HRT and anxiety

[Umbongo1]

Has anyone found that HRT helps their anxiety?

I've been prescribed it by menopause doctor and I'm already on AD's but getting excruciating anxiety (like I can't eat or thing straight). It comes out of nowhere.

I've had the HRT sitting here for months now but I'm too scared to try it - I guess in case it doesn't work and I'm left just being a mental wreck.

My periods have now become regular again (albeit usually 7-8 days long) having been every 2-3 weeks for a while. I'm 45.

Help?

Yes, massively so. Within a week of starting it.

I was having panic attacks/ palpitations/sweats. Crunch point for me was when I had an anxiety attack in the middle of a shopping centre I went to regularly - just froze, couldn't move, was petrified (don't know what about). Decided enough was enough and saw GP for HRT the following week.
Try it - if it doesn't work, come off it again and try something different.

@OnlyTeaForMe thank you for responding. Did you have other menopause symptoms too?

Yes absolutely and I notice a difference if I forget to take it for a few days.

@lurkingattheback did you get awful anxiety too? There's just no reason for me to feel anxious, it's like waves of adrenaline

Yes- the brain fog/memory issues, also hot flushes and restless legs.

So yes, quite a lot!
HRT sorted them all within days.

There's just no reason for me to feel anxious, it's like waves of adrenaline

Yes- this is exactly how I felt. The anxiety rose like a hot flush and would centre itself in my chest, with me becoming aware of my heart beating. Sometimes I'd feel a bit spaced out/nauseous and as if I needed to sit/lie down until it passed.

Yes massively. I had hideous anxiety (hideous, makes me well up just thinking about it) and I eventually realised it was related to the time of the month and my cycle. Like you I had already been prescribed AD's which resolved some issues but not the anxiety. It got so bad that I could not drive the car (for fear of crashing) and could not leave the house for a few days a month. Had a massive panic attack at work in a fairly new job and had to be taken home (60 miles) by a colleague. I started HRT and it just floated away and not experienced it since. I do hope you get it sorted, it's a horrible way to live, well it's not living but surviving.

And yes I know exactly what you mean about the waves of adrenaline - its that leg wobble, heart beating, shaking hands feeling and the "fear". F*cking horrible.. wouldn't wish it on anyone.

It definitely helped my anxiety, which had been bubbling under all my life but, at 46, had got to the panic-attack stage.

It hasn’t helped my brain fog or memory issues at ALL though.

It works for my anxiety and flat mood, plus night sweats and in the main for insomnia.

I’m in oestrogen gel and mirena coil.

@Cosmos45 yes The Fear!

If I knew when it was coming I'd be ready for it but it floors me every time abs I'm convinced that I'm going to be in this misery forever.

I haven't had any hot flushes though

Yes, definitely. Within days I felt so much calmer. Helped massively with my sleep too. Got to be worth a try OP.

Yes it's helped me. My understanding of it is that the anxiety that appears for no apparent reason in menopause is because of a change in hormones, not because you are suddenly doing anything wrong or different.

I’ve never suffered from anxiety in my life, I didn’t even understand what it was, I’d get nervous about things, but anxiety no...... then the peri menopause happened and it’s certainly opened my eyes to how real and debilitating anxiety is. I lost my appetite, woke up at 3am literally panicking about whose birthday present I needed to buy or some other insignificant ‘to do’, I just felt totally overwhelmed by the smallest of things. It was a psychological problem but with real physical symptoms, just awful.

HRT is helping immensely, go to The Menopause Doctor website, watch the video, listen to the podcasts and read the articles, it really helped me to realise I wasn’t going mad, I just needed estrogen.

@Rina66 that's how I feel like I'm going completely mad. This time last week I was enjoying life, doing normal things and here I am now sat here and the very thought of doing the school run later is sending waves of panic through me.

Wtf is wrong with me!!

Another one who had no idea about generalised anxiety until I hit my early 40s and had to be signed off work for a month. 3 days on HRT and I was back at work as confident as ever - now I wouldn't be able to function without it. Go for it.

