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[EleanorB]

Hi,

Hoping to hear from some of you about your memory loss experiences. I am 49 and now 11 months without a period, so it would seem heading out of peri into menopause. Over the last year along with a lot of other peri symptoms I have been very distressed by memory loss. I have suffered from severe atypical migraine for years, which hasn't previously impacted my memory but has caused dreadful brain fog. My neurologist feels the memory issues could be migraine (symptoms can change - migraine likes variety it would seem.) I was sent for dementia testing by him as I was worried and had an mri and was given the all clear on both. I have also been b12 deficient previously and that is being investigated again. Although so far it would seem I may no longer be.

I am getting brain fog which worries me less than the memory issues, although I am freelance and currently working only a few hours a week as if i tax my brain both the brain fog and memory get worse and I find working almost impossible.  I know a lot of people talk about forgetting words or what they went into a room for, I do get those things. But what bothers me is what they call destination memory - namely remembering what I have said previously to whom in conversation. It's like I can remember what someone said to me when we talked but a lot of the time have no memory of what I have told them about me. I am so aware of this I regularly start sentences with ‘I think I may have told you this.' I can also get periods of blankness in conversation where it feels like when I try to call things up into my memory there's just a blank. I used to be someone who loved chatting and socialising with close friends but now this feeling of 80 percent of the time not remembering what i've Told them is making me want to withdraw.

I'm trying to work out what's going on and what steps to take for both brain fog and memory. I am scheduled To have a mirena coil put in in August as with endometriosis this is the only way to commence hrt. But I know hrt could exacerbate migraine so am wary. I don't know whether I should be pushing for a change of migraine preventatives, b12 injections or going the hrt route. I am also booked in with a sleep clinic due to 2 years of interrupted sleep due to insomnia. This could be the cause.

I am SO distressed by all this, not least of which because I need to work more than I am. Any input re people's experiences with memory loss during this stage of life would be hugely helpful.Does anyone feel their cognition is impacted to the point where working is too much? I have noticed that sugar consumption and stress exacerbate both the brain fog and memory issues.

[Dotty]

Hi

New research on hrt has actually shown that hrt can improve migraines. Transdermal is the best method and if you are having a Mirena fitted then all you would need would be oestrogen in the form of a gel or patch.

Hrt should also help with the insomnia and brain fog.

Good luck xx

[EleanorB]

Thanks for your reply. Talking to other migraineurs it seems to be 50/50. Some are helped, some get significantly worse, hence my trepidation.

[Dotty]

Have a look at Dr Louise Newson's website . She is very up to date on all info including migraine.

[Wilks]

Hi, sorry to hear you're so distressed. I've had migraine problems all my life but the HRT (which I've been on for 3 years) has definitely not exacerbated it. Also, I've found that testosterone has helped a lot with brain fog. Got to dash to work but can explain more later x

[EleanorB]

Hi wilks,

Thank you, please do write more when you can, would be really helpful.

[CLKD]

Brain fog covers it really well.

I had my last period in 2002.

Last Autumn I thought often about moving a herb from it's site to another spot in our garden.  However, it hasn't grown where it had been for over 20 years and I have no recollection of actually digging it out nor where I might have planted it  .  The thinking part of my brain has no recall.  It was worrying me last night as it happens.  I have similar issues with other things that kept my brain active for a while but can't remember what I actually finished up doing. 

We have a thread: "Doing Stupid Things" : as well as "There's a Strange Woman in my House" - do have a read ;-).

4 me it was having lots going on in my brain for months.  My brain feels heavy if that makes sense 

[EleanorB]

Thanks for your reply. Your anecdote about the herb made me laugh in total sympathy. I know exactly what you mean. I couldn't find those threads by putting the title in search. Any other way I might find them?

[Sgtvhilts]

Oh yes,
Well, not so much memory loss, but total brain fog and very forgetful . I referred to it as my spagetti head. It is only now that i am on HRT that i realise how bad it had got as of course it has all resolVed.
Other symptoms were horrible anxiety , really unpleasant, most of the time I couldn't even articulate what i was worrying about, headaches, a serious lack of motivation,snappy.
It was made worse by the lack of sleep, within just 3 !!!!! Days of taking HRT it had all mostly stopped with hindsight i wish i had started the HRT when it all started about age 45!

[CLKD]

I'll bounce them ;-)

[EleanorB]

Thanks clkd, that would be great, I will look out for them. And thanks sgtv, that does inspire me to push forward with the hrt despite my fears. I know exactly what you mean re the general anxiety. I just have a day to day feeling of something off, miserable, not depression (had that after a bereavement once and it was different) just an agitated, low feeling that can escalate with stress. Although I ‘prefer' that and the hot flushes and bladder issues and itchy skin and insomnia to the brain fog and memory issues which are frankly intolerable.

[Sgtvhilts]

You have just written exactly all the symptoms i had- note ‘had'being the operative word.
I am really aware of the risks with hrt-  but i have a life to live now and not wonder what might come in 10 yrs- none of us might be here then!!!

Yes, i might get the big C because of HRT, BUT i might get it anyway and also i might get run over by s bus or crash the car.
I have had several bereavments over the last 4 years- they were all very old, but i look back at them and agree with them- we are only here once and you have to live the life given to you i intend to life it to the full with no regrets ( i can say that now my spagetti head has gone!)

[Wilks]

Hi again
To expand on what I said earlier, I used to have frequent migraines, and hormones were a trigger for me. I had a particularly bad year or 2 with them just before I started HRT, which looking back, may be attributable to perimenopause.

Anyway, I started HRT (Evorel sequi patches) and also had counselling (as part of that we discussed migraine and the distress it was causing me). I believe that both of those things helped reduce my migraines. I keep a migraine diary so I know for sure that they are less severe and less frequent these days, and I'm still on HRT. (Interestingly, the contraceptive pill exacerbated them).
I didn't find that the HRT alone did a lot for my brain fog, but I started testosterone a few months ago and that seems to have helped. I had been struggling to concentrate especially in the afternoons at work, and felt like I was trapped inside a bell jar (if that makes sense!)!
Hope that helps a little? x

[EleanorB]

Thanks so much for all your replies. Makes this whole experience easier knowing I can talk to people who understand. Of my two closest female friends, one went through this early ish and only realised retrospectively that worsening depression at the time had been menopause related and the other is sailing through without a single symptom. My migraines also started worsening two years ago at, I realise, onset of peri.

[CLKD]

Some find it useful to keep a mood/food/symptom diary.