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[wynwrights]

Hi ladies,

I guess I'm just looking for a bit of reassurance that I'm not about to lose my mind. After a couple of years of on and off peri symptoms (vaginal dryness and erratic, infrequent periods being the most of it), I started with anxiety around three months ago and it's been DREADFUL. I have managed to see a NAMS specialist (I'm in the US), and treatment starts soon (mirena coil and a femme ring), but at the moment I honestly feel like I'm losing my mind. This being the US, I went to see my psychiatrist a while back and he gave me a smorgasbord of meds; trouble is, none of them seem to be doing me any good. I have another appointment today where I'm essentially telling him I'm stopping the lot -- I've given it a fair run, but enough's enough. The Prozac in particular is doing the opposite of what it needs to and that's gotta stop.

I'm literally anxious about EVERYTHING. Health (no real issues); relationships (ditto); my place in the world (existential agitating); will I be in this state forever and ever...? Any reassurance anyone can give me that a) peri anxiety is broadly normal and b) that it doesn't last forever would be AMAZING. This has been a bad old run of things!

Thanks for reading.

[jaypo]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Oh yes,anxiety is definitely a peri symptom, I was terrible with it,also very low mood,hadn't a clue what was wrong with me. Sadly over here in the U.K. Drs tend not to understand meno very well and seem to go the Antidepressant route,which will get you nowhere.
Can you see a meno specialist there?
I'm now 60 and have managed without HRT but it was a rough ride,the anxiety does still rear its ugly head from time to time but generally a lot better.
Xx

[wynwrights]

OK, that's reassuring: I keep thinking I'll be stuck like this forever! A NAMS practitioner in the US is a menopause specialist (mine's an OBGYN), so I'm getting the right help; in that sense, it could be much worse, but that's the thing with anxiety -- it likes to present you with every single worst case it can muster up, and then some. I've never been very good at living in the moment, and I'm even worse at it at now than I ever have been!

Thanks for the support and input.

[joziel]

Hey... I think you need to find another doctor. Try Defy or Elevate, both US tele-health providers who are up on menopause care in the US. Join the FB group called Bio-Identical Hormone Therapy as it's the best US based group.

Your provider isn't doing the right things there and it's a sign they don't know what they're doing.

The Femring is not going to be able to be adjusted to meet your individual estrogen needs. You need an adjustable type of transdermal estrogen, like a patch, gel or cream. In the US, injections are also very popular amongst the 'good' meno providers. The anxiety you're experiencing is very likely due to low estrogen. You need to be able to adjust the dose easily. If you join some good US groups for meno care or even do you own research online and via good podcasts, you'll see that the Femring isn't a good idea.

The Mirena coil is fine, but it's not body identical progesterone. Which is really the gold standard unless there's a reason you can't tolerate it. Many women need progesterone for sleep, bone health and much more besides. If you have very heavy periods, the Mirena can be a great idea - but some women then want to take progesterone alongside it, for the other benefits.

I really think you need to look harder for a better provider....