@Schmooo I could have written what you said. Did you get put on AD's also!?

Damn it I'm going to pump that gel right now!!!

@Umbongo1 it really isn’t you, it’s your hormones. The other biggest indicator for me was the fact that like you, I’d be so happy and then I’d have a day where I could start to feel the shift, then it was downhill all the way for up to 2 weeks. It was definitely cyclical, I filled in the climacteric test sheets- a menopause symptom daily checker - and then could really see a pattern.
My HRT journey hasn’t been totally straightforward, it’s not a one size fits all wonder drug, it needs tailoring, but I’m so glad I’ve stuck with it, it’s made a huge difference.
The scariest menopause statistic for me was the average age for suicide in women in this country is 51, the average age for menopause is also 51. Coincidence?

Can I please join this thread?

I'm 48 and have struggled with anxiety since having dc2 at 39. BF until I was about 41 and when my period returned after dc2 was about a year old, my period have been hugely painful clots galore and on a 24 day cycle. I believe my anxiety is worse in the days leading up to ovulation but the very worst a day before my period.

I have developed severe social anxiety, which I had never ever experience until I was in my early forties. On the contrary, I've alway loved a challenge. Now, like a pp, I dread something as simple as the school run.

I have private insurance (BUPA) and am in London, can anyone recommend what the first steps to getting the correct trteamnet would be please?

@MexicanBlanketMoment me too on the social anxiety also, lock down made it easier because I didn’t have to find excuses to not to socialise. I used to love going out, having dinner parties etc, at one point I wasn’t even replying to texts ☹️ The fact that it’s worse leading up to your period is usually due to estrogen levels falling and progesterone (PMT hormone!) levels rising, it’s so easily corrected, start today, I know it’s hard when you don’t even feel capable of cooking the dinner, but I promise you, once you even talk to a menopause specialist you will feel so much better.

I’m not sure private health covers menopause, well mine didn’t anyway and it was a Bupa all singing all dancing policy.

I have paid to have consultations with a Harley Street menopause clinic, they are very good, although the advice on here to me was to persist with my GP. I didn’t because I just couldn’t fight for what I wanted anymore, I wanted to be dealt with supportively, not to feel like I was a nuisance.

@Umbongo1 no I did not have hot flushes either.. well I did at night but not during the day. Also what really helps at night is a wool duvet, I got a baavet and it transformed my nights. Stopped the sweating almost immediately.

@MexicanBlanketMoment I managed to get an appointment with a private menopause specialist on line which was great.

I feel exactly as you do (especially about the school run for some wierd reason). My symptoms also started when I was 40 and I'd never had MH issues before.

Please do comment on this thread I'm so glad I'm not alone in this hell

@MexicanBlanketMoment - went privately. It is so easy to arrange a consultation with a private menopause specialist. I was getting my HRT through the GP but I wanted to make sure I was getting the best for me. If you google Dr Louise Newson she is a hormone expert and there are plenty of clinicians practicing. I make an appointment with clinic local to me. This was in lockdown and they did a zoom consult and then sent me 6mths worth of prescriptions. If you make a booking now this could be sorted in a matter of weeks. The initial consultation was £250 from memory then I paid for the prescription on top. Again from memory that was £106 for 6 mths worth. Follow up appts are £85.

I think the costs I paid were similar to those outlined by Cosmos45.

It was good to have the time (60 minutes) to go through everything with the dr and not feel rushed like you do with a GP.

Did you also find that you felt ok mentally when pregnant? I got pregnant at 42 and felt awesome mentally, then suffered awful PND.

Thank you @Umbongo1 and @Rina66.

Would you be able to DM me the name of the Harley and online clinics

I believe I've had a few hot flashes. Funnily I've alway imagined them as strong waves of feeling very hot. In my case it's just the weirdest sensation of heat rising slowly throughout my body to my head. Not entirely unpleasant feeling . Could this be it? I've only had them once every few weeks.

I know it’s hard when you don’t even feel capable of cooking the dinner, This too! I quite like cooking and pottering about but feel incredibly apprehensive so dh luckily does a lot of that.