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[Peroxideblader]

Hello aa I've posted before I'm in peri I believe but feel a bit of a fraud and worry it's not Peri sometimes as my main symptom which has ruined me life is the inability yo get to sleep til 4an or later ever night.  I do have periods getting further apart but my worry is my depression and low mood seems to have got worse. I just feel flat disinterested and like I could never laugh again. My AD has helped and worked for over 4 years and I think this could be hormonal especially when I read lorraine kellys story recently. I am not upping my AD the dose has been spot on and I'm waiting to start hrt on 2 weeks. ( I did  try femoston but it made me sucidal so stopped it and I've had to wait for doctor to look into utrogestan oestrogel regime which  she's only just presvribed) by long winded question is has anyone who already suffers depression got worse during peri and which was hormonal..I guess I'm just dreading that this hrt will not be suitable and maybe it's something else..I know this debilitating lack of sleep makes me low but I just can't bounce back at all. I've got a really big decision to make this week and my partner is at his wits end as I just don't care about anything just flat lined

[CLKD]

As I asked on the other comment you made, if you are taking a low-maintenance dose of AD then maybe up the amount to see if it makes a difference though if you are expecting to begin HRT ........ which may take a few weeks B4 you notice a difference in the depression.  Maybe keep a mood/symptom/food diary if you don't already.

Let us know how you get on?

[dazned]

HRT works brilliant on physical symptoms but it's much trickier to get balance spot on for it to deal with physiological issues,indeed for me I never was successful ! Also it won't help you over night unfortunately so you might need to consider a back up plan as CLKD suggests whilst you hopefully settle on your new HRT regime. Good luck,wishing you well .

[Peroxideblader]

Thanks..I don't want to up my AD dose as I found the side effects too nasty at higher dose and affected my sleep even worse..I'll just have to see if hrt helps I don't hold out much hope after the oestrogen in femoston made me that low..just seems strange that my anxiety panic attacks and break down came around the same time as my sleep went and periods went erratic like it's my age hormones etc.

[dazned]

Just a thought,as you've been on your current AD for a few years could your system have " got used " to it ? Sometimes medication can stop working ,maybe time for a change possibly. Like I said just a thought I had. 

[CLKD]

I had that thought, with my experience - I've been lucky in that my brain didn't poop out for about 5-6 years each time.  By then new ADs had been produced and now I can modify my meds. according to how my brain feels in the morning. 

[GypsyRoseLee]

Hello Peroxideblader

I haven't been on here for a while, but I had to reply to your post because exactly the same symptoms happened to me. Nearly 4 years ago I noticed my periods going a bit odd and my PMS getting 100 times worse. Then I stopped being able to sleep and within a month I was crippled with a dreadful deadening depression + anxiety. I also tried taking Femostan and also felt suicidal after 2 weeks on it. I thought I was losing my mind. I really don't think it a coincidence that these symptoms happened to us both do you? It is most definitely hormones I can promise you. If you can be bothered have a search of my posts and you'll probably see lots of similarities between us.

The exact same thing also happened to both my Mum and my Grandma and her sister, so hormonal depression around the menopause certainly runs in my family. A couple of close friends also suddenly started suffering with unexplained anxiety and depression at the same time as their periods started going haywire.

The good news is that you will get better. It took me a while to find the right consultant and the right medication but I now take 100mg of sertraline + 100mg of quietiapine + 4 pumps of oestrogel + 100mg of Utrogestan 7 days per month. Sounds like a lot but it seems totally normal to me now, and it has been 95% successful. I am pretty much symptom free nowadays except for the odd cluster of days here and there which I can usually trace back to when my period would be starting in my 'old natural' cycle. But I am so so so much better than I used to be. Infact I actually feel much better and brighter than I have done for years and years. The consultant I see is Prof. Studd and he says that women who are too sensitive to hormonal changes and come to see him in their 40s often last felt properly happy and normal back when they were last pregnant. I think that might be the case with me. My life just seems much more enjoyable and colourful than it has done for years and years.

[GypsyRoseLee]

Lovely to see you sparkle 

I have found that the time between my 'dips' is just getting longer and longer. I've just enjoyed 8 straight weeks of being totally symptom free and feeling great. Then yesterday woke up feeling flat and depressed, but my natural period always used to start around the 25th so I am attributing it to that, and it will lift in a few days. At least I can now function albeit feeling low and miserable, whereas before I was just on the floor with it as you know. How are you?

