Print

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

[tired lady]

Thanks so much Taz for your help and advice and the link.  It certainly seems that I need to go and get this sorted out.  When I go and see the meno doctor, I will tell her about my bladder problems as well!

I've had a really bad couple of nights waking up from horrible nightmares with my heart pounding.  Last night was really bad and I kept waking up feeling like a couldn't breathe and having dreams where I was suffocating.  I was awake on and off with anxiety for most of the night.  However, I had been drinking some red wine with my hubby (well it was Valentine's Day) and I'm often worse when I've had alchohol.  I've been taking Menopace Night for 2 days and so far I haven't noticed a difference in my sleep but I know it is early days.  At least I know I'm getting a  good mix of vitamins and minerals from it even if it doesn't improve my sleep!  I still wonder whether I have sleep apnoea sometimes but my doc has ruled it out and just said that the breathing thing is anxiety.

I don't have any problems breathing during the day unless I get a full on panic attack but it only seems to happen at night and it is to do with my sleep.  I really hate it and always think it is something to do with my heart and then I start panicking.  I'm so fed up with it, I just want a peaceful night's sleep for a change, it has been like this for over 3 years now!  Bloomin' perimeno!

[Shazzie]

Hi tired lady

Sorry haven't been on for a few days as my computer was playing up.  All ok now though.  Sorry you are still suffering.  I am sure the Menopace will kick in soon.  It is bound to take a few days.  I am also taking a Magnesium tablet every day cause loads of people have told me that they help palps.  So far so good.  Not sure whether it is the HRT patch or Menopace or Magnesium that is helping but it is definitely much better.  Are you taking magnesium?  There is 100mg in the Menopace but the recommended amount is between 300 and 500mg.

I can't remember if I have mentioned it but I have MS and my bladder hasn't worked since diagnosis.  I self catheterise 4 times a day and have to get up in twice in the night to self catheterise.  I really hope you get some sort of rest from it all soon.  I bet you are really fed up.  I remember when I was getting he palpitations at night I would wake after a really bad nightmare and then the palps would kick in.  It is strange that a lot of us seem to suffer the nightmares too.

Take care of yourself and try and keep saying to yourself "this is natural and nothing to be scared of".  Easier said than done I know.

Shazzie xx

[Sarah2]

Do you think you might benefit from some counselling or some CBT via your doctor? Has it been offered?
You do seem very anxious and this is most probably not helping your pounding heart and poor sleep pattern, as well as your fear of taking what is a very safe form of treatment- HRT.

Have you looked into the stats for blood clots etc? I just wondered if that might help you be less anxious? Worst case- for women aged 50-ish, it's something like 1 clot per 10 000 women not on HRT and 2-3 for women on HRT ( but using HRT as transdermal is safer so these figures could be even lower.) And for someone your age the risks are virtually non-existent.

Another idea is to look into meditation or other types of breathing techniques which you can practise to help make you feel calmer. I think you can buy meditation tapes.

I hope you find something that helps.

[tired lady]

Thanks Sarah 2 for you help and advice   Yes, I have had a course of telephone CBT for my panic attacks and anxiety which was about 2 years ago now.  It did help me a bit with my agoraphobia but unfortunately it didn't really help me with my night time symptoms.  I think I have got bad anxiety but the anxiety started because of the racing heart at night and the night sweats.  I also have a lot of stress with my son being poorly with M.E., and my 18 year old son doesn't know what to do after 6th form so it is quite stressful in the house at the m  Ioment which doesn't help! 

I also didn't have health anxiety until my palpitations started - I thought I had a serious heart problem because I didn't know what was wrong with me!  I didn't think that periomeno would hit me at the age of 39, I thought I might start having symptoms in my late forties!  I think I've probably a double dose of anxiety, one from the perimenopause and the other from the fact that I am a carer for my son and I'm heartbroken over his M.E.  He used to be a sporty boy and now he is housebound and can't walk anywhere so it is just so heartbreaking.

