Is there such a think as perimenopausal anxiety/depression?

[Umbongo1]

Sorry if this is a long post.

I'm 45 and am suffering from anxiety and depression which started when I was 40 (no previous MH issues ever).

It seemed to dissipate entirely when I was pregnant with my daughter at age 41 and re-appeared with vengeance as PND.

I've always noticed how it was worse just before my period but it seems the days when I feel good are getting fewer and fewer. Im already on a whack of antidepressants which seem to be doing nothing to help.

Am I hormonal or just nuts? Anyone else in a similar boat?

Anxiety is the biggest symptom for me, specifically Health anxiety. I put a post on my Instagram about peri and anxiety and have had friends contact me about anti anxiety meds they’re on and asking if it could be peri? Hopefully it’ll get the conversation started, spread some awareness. My meno consult said that if I struggled after the birth of my kids then it’s likely you may struggle in peri as these are times when your oestrogen is at it’s lowest, interesting. When I started looking at the Greene scale I had other symptoms too that I was unaware of! It can sometimes be a gradual process and you go downhill without even really realising it . I’m on HRT now (only a month in) nothing massive happened yet but I’ll give it 3 months, I have a review booked. I’ve read that when your younger you may need more oestrogen to replace what you’re missing, than the normal amount - here’s hoping HRT sorts me out

Hi. I've been on HRT for about 5 months. It hasn't helped with my anxiety which started in my mid 40s. I am 53.

I've tried medication but didn't like the side effects so I am trying to deal with it in other ways.

Overall lockdown hasn't been great for my mental health. I don't feel like myself anymore. I wouldn't say this is depression just a sense of boredom and isolation and a symptom of the peri menopause.

I do try and do things like exercise, catch ups with friends etc but I am trying to be careful and not go round crowded shops or to crowded places just yet.

Anyone else feel like this?

Yes its prob a combination of both as both affect MH. Lockdown wont last forever and maybe you need a different type or dose of HRT if you still have meno symptoms. I've recently increased my dose

@Micha1972 thanks for your reply. I am going to speak to my GP about increasing my HRT dose.

What are you using currently?

HRT patches and oestrogen tablets. It would be interesting to find out if anyone has found any natural remedies for anxiety.

I actually feel much better today.

I started hrt a couple of months ago mainly for MH issues which started when I was early forties, plus night sweats. I struggled with the progesterone part of it and I've just realised I've been failing to put the gel on daily too.

Going to give it a proper, better shot when my next cycle starts. But yes I went properly properly bonkers (as in needing drugs) when I'd never struggled before

Oh I hope I'm laughing soon too. Does it take a while to work? 2 months in and not doing anything for me. I'm still flushing every evening!!

@Umbongo1

So having had a few months of periods every 2-3 weeks I now seem to be back on a regular cycle but periods are lasting like 8 days (used to be 5).

I'm getting horrific anxiety not so much before but during and just after. Anyone else suffering?

Hi, Can I ask how the HRT went, please?

Kind regards
Maria

Hi,
Just wanted to thank everyone, particularly Umbongo, for sharing experiences and making me not feel insane...same as most, 42 and experiencing heavier and far more painful periods and added mental health 'weight', for want of a better word, which makes days feel less pleasurable and more tough to get through. My GP was very dismissive and useless (and was a woman, which for some reason disappointed me more than it should have). I do find solace in not feeling alone and that unfortunately this is the experience of over 50% of the population.
Thank you everyone :)

Interesting to read everyone’s comments, I’m 48 and for the last 3 years have been struggling with anxiety and flat mood, which has felt quite unusual for me. My periods are all over the place and the last year I’ve had quite full on fatigue too. I’m finding it hard to pick out what’s pandemic, maybe long covid, hormonal or just the new me?

Reading your comments has made me realise peri menopause is probably a good guess for the sudden anxiety issues at least. I’m a bit scared to take HRT as my mum has had breast cancer so will have to do more reading around that and see if there are a few other things I can tweak first based on it being peri menopause. I just miss the carefree happy me and was wondering if that person had gone forever..

Thekrakening
Yes me! Have googled and can't find any reason why. Could be part of the extended low mood around that time when in peri

My main problematic symptom was anxiety. No reason for it that I could identify and no MH issues before 40. It's only in the following years that I started adding a whole list of additional (but for me less troublesome) symptoms that I've become convinced it's perimenopause. In fact I've just been prescribed HRT.

My mother had breast cancer too, @Mia23. She had it at 65 and I too was worried about HRT.

No other female relatives seemed to have had BC.

I was putting on a lot of weight with perimenopause and too knackered to take exercise, so I decided to take HRT.

Obviously if you have the BRCA1 gene HRT is very risky, but I was told that if a close female relative has BC later in life, that HRT does not raise the risk that much. Plus HRT under the age of 50 is less risky anyway, I started it at 48.

You need to calculate your risk on factors like whether you drink alcohol, smoke, are overweight, whether you need progesterone (because this pushes the risk up apparently) the age your periods stopped and if you breastfed.

I just looked at it like a ledger with credits and debits. Ultimately I thought I was better off on HRT.

@screechyowl I don’t know if I have the BRCA1 gene and I guess I’d have to go private to find out. I’m fairly low risk from a weight, drinking etc POV but had children really late and I’m fairly risk adverse as I want to be around to see them grow up (health anxiety is the main issue I’m having atm).. I think HRT will be the last resort but I’m keeping an open mind.. will see how things go.

It's taken me 6 years to realise that some of the symptoms I'm experiencing is anxiety. Initially, I put it down to stress, as indeed, I was under a lot at work and in personal life. However, things changed drastically, so that I am now totally free of stressors, and triggers for anxiety. Yes, I constantly feel what I would describe as 'unable to relax', 'buzzing', 'on edge' for no reasons at all. This leads to very poor sleep.

The only reason why I clicked that it was that famous menopausal anxiety is that I am slowly starting to experience few occasions of the after menopausal life, and I feel completely different, in a way that reminds me of how I was 10 years ago!

Sadly, the anxiety has hit me again two days ago after a wonderful few days of release. This morning, I'm buzzing, tinnitus is horrendous and I'm feeling lightheaded with vertigo. I also feel very tense. All this for NO reasons at all! I'm trying to relax, but as I have no mental reasons to feel as I do, it's not easy and in the past, it's done little to help. What does help is recognise it for what it is, because what makes it really bad is to start feeling anxious, mentally and physically about being anxious!

So I now just let wash over me, tell myself that although unpleasant, I just don't care, and hope that it will pass soon again.

I’ve been suffering anxiety for about a year. I’m 46 and never had it before. I feel on edge all the time, have had panic attacks and never feel ‘happy’. I’ve just been on a 2 week holiday and it made no difference to my mood at all which has made me feel sad and scared that I’ll never feel relaxed or happy again.
I’m lying in bed and my stomach is in knots for no reason whatsoever.
I’ll try calling my Dr but getting an appointment is harder than climbing Mount Everest at the moment!