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[lesley998]

Hello all,

I have not posted on the forums for a while,  although I keep up with quite a bit.

I'm 54, and am only using Vagifem for physical menopausal symptoms.  I was on equine HRT for about six months two years ago, but suffered with visual migraines and was advised to stop.

I think I am coping pretty well with menopause, and have come off lightly compared to what I see from other ladies.  In the early days, I had awful pains with tendons and joints which was probably due to estrogenic changes. I have had my share of hot flushes and sweats, which seems to be cyclic...I can have weeks of feeling great with just minor sweating, then equally, have weeks of flushing and sweating which seems to last all day and wake me once or  twice at night.

However, I am suffering at the moment with a very odd feelings on waking in the morning, and I wonder if anyone else identifies with this.  I would not describe myself as 'depressed' or anxious,  (I have have been on 20mg fluoxetine daily for about three years) and generally I am pretty upbeat, energetic, and up for most things.  But I have been waking with awful feelings of doom, mostly when I sleepily start to focus on the day ahead and I just do not want to get up.   I genuinely want to turn over and bury my head in the pillows and weep.  It is almost like I am paralysed.   It's not 'tiredness', I feel awake, It is more like a feeling that I cannot cope with life.  I honestly have to psyche myself up to physically get out of bed and usually it takes a good half an hour.  Once I am up, I start to feel slightly better, and usually by noon I am bustling about, planning my day and feel pretty good.  By 9pm I would say I feel at my very best - energetic, happy...then go to bed and boom...next morning it all starts again.   

I wonder if this is a cortisol/hormone thing?  I would love to know if anyone else identifies.

Sweet Pea

[CLKD]

This began for me years before peri ……. I would wake in the early hours and have to get out of bed, get dressed - then I sat for hours ……  now I wake each morning not wanting to wake up but once up and breakfast is done, I improve.

Early morning wakening is a sign of clinical depression.  Depression can begin with hormonal upheaval.  How's your diet in the evening?

[Spangles]

Hi Sweet Pea
This sounds like me most mornings I'm afraid, I'm so fed up with it I fear I'll be like it forever. I do think it is hormonal thing most of the time but how we remedy it I don't know.
I hope you feel better soon and I'm sorry I don't have any answers for you.
Shellb
xXx

[peri]

Hi sweet pea I agree with CLKD it sounds like clinical depression to me too.  I had a bout of it (reactive depression)in my thirties when my mum died and it was exactly as you describe. What time of day do you take your fluoxetine maybe altering the time you take it may make a difference x

[CLKD]

Or maybe up the dosage for 2 weeks?

When depressed what the weather was doing made no difference  - it could be bright sunshine and I would be crawling around the house, deeply afraid 

[Mary G]

Sweet pea, sorry to hear you are having problems.  You mentioned visual migraines while on HRT, was this HRT with both oestrogen and progesterone?  I too have visual migraines when taking progesterone HRT - they are also called silent migraines or optical migraines and they consist of a shimmering, jagged image in both eyes that lasts for about 25 minutes before disappearing to the upper field of the eye.  Mine are caused only by the use of synthetic progesterone, nothing else, and I was wondering if perhaps you could have been suffering from something similar while you were taking HRT.

Because of this problem, I switched to using just the oestrogen gel with occasional progesterone (Utrogestan) and that has helped because at least I have it under control.  I am just about to start on a trial run of natural progesterone cream (Serinity) in the hope that I can get rid of the silent migraines altogether.  I have never got to the bottom of it but there is something in artificial progesterone that causes problems for some people.  I don't know about you but I never had migraines before my own progesterone levels fell and the artificial ones became dominant.

If your symptoms continue, you might want to consider a different type of HRT along those lines.  It does sounds as though your morning depression could be hormone related because I had something similar in the past (particularly while taking Angeliq which was a continuous combined HRT) but it could also be because I am not a morning person, I'm not sure. 

[CLKD]

 

I used to be a morning person, now I prefer afternoons and evenings  .  Less commitments to face.  ?

