Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[lyn]

Hi CLKD. Still feeling awful. I am like you...if a drug has side effects I will find them, too. I think the GP will send me for CBT. I saw one psychologist but she did not tell me anything I didn't know or do already. As for the hypnotherapy...here's hoping.

[orchid]

Hi Lyn bless you! I know how your feeling I've been blogging here for the past week as I've basically gone cold turkey from 12 years of AD Dosulepin and recently Mirtazepine. Never will I ever take another!! I'm super sensitive mind, I know they work well for a lot of people. I'm looking to try 5HTP it's herbal and the reviews are brilliant. Take a look on Holland & Barrett website at the reviews. I hope this helps.
Good book Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers. Very helpful coping strategies for life.

[CLKD]

Some people can tolerate side effects that I found impossible to deal with  .

[lyn]

Orchid, I'll keep my fingers crossed that you are feeling better soon. Best wishes.
CLKD you have a good point there. I agree.

[lyn]

Hi everyone, just wanted to tell you the latest. My wonderful GP has decided to try valdoxan, a pro melatonin medication, which may help. He says it will at least help me sleep if nothing else. He's going to speak to two psychiatrists and ask their advice re any other anti depressants I could possible take without incident but i don't hold much hope! Wish me luck with the pro melatonin!
I cannot have progesterone in my HRT as others do, as I have no uterus and my doctor says it could cause more problems than it cures. He wants me to stay on the oestradot patch. I am very fortunate to have the best GP on the planet. He looked at me today with such compassion and said "I know what is wrong with you but i can't seem to find a medication to help you due to your allergies." Maybe this valdoxan is the way to go...?

[lyn]

 My GP just spoke to  the psychiatrist who said to try anafranil, an older tricyclic AD before the melatonin pill as he feels this would work better. I am not so sure but as my GP said, the psychiatrist is the specialist and sees more of this than he does. So it's back to the surgery tomorrow to pick up yet another prescription...hmmmm.

[Hurdity]

Hi lyn

I am concerned as to why you are going down this route of ADs when you said in your first post you have never been depressed before, and you suffer from such side effects? You are bound to feel rough after a virus - I had a cold at the weekend which is just a minor thing but I still feel run down and tired even though the cold has gone.

You say you are on Estradot only - sorry I can't remember how old you are and where in menopause? I presume you have had a hysterectomy at some point - but did you keep your ovaries? Also what dose are you on? Maybe your patch needs increasing a little? If you had ovaries removed maybe your teststerone is low? There could be hormonal reasons for your anxiety - although as I said above don't under-estimate the post-viral effects. Hopefully you are able to get lots of exercise and fresh air and plenty of fruit and veg. Cod liver oil, a good tonic including iron - for a couple of weeks - until you're built up to good health again.

My view would be to try all the non-drug methods of dealing with the anxiety at least for a few weeks and see if this can help - eg the NoMorePanic site http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/ and books and techniques that many have recommended on here - before going down the route of ADs which as you say are difficult to come off once started.

CBT sounds like a start - if it's with someone good!

Hurdity x

[Greenfields]

Lyn have you tried acupuncture?  it worked really well for me for a while before the life stresses I was under sent my hormones over the top.  I've also changed my diet and cut out sugar and caffeine - I was a big tea drinker and now I just drink herbal tea.  I also don't touch alcohol. I also do exercise regularly.  If you haven't tried these changes, I would suggest doing them as, at the very least, they will support your body in whatever treatment you settle on. I have a long standing practice of meditation which has also helped (as has yoga).  I also take HRT now - a patch and a pill.   

[lyn]

Hi ladies,
Hurdity: my GP says the medication for anxiety and depression is the same and my reading seems to bear this out. I am certainly becoming depressed lately! I had a hysterectomy but ovaries still there. The patch was increased to 50 from 37.5 but it caused too much nausea so I went back to the lower dose. Have just had blood tests as my GP wants to check on thyroid function. I had a thyroidectomy for goitre 15 years ago and they accidentally removed my parathyroid glands too as I haemorrhaged during the operation. The parathyroids help with calcium metabolism and I have to take a lot of calcium tabs to rectify the problem. He's also checking my vitamin B levels, magnesium, vit D, calcium etc which I usually get checked twice a year anyway but it  was all  forgotten with the onset of this anxiety!
 Greenfields:I do not drink alcohol, do not have caffeine, exercise, meditate, have tried acupuncture (way too expensive to continue and did not help), practice Tai Chi regularly and , when not nauseated, eat healthily. The only thing left is hypnotherapy. Having read extensively on this subject of menopausal anxiety I have come to the conclusion it makes absolutely no difference if you lead a healthy lifestyle or not when it comes to being more susceptible to the anxiety. I have friends who sailed through menopause with absolutely no worries at all...two of them smoke, drink and think the lettuce on a Big Mac is their daily quota of vegetables! I agree that being generally healthy has to assist in managing anxiety but I have run out of ideas. My GP doesn't want me on medication either but I don't think I can manage to cope much longer. I will get the prescription but I will wait a few days and think about whether or not I want to take it.

[CLKD]

Your GP sounds supportive  and if in contact with specialists, is covering more basis than many seem to do! [bases?]

Some ADs ease anxiety too.  If you don't have a womb I don't think that you require progesterone? 

Could it be that you are sensitive to the coatings on some medications rather than the active ingredient, or even with the mix that the active ingredient is padded out with?  Would a liquid medication be preferable?  Do you fill in the  Yellow Card when you get a 'bad' reaction?  Apparently a patient should be offered these but I have never been handed one 

Let me know how you get on!

[dazned]

I know I must sound like a stuck record...

ADS are used for bad anxiety not just depression. If the hrt doesn't have any effect on your anxiety you can try various things ,mindful meditation,CBT,yoga etc. Plenty of exercise,walks,good diet can help.
Some of us need both hrt and ads. I personally don't care what I have to take to feel reasonably human and if that's what it takes so be it 

Hope you find something for you.

[CLKD]

Dazned  -  I have said for years, I would take heroin  if it meant I never had another panic attack 
So far once I got medication that didn't have nausea as a side effect, although not a cure, ADs have given DH and I a Life again.

[crazydaisy]

Hi Lyn

I am a sufferer of Hyporarathyroidism too after Thyroid surgery 23yrs ago...its a horrible business when my calcium plays up I suffer from awful anxiety with the symptoms of low calcium too all that tingling, cramps its awful!  I too take a lot of calcium and have been in hospital on a IV a few times.

I don't take any AD at all as the side effects scare me, I have learnt to not let my anxiety bother me and most days it remains mild. I just want to ask have you had your calcium and Vit D  Magnesium etc..tested lately as low calcium makes anxiety a lot worse. Its a symptom of low calcium,

How much calcium do you take? are you on any activated Vit D and do you see an Endocrinologist?

best wishes x

[orchid]

Lyn I'm using tapping EFT for anxiety...You Tube a lady called Julie, works for me! I'm just off AD's cause of awful side effects I'm going to try 5HTP supplement that makes serotonin. The reviews are really good, take a look at Holland & Barrett website. I know what you're going through believe me!! Best book for me was FEAL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAY Susan Jeffers. Good coping strategies. Hope this helps, take care. X

[CLKD]

I never found any of those 'self help' books helpful  - even if the author had suffered with anxiety, I felt they were written by people who had no idea how disabling anxiety can be.