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[Ruby2]

Hi, I am new here and about 3 months ago all normal life dissolved into severe heart palpitations, sweating, no period and 2 weeks on a cardiac ward feeling absolutely hyper. Heart was deemed okay and I was sent home with Italian and sleeping tablets. That was a month ago and I still haven't been out of the house and am not functioning. I have been put on evorel sequin by go and am on my second patch of the progesterone. The flushes have stopped but my heart still feels funny and I feel very weak, unable to cope with anything. I am now off the Italian and they want me to try Setriline. I am still on the sleeping tablets and not sleeping, ears buzzing and feeling wired all of the time. Anybody take Sertriline? I am terrified of taking it! I am 50 and had normal periods up until this point! Suffered with fibromyalgia cystic breasts for years and spotting. I have hashimoto s disease, my free T4 and T3 are low but TSH just suppressed. . Lhasa prior to HRT was 16, FSH 117.8 and serum Estrodial greater than 44. ACTH 16. Is it worth a Dr Currie e mail?

[Ruby2]

Sorry Ladies, no Italian!!! Citalopram.

[CLKD]

STICK with the Citalopram for at least 3/4 months if the side effects are bearable.  Swapping won't do your anxiety any good.  Have a browse round, decide which symptom you would like to ease and talk to your GP about suitable HRT, along-side the AD.  Some ladies do require both until the HRT takes over ;-).  Easing anxiety allows us to see the wood for the trees and take good decisions, when anxiety strikes me I am curled into a ball unable to function at all  . 

HRT can protect heart and bones as well as maybe easing other symptoms.

If you have finished with your Italian  .......

It sounds hormonal.  Some find that keeping a mood/food/symptom diary useful.  If you put "Hashimoto" into the search button you will find several ladies here who had contributed to threads on the condition. 

You will leave the house again.  Listen to your body.  Rest, graze, keep hydrated, walk around the house so that you keep your bones healthy.  I had 3 months housebound in the 1990s but gradually I picked up shopping, walking the  , reading ........

[Annie0710]

Made me chuckle, I quite envied you being sent home with an Italian, most women can only dream of such treats 

[CLKD]

She'll fit right in here ........... I would love to learn Italian so I bagies first ;-)

You'll see if you stick around that we meanders we does ......... 

[Hurdity]

 

 

That really had me chuckling and I had no idea what you meant as I couldn't fathom what the auto-correct had changed from! I post the old-fashioned way - on my computer (pc) at a desk so able to check all my posts before sending and don't get weird words like that - very amusing!!!

Regarding your situation - once again your doc should not be putting you on anti-depressants at this point for menopausal symptoms including mood changes - until everything else has been sorted out!

Just trying to get the sequence right here: you had normal monthly periods up until 3 months ago and then they stopped for 3 months and you had all those symptoms, and then your doc gave you Evorel, citalopram and sleeping tablets - eeek!!!! I can't believe you were given all this at once. I presume the sleeping tablets are not benzos?

If your heart is OK then it could well be due to the hormonal surges of peri-menopause if your periods stopped for a while. Here is an article you might like to read: https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/magazine/pdf/Article%20-%20Perils%20of%20the%20Perimenopause.pdf

It is unfortunate that your doctor is looking at symptoms in isolation ( or seems to be) and not taking into account your medical history and circumstances. It appears to me that the sleeping tablets and the ADs are being used as a sticking plaster to treat immediate symptoms without looking at the whole picture - and the sleeping tabs don't seem to be helping anyway!

You mention Hashimoto's as well as irregular periods and it is far more important for you to sort out the right balance and dosing of your thyroid hormones and find an HRT that suits you - without your symptoms being temporarily altered by these other meds. The endocrine hormones are finely tuned and balanced and there is some interaction between thyroid metabolism and oestrogen metabolism. Certainly also at peri-menopause I understand things change. I am not an expert in fact no virtually nothing about thyroid hormones and the details of the changes that occur - countrybumpkin is the thyroid expert and a newer member Wrensong also knows a lot about it.

You doc should be checking your thyroid levels as you enter peri-menopause and adjusting your meds all the while you are trying out HRT. The other meds will just get in the way of working out what your body needs at this point - and is so important to get these right FIRST- especially thyroid - if it goes out of whack (sp?).

The other thing is that some women find the prog part of the Evorel patch gives them side effects - including anxiety and wired feelings - so if this does not settle - it might be time to think about another HRT type with a progestogen that is better tolerated.

Personally I would not take the sertraline  at this point and I would ask for proper monitoring of your thyroid so that adjustments can be made if necessary. If after say 6 months you are still experiencing symptoms that you cannot cope with through other means and your sleep is still affected then time to maybe consider help from other medication.

Hope this helps - and sorry I can't really help with thyroid - but do go to GP and ask if you haven't done so already

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

Trouble is, many UK GPs read the thyroid results and if those are 'within normal limits' won't take investigations further!    What then 

[Wrensong]

Hi Ruby2, have I read it right that your Free T3 & Free T4 are low, but your TSH suppressed?  With a suppressed TSH, I would expect T4 to be reasonably high.  The sweating, weakness & palpitations are suggestive of too much thyroid hormone which would tie in with a suppressed TSH.  However, sweating & palpitations are also typical of menopause. 

With a thyroid condition (I also have Hashimoto's - on meds for more than 20 years) it can be the very devil to work out what is going on at menopause, but I think in your position, I would ask for a referral to a good endocrinologist asap.  It is a very confusing time for thyroid patients & as Hurdity says, it's really important to ensure the thyroid is monitored & correctly treated at this time by a doctor who understands the complexity of this time of our lives. 

HRT often interacts with thyroid meds so it can take a little while to get the two balanced & regular TFTs are essential (ideally around 6 weeks & 3 months after starting HRT) to arrive at the right dose of thyroid medication.  It's said that transdermal regimes are less disruptive of thyroid hormone status, but even on this type I have had to make careful adjustments to my thyroid meds during the first 18 months on HRT.  I would not have started HRT without the help of a good & sympathetic endocrinologist. 

I really hope you manage to get some help with this - it can be a horrible time, and especially difficult for hypothyroid ladies, but with the right help you can look forward to feeling so much better.  Good luck with it & keep posting - please don't feel alone, there is always someone here to help.

[CLKD]

  Wrensong .........

[Wrensong]

Hi CLKD 

[CLKD]

Morning all 

[Hurdity]

Thank-you so much for posting Wrensong! So helpful and informative!

Hurdity x

[Wrensong]

Hi Hurdity - thanks so much for the encouragement.  As a long-term hypothyroid woman going through what seemed the protracted menopause from hell & not knowing anyone else with this combination with whom to compare notes, I felt very alone & very afraid for such a long time, so now really feel for other ladies in a similar position.  As said before, came to the forum very late in the process but what I learned here was unbelievably helpful and reassuring and I owe many forum ladies (especially tireless, regular contributors) a lot for the help so generously given.  Doctors, though they did their best, never seemed at all sure what was due to menopause & what thyroid or how to begin to treat any of it, which compounded the worry.  Had I known of MM from the start, it would have saved me almost losing my mind with fear & desperation!  Still not sure I'm really suited to such a public arena  or that I can contribute much, but would like to give something back if I can.