I've had some really bad nights again, I'm waking up a few times a night, usually from bad dreams with my heart pounding.  I also feel very stressed when I lie in bed before I go to sleep because I dread the nightmares and my heart is pounding before I have even gone to sleep!  I try and do relaxation exercises, I get off to sleep quite quickly but then I'm disturbed all night and in the morning I feel like I've had no sleep at all.  Last night I had this awful nightmare about a huge tornado approaching our house and I was shouting at everyone to get in the understairs cupboard.  My dreams often start of benign but then turn nasty in the end and then I wake up with the pounding heart.  What on earth has gone wrong with my sleep, I slept like a log before I turned 39!

I was hoping to get to see the meno doctor this week but I couldn't get there because there has been too much going on with appointments for my son and my dog had to go to the vets on the day that the meno doc was there because she had hurt her paw.  I'm always sorting out everyone else in the family first and then have to put myself last because that is what mums do!  I will get there eventually!

The difficult thing is that I know I have anxiety and I often wonder whether my symptoms at night like the pounding/racing heart and waking up feeling boiling hot might just be due to anxiety and not perimeno - I don't want to take HRT if it is just anxiety.  Would anxiety cause me to wake up feeling boiling hot?  I'm so confused as to what is happening to me, I just don't feel myself anymore, I feel like I've turned into a completely different person sometimes   I just want to feel my old self again

[Cassie]

Have you had a blood test to check your hormone levels? I am convinced you need hrt, surely trying it for a 3 months cannot do any harm:)

[Suzyq]

I agree with Cassie. Have a hormone test. You cannot do your best for others if you feel like this! Ask a friend to help and get to the docs - I know it's hard to ask for help but you shouldn't let things get too bad.

[JJ]

I think you should defo go back to the docs, you need some support either hormones if in peri menopause or cbt or tablets to help with the anxiety. I wake up with racing heart sometimes since being in peri menopause and I often get what I call heart flip flops of an evening, when this all started I saw cardiologist had monitor, heart scan all was fine. Hormones can give really unpleasant symptoms as can anxiety. You're not alone x

[Shazzie]

Hi Tired Lady

Sorry you are still suffering.

Just want you to know that my HRT patches have really helped.  (Been on them for nearly a month now).  I actually sleep all night without waking with a pounding heart.   Please think about it again as they really do help.  I am also taking Magnesium, one tablet before bed.

I hope this helps.

Shazzie xx

[SalW]

Hi Tired Lady,

I have had similar problems.  Lots of ectopic beats, making me feel dreadful.  I had a full cardio work up and all was well, structurally normal heart and ectopics benign.  This reassured me a lot but I still hated getting them and so went down the hrt route due to hot flushes and anxiety.  I am on Femoston 1/10 and it has been fantastic.  My ectopics stopped within a few days of starting and are now few and far between.  I feel so much better.  I am having a few symptoms again after 3 months but I guess this is due to my own peri hormones kicking in. 

I hope you can get the reassurance you need too and please don't be afraid to give hrt a try.  It might make all the difference.

Take care,

Sally x

[tired lady]

Thanks so much everyone for all your help and advice   I did have a hormone test done which was normal but that was a couple of years ago now.  I am hoping that when I eventually get to the meno doctor that she might do another one to see if I am perimeno, but I've heard that it is unreliable.

I have been having really rough nights and now barely have enough energy to get through the day!  Sleep is supposed to be restorative but my sleep is so bad that it just makes me feel ill and I feel exhausted from waking up with a raised heart beat and the anxiety that goes with it, not to mention the horrible dreams!  The worst thing is that it doesn't happen just once a night, I wake up with palps and bad dreams or feeling hot a few times a night.  I don't think I've slept through the night for 3 years now!   I once mentioned the possibility of my having a sleep test when I went to the doctors but she didn't say anything about it and said that it can't be sleep apnoea because I'm not overweight, but I've read that you can have it if you are of a normal weight and it can be caused by other things such as enlarged tonsils which I have got after some bad bouts of tonsillitis when I was younger.  Something is seriously disturbing my sleep and I just want to find out what it is because I'm terrified that I'm wrecking my heart with all the palpitations that happen at night, there must be something going on I've never had problems with my sleep before. 

