Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: SueLW on June 08, 2018, 03:45:22 PM
-
Hi
Mood swings! We all get them. Nasty little beasts.
But do you get them during the course of a day or more likely from one day to the next?
Most of the time I feel really rotten for most of a day, then later in the afternoon my mood will improve and I can think again and get some work done. I also can move easier and don't get breathless so easily.
I doubt I'm unique, but I'd love to know if others get this daily cycle. It's exhausting and making working so very hard.
Sue
-
I don't cope with grey skies at all well now.
Oh me neither! I can't bear the dark or the miserable, grey days. I never used to even notice.
I'm glad it's not just me then. So still likely to be stuck in Peri. Hopeless. I get up each day with the idea I might actually get something done, but then it starts to close in very quickly. Sometimes (most times) I realise I've been sat on the loo for 20 minutes doing nothing but just gazing at the door and have to force myself up and off it). I almost never just get up and dressed anymore. I get downstairs in PJ's and think "I'll just have a coffee (decaf)" and the hours go by. I'm lucky to be dressed and washed by lunch time. I can't be bothered with my hair (which has mostly fallen out) and I hardly ever put any jewellery on anymore. I never used to go out without some earrings and a necklace. My mood just gets steadily worse most days. I'm exhausted and so upset and miserable. I can't focus, concentrate or do anything.
Just this week I had 2 days when I felt a lot better. I thought it was because I had moved taking my thyroid meds later in the morning. But it only lasted 2 days so I guess not. During those 2 days I went to the garden centre and bought plants for my weed filled, neglected pots and tubs. I felt like I used to feel and couldn't imagine going backwards again. At the end of the second day, not long before bed, my breasts suddenly became sore. Not full at all, quite loose, but sore. And the next day it was back down the drain again. Now I'm facing the fact that I have to somehow get the plants planted tomorrow and I know it will be a monumental struggle to do it.
2 good days in months isn't much of a life. I run my own business (actually I'm running it into the ground because of all this) so I don't have to come in until I'm ready as long as I can have parcels ready for the courier and postal collections. But then, I come alive a bit and end up staying at work until 9pm to actually, you know, do something useful! I then get home, have to eat a late dinner, go to bed with no evening or stay up really late. It's all driving me insane.
I went to a new meno doctor a few weeks ago. But she spotted a two year old test result for cortisol and homed in on it. It was never followed up. She said it must be repeated because it was far too low and so I've had a morning cortisol test again this week to start the process of checking for Addison's disease. Until we have more information about that, she won't touch my HRT. So now I'm scared and miserable!
-
Hi Sue
Yes, before HRT when my emotions were all over the place I could start a day as low as low could be but by the end of it class it as a good, positive day because my mood had shifted so much from morning to evening. HRT has levelled everything out for me now but looking back to those dark days I think distraction was key . The best distraction was on days when I had the opportunity to do something I really enjoy but anything that kept my mind occupied helped, even something as simple as doing a jigsaw puzzle as long as it took my mind off my feelings and emotions long enough to give myself a rest from it.
I remember many times consciously getting up from the sofa and saying out loud "Come on girl, this isn't helping you at all. Get up off your backside and DO something". Doing something- anything - made all the difference to how the day panned out.
I also learned that alcohol made it all worse. Before I sussed out the above I would often pour myself a glass of wine to cheer myself up. It never did, not once ! Xxx
-
I also learned that alcohol made it all worse. Before I sussed out the above I would often pour myself a glass of wine to cheer myself up. It never did, not once ! Xxx
I agree. I hardly drink anything anymore. If I do fancy something like a G&T, I take so long to drink it that it's horrible by the end. So watered down with all the ice I keep adding that I usually throw it away. I hardly ever want alcohol anymore. I just drink carbonated water with ice, or the new distilled botanicals which can be drunk with tonic like gin but nothing like gin in other ways. They make a change and feel more like I'm having an actual drink.
I'm on HRT. I really don't think it's working for me now. I need it changing, but can't have it changed at the moment.
It's at least good to know it's not just me. The distraction thing can work at the weekends but in the week, trying to get to work, it's just a massive struggle.
-
Yes - completely- ok when waken up- by 10ish either mad anxiety or depression and by 5ish OK again. Very rarely do I have it bad in the evening. Madness!!!!!!! It seems to be how it is. M xx
-
It's probably influenced by your circadian rhythms which can be seen in this graph.
https://goo.gl/images/B3ZvGk
-
Hello SueLW.
I am also on HRT but continue to have problems including mood swings. For example I didn't feel too bad this morning but this afternoon my mood has plummeted again and I am very anxious and could cry. I'm likely to feel calmer later and be near normal by bedtime. Most days are like this but there are variations to the theme! I honestly think if the people I talk to during my good phases could see me during a downturn they wouldn't recognise me.
I also find that distraction helps but it's hard to do that all the time and about a month ago I felt inexplicably well. Inexplicable because despite a detailed diary I can't work out why!
You are most definitely not alone and you have my sympathies.
Wishing you well.
K.
-
Wishing you well.
