Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[pebbles]

I am 50 and just feel awful. The main thing is my mood which is permanently low. I have withdrawn from everyone and feel it is even an effort to talk to even my husband. I function because I have to as I have a stressful job with others who depend on me  and also stressful family life at the moment. I am caring for two of my grandchildren and I am exhausted but i have to carry on for them.
I know I am depressed but I dont know what to do. I also feel so exhausted I can hardly at times walk. I feel faint and have occasional flushes. I still have regular if short periods.
I don't know whether to ask for HRT or anti depressants. I don't know how HRT works - for example are you just not delaying the inevitable ? do the symptoms return when you stop them ? surely it would be better just to get it over with ? can any one explain what happens when you stop it ?
Also I am worried about putting on weight and the brown age spots on my face getting worse. I just don't know what to do.
sorry for being so negative but I feel so low.
best wishes
L

[Taz2]

Hi Pebbles - you do sound low and with all that you have on your plate that's hardly surprising.

From experience I found that HRT lifted my low mood a little but that was because the meno symptoms such as hot sweats and vaginal dryness had impacted on my life and it was a relief to feel "normal" again.

HRT does tend to delay menopause rather than help us through it. For some women the meno symptoms do return when you stop HRT and that happened to me. I have taken HRT for six years and when I try to stop now the symptoms do return so I restart. I am getting to the stage (60) when I will be advised to come off by both the doc and the menopause clinic. It is up to me, of course, if I continue with it but it seems as if not many trials have been conducted on women still on HRT in their 60's so the risk of stroke and breast cancer are thought to be higher. I look on it that even if I am going to have a tough time next year when I stop at least I have had a few years of feeling better. There is no way of knowing how long meno symptoms will last - menopause is for ever after all - and I have friends who didn't use HRT but who are still suffering in their sixties and now wish that they had given themselves at least a few years of HRT to alleviate the symptoms and others who used it and have stopped without too much hassle although they are all on some form of vaginal oestrogen therapy to help with dryness.

From what you have said I would think that you do have a slight depression which may benefit from anti depressants or, maybe, if you can identify the cause some counselling sessions?

Are you sure that the spots on your face are age spots. I thought they were mainly on the hands and body? Do you have the pigmented patches mentioned on another thread which are caused by hormones?

It is normal to feel fearful of the changes which are happening but you do get used to a slightly different you. Most changes happen gradually. "Much energy is wasted by us trying to stay as we were "- that was from my lovely GP who is now retired - and I try to remember that.

Taz x 

[KatieLiz]

Why don't you try HRT for 3 months and if you don't like it then stop.  At least you could be giving yourself a chance to feel better.

I am now 52 and have been taking HRT for about 18mths.  I wouldn't be without it now and I intend to stay on it as long as possible and as long as it is making me feel 'normal'.

I felt great at 49 and then as soon as I hit 50 I felt myself going downhill fast and didn't like it!  Life is too short to spend it feeling unwell.  I have a busy job and 3 teenage sons and want to feel I can cope with my life.

Hormones have a lot to answer for!  Hope you find a solution soon.

[Greyhoundgal]

Oh Pebbles, you do sound low   I was in much the same situation as you a couple of years ago (and the same age).  When I finally made an appointment to see our Nurse Practitioner she was the one that picked up on the fact that I was indeed peri-menopausal.  For some reason all the signs had passed me by but I was feeling quite depressed and recognised those signs well enough.  When she sat and talked to me (had a long appointment - 40 mins) she suggested that I try HRT as a first attack and that sometimes just getting the hormones sorted would sort things out.  She was right on the money with that one - she gave me Femoston 1/10 which seems to be one the "kinder" HRT's and soon after starting it I felt so much better.  I would advise you to perhaps make an appointment at your local GP's, either with a sympathetic Doctor or a nurse if your surgery offers that and talk it through with someone - I felt better as soon as I'd come out of the surgery and I think that was just because someone had listened to me and reassured me that I wasn't going mad

[pebbles]

Thank you to everyone for your replies and kindness.
it is so appreciated. thankyou.