It just keeps on giving - slow injections of very sour mood

[PhyllisDietrichson]

I'm about 14 months into the menopause. I don't' miss the periods at all, but I am truly alarmed at this stage of life they call 'The Change'. Just two little words that in no-way conjure up the extremes of the horrible symptoms I seem to be experiencing.

Currently these include: 3 or more years of chronic insomnia, huge weight gain, increased ageing, total and absolute loss of libido (no desire for anything sexual whatsoever, ever, even after wine) AND lastly (this is the really hideous one), along with the hot-flushes necessitating the wearing of sleeveless T-shirts and blouses and being ready to rip my cardigan off at a moments notice, I also experience an injection of creeping doom as the flush takes over. I can literally feel it spreading through my veins. I dive from being emotionally normal to utterly and totally suicidally depressed. It doesn't last long, but it's palpable, like the opposite of injecting a happy drug; it's heroin for the damned.

Have any of you experienced anything like this, it's new to me?

I probably would have were it not for HRT for several years.

Not fancy it?

Yes Polly I do. I have tried to see if it'll eventually even out naturally. I've been wary of hormones due to my family background, but have made an appt to see the doc on Thursday think it's got to be the lesser of the two evils. Now just gotta work out which one.

I can't comment on your family history but all I'd say is be sure it's relevant. Read so many posts here by women who think their FH is meaningful when in fact it's not. The only risk and then again it's not a complete no-no, is a first degree relative (mum or sister) with breast cancer at a young age (under 50 they suggest) . Not all HRT is equal- some is less risky than others.

Phyillis, I recognise exactly what you mean by the ‘slow injection of sour mood’ with a hot flush. Great description. Mine was not quite the deep misery that you describe but as the boiling heat spreads up my body my emotional balance tips and down it goes. Awful. The sleeplessness, palpitations, dryness all crept up slowly over a few years but the onset of hot flushes, sour mood injections + background anxiety sent me on the hunt for HRT. I’ve been on an emotional even keel for years (after turbulent times) and it was the mood changes + hot flushes which were a tipping point. Within days of taking HRT all that bleak stuff disappeared. I could not contemplate going back to managing my menopause without it. Best of luck.

Thanks Peaceonearthplease I have started a course of Femeston and suddenly I'm sleeping so much better and the flushes are less, but still there. I appreciate your comments, and in finding this Meno part of Mumsnet - full of useful information.

I imagine finding the right kind of HRT and taken in the right way will take time. I'm on lowest dose pills, but had no idea (until I read here) that there's not just pills or patches but creams or a combo of these so I'm yet to find out which might work best.