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[KarineT]

Hello Everyone,

I found this link:

https://www.livi.co.uk/your-health/lets-talk-about-menopause-and-mental-health/

Apparently the body evetually gets used to a new level of hormones. I would like to think that it's correct but from what I've read on this forum, it makes me doubtful.

What do you think.

 

[Kate57]

Hello Karine,
I think that I have been post menopause for about 10/11 years, my last period was the summer of 2009.
I've had most of the menopause problems now including the anxiety, and just recently the VA.
The anxiety has calmed...I can say that the woman I was in 2009 is not the woman I am today.
For the better?
On the whole, I would say so...
I suppose that's why they call it the 'change'.

[KarineT]

Thanks both of you for your replies.

I will be 3 years postmeno in January 2023 and I'm just hoping that my anxiety and low mood won't get worse. That's my worry and I think about it regularly..

Karine

[jorainbow]

It's difficult but try not to think about it regularly. I found through the years the more I focused on anxiety feelings the more it was present. What helped me was accepting and eventually it faded into the background. Anxious emotions do still pop up as does low mood but that's ok

[Kathleen]

Hello ladies.

The psychological symptoms of the menopause are my main problem and have been for sometime.
I have been told by various medics that they do resolve eventually and I know women who have had the same experiences and have come out the other side. All this means that there is hope but of course it is hard to believe that when on yet another roller-coaster ride!

Sending hugs to everyone dealing with this issue.

Take care everyone.

K.

[dangermouse]

I started off about 8 years ago with physical anxiety for a few days a month, which stretched to 2 weeks, then 3, then only a few days of relief, and then for the entire month. Had other severe symptoms too, but this is just focusing on mood.

Post meno now, nearly 2 years (if go by periods) and it's now gradually gone in the opposite direction and I now have 8 days of very clear physical anxiety. It shows that a 28 day cycle is still occurring, just without the bleed to confirm it. I suspect that will fall to a few days and then go completely if it's the opposite of how it started!

[sheila99]

Perhaps some women adjust but I'm sure there are others who carry on suffering. I'd take what the medical profession says with a pinch of salt. How many have really stopped suffering and how many just don't mention it because they know their doctor can't /won't do anything about it? I wonder if it's been swept under the carpet rather than gone away and women have just accepted it as their fate. There are many on long term on ads, I wonder how many or them are actually oestrogen deficient?
  I suspect there are changes to the brain that are irreversible. I had brain fog in untreated peri. Although it improved with hrt I'm nowhere near as sharp as I used to be. 4 years on hrt now so unlikely there will be any further improvement.

[KarineT]

Anxiety and low mood are for defo the most difficult symptoms of the menopause. It's very strange because sometimes it kicks in out of nowhere.  It's like you're lying down relaxing and suddenly there is this surge of adrenaline and you get this horrible sensation in the stomach (butterflies).

I don't think ADs are any good, especially long term, because of the side-effects.  One lady was telling me once that her mother had severe depression but it wasn't meno-related.  She was on AD's long term, I don't know which ones, but she eventually developped Parkinson because of it and it killed her in the end.

[KarineT]

Dangermouse, when you say physical anxiety what do you mean?  Anxiety is basically another word for fear and it's both mental and phhsical, i.e. the classic butterflies in the stonach because one might think of an unpleasant situarion.  But sometimes, I find that the physical sensation comes first and wiith or without the troubling thoughts.  Very strange.

So do you feel that things have improved for you?  I think you might have mentioned it before but are you on HRT?  For me I sort of get phases.  I tend to get more affected during spring/summer.  Things started to go wrong for me in the spring/summer of 2018, when I started experiencing moderate to severe dizziness on a frequent basis. I think I was in late perimenopause back then.  I was so worried about my health that I had all the test under the sun to rule out any medical conditions but evrything was fine.  I still get dizzy occasionally but it's not as bad as before.  Occasionally,  I have periods where I feel completely fine and and not worry about a single thing but it doesn't last and it reverts back to anxious moments.  I really do hope that the further I am in postmeno, the more I will improve psychologically.  As for HRT, I've never been on it.  Even if I was I would never get back the same levels of oestrogen I once had when I was still in my reproductive years.  High levels of oestrogen can never be regained after the menopause, even with HRT. Would it be too dangerous to replace all the oestrogen via HRT?  What is the maximum level one can have?

[Kathleen]

Hello again ladies.


Sheila99 -  My faith in the medical profession has been severely tested over recent years and the contradictory advice I have received about the menopause has only added to that.

My meno clinic insisted that I needed more and more Oestrogen but an NHS consultant told me that my symptoms were from too much.  Due to bleeding etc I am now reducing my gel but I am still waiting for significant improvement in my symptoms.

I hope that the consultant is right and  these distressing symptoms do subside at some point. Fingers crossed ladies!

Take care.

K.

[dangermouse]

The physical anxiety term is to differentiate from thought-driven anxiety. It is caused by the brain pumping out extra stress hormones due to sudden hormone or heart fluctuations or in response to pain. You cannot 'talk it down' as you can when your thoughts are triggering the stress hormones.

To know how to tell the difference is if the anxiety suddenly comes out of nowhere when comfortably watching TV, for example. This can then, of course, cause secondary neurotic thoughts that elevate the anxiety but if you understand it's hormones that can alleviate any neurosis.

No I am not on HRT and I think many will say that HRT often doesn't help with this symptom anyway, as your own hormones will be fluctuating away in the background and adding more stimulating oestrogen can add to the volatility without a strong and constant supply of progesterone to keep it in check.

[Taz2]

Karine I had the type of anxiety you mention for around a year before starting my hot flushes. Once the hot flushes started I realised that the anxiety surges always happened just before the hot flush hit. I don't pretend to understand why but I did know it was a different type of anxious feeling than I experienced when facing a stressful situation. HRT quickly sorted this type of anxiety for me but has made no difference to my other anxiety.

jaypo HRT got rid of those terrifying night time anxiety feelings for me.

Taz x

[joziel]

Apparently the brain restructures itself during menopause, due to the lack of estrogen. (Google Lisa Mosconi How Menopause Affects the Brain)

What happens if we keep taking estrogen? Does that restructuring not take place? Is that for the better (reduces the risk of dementia)?

[sheila99]

It's appalling isn't it Kathleen? I rarely go to the Dr now with what I believe are meno symptoms as I know exactly how the conversation will go and I just can't be bothered with it.
Thanks dangermouse,I'm not on HRT either and never know if would help with anxiety or not ,like a lot of women,mine is mostly in the early hours,waking from sleep thinking I'm dying or the likes,quite terrifying

That was mine too, cured by hrt. If you didn't have anxiety before peri it's very likely it's caused by oestrogen deficiency. If it's a long standing problem maybe not.

[Songbird]

Yep. For me, anxiety has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember (to varying degrees depending on what was happening at any particular time).  Years before menopause the odd course of ADs when it was bad sorted the problem out.
Peri and post menopause, for me, saw a real uptick in anxiety. Eventually I relented and started HRT a few months ago and can’t believe that the anxiety is gone and have no palpitations now (thank goodness!)
Everyone is different though