Menopause Discussion > Other Health Discussion
UPDATE: Effects of Depression
CLKD:
There seem several new Members suffering with various degrees of depression and anxiety so am :bounce: this - if anyone wants to know more about these horrors, which are much better, do ask - or send me a PM.
Whilst hormones may well cause the above, when I was so depressed (1980s/90s) that I was unable to get out of bed, eat, drink, think - it never crossed my mind that hormones might be involved. Nor did my GP mention it. It was difficult enough to find an AD which eased symptoms. Which they did once I found 1 that didn't make me sick .
CLKD:
Here we are ladyBT
Thing is CLKD - not amount of therapy is gonna help if the problem is really screwed up chemicals in your body. I always describe it like having an untuned engine in a car - if you don't get the oil/water/air and electrical balance right - the engine runs rough/loudly or not at all! - bodies are just the same. If we could all change the way our bodies react just by thinking there wouldn't be about 47k + women posting on this site, the majority of whom have hormonal depression or emotional psychological issues due to the female chemicals in their female bodies!
To me although it might seem far too simple loads of illness that cant seem to be fixed are all to do with in-balance in the body. The NHS never does proper testing of hormone levels - vitamins, minerals, thyroid, cortisol, inflammation in the blood etc.
Are you still seeing anyone? Mental health services are always going on about "your support network". I didnt have anyone - no friends (didnt have time) loads of illness in my family - my mother was disabled - my children were premature and one was a great ormond street heart baby having operations - then I married into a family with genetic cardiomyopathy!! only I didnt know it at the time - so I was always the one looking after everyone else.
Has it got any better as you have got older or have you just learnt to live with it?
Many years ago there was a train of thought that concerned chemical imbalances in the brain. My Dad in the 1960s underwent treatment in the form of deep sleep. The idea I think was that the body would heal itself, including the brain if left to rest without input from outside stresses. Along with that awful therapy ........... where the brain is stimulated.
Dad was given lots of drugs in order to maintain deep sleep. For a while it seemed to work. When my depression hit in the 1980s, I was told that I was 'pre-disposed' to depression. So no offer of finding out if there was/is a chemical imbalance.
My pre-menstrual weeping episodes were different to the depression suffered later on. CBT never helped. I went into therapy to get rid of issues that were bugging me = anxiety. That worked well; discuss, decide, ditch. It didn't help my depression.
When my friend ended his life 2 years ago I contacted 'mind' charity as I was in danger for a while. They were very helpful at the time and I didn't need to go to a walk-in centre. I stopped any counselling sessions in the late 1990s. My GP keeps me topped up with appropriate medication and I am more aware of how depression creeps up. I have a loving husband :-*. Depression nor anxiety R no longer the forefront of my daily worries, in that I can go out and about - as long as I don't plan too far ahead!
Ladybt28:
CLKD - I know that there are supposed to be chemical imbalances in the brain which anti-depressants are supposed to fix but I think having had a lifetime of depression that the hormone thing can be much more of an over-ridding factor that is just ignored.
I am going to write something which when you actually consider it is totally horrific and knowing what I think I know now I cannot believe (a) how it was allowed to happen (b) why any doctor thought it was ok and (c) how I went along with it.
Here is the shortest version I can write
I started with depression and anxiety at 13 - I was given meds. I was told by a very forward thinking doctor in 1987 that I had ME (used too be called Yuppie flu!) because I had no energy and achy joints but there was nothing he could do for me and to go away and read new books on the subject. At 26 I had my first child and had mega post-natal depression whilst still on the meds. The short version is that for 40 years I have been prescribed and taken anti-depressants with the sum total of a total of 2.5 years off in all that time! I stopped taking them 2.5 years ago. In all that time they didnt make me feel any better, they only made me feel slightly more in control than when not taking them and basically they just made me feel numb. I was sent off and on for counselling and mental health services but I felt pretty permanently down all those years.
I came off my meds whilst peri and the anxiety and depression was still there but it felt different - more in your face - I suppose because I was no longer numb!
So knowing what I know now about the symptoms of oestrogen deficiency - and hormonal problems generally - what conclusion have I come to?
(a) that I had hormonal problems throughout my fertile life resulting in the bad PMT - the heavy bleeding - the aching joints/lack of energy - diagnosed as ME and Fibrmyalgia - the weird headaches and the depression and panic attacks.
(b) the anxiety and depression was hormonal, because no pill or therapy made a blind bit of difference - I was not clinically depressed.
(c) now in menopause - the anxiety and depression/joint pain etc are just more of the same (without the depression meds) and if I can get my hormones right maybe I can live my life vaguely normally for what is left of it.
The terrifying thing is never once throughout all the PMT- premature births - 40 years of anti-depressants - aches pains and other weird episodes did any healthcare professional suggest or mention that I might have problems with my hormones or put 2 + 2 together and see that my problems started when my periods did!
I have said things like "imbalance - vitamins - thyroid - good gut flora etc" to medical people and they think I'm made and also they have said out loud that "I'm making it up". Now it's hormone deficiency because I'm menopausal I'm not making it up?
That's why I am shouting and screaming now at everyone about HRT - it might just be the answer - I am praying it is - because otherwise it has been a miserable life. I have an amazing husband and great children but how good it is on the outside cant take away what you feel in your body or your head. I am so disappointed that I couldn't or didnt find all this out sooner.
CLKD:
Of course you are disappointed. On the one hand you got on with Life. You were told in good faith that your symptoms were due to X, Y, Z and 'yuppie 'flu' was a common diagnosis during those years >sigh<. I think at the time it was believed to be a credible diagnosis.
Sometimes it is easier to accept medication. When I felt depressed I could not lift my head from the pillow and was certainly not well enough to fight for appropriate treatment. But I was better once medication kicked in. Fortunately.
Trial and Error when the patient is too ill or tired to query if that is the correct way to go. Common across the various specialities sadly. In recent years I think it's because the Government of the Day doesn't allow GPs time to get to know their patients!
Don't beat yourself up about not realising. Maybe keep a mood/food/symptom diary to chart your forward journey?
CLKD:
Has anyone read Bryony Gordon's books, I found 'mad girl' a page turner.
There is a series of walks where 1 joins in at a specified time. Called 'mental health mates' it may be of use to yourself or others you are in contact with. There is a very good web-site.
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