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?

I had bad stomach cramps with the utrogestan but definitely only for a couple of days. I started on 100mg while my body adjusted to it, usual dose is 200mg I think.

I do feel more normal now and that behind the scenes anxiety has gone so I can chat and laugh with dc again rather that always having a second conversation running in my head about what could be wrong with me.

I know what you mean about that constant internal conversation. I just want to get out of my
Own head and back into the real world.

Haven't had any night sweats since starting the gel although tbh they were the least of my worries!

Hi , is anyone on HRT & blood pressure tablets ?

@Umbongo1@HelloDaisy
wow its like reading my own experience exactly!
This whole post has made me feel so much better and like I'm not alone. I have had the HRT here for months and because of my Health Anxiety I haven't been able to pluck up the courage to take it.
I have felt so rubbish for so long that I feel like I can't possibly ever feel like the old me again. Ironically the one thing that caused my anxiety is stopping me taking the cure!

@pinkrabbits39 welcome!!

What sort of HRT have you got? Did your GP prescribe it for you?

I bit the bullet last week only because my anxiety hit a new record high (and not in a good way) and frankly I'd run out of things to try!

Maybe we can help each other through this a bit xx

Thank you, that would be lovely...
I have oestrogen gel and utrogestan for my progesterone and I have a copper coil for contraception. I paid to see Newson Health privately via a zoom and they prescribed it, I paid privately for the first prescription but I can get it on the NHS now. I went for this as it’s the most body identical HRT and therefore safest. If you take HRT before menopause it’s safe anyway as you’re only replacing what your body is naturally missing, so there’s nothing extra.
I have tried everything, CBT, acupuncture, hypnotherapy and every supplement going, the anxiety was so new to me and scary as hell. Apparently if you struggled a little after pregnancy it can be an indication that you’ll struggle in peri as that’s another incident when your oestrogen drops.

Absolutely yes! I was in a mess before taking hrt and I had terrible stress because of symptoms. I had an early meno and I couldn’t sleep, work...nothing. I was at a very dark place.

Hrt helped massively,give it time to work though. Didn’t really have hot flushes, but the night sweats were horrendous. Wool duvet helped as did the hrt.

I had ‘the rage’ too, I’m not normally a supplements person but Angus castus helped with that.

But mostly the hrt and oestrogen pessaries for dry bits.

Once I was feeling more myself exercise helped,.

Thanks all, how long did it take to get going on the psychological symptoms?

It's the anxiety i'm struggling with, it's absolutely crippling. I have lost my appetite and feel like i'm going mad.

@pinkrabbits39 did you get prescribed antidepressants? What are your other symptoms?

Hope you're doing ok today, I'm off for a walk to try and burn off some adrenaline and clear my head

@Umbongo1 you poor thing, do stick with it, I think you’ve been using the gel since about the 9th March, so it’s not 2 weeks yet - maybe book a phone call appointment with your GP for Tuesday by which point you’ll have been using the gel for 2 weeks.

Do you feel any better at all? I thought you would have seen some improvement, I know you said your sweats had stopped, so the estrogen is getting in to your system.

So sorry you feel so awful, it’s just awful, but it’s not you, it’s your hormones, as hard as it is, try to focus on that

@Rina66 thanks for your reply

Did you see an improvement by 2 weeks then? I'm freaking out that it's actually not a hormonal problem at all and thank frankly I am just mad!

This is so tough.

Ps I have an appointment with my GP but not until 31 March which was the earliest I could get!

31st March??? I’m sorry, that’s just not good enough when you feel like this.
I do think I saw an improvement by two weeks, but it was subtle because I can remember thinking just like you - I thought I must be clinically depressed, I couldn’t believe it was hormonal as the HRT didn’t make me feel amazing immediately. The rational me could see a pattern to it though, 2 really really good happy weeks, then 2 weeks of shifting towards the worst low mood, anxiety, loss of appetite, sleep issues, procrastination and just feeling totally overwhelmed by everything, I couldn’t even read.
After a month everything had really calmed down but I still felt a bit flat, so my HRT was upped from the Estrodot 50mg patch to the 75mg one - the doctor also gave me the 25 mg patches to use if I felt the 75’s weren’t enough - so I can use them together to make 100mg patch. I seem to be good on the 75’s and I am conscious that too much estrogen can create symptoms similar to too little.

[quote pinkrabbits39]**@Umbongo1@HelloDaisy
wow its like reading my own experience exactly!
This whole post has made me feel so much better and like I'm not alone. I have had the HRT here for months and because of my Health Anxiety I haven't been able to pluck up the courage to take it.
I have felt so rubbish for so long that I feel like I can't possibly ever feel like the old me again. Ironically the one thing that caused my anxiety is stopping me taking the cure![/quote]
I didn’t use mine for ages for the same reason!

I have been on it for a month now and my anxiety is definitely improving. I feel more relaxed and not immediately going to google for every niggle. I also feel more at peace generally and my dizziness has decreased so all in all I am going in the right direction.

Slightly worried about having the vaccine next week but on the whole I a, okay...

@HelloDaisy

Good luck with the jab, I had mine in January and it was absolutely fine...

HRT hasn't helped my anxiety. It has been good to clear brain fog and I don't have hot flushes anymore.

I've been on a low dose HRT for 2 months and it hasn't really done much except flushes are gone. Still insomnia, bad anxiety low mood and headaches and fatigue. Just upped my dose so not sure how long it should take to notice a difference?

The general advice is 3 months to notice a difference.

How you doing @Umbongo1? I’m interested to hear your profess 😘

@pinkrabbit39 thanks. I know about the 3 months but just thought after nearly 2 months I should feel some improvement as i hear of lots of women saying they felt back to normal in days or weeks.

Hi Micha1972,, has the upped dose helped at all?

This is really interesting. I had 6 months no periods and hot flashes. Periods now back. It's occurred to me recently that I haven't been anxious since periods back when previously my anxiety was overwhelming.

I've had breast cancer in the past (hormone neg luckily) so to be honest may take hrt if the anxiety returns as it wasn't manageable really. Prob will pay to see dr newson's clinic due to my history.

@Umbongo1 how are you getting along OP?

Hi @Umbongo1! (and everyone!)

Keen to see how you’re getting on if you started HRT a few months ago?

I hope it’s worked out for you - menopause anxiety is not fun! Definitely experienced this, but I had no idea what it was at the start. It's amazing the difference hormones make to our body and how they can make you feel. So interesting reading this thread, lots of things everyone has said have really resonated with me.

If you haven’t seen any improvement, have you spoken to your doctor about it? I wonder if they would prescribe something to help with your anxiety if not, perhaps a beta-blocker like propranolol? Could be worth a shot - I’ve used propranolol before and it’s really helped ease my anxiety. Always worth asking! There’s a lot of info on the internet but I found reading user reviews helpful when I was deciding whether to take it or not! (Stuff like this www.theindependentpharmacy.co.uk/anxiety/guides/propranolol-reviews)

But also, like everyone has said, it does take a while for HRTs to kick in, so definitely hold out for a bit to see if things improve, then take steps if they don’t :)

Hope you’re feeling better!

All the best,

Janet