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[EllaAurora]

Hello ladies,
new in the forum and I'm SO happy I found this place as I'm really looking struggling and looking for help & advice!!

My story (warning, this will be a long one as I need to get this out of my system ) : 48 years, started HRT last summer following insomnia and hot flushes (no mental symptoms at that point). Low dose 1 pump Oestrogen and 200mg Utro at days 14-25 worked great until March this year. I did miss the withdrawal bleed during Dec/Jan/Feb, but as I was otherwise doing so well, and mentally perhaps even better than usual, I didn't really pay attention. I do remember breasts being heavy and painful (as if there would have been lot of oestrogen in my system), but otherwise good and I even considered myself lucky that I was feeling so well despite being clearly menopausal.. Until early March when it all changed 

Early March, first got bleed with a vengeance -probably the heaviest, most painful period of my life and then all crazy symptoms started. Heart issues (tachycardia, ectopics), insomnia (couldn't sleep at all in some nights) and the worst of all: adrenaline surges which felt like a bad panic attack and day by day increasing anxiety (worsened by the increasing self observation and constant worrying about the anxiety ).

Now: increased dose to 2 pumps / day which is still not enough as symptoms persist. Heart and sleeping slightly better but anxiety not -waking up with it and it lingers like a dark cloud on top of my head all day.  So I'm wondering currently what to do. I'd like to increase to 3 pumps, or at least 2.5, as my recent estradiol reading was low (160). But when I tried to up the dose, I get even worse anxiety attacks following the dose, so I'm scared to push it. I'm splitting dose now and wondering if I should try to go up to 3 by splitting even further (1 pump three times a day). Has anyone tried this? I have a 'gut feeling' that its the fluctuations that are causing the worst symptoms so assuming that as stable as possible dose would help, but not sure if this makes sense.

Anyone had similar experience and how did you cope? Thanks a lot for all support! xx

[CLKD]

Hi!  it's the Trial and Error that can be so tiring.  Some do find that varying the treatment helps - mayB put the product name into the search box 2 C if any threads pop up?

Hopefully someone will be along with advice.  MayB 1 extra pump with 3 nights apart might help?  Do you keep a mood/food/symptom diary to chart progress?

[sheila99]

How long have you been on 2 pumps for? My anxiety took 3 months to go so if you you haven't been on it this long it might be worth waiting a little longer. I use it twice a day, I don't know of anyone who does it 3 x a day. If you think you're not getting a consistent dose you could see if a patch suits you better. Peri is difficult because of the peaks and troughs of your own hormones.

[EllaAurora]

Thank you Sheila and CLDK for your responses! I'm now exactly 1 month today on the routine of 2 pumps, split as 1 in the morning/1 in the evening. Before that I already tried 2 pumps, but put it all on one go which was too much for my system so started splitting.

Maybe Sheila you are right and I should just hold on to this dosage for a little while longer, before trying to change anything. Do you still remember, how it went for you -at which point did you realise your regime is working? Did you need to wait until the full 3 months, or saw signs of improvement already before?

I am keeping symptom diary and yesterday realised the adrenaline surges have subsided somewhat (or I've learned to manage better by avoiding some of the obvious triggers such as caffeine), and also the heart is way better. So maybe this is a sign that the regime is working, but its just too early to have any impact on the anxiety.

Thanks again and I hope you're keeping well. xx

[sheila99]

I didn't see any improvement in the first month, after that it was very much up and down with a gradual overall improvement.

[Floo36]

If you are peri which it sounds like you are then your hormones are fluctuating. I relate to what you wrote. The last two years I had two episodes when my symptoms improved then became severe again it’s like it’s stop start which is what can happen along with wild fluctuations.  It is trial and lots of error but keep trying.

[EllaAurora]

Sheila99 -thanks for sharing your experience, this gives me boost to keep on trying now and to stay on this regime for a while. At least some symptoms have improved so maybe the anxiety too one day.

Floo36 -yes the fluctuations seem to be the worst. I'm still peri, though feeling I might be already quite far with it. Looking back, I must have suffered from peri already years before I realised what's going on last summer, when the flushes and other more typical symptoms started.

All this makes me feel that I've been really naive in the past, as I never imagined menopause would be like THIS!  I remember hearing ladies talking about it and complaining, but somehow I thought it would be more about the hot flushes and occasional sleepless nights, which could be managed well with HRT. I was completely not prepared for such a roller coaster  

If to look something good out of all this, at least I know how to support those friends of mine who are couple of years younger and may have all of this ahead of them.

Take care all & stay well xx