Thank you for your replies.
My period is quite regular. It was the timing of my anxiety that really led me to consider HRT as it felt hormonal.
I've suffered with pretty bad brain fog, dizziness, aching muscles & fatigue over the past 2 yrs & it wasn't until i kept a closer look into it, that i suspected peri.
My Drs sent me for brain scans, i wore a heart monitor for 4 days (turned out i have pulmonary hypertension & I'm losing my hearing) so Drs put everything i am feeling down to that.
But my gynae is convinced its hormone related & i agree with him.
I've been looking into testosterone. Is there a test to see if i need it? I'm not sure i could say to my gynae, i need testosterone wheni don't really know much about it.
I've got magnesium glycinate & am starting it tomorrow.
Sheri, I really feel for you. I too had crippling anxiety after plummeting into the final stages of perimenopause almost overnight. I had never experienced anxiety and it was awful. So you have my sympathy.
In my experience (and this is JUST my own experience, we are all different) it has taken time - not to be underestimated - and HRT. I am pretty sure that if I were just to wait out the next few years it would pass, but I am not prepared to do that. My quality of life was so low that I was determined to find HRT that works. Which has not been easy.
Your gynae seems to be on the ball. If all other things - Vit D, magnesium, Omega 3, B vits etc - are all sorted then you can be sure it is something hormonal. The advice about reducing stress is often underestimated. It is quite a mind-shift for those of us who have spent our lives doing everything and rarely saying 'no', but it is important to build a hedge of protection around yourself for a little while until things calm down.
Don't expect people to understand, most don't and in fairness I am not sure I would have if I had not experienced this myself. For me, routine and predictability were key. Eating at set times, sleeping at set times (or going to bed, at least). My GP gave me a short course of sleeping tablets to teach my body to sleep again until HRT kicked in. HRT is not perfect, but it has helped my sleep.
Walking also helped me a lot. Doesn't need to be miles a day, even just 3 ten minute walks round the block. It soon adds up.
For what it's worth, I couldn't deal with the patches (though they would be my preferred option). No idea why. But I have been fine with oestrogel. Can't do synthetic progestins, though many are fine with them, but am fine with utrogestan (vaginally). Menopause truly is a very individual thing and not one of us should have to apologise for not fitting the 'one size fits all' approach that many GPs have.
Re testosterone, my GP practice will not test it - then again, they rarely test for anything these days! Medichecks do a test that will tell you your Free Androgen Index, then you or your doctor can do a calculation to get the % of free testosterone. If you have an enlightened GP practice they might do the test or at least draw the blood for it for free. If not, it can be drawn at Superdrug or similar for a fee. Someone has already mentioned the Newson Health factsheet on testosterone. It is helpful.
The anxiety will calm down as hormones settle and you will also learn how to deal with it. You know your body and your reactions better than anyone. It is very difficult to advocate for yourself at this stage of life, but know that there are many of us doing the same and hopefully draw strength from that. We are the pioneers, it seems!
Author
Topic: Estrogen or progesterone dominance maybe? (Read 3440 times)