Interesting feature on over use of ADs

[pinkfrocks]

Cut back on drugs drs told

Thought this might be worth sharing due to the number of menopausal women being offered ADs not HRT.
I'm not against ADs where needed- of course not- but it's clear their use is controversial anyway and especially for women over 50 with depression-like symptoms.

Yes - also the links specifically to articles on ADs within the article are worth reading.

The difference between true depression and anxiety - the latter which many women feel during peri-menopause and beyond, as hormones fluctuate and oestrogen (and testosterone) levels eventually decline - is enormous and it is quite worrying to see the (almost!) exponential rise in prescription for ADs for girls and women of all ages especially.

The difference between hormonal depression and clinical depression is very marked IME.

I suffered with normal depression back in my early twenties after the break up of my first serious relationship. I felt continuously very flat and hopeless for nearly a year. But there wasn't that evil thread of anxiety/panic running through my mind all the time.

But I also suffered with PND and the depression and anxiety it caused are almost identical to how I feel when my mood really dips now I'm peri menopausal. It was this similarity that first made me suspicious my clinical depression, as diagnosed by my uninterested GP, was actually hormonal depression.

I tried to point out to my useless GP that surely clinical depression doesn't disappear overnight for days or even weeks on end. But she still insisted I took ADs. Even when I'd been on ADs for 6 months and still suffered breakthrough symptoms at certain points in my cycle, she wasn't curious.

Luckily a new GP was suspicious and referred me to a Menopause Clinic.