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[Helen57]

Morning everyone. Hope you are all doing well.
Please can anyone help? I have stopped my gel 2 days ago as I was feeling like my anxiety and panic was getting to the point of another breakdown. I though maybe the eostogen gel was too much or my body just didn't like it. My breaststroke were getting bigger and hurting so much too. It's been two days now and I'm still having g high levels of panic, my body is shaking all over, internal tremors, heart racing and palpitations, burning skin and crawling feeling...like the flu but I don't have a temp or a cold. I feel really unwell. Could this be the estrogel or is it menopause symptoms. I was doing okay with anxiety and ocd, it was still there but better, now I feel like a switch has been flicked and its back like it was at the beginning of all this. I'm 42 and not had any hormonal bloods took, but I'm assuming it's peri because of the symptoms and the fact that my mom and sister were my age when they went post menopause. Sorry if this sounds rambly, my head is all over the place. Any advice ladies? Thanks 😊

[Helen57]

My breasts not breaststroke 
My phone is auto correcting!

[CLKD]

I don't know what to suggest other than consider an appropriate anti-anxiety medication.  Whilst NICE suggest HRT to help with anxiety it often doesn't work as fast as appropriate medication is likely to.  Some require HRT which may take as long as 6 months to ease symptoms. 

Personally I think that HRT should be the 2nd route ......... which doesn't help U especially as we are into a bank holiday weekend. 

Do U have a Covid-19 test kit on an in case basis?

Could you add a gel dose today and perhaps proceed with every 3rd or alternate days?  Hopefully some1 on the regime will be along.

I got it wasn't breast stroke ;-). 

[Helen57]

Thanks CLKD. I am on 150mg of venlafaxine for my anxiety, I went back on that in April, when all this started. I've increased feom 75mg to 150mg and even though it helped initially, it doesn't seem to work for long. I have been on venlafaxine twice before and both those times it worked brilliantly but not anymore it seems.
I wanted to give it a few days to see if it was the gel, then maybe try again using like you suggested.
This is such a horrible thing to go through. Thank you for replying. X

[CLKD]

Feeling 'that' ill isn't nice!  I remember ............

How is your diet also?  Not eating often enough may well rise anxiety surges.  Let us know how you get on.

[sheila99]

These symptoms can be from both too much and too little oestrogen. Can you tell us more about your history? When you started hrt, what dose, if the dose has changed along with symptoms you had and what has got worse or better. If you don't already keep a diary it might be useful to do so as you may see a pattern in symptoms vs cycle.

[joziel]

These are all absolutely classic low estrogen symptoms. It's very likely that your dose was already too low, which is why you were experiencing anxiety before - and now you've stopped it totally, it has plummeted and made the anxiety much worse. You need to have the confidence to increase your dose gradually until you are symptom-free. You have leeway to do this under your GP at least until 4 pumps of gel or 100mcg patch...

[Helen57]

Thanks ladies. I actually ended up with an ambulance coming and a day in A & E.
My chest pains were horrific and my body felt so strange, like nothing I'd ever felt before. I really thought I was dying (sounds melodramatic but it's the truth). They ran a lot of blood tests and had an ecg, but everything was normal. Even though my resting pulse was 122!  Looks like it really is menopause and anxiety. Back to the drawing board. I may try introducing the gel back slowly and see what happens. Xx

[joziel]

Yes, I've been there too - in A&E. With a very normal ECG and then discharged. Due to low estrogen.

You likely need more estrogen than you had before, not less. You might find patches deliver a more steady and stable dose for you, it's all so individual.

[CB73]

Hi Helen57, I'm so sorry to hear that you're still struggling so much with the anxiety, it really is the worst feeling especially when the physical sensations are so strong. It becomes impossible to think rationally.
I haven't yet tried Hrt so can't offer any advice, but a therapist once told me to concentrate on the physical sensations of anxiety, feel them and welcome them and tell yourself this is just a feeling. Try to disconnect the physical feeling from the racing thoughts in your head. As a fellow OCD sufferer, I know what you're going through, it's hell! But the OCD thoughts are just a symptom of the anxiety, which in turn is a symptom of menopause. This is the only thing that has helped me over the last week or so.
I really hope you find some calm soon! xx

[Delso]

Awh Helen57, so sorry to hear what you've experienced, that's horrible to feel that way.  I felt very similar at the start of the year and also ended up in A&E and vitals monitored for a few days.  I think I had a crash in hormones, literally all your symptoms are what I'd experienced and once I restarted hrt and introduced some other aspects, the symptoms began to wane and disappear. I'm in peri too.
 I'd recommend some therapy to help process how you're feeling within your body and adapting to the changes taking place. It helped my mindset go from battling against it and not be so focused on my symptoms and not be so fearful of these random symptoms, as stress exasperates it all.  Another suggestion is some nervous system meditation, to help calm the nervous system. Found some on YouTube. 
I realise what works for some may not work for all but after seeing your post and having felt like that just wanted to reassure that it can get better. It's definitely not perfect for me yet, I'm still tinkering and learning but we'll get there. Hope you feel much better soon xx

[Helen57]

Thank you Delso. I am now thinking I need to refer myself for some therapy, because I'm really not coping. I will try out the meditation again and see if it helps. Glad you are doing  better. X

[Helen57]

Sheila 99, thanks for replying. So my history is, I've suffered from OCD and anxiety for about 20 years. I've had a 10 year period where I have been okay, I even came off my anti-depressant for 5 years. Then March/April this year, my OCD intrusive thoughts came back, literally overnight which caused severe anxiety and my body and mind completely shut down, I couldn't function at all or even speak much. I was having some hot flushes and strange tremors in my body, which I'd never had before with anxiety. I had to go on sleeping tablets as I was getting zero sleep, again never happened before. I went back on anti-depressants and they helped a little, but around my period and for about a week, the ocd and anxiety would increase again. I went back to my doctor and she gave me eostrogel and Gepretix. I started that 2 weeks ago, 2 pumps, and at first I seemed okay, then early in the second week the anxiety and ocd were getting worse again, my boobs were getting swollen and were so sore, I had a burning sensation on my skin, all over and tingling, I felt ill, so I stopped the gel to see if I was reacting, but I've been off that for 4 days and I'm still feeling the same. I'm just not sure what to do, as I am in a bad place and don't want to make things worse.
Sorry if it's a long post or if I've repeated myself.
X

[Helen57]

Thanks Joziel. I think I need to pluck up some courage from somewhere and try the gel again or like you say maybe patches would be better. Xx

[sheila99]

My anxiety started in peri so for me the cause was more clear cut. Given that you'd been stable for so long I think it has to point to oestrogen deficiency making yours worse. My recovery wasn't immediate, not much improvement at first and very much up and down. It wasn't until the end of the 3rd month that it went completely. I think you need to use the oestrogen consistently now for weeks rather than days to know if it's working. Most people are OK to start on 2 pumps in peri but if it's too much for you you could start on 1 pump and increase after a month. Using it consistently is the key though, anxiety seems to one of those symptoms that needs a build up of oestrogen to sort it out.