I want to begin with a bit of background info...
I am turning 52 this year, and I started noticing perimenopause symptoms around five years ago, but they were mild. The last three years have been horrendous. My periods now range from 17 to 101 days.
I started out taking a med for sleep, on the advice of my gp, which has been helpful. When things worsened, I saw a psychiatrist who said that I had "garden variety depression", but I knew that he was wrong because I have periods of feeling completely well, and then I am blindsided by the most horrible feelings imaginable.
I feel completely bipolar, even though I know that I am not. I can go from feeling peaceful, optimistic, energetic, and motivated to a state that I never knew I could experience: rage through the roof, agitation so bad that I literally have to scream to let it out, and the emotional distress is so bad, that I just don't know what to do with myself. Then, I can have numbing depression, where I feel basically catatonic. I am a strong person, so I will myself to continue, when I find myself in this state, but the toll that it takes on me is immense.
I am on an antidepressant, but I don't think that it is doing anything.
Luckily, with the help of my partner, I found a gp who specializes in menopause. She was so empathetic and explained that what I am going through is more common than the medical community lets on. She has recently put me on Duavive (a congugated estrogen with a SERM, as I can't take progesterone, for it makes me deeply depressed). For the first eight days, I felt amazing, and I thought that I found the magic bullet, but then the agitation came back again, and I was screaming and crying over the weekend, and I just felt so defeated. Then, last night, it lifted again, and I was even laughing.
I have a specialist appointment with a gyn tomorrow, but I just wanted to get women's thoughts on this. My sense is that it is going to take some time for the HRT to work.
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated:)