much better on hrt - definitely controllable...again how much hormones?  CKLD who posts here all the time is always talking about how muscles go lax because of lack of oestrogen and then they get week and cause the joints to move about more than they should making them painful...it's a definite thing.  At one point my ankles and knees were so sore, they woke me in the night just resting on the bed.

My mum had rheumatoid arthritis from an early age and I had mild rheumatic fever at 13 so the suspicion has always been it's hereditary but now in meno all those years later turns out underlying dodgy hormones are probably the culprit.  I can never get  over how weird it is that things are so much better due to getting the hrt right for me and yet it took 3 years of the wrong hrt before that happened too. Flaming hindsight...and menopause what an awful combination    still at least it got better I must thank my lucky stars for that  and be grateful.  I just wish all the ladies here didn't have to suffer any more.  I'm not fixed by a long chalk but its way way better.

[bear]

Thank you Ladybt28, I'm still weighing the pros and cons of HRT, your experience is very helpful. Do you have a diagnosis for your depression? Were you diagnosed by GP or psychiatrist? I'm struggling to find someone with the same type I have and also having menopause issues. I have browsed this forum and it seems the only lady who has being diagnosed with dysthymia is no longer a member, 4candles.

[Ladybt28]

No diagnosis for the depression, "labelled" with clinical depression in my 20's. Every time someone looks at my record they just say "you have had it for years - it is to do with your physiology - your stuck with it - you will probably have to take AD's for the rest of your life"! - in other words they just don't care!  Shows what they know cos I have been of AD's for nearly 3 years apart from a 2 week stint in June and I ditched them when I started with all the side effects I had on AD's.  Only thing is I didn't know they were the side effects of  AD's until I stopped them after 40 years!

I don't think the type of depression you have unless it is circumstancial ( in which case most of the time it passes until the next set of circumstances) makes any difference to meno and depression.  Meno just exacerbates depression regardless.  There are loads of depressed ladies on the forum and then add in anxiety to it as well and it can be a whirlwind!  Progresterone seems to aggravate depression, well that's my opinion, and not all progesterone does it.  Some find some types better than others and some cannot tolerate it all.  I was on Provera 5mg continuously for 6 weeks and it made me totally suicidal. In fact dangerously so and if I had no stopped it when I did I may very well not have been making any posts at all!  Vaginal utrogestan doesn't do that for me, why I don't know.  I don't really care I just know it is ok.  I get a small dip but nothing I cant handle and it passes and I know what it is now so I don't get obsessed by it.

The whole psychological thing about meno plays havoc with our identity and the way we see ourselves, it plays havoc cos of our changing lives and the lack of control we suddenly have over our bodies and our body chemistry is completely up the left!!!
If you have underlying depression, then there are bound to be issues.  I can't live without my hrt and I wish someone had helped me with hormonal issues years ago as I wouldn't feel my life has been so wasted with depression, much of it caused by it.
I have better sleep than I have had in 20 years so that has to play a huge part. I have more energy and therefore ability to do more so I feel more in control - that has to help your brain. 

With Peri you will get greater fluctuations because you still have your own hormones surging in your body alongside the hrt but a balance can be struck it just takes patience which when you feel crap everyday is hard to find.  Its all about finding the right hrt for you and there are loads of combinations to try.  Why some work for one an not for another no one knows especially not here on the forum, that is something we all agree on!  Good luck, just stick with it for the time being xx

[bear]

Thank you very much, Ladybt28. Your post makes perfect sense.

I think I was born with depression. It's not circumstantial, but menopause and ageing have certainly worsened it. The thing about the persistent type is that it doesn't respond well to psychotherapy and meds like the major type.

I had awful anxiety in peri-menopause, my estradiol levels skyrocketed above the normal range (above ovulation ranges  ) and then plummeted to post-menopause levels. My gynae had never seen something like it before. I was living abroad and had private health insurance, I had blood tests done twice a year and he asked for the whole hormone panel, so I have a good picture of what happened during peri-menopause, hormonal storms!

I have tried HRT, patches plus vaginal Utrogestan, but it brought back migraines. I'm still waiting to see what to do next. Currently having hot flushes and some other symptoms that can or cannot be menopause related. And the darned depression.

BeaR.

[Ladybt28]

I had headaches with Femeston when they were giving it to me and I also had them with elleste duette and solo, and some of the others - tried 5 types in all before I got to gel and utro vaginally.  That combination is the only thing which brought everything under control.  I still have depression dips - had a bad one after xmas and was put on sertraline but could only manage a fortnight before I said no more cos all the side effects were so familiar.

No meds, or counselling or psych methods helped me before the hrt but I only learnt that after I found the right hrt for me. It has seemed that since the crippling anxiety and the panic attacks and generally living my life feeling unwell has come under control, I do not feel the depressive periods so often or so badly.  I think because I feel generally better in myself (first time in 40 years!) that any depressive dips are more manageable.  Before the whole thing very nearly took my life and even when I was in my 20's and 30's I was thinking of suicide all the time as a background thought...now it comes and like at xmas it stayed for 3 months (but I think the darkness at that time of year affects me) but now it just flits past as a thought on "bad days".  They are now just a few "bad days" instead of that permanent darkness and "trudging through treacle from one minute to the next". 

[bear]

The hormonal storms that affect so many women should have been researched a long time ago. If the same amount of effort and money spent on male impotence and fertility treatments were equally spent on PMS, PMDD surgical and natural menopause, you certainly wouldn't have suffered for so long.

Have you tried many different AD's? Have you found one with not so many scary side effects?

BeaR.

[Ladybt28]

I was on them so long Bear it is hard to remember.  I remember being on Venloflaxine trade name Effexor through my 20's and into my 30's, then I was on Duloxitine trade name Cymbalta for a while and that was combined with Amitriptyline because I had nerve pain from a car accident but amitriptyline can be used as an AD on it's own - they were also giving me diazepam at that time for anxiety when it was really bad but it turns out it the anxiety had gone off the scale because of meno!.
Then I was on citalopram for at least 4 years.  I got given sertraline which I had never had before just after xmas and could only manage 2 weeks before the dreaming, broken nights sleep and zombie feelings set in again.

I often said to doctors who told me I had "ME" in my 20's (if they were not telling me I was making my problems up...  )but there was nothing they could do about it"..."that I had to live with my depression..."it's just how you are"! and then they told me I had fibromyalgia 8 years ago.  They said that my 2 prem babies and pre-eclampsia and post-natal episodes were "just random".. and that my problems with the pill and periods...."we have no idea whats going on but it's nothing to do with the pill"!    .I told them that I thought there was something wrong with my hormones but they just looked at me like I was from another planet.

You are so right...we are just dismissed....because in the past most are male doctors and researchers they have no idea.  But that is in the past...I cannot change it....I get upset by it, that it has affected my life for so long and I have written here that I feel much of my life has been wasted but now I do know, through my meno experiences (although that took 10 years) that I was primarily right and not the nut job, malingerer they thought I was...and that now I have a lot of thing sorted I must make the most of the years left.  I just wish I could find a way to do something for women who are suffering right now and not being listened to because doctors don't listen and still cannot think out of the box.
Women in their 20's 30's and 40's are still having hormone, gynae, anxiety, depression problems which are being misdiagnosed.

[bear]

Thank you, Ladybt28. I think I should try amitriptyline, also having migraines and hot flushes, maybe it could kill 3 birds with one stone.

If you could talk again to those doctors who didn't listen to you, what would you tell them?

BeaR.