Print

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

[Halfpint]

Hi Everyone,
I have been reading this forum a lot and it has helped me tremendously but I have a new symptom and wondered if anyone else suffers with this?
I have always been a bubbly person that likes a laugh and a joke but lately, I feel over sensitive about everything. I seem to be taking things people say to me personally whereas my old self would just laugh it off. I find myself unable to sleep and going over such petty little things in my mind. 
I have friends that I have known for years but lately, if they say something I take it personally and stew over it. I also have a very close friend who in all the years of our friendship has never done anything to annoy or upset me yet lately, things she says annoy or upset me and I stew over that as well or feel a sense of paranoia.
Hoping I am not alone in this feeling...and that it is indeed yet another peri menopause symptom and not something else?

[CLKD]

As we age some of us don't take any more crap  - so little issues that we have put up with for years suddenly become irritants.

I had an acquaintance who upset me a couple of years ago, I can hardly be sociable since ……… every time I see her I remember her words 

However, I am much better at speaking up for myself and have learnt to say 'no' to most things without giving it much thought! that way I don't jump in and regret it.

[dangermouse]

This is another way that anxiety manifests itself. You're in a hyper alert state so your mind is being tricked into thinking a problem exists when it doesn't and, hence, you're looking for solutions by over analysing everything.

I'm a psychotherapist and for non-hormonal anxiety we can rationalise this away but when our hormones are over stimulating our neurotransmitters it is tricky to talk it down. Knowing its hyper stimulation can help though so you can learn to ignore it and distract yourself. Breathing exercises and hypnosis can all help but when you're dealing with the CNS, as opposed to the thought driven part of your brain, it is more physical than psychological. However, we can stop the anxiety about the anxiety by accepting it and, hopefully, correcting it by rebalancing your hormones.

[CLKD]

 

[Halfpint]

Thanks Dangermouse that is very helpful as I have suffered with anxiety since childhood and it has manifested itself in many different forms but since I had my children over 16 years ago, I developed Health Anxiety which has increased dramatically in menopause.
I have never taken medication or had any CBT for my anxiety but I have read a lot of books on it and I know that I have to rationalise it and in most instances, I can..I try not to let it beat me.
It's very interesting to me what you have written as yes, it would appear as if this is just another way my anxiety is manifesting itself. One thing that was on my mind was something someone I work with had said to me on Friday..I had sleepless nights all weekend worrying it over and yet today at work, everything was fine and I feel lighter and am thinking I might just get a decent night sleep tonight!
I am grateful for your reply, it has really hit the nail on the head.

[Halfpint]

As we age some of us don't take any more crap  - so little issues that we have put up with for years suddenly become irritants.

I had an acquaintance who upset me a couple of years ago, I can hardly be sociable since ……… every time I see her I remember her words 

However, I am much better at speaking up for myself and have learnt to say 'no' to most things without giving it much thought! that way I don't jump in and regret it.

Thanks for your reply. That's interesting...I've often been one that would speak my mind...now I seem to have turned into a timid mouse although I have the words in my mind that I wish I could say to the person annoying me, I withdraw so I shall have to learn to overcome this new problem.

[CLKD]

Because of panic attacks I have to say 'no' or I will take on too much.  I never say 'yes' in the evening because I'm a different person, with very little anxiety but in the morning ………. I regret getting out of bed if I say 'yes'.

I don't justify myself much these days either - ………….. or I get ratty.

[Halfpint]

Because of panic attacks I have to say 'no' or I will take on too much.  I never say 'yes' in the evening because I'm a different person, with very little anxiety but in the morning ………. I regret getting out of bed if I say 'yes'.

I don't justify myself much these days either - ………….. or I get ratty.

Hi, I've suffered with anxiety/panic attacks since childhood. What I have learnt over the years is to try to push myself to do the things I panic over and although it's not always easy, it is satisfying when I manage it and feel like I'm beating my anxiety. I spent a good few years making an excuse not to do stuff or go places as I was panicking I would have a panic/anxiety attack. Or, I would not return to to the places where I had an attack like a certain supermarket or restaurant...if you let it, it really can take over your life. I had not realised until I read about it that  menopause increases anxiety so it explains now why mine has become almost 24/7 lately.

