Menopause Anxiety

[pinkrabbits39]

I know I keep harping on about this but I know you lovely ladies might be able to help…
ANXIETY 🥺
My oestrogen levels are good at 880 (Newson blood test) but I still don’t feel ‘myself’
This level was achieved on 5 pumps of oestrogen and testosterone
I tried 6 pumps - Newson said I could try as I’m 43, my levels are allowed to be up to 1200, but I felt sooooo rubbish on that, dizzy, out of sorts etc
So, the question is, what do I do? Persist with 6 pumps and see if symptoms settle and hope that’s the answer to getting rid of this blooming residual anxiety, or try a low dose anti anxiety med and stay on 5 pumps?

Depends how anxious you are feeling?
At worst my anxiety does not allow me to drive or converse with people. Terrible. Knotted stomach in the morning and the feeling of impending doom and gloom.

Sometimes HRT does not get rid of anxiety completely.
A low dose anti d may help you?
What about increasing half a pump?

Hello 👋 meno anxiety started whipping my arse this last autumn. Upping my estrogen from 2 to 3 pumps didn't help and made me wired and crazy insomniac so I went back to 2 and hover between 2 and 2 and a half if flushes pop up. I think I'm at a place of surges and dips of estrogen so it's a moving target. I wonder if it's more the imbalance between the two hormones but this is just my speculation. My reading around sheds no deep insight into the exact mechanisms that cause meno anxiety. I am on a v low dose antidepressant at the moment and beta blockers. Bloody hate it though, it is so not me. Is it just the anxiety you're upping the estrogen for or other symptoms too?

I had an estrogen reading of 660 in Sept under Louise Newson. She told me to up my estrogen despite me having no symptoms of issue at the time. I did a Google and found that this wasn't a bad number so kept the same. In each appointment I've had she's kept wanting me to be on higher doses as I'm younger (45) but upping has not made me feel better. I'm not sure if this is of any help really other than you aren't alone trying to solve the problem. I'm switching to patches to see if they are any different but keeping my expectations low

@Runaround50

Depends how anxious you are feeling? At worst my anxiety does not allow me to drive or converse with people. Terrible. Knotted stomach in the morning and the feeling of impending doom and gloom.

Sometimes HRT does not get rid of anxiety completely.
A low dose anti d may help you?
What about increasing half a pump?

Thank you, it's weird that I'm ok with HRT but anti anxiety meds feel like failing to me, like I'm not dealing with the problems, just medicating myself. However I can't go on like this, so maybe you're right And half a pump is a great idea too, thank you

I'm on 20mg of Citalopram and it has changed my life. Wish I had done it sooner. Good luck!

@Matbest

I'm on 20mg of Citalopram and it has changed my life. Wish I had done it sooner. Good luck!

Are you on HRT as well as the citalopram? It's always interesting to me when women end up needing both AD's and HRT.

@feettothestars

Hello 👋 meno anxiety started whipping my arse this last autumn. Upping my estrogen from 2 to 3 pumps didn't help and made me wired and crazy insomniac so I went back to 2 and hover between 2 and 2 and a half if flushes pop up. I think I'm at a place of surges and dips of estrogen so it's a moving target. I wonder if it's more the imbalance between the two hormones but this is just my speculation. My reading around sheds no deep insight into the exact mechanisms that cause meno anxiety. I am on a v low dose antidepressant at the moment and beta blockers. Bloody hate it though, it is so not me. Is it just the anxiety you're upping the estrogen for or other symptoms too?

I had an estrogen reading of 660 in Sept under Louise Newson. She told me to up my estrogen despite me having no symptoms of issue at the time. I did a Google and found that this wasn't a bad number so kept the same. In each appointment I've had she's kept wanting me to be on higher doses as I'm younger (45) but upping has not made me feel better. I'm not sure if this is of any help really other than you aren't alone trying to solve the problem. I'm switching to patches to see if they are any different but keeping my expectations low

Thank you so much. My understanding is that meno anxiety is hormone related and specific to peri and true anxiety is a chemical imbalance, so by this logic it should be cured by HRT and anti anxiety meds would not be indicated. I guess the thought for you is, if you're still having anxiety then upping your HRT may help it. Newson told me, up to 1200 is ok for our age but I can't seem to tolerate more than 5 pumps and my testosterone a day without other shitty side effects I might try half a pump and see... I just need someone to definitively tell me it's my hormones, do this and it'll get all better

@CrystalTits

I’d be really interested to know what side effects you experience when you increase the number of pumps. I’m on 4 pumps with an estrogen level of 1000 but I have never felt that HRT has alleviated my symptoms of anxiety and low mood. If I go up to 5 or 6 pumps (my gynae consultant has previously mentioned it would be ok, I had an early menopause) what side effects should I look out for?

@pinkrabbits39 I would love someone to give some definitive answers too but it’s been 10 years now and I feel like I’m still working this all out on my own…

Hey, for me... I felt really spaced out and generally awful. So bad I had to stop but then I know that some people have to persevere with HRT to find their level, my DH thinks it would be a good idea if we all knew what our 'normal' levels are before meno or peri so we know what we are aiming for!