Panic attacks and trouble sleeping

[Mummytron]

Please tell me I'm not going mad.
I'm awake it's 3 am and I haven't been to sleep yet. Had what feels like a fast heart beat and panicky. About 90 beats but really thumping out my chest. Every time I doze off I jump awake and it's scaring the crap out of me. I'm a week from being due on and in Peri stage.
Please help

No advice but same here. Wake at this time every day with massive sense of alarm. H r t used to work but has stopped working now

I get this a lot. I find EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) helps. Do you know anything about it? You can look up how to do it online, or learn to do it in a weekend for Level 1. It involves tapping on meridian points in a sequence, and i find it calms me down quickly. Also Magnesium supplements help.

www.eft-alive.com/how-to-do-EFT.html

Thanks all
It's such a scary feeling. Mine is when I drift off

This happens to me as well. Also happened to my mum. If you look through ways to stave off a panic attack/relaxation techniques, you can try them out and see what works for you. Sensory stuff works for me.

what you have are palpitations.

very common symptom of perimeno.

HRT? On it? Fancy trying?

Don't worry. 90 beats per minute is still normal. (heart beat can be 60-100 normal.)

It's not a panic attack. They are something else.

Loads of people get the sudden 'wake up fast heart beat' - it's nothing to be scared of.

Hi Polly
Yes I do get palpitations most days.
I would consider hrt but sadly have been battling the gps for 3 years. I'm 42 so they don't want to yet even thoigh my mum and sister were through it by 45. I'm under a consultant for something else and they suggested I was referred for my hormones but the hormone consultant said no, that I was probabky entering Peri and do blood tests. I've had blood tests nothing shows. Bit pissed off about it all really. Will keep pushing.
Thanks

Your 'hormone consultant' doesn't seem to know much if they don't know that blood tests during peri are unreliable.

I'd see someone else, privately if necessary, and see if they have a different opinion.

Before HRT i used to experience and got woken up by palpitations all the time, scary thing, i could not get used to it, i thought something was seriously wrong at some point. This is a very well known perimenopause symptom. Started HRT last July. Palpitations faded away then completely stopped after 4 months. Another horrible symptom that HRT sorted out for me. I couldn't praise it more.

Is there any issue with having hrt if I'm not 'fully ' in the throws of it? I'm so frustrated that these symptoms could be sorted out and Im battling so hard. I dread going to the GP because I know it's pointless. The emotional and psychological symptoms are exhausting.

Also what hrt would be a good start? Would prefer patches

pollys right

completely normal for meno
i had same - now on anxiety meds as i refused hrt due to family breast cancer history
my meno has lasted about 10 years ...so far

I've been hormonal if you like for 3 years and I'm now 42. I go to the GP a lot because of various symptoms now. The letter back from endocrine was "you're probably entering Peri so have a blood test"
Im not bloody entering it I'm 3 years in and struggling!! I know I have a long road ahead but I have arthritis and family history of early meno so I'm trying to be pro active. So frustrating. My pmt seems to last all month now. Will have my bloods done on Tuesday and go from there.

I could not have HRT family history, was hospitalised a few times, heart rate and bp sky high. Had a machine on for a week. Nothing unusual. In the end I asked gp to refer me privately. Saw a lovely consultant who got me to use another machine for a week. When I went back I had an electrocardiogram, my heart was fine. What he did was put me on a low dose of beta blockers. I have been much better. What I do now is lay on my right side in bed, lying on my left I can feel the thumping much more.

I have a hiatus hernia so I suspect this may be aggravating my vagus nerve which also causes thumping.

Poor you mummytron waking up with a start like that is not good.

I have found that by only having coffee and tea until lunchtime/early afternoon and then decaf or turmeric tea has made a huge difference. I still get palpitations but they are manageable and I now sleep better.

Have you had your iron levels checked as low iron can cause them too I think.

Some gps have been great with me but some don’t even seem to acknowledge the menopause and symptoms so are not much help really. Sad that they don’t seem to be helping you when you are so young to be going through it and with your family history.

Pm me if you want to as we seem to be going through the same symptoms together....

Thanks my iron levels are ok now although I had a spell on iron tablets last year. I also limit myself (treat myself) to one latte a day but have it at lunchtime. Everything else is decaf. I don't have my mum around anymore and my Sister has had an auto immune disease for 30 years so doesn't remmebr anything about her meno apart form suddenly being through it. She has a lot of meds though so perhaps masked it. It's just so bloody frustrating when I know that the symptoms I go to the doc with are hormonal.
Thanks

kahlua no idea how to pm you. Doesn't seem to be an option, maybe because I'm on my mobile??

Hi! The same here! I’m 42 and on hrt. I diagnosed 8 months ago. My gyn made his diagnosis based on my symptoms and not on my hormones. My periods were regular but very light. Hrt helped me almost immediately! Don’t spend your time suffering! Due to our young age our symptoms are more severe and dangerous for our health. Hope you feel better soon!

Glad your iron levels are good, that one thing struck off the list to worry about!

Sad that your gp isn’t doing more to help you. I have seen a few gps at our surgery in last few months with various symptoms and it wasn’t until I saw a lady gp who said it seems to all be peri menopausal that I finally got any answers. Can you ask for another opinion?

Have you tried any alternative therapies?

It's happening again tonight
Due on in a week

Back to Drs. there are also books out there that help with panic attacks, my bible is Feel the fear and do it anyway. Learnt lots of little tricks with my panic attacks. Tis adrenalin fight or flight which kicks in and makes it so awful.

How are you today? Did you manage to get any sleep?

Somebody told me today that coke and Diet Coke used to give her palpitations once perimenopausal, never had problems before that.

Maybe worth trying to eliminate things with caffeine and seeing what happens?

I don't know if this will help at all but I had this is pregnancy, it was awful so sympathies

I was worried it was anxiety but was taught to think that actually I was misinterpreting my symptoms and it was just adrenaline- not anxiety. For me, this helped the panicked "I'm going mad" feeling. So I spent a lot of time putting cheesy music on and dancing the feeling out. Then once calmer I listened to a relaxation/sleep hypnosis app.

I also used vicks smelling sticks which helped calm me down for some reason but I imagine anything sensory would help?

I hope it gets better for you soon.

yes back to the doctors :)

And tonight. Terrified I'm going to have a heart attack. Weirdest feeling. Just doze off then my chest jumps. Due on in 4 days.waiting for blood results