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[Mrs. Boofy]

Thanks for allowing me to join this group.  I have been peri for over 5 years.  Hair thinning, dizziness, lack of focus,high anxiety (never had before), painful joints, night sweats, hot almost all of the time, palpitations that come and go, extreme fatigue, zero sex drive.  All of these symptoms seem to cycle.  Finally got on sertaline to help with the anxiety.  Has helped quite a bit.  Periods are just starting to get wonky, days early, days late.  This roller coaster is almost too much to handle.  My GP's won't do hormone level testing, say they don't need to as all my symptoms are due to being Peri. Said it can last for up to 10+ years before I even get to menopause.  I just want it all to end!!!!!!!  It's really taking a toll on me.  I work full time, also a wife & mother.  All I want to do most of the time is curl up in bed and hide.  See, like I said HOT MESS! 

[CLKD]

   don't know where the 'up to 10 years' comes from  - how long is that piece of string.  Menopause is the last period ever; sometimes though a lady can go 9-18 months between the next  : I didn't stop carrying protection for over 5 years.

For me it was intermittent loss of periods for 2-3 years then they stopped ....... a few flushes at night, itchiness on the insteps at night after removal of socks, itchiness across the back of my shoulders ........

Browse round.  Blood tests are reliably un-reliable because hormones levels wax and wane 24/7.  Make notes.

I think that anxiety increases at this time of Life and if you can gain control it will help enormously!  As oestrogen levels drop so the skin becomes dry: inside the nostrils, vagina, legs, deep in the ears: and muscles may become lax = aches and pains  - hence The Change  .

[Hurdity]

Hi Mrs Boofy

 


You haven't said how old you are? Also your docs should not have given you sertraline for anxiety that is hormonally induced. This is not the first line of treatment unless your anxiety was due to other causes. Even so..... this happens far too often and is an easy way out for docs rather than look at your overall health and helping you find other ways to cope! Many women suffer from more extreme pms in the years leading up to peri-menopause.

When you say you've been experiencing this for 5 years, do you mean you have had cyclical changes ( irregular cycles and periods) during this time as well as symptoms? If so your doc should have defo have offered you HRT not ADs! If you are under 40 then your doc should do blood tests and also should consider this between age 40 and 45, as this could suggest a premature or early menopause. If you are over 45 then symptoms and cyclical changes are sufficient to diagnose peri-menopause and hRT is appropriate if you want relief.

As always lifestyle changes may be necessary so that you are in the best of health as this new phase of life approaches ie diet, exercise, body weight etc.

I did last quite a lot longer than Stellajane because I didn't realise that for some women hot flushes go on for years - I kept thinking they would stop and used alternative stuff ( which didn't work!) - until quality of life and sleep were suffering. I'm still on it in mid 60's.

Hurdity x

[Mrs. Boofy]

Hurdity-

I'm 46 and I had begged for something from my GP for several years before they gave in to help ease the swings of my new found anxiety. Could the anxiety be from all the stressors of being a full time employee, wife, mother, and step mother.  Yep, a bit.  Though most of my existence I never had much trouble handling what life threw my way.  I honestly feel with the research I've done and all the MD appointments that a lot of the anxiety/doom & gloom feelings were/are compiled with the hormone changes that are happening within.

To be honest, I'm not really interested in HRT, it scares me quite a bit.  I can genuinely say, that the sertraline does allow me to mentally handle these hormonal swings and all that comes with it a bit better.  I don't think I'm about to keel over every single day anymore.

My physicians were very against giving me the medication I was asking for.  They consistently suggested lifestyle changes, which I did my best to comply, with out much relief.  Not to mention soooo much money spent in natural remedies in attempts to ease all that ails me.

When I speak of it being cyclic, I'll be a mess for several weeks and then I'll notice it 'releases' me for a while.  The symptoms have progressively gotten worse/more intense as the years have gone on.  The anxiety is only a piece of the complex puzzle that I feel I've become within. 

I'm just glad to have found this group that lets me know I'm not alone. 

[CLKD]

Hurdity - sometimes it is better to prescribe what is known to work for anxiety and/or depression so that the patient gains some relief.  HRT can be considered once the patient is more stable.  It can take a while as we know for someone to find a suitable HRT.

Mrs Boofy - don't dismiss HRT out of hand as it's replacing what the body was making and can ease many symptoms that can cause misery.  Also do be aware that HRT is necessary for vaginal atrophy of which we have several threads on here    - [My Bladder etc. ........ ]. As your periods become more spaced, disappear, return what you describe is likely to happen.  Maybe keeping a mood/food/symptom diary would help?

Browse round.  Make notes.  That way you will be prepared to consider HRT if you feel it appropriate.  Quality of Life is important and the scare mongering of years has been up-dated due to results of research having been mis-interpreted!

[Mrs. Boofy]

CLKD-

Thank you for the positive words towards HRT.  As all of this evolves for me in the years to come, I will have to do what helps me get through each day.  The scare monger tactics unfortunately can work on me from time to time. 

I will honestly say this, for me, I do not regret in any way shape or form getting on sertraline.  Perhaps that line of treatment isn't for anybody.  For me, it was a night and day difference.  Took every bit of 6 weeks for the affects to kick in.  Once they did, it was truly remarkable how much better I felt.  My GP is always trying to suggest I come off of them since there has been such marked improvement for me on a rather low dose.  NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!

I will make sure to reference this group and different posts as these changes keep coming. 

Again, I can't begin to express how happy I am to have found this forum to allow me to keep things in perspective.  Living in a household full of males, they never seem to 'get' why mom is off her rocker a lot of the time.

[DaisyB]

Welcome Mrs Boofy   I joined just a few weeks ago and like you I struggled with symptoms - main one being health focused anxiety (which off course had plenty of material to focus on!) I never got specific treatment for anxiety because I was so focused on every other pain, breast lump irregular bleed etc etc that I refused to see it as the problem! I was 47 when this really kicked in for serious. I have spent my life living out of health shops    I'm the go to in my family for info on supplements,herbs, alternative treatments etc   but I couldn't find answers in my diet or supplements and I discovered that there def was no magic bullet. Finally I got so bad a few months ago I paid for private GP and gynae. I have never taken the pill or anything synthetic so you can imagine my response when my gynae said I needed HRT!!! The women on this site have given me something that is priceless - reassurance - normalising everything I have experienced and  guiding/advising where needed. My anxiety has def taken a back seat since starting rhodiola - long may it last! HRT just beginning to kick in. It's a journey and every day brings something new - I hope that you can take comfort from the stories you read on this site and I sincerely wish that you find the right 'recipe' for you.


Take care


DaisyB x