Natural mood lifter

[Cherryblossom200]

Hi all,

I'm late 40's and going through the menopause, I'm on HRT and take various supplements like iron, vitamin D. I struggle with b vitamins as they tend to give me insomnia.

I've recently tried anti depressants to help lift my seratonine levels but the side effects were hell so I gave up.

I'd love to take something gentle which gives me a good mood lift.

Any ideas? Many thanks ☺️

Following.

sleep
water
vit d
iron

insomnia may not have been from b vits. Could be worth trying again.

Exercise. Fresh air.

I do lots of walking, I'm outdoors as much as I can be and do yoga.

I think I'm just naturally low in seratonine so sometimes none of the above helps especially going through the menopause.

Have you tried magnesium? St John's Wort was great for lifting my mood a few years ago but it is potent and can interfere with other medications so do some research first.

I take magnesium at night and it works really well for me.

Not tried St John's wort. I'm only taking HRT, not sure if it would interfere with that!

Go for a swim every single day. You will feel fantastic by the end of the first month. It's so good for mental health. It does take a little while to get into it but it's so rhythmic that you can focus just on your strokes and the laps and everything else just goes from your mind. I've just said this on another thread, but it was worth repeating!

Agree swimming is helpful.

I had to come off hrt and am on anti hormone cancer drugs; I make sure I dance at least once a week in my kitchen. For at least half an hour. I do other exercising but that bit is for mood.

My original aim was to be able to go out to a gig and pogo like I did when I was 22; but it seems to do as much for my MH as physical fitness!

I think hrt helps with some systemic symptoms but you've still got to do healthy living things on top in my personal experience.

Thanks I'll try swimming as well.

My only issue is that normally I'm work full time and take care of a young child so fitting it all in isn't easy.

I do all the things like eat well, go to bed early, not much alcohol, walking.

But something is definitely missing. I'm looking at per menopause supplements to see if any of those can work for me x

I have friends who swear by cold water therapy and Wim Hoff type stuff. Could be worth a try?
They do cold shower and breathing exercises every morning.

Oh god cold showers are my idea of hell 😂 But I might give it a go, I'll try anything!

Testosterone had a massive positive impact for me, I've now been on it for 14 months, plus had high oestrogen for 8 months before that.

Ive also had 6 months of therapy/counselling. All of a sudden I've started dancing around the kitchen again.

I also do all the exercise and healthy eating. And meditation and yoga. Sometimes you need more!

I've also started forcing myself to be more social which helps.

The thing that completely transformed my mood was getting the right HRT.

And the weather. A warm sunny day does wonders for my mood.

I know people swear by it, but IMO cold showers and cold water swimming are the equivalent of slamming your fingers in a drawer; just a huge relief when it stops.

I have a meeting with my gynae about testosterone in a weeks time, I've got my results from the doctor no idea if I'm high or low but that will dictate if I need testosterone or not.

Part of me feels this could be the missing piece of the jigsaw.

@Cherryblossom200 what is your result?

There's loads of threads on the meno boards with people comparing results.

I was 'less than 0.04' on my FAND result, 'too low to register' so pretty categorical when my GP looked at it!

GP gave me T without any hesitation. Two subsequent tests have showed 0.08 and then 0.05 so I'm not coursing with it 😁

I've been more studious in applying daily though, sometimes I'd forget a couple of days so hopefully I'm in a better range now.

Mine is 2.1 - I don't know what that means?

Here's my result which GP said was very low. Have you looked on the NHS app for your results? There should be a range on there.

That's odd, mine doesn't register on the range you attached!

Mine is definitely 2.1!

😂 Love the way everyone's results look different, it's SO helpful 🤔

Think you'll need to wait and see gynae!