You too Kathleen. I didn't realise this was so rife. I thought mood swings were over a period of days not hours. It seems to be getting worse and worse.
I know just what you mean about the difference between the two types of mood. Occasionally, early evening on my drive home a sudden welling up of joy will happen. It's intoxicating and makes me laugh out loud and feel so happy. But it doesn't last for long and when it goes I feel even worse.
-
Hello again SueLW.
I also recognise those unexpected feelings of joy. My trusty meno book says that mood swings from elation to despondency are common and that has certainly been my experience. I think the phrase ' what goes up, must come down ' was invented for women like us unfortunately!
Wishing you well.
K.
-
Get a good breakfast under your ribs? The body has been 'in fast' for at least 8 hours. Blood sugar can drop which can cause depression. Eating every 3 hours can be useful even in the night. Mixed fruits and dried nuts; bananas; keep hydrated. 4.00 p.m. is my worst time so I have to think carefully about appropriate fruits i.e. melon which can help.
Right now I'm getting myself round some hot buttered toast slathered with crunchy peanut butter ;-)
-
Oh blimey yes, Sue! I can relate totally. Moods up and down like a fiddler's elbow - and I'm VERY post menopausal after an oopherectomy over 3 years ago at 46 and virtually no HRT since.
Low estrogen = low seratonin, thus mood instability. Low estrogen = nasty pulses of norepinephrine plus raised cortisol (maybe you're getting estrogen 'spikes' though)? It's not you - it's the bloomin' 'mones! Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. You totally have my sympathy! xxxx
-
Get a good breakfast under your ribs? The body has been 'in fast' for at least 8 hours. Blood sugar can drop which can cause depression. Eating every 3 hours can be useful even in the night. Mixed fruits and dried nuts; bananas; keep hydrated. 4.00 p.m. is my worst time so I have to think carefully about appropriate fruits i.e. melon which can help.
Right now I'm getting myself round some hot buttered toast slathered with crunchy peanut butter ;-)
Ha, ha! I have NO problem getting a decent breakfast. It's not a blood sugar drop. I know what that feels like. Because I'm trying to raise my ferritin level I'm stuffing all sorts of great breakfasts with black pudding or chicken liver pate etc. And eggs. I love eggs and eat loads of them. Trouble is eating wipes me out. I'm completely done in afterwards so it sort of has the opposite effect to what it should do. I love food though, so I carry on regardless.
-
Me too! I'm post menopause and still getting all this crap, moods for me are the worst, like you say sue, feel good and then bang again!!!! I can't make a quick decision anymore, don't know what I want! then there's the racing mind, I'll at ease unsettled.
Please someone tell me this ends
-
Please someone tell me this ends
I'm sorry to hear that you are post meno and still feeling like this. Are you on HRT of any kind?
I'm sure I need mine changing. But I have to wait while they investigate something else!
-
Sue you probably do need your hrt adjusted in some way. I can't have hrt sadly, sometimes I do get a good run but it comes back again! like other women on here I am more stable evenings x
-
Hi Sue. I can relate to this. I'm post meno and still trying to find a HRT that I'm totally happy with so very up and down at the moment. I think my down times are because I feel so rough sometimes and find it hard to keep positive when there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. So it's a bit of a vicious circle i.e. when I'm feeling ok healthwise my mood is lifted and when I'm feeling rubbish I feel down - very much can't be bothered with myself like putting on jewellery, make-up, perfume etc which is so unlike me.
I'm not an expert at all at the science of HRT but I'm thinking that once you are able to tweak your HRT you will start to see an improvement. I'm lucky in a way that I don't work anymore because I think I would have had to pack it all in anyway because of the way I've felt over the last 8/9 months so I do feel for those ladies on here that are still trying to deal with meno symptoms and do a days work. As you can see from the responses to your post, Sue, you are definitely not alone in how you are feeling and there will be loads of support for you from the lovely ladies on this forum so try too keep your pecker up :-)
Wishing you well !
Rosie63 x
-
Hi haven't been on for a while but saw this post & had to answer because you aren't alone at all. I too have awful mood swings. This morning I felt so anxious & weepy & then within half an hour it lifted & it can go on like this throughout the day. I can't make any sense of it but I do know that any sort of stress makes it worse. I never know from one day to the next how I will feel. Very disconcerting
-
Hi haven't been on for a while but saw this post & had to answer because you aren't alone at all. I too have awful mood swings. This morning I felt so anxious & weepy & then within half an hour it lifted & it can go on like this throughout the day. I can't make any sense of it but I do know that any sort of stress makes it worse. I never know from one day to the next how I will feel. Very disconcerting
I find it impossible to plan anything as I'sure you do. Never know if I'll be OK or not. Great evening last night, did some container gardening and really enjoyed myself. Today I was up early and fine until I ate breakfast and my heart started pounding and my mood went down the toilet leaving me miserable, anxious and despondent all day.
-
I know exactly how you feel. The only good thing in all of this is that we are all going through the same & that helps otherwise I would think I had completely lost the plot. It's good sharing xx