Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Personal Experiences => Topic started by: Errol on November 04, 2015, 07:17:44 PM
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Hi
I'm brand new to this site, and to posting to any site!
I'm interested to hear from people who have any similar experiences to me. I have suffered on and off with mild anxiety for many years. If I get very stressed it gets a bit overwhelming and I might use beta blockers, but generally it is manageable or in remission.
Since the summer, though, it is much more frequent and seems to switch on and off with no obvious triggers. It has really started to affect my ability to do my job.
Do you think this is menopause related (I'm 55) or am I looking for a link which isn't really there?
Can anyone comment?
Thanks
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Welcome to the forum.
Can you tell us a little more about yourself. Are you still having periods.....have they stopped. Any other symptoms.
Anxiety is very very common during meno. If you did a search on this site you would be reading for a week ::)
If you give us a few more details then lots of members will be along to help.
You are not alone though and that in itself can help.
Honeybun
X
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:welcomemm: from me!
Anxiety is common - HORMONES >:( ::) …… eating regularly can stop anxiety surges and keeping hydrated is important. Gentle exercise can dissipate surges too.
Browse round, make notes ;)
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Hello Errol and welcome to the forum.
Hello Errol and welcome to the forum.
I too, have always been a nervy type of person but I have noticed with the menopause that my anxiety comes out of nowhere and doesn't seem to be related to circumstances. In other words I feel anxious and then worry about how I'll cope with events and not the other way round!
There is a lot of help and information on this site, all from ladies who know understand how you feel.
Wishing you well and take care. You are not alone.
K.
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How timely! Welcome to the forum Errol.
I've just finished a telephone consultation with my GP a few minutes ago. She wanted to know how I was getting on with the increased patch dose... I told her that on the whole there was an improvement but that I still get the jitters in the morning. By late morning to lunchtime it's better (or at least it doesn't bug me as much) and like sparkle, I'm fine come the evening.
You're in the right place for sympathy and advice :)
Galadriel x
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I've been told that cortisol is at it's peak time early mornings and cortisol is the precursor of adrenaline I believe so that's what can cause the awful jittery feelings to occur. When I used to get it whatever the time of early hours I would have to get up !
If adrenaline has nowhere or nothing to work on ........ :-\
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Hi sparkle - she reckons it's the fluctuations. Sometimes we are running on HRT only and when our own hormones decide to join the party we end up with more than we need which can give us the jitters. I personally think this is why it is so hard to stay on an even keel during the peri-stage.
Dazned, you're right, the cortisol peak is in the morning. I think it's supposed to get you up and going in the morning. I sometimes wonder if our body clocks are affected during peri and we get our morning surge in the middle of the night. ::)
Galadriel x
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I hate that morning dread feeling. What's it all about? You can go to bed feeling absolutely fine and wake up a few hours later feeling like the whole world is going to come crashing down. It seems impossible that you will even get out of bed let alone through the whole day before you can crawl back into bed.
This site has some useful ideas - they may sound a little weird but it's all about positive thinking. I think it's ok to post it - I can't see a commercial buy now facility anywhere http://crystalcalm.com/crystalcalm/Morning_Anxiety.html
Taz x
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You have a biscuit or banana etc by the bed as low blood sugars add to the excess cortisol feeling. Also try and have milky drink or small piece toast , or whatever last thing at night to stave off blood sugars dipping too low it really does help ,as if you are eating say at 1830ish or even earlier by the time you wake/get up your body has been 12hours or maybe more without fuel,,not good !
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For me, probably the defining symptom of peri menopause is the awful, sickening, dreads and jitters. At my lowest I woyld meerkat-wake before dawn feeling like I had just been told I had only a week left to live. The feeling of despair and hopelessness was awful. And of course you can't escape it because it's creeping around in your own head all the time.
Even now that I am doing so much better on the BCP I still wake a good hour or more before I'd like. And while I don't get the dread and despair anymore, I feel preternaturally alert, not nicely sleepy.
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Hi Errol
:welcomemm:
Are you still having periods or have they stopped recently? If you are still in the menopausal transition then hormonal fluctuations will occur which cause "the jitters" in the morning - although I'm not sure what these really are?
