Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: ladylollipop on June 24, 2018, 08:08:23 PM
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Hello everybody, who also made the experience that the menopause symptoms came back after stopping AD? Lady Lollipop xx
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Hello Stellajane, no I wasn't forced did it myself ( talked to the GP of course) but after 4 months the symptoms came back :'( lady lollipop x
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Hi. What symptoms are you experiencing lady lollipop?
Taz x
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Oh gosh, ladylollipop! I'm just about to start Venlafaxine for my murderous migraines!
I think you should definitely have given the Venlafaxine longer to really settle in your system this time. xxxx
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Hello Tempest and Taz, I haven't stopped it . I was just wondering if someone made the same experience I did. I stopped Venlafaxine in November and the symptoms ( agitation and anxiety) returned in March. Went to the Gp today and she said I should try 150mg. Thanks for your positive words Tempest. Maybe this time venlafaxine needs a bit longer to kick in.fingers crossed. Lady Lollipop xx
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We can do this together, Ladylollipop! Hang in there! I'm so glad you didn't just stop it suddenly as that could have made you feel very poorly.Sending hugs! xxxx
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Oh yes , Tempest let's do it together. The husband of my best friend is a neurologist and told me two things yesterday. He said I should do a blood test to see what venlafaxine is doing and he also said that normally ( at the beginning)the best is to take 150- 225 mg to get a good reaction. Well my GP is going to call me to let me know about the blood test. Hope she is going to do one would be interesting to find out if I have already enough venlafaxine in my body. Also sending a hug to Scotland. Lady Lollipop xx
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That's interesting, ladylollipop! It's my neurologist who has prescribed the venlafaxine for me. We have discovered that i'm having migraine activity daily. My reaction to the 25mcg patch and then increase to the 50mcg hasn't been good again! I had an intense migraine aura that lasted nearly 2 days over the weekend, so I'm just off the phone from him and he has asked me to wean down off the patches very slowly.
The fluctuations are what has been causing it - which proves my previous experiences with HRT!
My neuro. has also booked me in for a SPECT DAT scan to measure my dopamine levels - i'm just waiting for the appointment date. I wonder if your neuro. friend knows anything about these? Apparently, the world of neurology is pretty small so your friend might have heard of my Consultant. He's Dr Johann Selverajah and is also Honorary Senior Lecturer at our University here.
Sending hugs from my country to yours! xxxx
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Get the blood test if possible. When in the 1980s/90s I wanted to know what was causing my depression, there wasn't any consideration of investigations of any kind.
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Hello Tempest, that's sounds very interesting. Dopamine level might be interesting. I will
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Upps something went wrong. I will have my blood test tomorrow. Hope the anxiety goes away soon.,hate it and the crazy thoughts. Lady Lollipop xx
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Good luck with your blood test, Ladylollipop! :) xxxx
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Thank you Tempest. When will your dopamine level be checked? Let's stay in contact. I let you know about my blood test result. Let's know each other how it goes with venlafaxine. Hug Lady Lollipopx
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Hello ladies, just a question. I wrote that my GP suggested to up the dose of Venlafaxine to 150 mg. Would you do it? Lady Lollipop x
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Forgive me ladylol but do u mean u were on 75mg for 4 months? and then stopped? I'm not quite sure x
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Tempest sorry to hear you are still struggling, I do hope the venlafaxine helps your migraines x
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Hello sweettooth, I am still on Venlafaxine 75mg but still feel down , have anxiety and agitation. It is a bit better but absolutely not perfect. My GP told me to up the dose. 150mg. I think you take 150mg. Could you be so kind and tell me about your experience with the higher dose. Hug from Germany Lady Lollipop x
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It may be that you require a different medication?
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Hello CLKD, you are right. Maybe I need something else. Had my blood test today and will wait for the result. After that I will decide if I take 150mg of venlafaxine or if I have to find another medication. Any suggestions?
LadyLollipopx
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What's the worst symptom for you and at what time of day/night?
Some ADs do ease flushes etc., some help anxiety ........ it's the Trial and Error that I found so tiring :-\
Let us know how you get on!
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Thank you, Sweettooth!😊
Ladylollipop - are you wanting the drug to take care of hot flushes? If so, the Venlafaxine is just about the most effective drug in the group of antidepressants for this, apart from Paroxetine.