[honeybun]

Clinical depression....that's a big statement to make.
I wake every morning with anxiety and a churning stomach and sometimes I just want to stay where I am.....however I'm anything but clinically depressed.

Hormonal anxiety is more likely unless anything else is diagnosed by a GP.
Anxiety is always worse first thing.

It's a case of easing into the day. If necessary then set an alarm for earlier than you need to actually be up.
Try getting up and making a cuppa, take it back to bed and read a book or the news if you feel like it. Mindfulness and relaxation are also very good.

Beta blockers can be helpful if your GP thinks they are appropriate. I take a tiny dose each morning.


Honeybun
X

[Dandelion]

Hello all,

I have not posted on the forums for a while,  although I keep up with quite a bit.

I'm 54, and am only using Vagifem for physical menopausal symptoms.  I was on equine HRT for about six months two years ago, but suffered with visual migraines and was advised to stop.

I think I am coping pretty well with menopause, and have come off lightly compared to what I see from other ladies.  In the early days, I had awful pains with tendons and joints which was probably due to estrogenic changes. I have had my share of hot flushes and sweats, which seems to be cyclic...I can have weeks of feeling great with just minor sweating, then equally, have weeks of flushing and sweating which seems to last all day and wake me once or  twice at night.

However, I am suffering at the moment with a very odd feelings on waking in the morning, and I wonder if anyone else identifies with this.  I would not describe myself as 'depressed' or anxious,  (I have have been on 20mg fluoxetine daily for about three years) and generally I am pretty upbeat, energetic, and up for most things.  But I have been waking with awful feelings of doom, mostly when I sleepily start to focus on the day ahead and I just do not want to get up.   I genuinely want to turn over and bury my head in the pillows and weep.  It is almost like I am paralysed.   It's not 'tiredness', I feel awake, It is more like a feeling that I cannot cope with life.  I honestly have to psyche myself up to physically get out of bed and usually it takes a good half an hour.  Once I am up, I start to feel slightly better, and usually by noon I am bustling about, planning my day and feel pretty good.  By 9pm I would say I feel at my very best - energetic, happy...then go to bed and boom...next morning it all starts again.   

I wonder if this is a cortisol/hormone thing?  I would love to know if anyone else identifies.

Sweet Pea

Hi Sweat Pea

You described something, very well, that I also experience, I've had it for about six years, just waking up feeling doomed, not wanting to get up.
If I lie in bed too long after I have woke, I am have myself in tears, and it is at this time on the morning, that 'new worries' occur to me, things to do with my home, and paperwork etc, or whatever new worry that pops up, out of the blue.

HRT has helped to a certain degree with the morning dread, and its helped with the flushes, but I do still get that horrible morning feeling and am still pretty depressed and anxious.

[honeybun]

Then surely getting up and distracting yourself is a good idea. Lying and dwelling is never a good idea.
It's all about coping strategies. Don't just give in....put things in place that helps. Be it an early morning walk, turning on the TV, listening to the radio.

We have to take steps to help ourselves because no one else is going to do it for us.


Honeybun
X

[Dandelion]

Or maybe up the dosage for 2 weeks?

When depressed what the weather was doing made no difference  - it could be bright sunshine and I would be crawling around the house, deeply afraid 

same here with me.
sometimes brighter days seemed worse

[Dandelion]

yeah i agree HB, about lying in bed.
I've been getting up more soon after i wake up lately

[CLKD]

I wasn't able to stay in bed.  Once awake however early the hour I had to get out ……..

Sweet Pea - have a chat with your GP, there is a chart which he can read to you which will give an idea as to the depth of depression.  Think about your diet and when you eat, maybe a snack before bed will ease how you feel on waking.  It is Trial and Error …...

[honeybun]

Sweat pea clearly said that she is Not depressed.

Why are we talking about depression here.


Honeybun
X

[dazned]

As you are already on fluoxetine,an ADS, maybe your dosage might need tweaking a bit