[dazned]

Great to hear that you've finally cracked it with a combo that works for you. Long may it last !😀

[CLKD]

GRL - you've been on a journey!   One shouldn't have to trawl round for treatment.  It is tiring.  Demoralising.  Do you think from your experiences that dedicated Departments within Hospitals is a way to go?

So pleased that you have survived and at last, found help which seems to be working 

[Peroxideblader]

Thanks so much for your replies..GRL I feel for you being like me it's awful isn't it I went from full time working strong cheerful woman to having a breakdown mentally then the pysical breakdown I just went down hill fast. So so please you've found a hrt that works. My doctor said no way could femoston cause me to feel suicidal in the oestrogen stage but it certainly did and that scared me and wiped out hope of hrt being able to help..but I emailed Dr Currie it didn't help to be fair but I saw my gp and after 6 weeks I've got my prescription.  Sadly it's nhs standard of oestrogel 1 to 2 pumps daily and utrogestan 200mg days 15 to 26 orally..can't say I'm looking forward to it as I've read alot about the nasty progesterone side effects and I'm taking double the dose prof studd recommends.  Where you take sertraline I take escitalopram have done since my breakdown and I don't really want to change plus coming off them was the worst ever the withdrawals were terrible I won't try that again. Have you found your sleep improved at all its getting to sleep I can't do.thank you
CLKD..I know what you mean saying maybe my AD isn't working anymore but after trial and error 4 years ago on various AD's escitalopram worked the best for me. I'm too vulnerable and low to risk coming off to try a different one plus as I said above its the withdrawals if I change AD that is awful. My son was on venlafaxine sadly and I know we're all different but he felt worse on them and his usual sleep like the dead went out of the window..I only get 4 hours as it is God forbid I lose them I'd go insane ( even more than I am lol)

[Peroxideblader]

GRL meant to say my mum sailed through her menopa use had nothing at all but my maternal nana went psycho literally stabbed my grandad jumped out of windows ended up being sectioned and was in and out of psychiatric unit's for over 15 years the length of her menopsuse looking back so it's pretty scary for me. And I'd love to follow your posts but I don't know how to search a persons posts by name..because we are so similar and especially femoston how strange is that 

[Hurdity]

GypsyRoseLee!!! Great to hear from you and so pleased to read that you have found a treatment that works for you and are now feeling better - so much so that your life is enjoyable and colourful! This will give so much hope to women in your position who as you are say are so extremely sensitive to hormonal change to the extent that they cannot cope. So pleased for you and long may it last

Peroxideblader - even quicker than doing a name search in this case - if the member had posted recently as GypsyRoseLee has - you just click on her name in the thread and her profile comes up and then do as sparkle says! Once you get your prescription it does sound like you may need to vary the standard dose as GypsyRoseLee has done - with the help of your doctor or consultant.

Hurdity x

[GypsyRoseLee]

Hi PB

I was fine on the oestrogen part of Femostan, but it was going into the combi tabs which sent me over the edge. Of course hormones can make you feel suicidal. Your GP is woefully misinformed at how severely they can affect you. My sleep was dreadful like yours, and it was only when I started combining sertraline with my HRT that I suddenly started sleeping like a baby again. I also take a low dose of Quetiapine to help me sleep, but actually I took that before I tried sertraline and it did nothing. I'm not really sure if the Quetiapine is doing anything for me, but I am so reluctant to change anything at all. Can I ask was your nana perfectly fine mentally before she became peri menopausal, and did she 'recover' after the menopause? This is something I am very interested in. My Great Aunt suddenly started 'suffering with her nerves' in her early 40s and displayed some very erratic behaviour over the next few years, and ended up being sectioned for a time. Then as she went into her late 50s she was fine again. It's such a tragedy how these poor women suffered.

[Roseneath]

GRL - can I ask if you had your hormones tested before you decided on your regime? I am struggling with an increase in anxiety which I have had since my early 40s (periods still regular but erratic in length and days apart). My anxiety has gone through the roof the last 8 months to the point I am considering discussing ADs with my GP. I was put on Ellestre Duet back in May following a bout of insomnia but it gave weird side effects ( nightmares/much worse anxiety) so I came off it after 8 weeks.  My only sytmpton is anxiety but I am struggling with it so may give ADs a go. I feel like I have no idea where I am with hormone levels in all this as aside from basic bloods; thyroid/vits/iron etc (which were fine) they didin't offer hormone checks.  My anxiety used to be worse mid cycle and pre-period but now seems bad for a good week at a time.