Some of the others can in fact cause increased sweating, at least at start up.
There are also other non antidepressant drugs that can help with flushes if that's your most major concern such as Gabapentin and to a degree, Clonidine.
xxxx
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Hello Ladies, thanks for your replies. I don't have hot flushes. I deal with anxiety, feeling so low, just awful. Really have the feeling my estrogen must be very low. Also I only have one ovary ( hope it is the right word) the right one was removed 8 years ago. Didn't have problems with it until end of 2014. well will wait for the blood test results and then think again. Lady lollipop x
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Hi ladylol, I was on 75 at beginning of peri, I had severe anxiety and this helped me immensely along with hrt. I then went up to 150 a few years ago as felt so flat all the time and the increase helped. Because I had to stop hrt 4years ago, I have been struggling on and off (all hormone) so went to gp last monday and she increased ven to 225mg, I'm not sure yet as it is only a week and my moods can be OK one day and horrendous the next or all in one day! I think it will be fine though, I have found it a very good AD.
I think when we are anxious, we over analyise and doubt, it may be lolli that you are dipping further into menopause and estrogen is now lower thus anxiety again, I would say your gp is making sense by upping to 150 rather than starting a new medication which may not suit! Hope that helps you xx god bless
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Dear sweettooth, thank you so much for your kind words which really helped me a lot. I thought exactly the same that I maybe dipped further into menopause and I maybe need a higher dose, But before I go up I will wait for the blood result. I also agree with you that I am not happy about the idea to try a new AD because venlafaxine always worked for me.The last six days I added 100mg Progesterone, but will stop it. Got awful headaches and I think it has to do with progesterone.. May I ask where you live in the Uk? Hug Lady lollipop x
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Sweettooth gives you good advice! I hope you settle down on your dose increase, Sweettooth and that it helps you. :)
I'm seeing my doctor about my start dose and taper up of the Venlafaxine tomorrow as my migraines are hideous - I hope it helps me with anxiety too!
Ladylollipop, I had both ovaries removed as did Sweettooth and i'm pretty sure that your one remaining ovary is very close to the end of perimenopause/menopause now by the sounds of things. If you don't mind my asking, did you have your ovary removed for cysts? Anxiety is so awful, isn't it? On a slightly good note, I'm hoping that if your hormone levels were lower anyway due to just having the one ovary that you might at least escape the flushes completely. xxxx
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Hi ladylol, glad I helped in any small way, do let us know re your test result and in the meantime i am thinking of you, we are all in this together, I live in Ireland x
Tempest have you started your 37.5? I used to get more migraines but now they are daily dull headaches that are triggered by any change in hormone - I actually know when I am going to get one as my mood drops first! My headaches started before I had my ovaries removed, did yours begin after? I had mine removed because of headaches etc but didn't work! I don't want you to think that you could be in for the same duration as we are all unique!
Have you ever been on ven before? Hope you get results soon x
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Hello Tempest, of course you can ask. I have suffered from endometriose and had a cyst. One of the gynecologist frightened me because he thought it could be ovarian cancer. But it wasn't. No cancer at all. But the endometriose was everywhere and so they decided to remove it. I didn't know about it, so when I woke up they told me . Great! Yes anxiety is really the worst symptom of this menopause thing. Haven't heard from my blood test yet.
Hello Sweettooth, you live in Ireland! Haven't been there but a friend of mine lives near Thurles. In 2016 we had booked a flight to Dublin for a long weekend but we had to cancel it because I felt so down at that time that I didn't want to travel. Hate this menopause. will watch Germany against South korea in 30 minutes. Hope we will win. Take care lady lollipop xx
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Know exactly what u mean re travel and hating this menopause it really is like having an illness!! never knowing how u are going to feel when something is planned :-\
Stoothxx
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Hello sweettooth, still a bit under shock because we have lost the football match :'( well that's life. Yes you absolutely right about the travel thing. We went to New York in May and the first three days were not so nice for me. Anxiety, dizziness maybe also symptoms from jetlag too. It also was so hot there. I really felt ill. Still do quite often these days. Sometimes I worry when we have plans. Next weekend we have to go to a silver wedding in the north of Germany. I hope I am well. Never ever thought about that before menopause. Really really hate it. Hug lady lollipop x
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Hello ladies, got my blood test result . The venlafaxine level is still low although I have taken it ( 75mg) for nearly 12 weeks. So I will go up with the dose( 150 mg) hope it will work as good as last time. Lady Lollipop x
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Oh bless you, ladylollipop! How amazing you have these tests available there - we don't routinely although i'm still waiting for my 24 hour urine result for carcinoids which is just about the only test we can do here for adnormal (high) serotonin levels due to tumour. I think mine will be very low instead, actually...... :o
I'm starting at 37.5mg next Tuesday as have to be under close medical supervision and then up to 75mg after 2 weeks so we are still doing this together! My target dose is 150mg too.