All I can say is girls please can you give me a little of what causes your jitters so that you will have normal energy in the morning and so will I!!! In the last few months ( and it has been developing over the last year or two) I am the opposite in the mornings. I used to leap out of bed ready for action and now I can barely move. My husband brings me tea and I can hardly speak nor open my eyes! It takes me ages to get going. Fine when I'm up but I hate feeling like a sluggish sloth - the opposite problem. I am wide awake in the evening though! I've got quite low blood pressure though so perhaps this has something to do with it?
I don't know what could be the cause in post-menopause though - except for some of the progestogens (eg in Evorel conti) which could cause jitters - otherwise I don't know the cause?
Hurdity x
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The jitters aren't really energy though Hurdity (be great if they were!). It's that horrible jumpy feeling in your tummy where everything is racing around but you can't actually do anything. Makes you feel sick or as if you are about to need the loo really quickly and then so panicky but there is nothing to panic about! In the link it does talk about the cortisol levels being high and the blood sugar levels being low but doesn't mention hormones. One of my sons also suffers from this and the doc mentioned cortisol to him. The advice in the link to keep a piece of fruit by the bed is good I would think to raise blood sugar levels to try to counteract the cortisol?
Taz x
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Hello again ladies.
My jitters used to follow a worse in the morning pattern but lately they seem to occur in the early evening. I've mentioned before that if I wake in the early hours I feel calm. Go figure!
The thing I hate the most is the way these horrible feelings seem to percolate down to my abdomen and I worry that I'll need the loo. Sure doesn't help lessen the panic.
Best wishes to jitterers everywhere.
K.
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Hurdity you really wouldn't want them ! They can be horrendous,your hearts hammering in your chest,your insides are shaking ,it's very frightening ! :-\
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Oh no, stick with your slow start. You would not want even a little of this, and until you have had it you don't realise just how horrible it is. Churning, racing, jitteriness......you would not wish that on anyone.
I often wonder if this is it....will I have this forever.....and it's not a happy thought at all.
Most of all.....anxiety makes your life a very lonely place, it's a very isolating thing as you struggle for control.
Honeybun
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Have you had a look at my link Honeybun? Some ideas there about calming.
Taz x
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I have had a look at that site before and it's really very good. Not that easy to do though.
Have you found it helpful Taz ?
Honeybun
X
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Thank you everyone for very helpful comments. Like one of the posts, I also have that strange tingling in my legs. Didn't know others did too which is reassuring but doesn't make it go away!
The pattern has followed this week where, having felt incredibly nervy and on edge for about ten days, yesterday, for no reason, it lifted and thank god I felt calm again.
In answer to an earlier question i had my last period about 18 months ago, have been on low dose Premique for a year and Venkafaxine anti depressants for 12 years.
Another symptom to share is that my scalp gets incredibly hot - not my face, and rarely by body, but my scalp and forehead do. To the point where if I put my glasses on my head, they steam up!!
Anyone else?
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Crikey! that's what I call hot ! :o
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Yep my glasses have done that too. Even hubby was quite amazed.
Honeybun
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I find the morning jitters are horrible. I have them still despite being on hrt. My take on it is that when your hormones are not being produced correctly, the adrenal gland produces hormones that can be converted to oestrogen. However, this also causes increases in circulating cortisol and adrenaline which aids our fight and flight process. The perimenopause phase of varying hormones coupled with an oversensitive adrenal gland therefore puts our bodies under stress so external pressure or stress increases that response more so. I personally find that my anxiety has developed with perimenopause. This has continued despite hrt especially on the days I work. On those mornings I have to get out of the house early with three little ones ready for school, very full on. I have no answers as to how to alleviate this unfortunately though!!! I totally understand the chaos it causes with churning tummy, mad dashes for the toilet etc, very frustrating.
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I hate that morning dread feeling. What's it all about? You can go to bed feeling absolutely fine and wake up a few hours later feeling like the whole world is going to come crashing down. It seems impossible that you will even get out of bed let alone through the whole day before you can crawl back into bed.
I've been having morning anxiety for a few weeks now. I am usually happy go lucky about most things in life but now I wake in the middle of the night and feel panicky. Once I'm up, taken the dog out and showered I've managed to talk myself down.