I've got a major anxiety about my heart still because of the palps, and I'm absolutely sick of waking up with my heart going weird.  It doesn't even help that I've had a 24hr ECG because although I had a few heart poundings when the monitor was on I didn't get any of the horrendous irregular heart beat episodes or the scary heart racing really fast episode so I don't feel completely reassured. 

I am very interested to read how many of you have relief from your palps by taking HRT, it gives me hope that I could get rid of mine too if I am in perimeno and that is what is causing them. I really need to sort this out because it is ruining my life and I absolutely dread going to bed, so much so that I have sometimes contemplated not going to bed at all! 

Thanks so much again everyone and I will endeavour to get down to the doctors and get myself sorted out, I just don't want them to think I'm a hypochondriac, I've been backwards and forwards to the docs about this problem for 3 years now!  The fact that it is not improving makes me think that I might well be in perimeno.

tired lady xx

[Cassie]

Have you thought of seeing a cardiologist who can do the full workup, echocardiogram, ecg, holter monitor, this will at least put your mind @ rest once and for all, I was also in your boat once and after having these tests at least I could see on black and white that my heart was normal and that they were benign, then you know to move onto plan b and to either get beta blockers which help and maybe some hrt as well..

[tired lady]

Thanks Cassie, I was hoping that my doc might refer me to a cardiologist but because my ECG, chest x-ray and 24hr holter monitor were normal (holter showed 1 ectopic beat and few raised heart rate episodes during the night due to my bad dreams) she said that my heart was normal and that it was either anxiety or perimeno or a combination of both that was causing the problem.  She said the ectopics are benign but I'm just still concerned about what is going on at night and I live in fear of getting an irregular heart beat episode where my heart goes a bit mental for a few seconds and I feel a bit dizzy.  I also mentioned that episode to my doc and she didn't think it was anything to worry about. 

It is just a shame that the palps have left me with a terrible health anxiety about my heart.  I'm hoping to get to the docs soon and I will mention it again and say that I don't feel reasurred by the tests that I have had done.  I think the trouble is that it was only a 24hr test and of course I didn't get the really scary palp episodes when I had it on!

Thanks so much again for your help and advice

tired lady x

[honeybun]

I really don't mean to sound harsh here as I know how you feel as I had palpitations myself before I started HRT.

You are going round and round in circles and getting more and more anxious. If you don't do something positive then you will continue going round and round.
Almost every person who has replied to your posts has told you that HRT really helps. That itself should give you encouragement in two ways. The first being that palpitations are very common and the second being there is an answer.

It is of course a personal choice but we are assuring you there is an answer.
Please go and see your GP as you deserve a good quality of life.


Honeyb
x

[tired lady]

Thanks Honeybun, you are right, I am going round and round in cirlces and getting myself in a complete state, my husband has said the same thing to me too lol!  I promise I will get to the meno doctor as soon as I can but unfortunately she only works mornings and I don't have anyone to look after my son so I can get down to the surgery. I don't have a very good support network around me sadly. However, my husband has got a few weeks off work soon so I'm just going to try and hang in there and then make an appointment in about 3 weeks' time when he is off.

I'm so grateful for everyone's help and advice, I know I should have gone to the doctors sooner but I'm in a difficult position with my son having M.E. and being stuck on my own all day.  I think I'm going to get some magnesium supplements which a few people have suggested on here to see if it helps with my palpitations until I can get to the doctors. My heart poundings at night have been pretty bad but I am under stress at the moment and I don't think that helps!

I will let you know when I've got my appointment and I am definitely going to go I promise!

tired lady x

tired lady x

[Shazzie]

Good idea tired lady.

I take 300mg just before I go to bed and I sleep so much better and am waking with the alarm clock for the first time in ages.  No palpitations either.

You can pick them up from the supermarket.

Let us know how you get on.

Shazzie xx