I hope sweettooth will be along shortly to let you know how she's getting along with her dose increase - for encouragement. :)
Hugs! xxxx
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Hello Tempest, lovely to hear from you. I am not quite sure if they normally do this test but as I told you before the husband of my best friend is a neurologist and told me to tell my Gp to do this test. I would like to start 150 mg tomorrow but have to go to a silver wedding too. Do you or other ladies here know if I will feel a bit "ill"again when I up the dose? Hug Lady lollipop xx
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Hi! Yes - I was told that each dose increase will need a period of adjustment so try to find a time to start your increase when there is a bit less stress if possible (I know that can be so tough, especially with your demanding job)!
Is there any chance you could try going up by a slightly smaller amount by adding another 37.5mg tablet for a couple of weeks and then going to 150mg? This might be a bit gentler on your system to adjust to. I'm not an expert but i'm tapering up by 37.5mg increments each time as per my neurologist's prescribing for this reason.
I hope sweettooth will be along too to give you some advice.
I hope you have a nice time at the silver wedding! I know things like this can be overwhelming when we're dealing with anxiety - be sure to use lots of deep breathing too if you feel the anxiety kicking in - you're going to be ok, promise! :) xxxx
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Hi ladylol, glad to hear you got sorted re results and now able to increase the venlafaxine. Tempest has given you good advice and support. Going from 75 to 150 I don't remember having problems and haven't really noticed any on my latest increase but I wasn't feeling good anyway so it's difficult to know. Would you say starting the 75 caused you to have bad side effects? if so then as Tempest says, you could increase by 37.5 at a time.
It is still too early for me to paint a true picture re my increase but so far so good.
Do let us know how you get on xx
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Dear Tempest and sweettooth, thanks for your answers. I took the first 150 mg this morning and hope it will go well. The only thing is that I am so worried at the moment and always think what to do if the higher dose isn't working. This menopause stuff is really driving me crazy. How do your husbands cope with that? Mine can't hear it anymore :'( hug lady lollipop x
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Hi ladylol, you are no different to most people increasing their dose, I know I always fear that it doesn't work! I am now on my second week on 225mg and dreading I will be no better but from memory it has been at least three weeks before I felt it was really working and I think for others it can take longer, it's just because we are already anxious that we keep worrying so hang in there it will work!
Hugs xx
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Hello sweettooth, thanks for your kind words, it really helps. Today I have got the results of estrogen, progesteron and testosteron. It looks like that there is nearly no estrogen left also low testosterone. Well my friend who is a gynecologist told that I need estrogen progesterone and testosterone and we could try dhea. I don't know what to do because I didn't want to use hormones. Just wanted to take AD against the symptoms and let the hormones do their work. What would you do? Hug xx
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Ladylollipop Just wanted to but in & hope the AD increase works for you. Hormones can make our lives really miserable.
Sweettooth I hope yours does to.
Tempest sorry the patch increase didn't help.
I'm not on AD only Oestrogen only as had a hyster. I increased mine 10 days ago & so far good & bad days.
I don't think there is a right or wrong method for menopause, you take what works best for you. AD, HRT or both together. Xx
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Thanks paisley x
Ladylol as paisley says we take what is best for us and it is a waiting game I'm afraid! You may need both but if you don't want to take hormones then see what the venlafaxine does first then review things again.
Best wishes x
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Dear paisley, thank you so much for your kind words.
Dear sweettooth, yes, it is a waiting game. What you have said is exactly what my gynecologist friend told me. Try venlafaxine first and see how it goes. If not you can still add hormones. So I decided to do it that way. He also said I shouldn't try so much better stay with one for a while. Hug Lady Lollipop
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Hoping you will feel better soon ladylol, let us know how you get on. My increased dose is showing small signs of helping though way to go x