So weird. :-X
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This morning I was so jittery the National Grid could have used me to power a large city :o but after taking some advice I read on this forum, I forced myself to eat, so after a slice of toast and a decaf coffee the worst seems to have passed. Now I could only power a large village ;D
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I am very interested to read about fellow jitterers getting tingles in their legs. Can I ask, are the tingles just down the backs of your thighs, like they start at the base of your buttocks then move downward?
Ever since I was in my teens, and have ever felt any anxiety, or anticipation, I always get these tingles but just down the backs of my thighs.
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For me jitters means butterflies like I have an interview or driving test coming up and also a slight tremble in my hands, not quite as shaky as shivering but that's the general feeling.
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:welcomemm: 2Hoots
I have anxiety in the gut. Adrenaline surges however feels like warm/hot water running through my veins, it varies GRL ……… can be anywhere or it chooses the odd vein to go through.
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He/she said what about it all ? The muscles react due to the fight/flight response. Getting ready to flee usually in m y case ::)
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Slow release foods can ease the jitters.
I can't tolerate Co-codamol - 2 tablets has me on the floor, heaving ::)
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Is that hormonal or the headache? I know when anxious my sense of smell is ACUTE :'( - I can't look at food adverts 'cos I can smell 'em :-X
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If I'm anxious I hold my breath when I open the fridge door, there is no smell but it makes me gag anyway. I eat yogurt when I can't face food, I need something that doesn't involve chewing and swallowing.
I know that if I eat I will feel better but some days it's really difficult :-\
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Yep. I've had that problem since age 3 :'( …… for several years I rarely went into our kitchen :-\
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For me, probably the defining symptom of peri menopause is the awful, sickening, dreads and jitters. At my lowest I woyld meerkat-wake before dawn feeling like I had just been told I had only a week left to live. The feeling of despair and hopelessness was awful. And of course you can't escape it because it's creeping around in your own head all the time.
Even now that I am doing so much better on the BCP I still wake a good hour or more before I'd like. And while I don't get the dread and despair anymore, I feel preternaturally alert, not nicely sleepy.
20 yrs after last period I get the hee be jeebies Im a wreck when it hits and it comes for n o reason
I go to bed fine wake up feeling like Im going to my death I was given Inderal beta Blocas they work
Sometimes I take 1/2 twice a day and it goes in 3/4 days then for the next 4 I go to 1/4 then none
I ease off slowly and Im fine for months THEN BANG again for abso no reason I can fathom
Longest time its lasted was 29 days on the 30th Gone? xxxxxxxxxxxxx Hugs and cuddles
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Hi Ladies,
I'm a little late to this thread but I can identify all of it. When I get like this all my irrational thought processes start an insomnia kicks in and it takes a while to shift. However when I experience a hot flush I'm the same. I get confused as to what is the jittery anxiety and what is menopausal. Does anyone else feel this.
Thanks
Shellb
xXx
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Same here. I can go for days feeling tickety-boo, then out of the blue along comes the jitters with its mate the 'what if' Gremlin! >:(
I've even been known to feel jittery when, in actual fact, I'm excited about something... DD coming home from Uni at the end of the week, putting up the Christmas tree etc. ???
I think my morning jitters may actually be the morning cortisol rise, only now I'm peri I seem to be super-sensitive to it and misinterpret it as 'danger'. ::)
Galadriel x
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Good well done you :D
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Yes I'm aware of cortisol, does anyone know how to lower levels?
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You need to eat something last thing at night,maybe small ham sandwish,milky drink,few biscuits,whatever ,keep some biscuits,ricecakes, by bed if you can have some before you get up. Sometimes keeping the blood sugar levels from dropping can help. Cortisol production is at its highest in mornings guess in preparation for the coming day .
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snap Sparklers, I also have a double GP appointment next Monday, wouldn't you credit it ;)
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Is it higher as we wake?
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It's peak time is early mornings about 0800 but it starts to rise from 0400 in the morning ,so whilst we are sleep it's slowly building up ,sometimes it can go a bit awry producing to much too fast ,I think that's why some people experience this early morning meerkat waking . :-\
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Ok
I understand why I wake at 4am every day now and don't go back to sleep!
I'm going to start milk and biscuits before bed again.
Thanks very much for the info on cortisol.
Shellb
xXx
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:thankyou: