Print

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

[LornaT]

Hi I’m new to this forum, but to say a big thank you to all you wonderful ladies for your honest and open posts. I am 49 and peri, periods have always been heavy, had a EA about 10 years ago, periods got closer together last few years, then I finally went a bit longer, but then my period came and with it depression and anxiety off the scale, felt like I was going mad, so scary. I r started on hrt eostrogel and urtogestan, also ads increased dose, only about 4 weeks in but still having low moods and anxiety, how long before I know if the doses are right for me?

[CLKD]

  it can be Trial and Error.  Some find that keeping a mood/food/symptom diary useful. 

It can take 6-8 months B4 the body settles on a regime.  HRT can't rushed ;-)

[Hopeful]

Hi Lorna
Sorry to hear your having problems, they are very common during menopause so welcome to the forum.
It can take up to 3 months for HRT to stabilise but usually some improvements can be seen earlier if the regime is going to be helpful to you. Have you had any improvements in the 4 weeks you’ve been on HRT? Try and give it a little longer as chopping and changing can be unhelpful.
Helen

[LornaT]

Thank you for your reply, yes I have noticed some improvements since I started just not consistent yet, mornings are worse and I have had some days which have been all good, only then the next day not and I get really anxious then because it’s not logical why I feel so up and down. I wasn’t planning on changing hrt yet I know it takes several months for the benefits to really happen, I was so naive, I thought periods stop, you get hot flushes and that was how it was! Literally fell in a deep dark place overnight for no reason 🥲x

[CLKD]

The reason is hormonal.  Which we rarely get warned about  .  You are not alone!

[LornaT]

Thanks CKLD, you a always so positive on here, do you relate to the ups and downs of moods for no reason? Please tell me it gets better? X

[CLKD]

Think about how your moods were when you had regular periods?  I would sob the night B4 a bleed began, even if a period wasn't due.  I knew that it was 'normal' for me.  My periods waxed and waned for a few years fortunately without hot flushes; I did have cold shivers for a while  and skin itching! 

[ivyolddog]

Hi Lorna — I’m new here too and am experiencing similar anxiety and depression.  I have been using a period tracker app to record moods - I seem to have an episode of anxiety for about 3 days roughly every 2 weeks, though I don’t feel ‘normal’ every day, and like you, mornings are the worst.  I haven’t tried HRT yet as I am scared it will make things worse, but I am going to my GP on Friday for a proper discussion about it as well as my pre-existing anxiety, for which I take antidepressants, but they don’t seem to be working (which if it’s hormones driving it, I don’t suppose they would).

Question for anyone out there re HRT - I really don’t want to use one that is derived from mares urine, not just because of the animal welfare aspect, but because I don’t like the idea.  The GP has suggested utrogestan as one part of the combo, which comes from plants, but what about the oestrogen part?  What are the plant derived oestrogens that go with utrogestan?

[LornaT]

Hi Ivyolddog, I am on oestrogen pumps which makes the dose more flexible, and is made from plant too, I don’t think hrt is made from mare urine these days anyway, but they reckon transdermal ie gel or patch is best way to take hrt, I am new to this just what I have read on forums. It was exactly the same for me re anxiety, i was on sertraline 50mg been fine for years then suddenly anxiety and depression out of nowhere, and could think of no reason to feel like it, hoping my hormones will get in balance and I will be how I was before this happened in September last year. Keep us posted how you get on? Xx

[ivyolddog]

Hi Lorna - what you describe is what has happened to me.  I have taken 40mg citalopram for years as a maintenance dose with the odd blip, but then 18 months or so ago it began building and I crashed with panic attacks (first in 20 yrs) just after Christmas 2021.  Have been back and fore to gp since, who added 15mg mirtirazine, then increased to 30mg, which hasn’t done much, so now that’s up to 45mg to try - I already feel better this morning so hope it lasts. I’m seeing the female gp about HRT on Friday - I trust her, so hopefully we can work something out.  BTW the (male) gp I saw about the mirtirazine said 57 is too old for HRT and my hormones would have settled by now (!). Funny I had a period in Sept after a space of nearly a year then…he did say he wasn’t an expert though (so stay off subjects you know nothing about, then, mate)…

[LornaT]

Hi Ivyolddog, I know exactly what you mean! I am feeling better than I was but not 100% yet on the 100mg sertraline and 15mg mirtazapine also 40mg propanalol and oestrogen 2 pumps, all this only for about 5 weeks, but it feels so much longer when your in it doesn’t it, then I worry that im on a lot of ‘mental health’ medication,  it knowing we’re in this together helps so much, I turned 49 July last year and just wished my periods would stop, didn’t realise there was all this with peri menopause, didn’t have a clue! Xx