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[PK]

Hi girls, long story short… I went on HRT patches last March mainly due to severe insomnia among other usual symptoms,  some nights I would get a couple of hours sleep, others broken and found it hard to get back off to sleep and at other times be awake ALL night, sometimes 2-3 nights on the trot which literally sent me round the bend and feeling absolutely awful, I can’t find any other  stories of  women suffering being awake all night for a few nights on the trot, I stayed on HRT for one year and came off thinking cos I was ‘better and sleeping well’ I was cured and foolishly came off, a few weeks later all my symptoms came rushing back with a vengeance, I have now been back on Patches for a month expecting by now to of had improved sleep, but as yet I’m still struggling, is there any other woman who have gone nights without any sleep atall….. I’m starting to feel like I’m a freak

[SarahT]

Just wanted to say hello and welcome. Whilst I get very disturbed sleep, it is not as awful as yours. I drop off ok but wake frequently.
By I do use half a sleeping tablet...

Hope someone else can offer better help

[PK]

The Dr is baffled too. I hope others can shed some light on it

[sheila99]

I would give it a bit longer. My anxiety and insomnia seemed to feed off other but I saw hardly any improvement in the first month then very up and down for the next two. If there's no improvement after 3 months it might be worth increasing the dose.

[Penguin]

Hi PK, I'm sorry that you are suffering so much, it sounds awful.
 
I can't advise on the patches etc as I use the gel but I was wondering if you'd tried anything natural in addition to the hrt.

Things I am thinking of are:
- Herbal sleep supplements such as valerian root
- Yoga nidra (basically like yoga sleep where you listen to it and even just 40 minutes is meant to be equivalent to a few hours sleep. Don't know if that is true but it is incredibly restful and I am always asleep by the end)
- Sleep hypnosis on YouTube (I use a guy called Michael Sealey and he has some that are 2 hours long. Again you just lie there and listen)
- Herbal teas for relaxation like camomile.

Or you could ask your gp for a short term use of melatonin (over a certain age they can give this to you for insomnia, I think a max of two weeks but it may be enough to help reset your circadian rhythm).
 
My least favourite option would be a sleeping tablet for a few nights, say 3 or so, again to break the cycle. However I don't think the feeling next day is worth it amd you build up a tolerance really quickly.

I'd also suggest, if possible, not to use caffeine etc to get you through the day after not sleeping. That just fires up your adrenals / nervous system amd makes it really hard to unwind the following night. If you can get through the day without then hopefully your body will have naturally unwound enough to get some sleep. Although not sure if that still works if it is purely hormonal.

I hope you get it sorted soon, not sleeping is awful and I know how much it can impact you xx

[Silverberry]

Hi there,

I've just joined today and i'm 2 weeks into a trial of HRT patches. My most severe symptom has been insomnia / poor/broken sleep and extreme fatigue. I'm only 42 so menopause was last on the list of considerations. I've been tested for all sorts of things but everything has always come back normal. I used to have a very stressful job and put it down to that (along with all my other symptoms) but when a new, totally stress free job gave me absolutely no relief after a year I started going to the doctor. It's taken another 18 months of repeatedly going back and being tested for different things to get to menopause as a possible culprit. It got to the point around Oct/Nov last year when I would sleep for a couple of hours, then lie awake the rest of the night. EVERY night. I tried absolutely everything I could find to fix myself, lavender, chamomile tea, essential oils, supplements, not using my phone before bed... I even read 3 books on improving sleep which I just found patronising because I had already tried everything in them and their jolly simplistic tone annoyed me! I was so exhausted I started micro sleeping when driving, I was so tired, the monotony of driving would make my eyes go, and whilst it terrified me, the terror didn't stop it from happening. I drove with the air con on full but that just made me withdraw and shut down trying to keep warm. I listened to heavy metal music, I sang out loud, eventually the only thing I could do was phone someone to talk to on my way home from work, or just talk to myself out loud. I had to use flexi and some annual leave when it was too bad. It was absolute hell and I was really scared. I broke down to my mum who told me she had actually started peri menopause when she was my age (42) and that it might be worth getting my hormones tested in case it was related. Hormone tests subsequently showed my oestrogen was low, that coupled with my symptoms and family history has led to me getting a trial of HRT. whilst I was waiting and having the tests I did find something that has been helping. I drink a herbal tea called Yerba Mate. I get it from a tea website called Tea Pigs but lots of places sell it. It is essentially energy boosting and gives you clarity of mind similar to caffeine in coffee, but unlike coffee you get none of the negative effects as the caffeine is different. I can't drink coffee or even black tea because I am super sensitive and intolerant to it: i get palpitations and can be awake all night, it's completely out of my diet now, but i CAN drink Yerba Mate with absolutely no problems and it doesn't stop me sleeping. It has made it so that I can drive to and from work without issue, and I'm not falling asleep at my desk anymore. I've been sleeping through the night for a few weeks now. I'm not sure if that is from the HRT or a natural hormone fluctuation that I might have benefitted from anyway. More time is needed to assess that, but I definitely recommend this tea in the meantime. It's been a life saver for me. I stopped drinking it when I started on HRT as I wanted to know if the HRT was doing anything. I was like a zombie again by lunchtime and worried about driving home, so i'm drinking it again until the HRT has had time to get into my system, then i'll try stopping it again. It doesn't solve any of the other long list of menopause problems, but it has helped my sleep improve significantly. I still wake up a couple of times but I can just go back to sleep within a few minutes. Previously, once I opened my eyes that was it for the night. It didn't matter how tired I was, I could not stay asleep for more than 2 or 3 hours.

Sorry for a big long post, but I'm very passionate about this and wanting to help you, as it was such a massive scary problem for me, and I hope this can help you.

[CLKD]

  to the Forum.  Last night I read an article about how to improve sleep patterns - when I remember I'll let you know.  A lot going on here this week  so if I forget, give me a nudge.