[CLKD]

Oh well done you!  It was easier to avoid situations: in case.  I have travelled to town OK but once parked the panic took over. I've fled many a supermarket  leaving at loaded trolley behind.  I can't force myself past the anxiety levels which floors me, I have to take emergency medication.  Otherwise   

[Dorothy]

Emotional changes are definitely one of the symptoms. 

One of the things I found hardest to deal with was the way I would suddenly become tearful over something really trivial - it took about 4 years for me to be diagnosed so I just thought I was going round the bend.  I also get irritated by things much more easily and generally more anxious.  I just keep reminding myself that it is not me, it's my hormones acting up!

[Halfpint]

Oh well done you!  It was easier to avoid situations: in case.  I have travelled to town OK but once parked the panic took over. I've fled many a supermarket  leaving at loaded trolley behind.  I can't force myself past the anxiety levels which floors me, I have to take emergency medication.  Otherwise   

I have mentioned the website 'no more panic'...have a look on there, lots of useful information and it does say that Supermarkets are anxiety/panic triggers it's something to do with the lighting. For me, I spend the whole shop feeling panicky and by the time I get to the checkout and have to bend down into the trolley to get the food out, I then start to feel lightheaded and get in a real panic that I'm going to faint or something...I pack my shopping so quickly saying to myself 'hurry up, hurry up'..yet as soon as I get outside, my anxiety eases. 

[Hurdity]

Hi Halfpint

 

Great that you are able to use mental strategies to cope with hormonal anxiety - well at least the worsening effects due to hormonal changes.

Hurdity x

[Halfpint]

Emotional changes are definitely one of the symptoms. 

One of the things I found hardest to deal with was the way I would suddenly become tearful over something really trivial - it took about 4 years for me to be diagnosed so I just thought I was going round the bend.  I also get irritated by things much more easily and generally more anxious.  I just keep reminding myself that it is not me, it's my hormones acting up!

Hi Dorothy...I have always suffered badly with PMT and read that those that do will suffer worse in menopause. That's how I feel...like I've got permanent PMT. I'm always tearful and very irritable and moody. I remember the first clear sign of menopause was just extreme fatigue. I also sigh an awful lot which annoys my husband. He always says 'what's wrong with you now'?! I really lack motivation nowadays. It does help reading on this forum that others are experiencing the same because as you say, at first you think you're going round the bend!

[Halfpint]

Thanks Hurdity...I think my years and years of struggling with anxiety have stood me in good stead but it's never easy.

[Halfpint]

Halfpint, I'm another one who can relate to your post.  I've always been an anxious person but it's been off the scale at times through peri including over analysing what people say to me or what I've said to them.  This has been better more recently since my periods have become more spaced out, in fact it's the anxiety thats one of the signs my hormones are fluctuating, except for the health anxiety which seems to be almost constant annoyingly!

Thanks for your explanation Dangermouse, that's so interesting and does help to get it into perspective.

S x

Hi Sparkle, so far, my periods are still monthly but getting closer together (when i always used to never have a normal 28 day cycle) and much more painful (when i never used to really suffer with pain) and heavier (when I've always been relatively light) but I find they really drain me now each month.
I have had awful health anxiety since having my children...for a long time, I let it beat me but I have read up a lot on it and now realise that it definitely runs in my family (not all have anxiety, some have OCD although anxiety is itself a form of OCD). As I have got older and looked back on things, a lot of stuff about other people in my family having it have made more sense. Unfortunately, one of my children is showing signs of it which of course I blame myself for...just something else to stress myself over!
This new thing of feeling quite paranoid about what people say to me and worrying over it was 'worrying' me but Dangermouses advice really did make sense. I now see it as just another manifestation of my anxiety, so will try to use the rationalising I use for my health anxiety.