Print

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

[Shell babes]

Hello - I'm a new member and wondered if anyone had some advice.  I am on HRT 75mg Estradot and had the mirena coil fitted a week ago as I am progesterone oral intolerant. I am also on antidepressants. I turned 51 last August and my life took a downward spiral into depression, anxiety and insomnia.  I am getting better but every morning i wake early with a horrible feeling of dread and doom which lasts all morning until about lunch time. it's hard to drag myself through the mornings and I dread going to bed and dread the dreads, if that makes sense. My GP thinks I am still depressed but it doesn't last all day. I feel like I'm living in my own world of torture. My DH doesn't really understand this part and it's getting to me. Any advice would be much appreciated. x

[CLKD]

Hi!  morning is my worst time too.  I can wake in the early hours completely doomed.  I used to lay in bed but now I get up, have breakfast and get on.  Stops me ruminating.  Also I found that making a list of chores each evening gave me an idea of what I actually achieved as I ticked them off. 

It's The Change.  Maybe print of the 'hints for husbands' from the Forum? and hand over ;-).  Browse round. Make notes.   

[Shell babes]

CLKD - thanks for your reply and advice. Is this a peri symptom and will it last for ever? I used to love mornings and can't understand the cause. Do you think it's low oestrogen? It wakes me up at about 4.45am -5am and I can't get back to sleep. Not a great start to the day ....

[CLKD]

Some ladies find that keeping a mood/symptom/food diary of use.

My early morning wakening was a sudden surge of cortisol waking me suddenly.  I would wake in deep fear which would last hours until my ADs kicked in.  This was B4 I got to peri ...........

How is your sleep overall, do you dream?  Do you feel as though you need more sleep in the day?

[sheila99]

Low oestrogen can cause insomnia, that and anxiety were my main symptoms. Woke up at 2am and worried about anything and everything, sleep 10mins before getting up time. How long have you been on HRT? Mine took 3 months to go. Insomnia is the pits, it makes everything so much worse.

[Shell babes]

Ladies - Sorry for the slow reply, I am struggling getting round on the site.  The update is, I have now started taking beta blockers (propanolol) as I was waking up with an adrenaline surge and going into some kind of panic attack (very scary) and couldn't get back to sleep, night after night, week after week.  Anyway, they seem to be working during the night.  I wake at around 5-6am but still with the horrible feeling of dread and fear, almost like I am paralysed with fear. I get up and keep busy and it seems to disappear by about midday but I know it will be there in the morning again.  I feel overwhelmed in a morning because of it and have to put big things off until the afternoon.  I have tried upping the oestrogen patch but it made me very jittery and even more on edge so went back down to 75mg.  I just can't understand where this feeling comes from ....  will it ever go? I have been on HRT since October 2019.  Feels like I am worrying about worrying which is crazy and just not me, now sure I will ever feel normal again.  I do dream just before I wake up. Thank you for your kind replies.

[Shell babes]

I forgot to ask - I wondered if I am in peri-menopause.  My last natural period was June 2019, does this mean that if I don't have another natural period by June 2020, have I then reached menopause.  Are my own hormones dancing in the background and is this why I feel all over the place?  Wondered, if this is the case, will my own hormones settle down sometime soon, it's so confusing.  Many thanks for reading this and for your kind replies.

[CLKD]

Menopause - the last monthly period.  But we don't know 'cos they can be intermittent for a few months/years  mine waxed and waned for about 3 years. Then stopped.

The ovaries don't completely shut down immediately, there's always a small amount of background niggles.  Once my periods stopped, my moods settled and apart from period-like pains for several years, I have been lucky.

[Shell babes]

CLKD - Many thanks for the info, it does make sense. I took propanolol last night (as I have been doing for the last 6 nights) 80mg and it did help me sleep and feel calmer, no adrenaline surges, still the dreaded dreads though but you can't have everything. Anyway, I am feeling more optimistic but wonder if the mixture of the BB and AD (Mirtazpine) is the reason I feel like I have a hangover today yet have not had a drink. I am reluctant to lower the dose of the BB as it seems to be working, so it's a tricky one ... I do appreciate your replies and words of wisdom. 

[CLKD]

Yep.  I feel hung over most mornings - usually due to the combination of medication, more recently due to the busy, involved, long dreams    which leave me knackered!

Initially I was prescribed 80mg 3 times a day for 3 weeks, then it was dropped to 40 mg at night.  Due to background headaches after a few years I cut it in half then recently stopped completely.  Again, background headaches, I needed to know if it was the BB and not the Virus  .

If you can tolerate the hung over feeling stick with your combination for 3 weeks and review?  Keep a diary?

[Shell babes]

Thanks for the advice. I will try to tolerate the hang overs etc and see how it goes. I will let you know.  I have also felt spaced out today, a bit zombie like which is never great. It feels like one thing after another.

[CLKD]

Make sure that you keep hydrated and eat regularly.  If the hung-over feeling continues, maybe take the BB every other night?

[Shell babes]

Thanks for the advice. Because the hangover was severe yesterday, I didn't take a BB last night but couldn't get to sleep.  I ended up taking a BB at about midnight but then could not sleep as I was worried that I felt trapped as now need them to get to sleep but am getting the hangover.  I feel anxiety and worry spiralling out of control, this is not me and very scary.  This morning I felt very anxious and tired and like I wanted to get out of my own skin, if that makes sense. Very restless and agitated as well as the dreads.

As a result, I am shattered today and not sure what is happening to me or my state of mind. The worrying is off the scale and the more I try to stop, the worse is gets. My husband and son want to go on a walk this afternoon as its a lovely day and normally I would look forward to this but fear I Don't have the energy - I will go though.  I just want my life back. I really appreciate your advice as this is a scary place to be and hard to explain. I fear for my sanity at the moment and know that it all sounds crazy as it i put it on paper, so to speak. I am even afraid of not being able to sleep tonight as it leaves me feeling such a wreck the next day. Why is is so hard to just be normal ...

[Shell babes]

PS - I will keep hydrated and eat regularly as you have advised. it's easy to forget when you have no appetite because of the anxiety.

[Shell babes]

Forgot to say, as I was falling asleep without the BB's, I kept jolting myself awake again. ..  Almost like I was sabotaging my own attempts to fall asleep.  I used to just fall asleep in the past without a second thought. Now bedtime has turned into a whole new nightmare.