Anxiety

[Sortmylifeout52]

This kind of follows on from my driving anxiety post.

Anxiety is what prompted me to go into HRT, 4 years ago. It went for a bit, but is back.

Heart palpitations, knotted feeling in stomach and just generally feeling on edge and jittery. Driving is near impossible.

I upped my patch from 75 to 100 yesterday and hope it calms down
again. I'm so scared it won't and I will be back to square one again.

You might need some propranolol to take the edge off. I’d be having a conversation with the GP.

Yes think you are right. This is no good at all.

Yeah, a visit to your doctor may be the best approach.

Appointment booked for next week.
Just feel so tired and wrung out, aged 52!

My dr prescribed pregablin and said it tends to work really well for perimenopause anxiety. Maybe do a little research but anxiety is just the worst.

I really hope you manage to get some relief.

@PacmanIsLost did pregbalin work for you? Any side effects ? Thanks

Propranolol is great for some women. Less so for others - did nothing for me, I take Sertraline which has changed my life. It’s a trial and error thing I think, to find what works for you.

Thanks.
Any side effects with sertraline?

I do remember taking propranolol years ago, thinking about it and it not doing much.

I don't really want to take these drugs, but needs must.

I’ve had no lasting side effects, no weight gain or anything like that. I felt a little spacey for the first few weeks but that was easy to cope with. I’ve had SSRIs in the past to help with anxiety and they made me very, very ill.

It has helped a lot. I’ve been on it since May and taking the lowest therapeutic dose of 75mg morning and night.

I have heard the effect can wear off and I am finding myself a bit more anxious at the moment (but lots going on in personal life) so I am thinking of increasing the dose. My dr suggested taking another 75mg at lunch time. I might also talk to her about HRT too for other reasons.

The max dose I believe is 600mg but I don’t think I need that high a dose.

Pregablin is a more expensive drug, they try to prescribe gabapentin instead but I requested pregablin. It’s also an abused drug and is apparently addictive but other than lessening anxiety I can’t say that I’m walking around in a state of bliss!!!!

Ive also taken beta blockers in the past and they can be very helpful in a ‘put a plaster on it’ kind of way but pregablin helped me to get my life back. I was reaching the point where I was getting very anxious just leaving the house to walk the dog.

I hope that’s helpful, let me know if I can answer anything else.

Can you pinpoint when and why the anxiety started?

Forgot to add -
Unfortunately I am one of the rare people who react to SSRI, I think they call it seratonin syndrome, that’s not to say you will.

In some cases sertraline or citalopram can make you feel worse before the effects kick in and if you are taking it for anxiety you can ask that something like diazepam be prescribed along side it for the first few days. I know they’re a game changer for lots of people.

I really balked against taking meds for a very long time, not sure why because it’s no failure or weakness. It was harder for me to make that drs appointment and ask for help than taking the meds.

Thanks @PacmanIsLost It's useful to have an insight into people's experiences. Side effects do scare me as I work in a school and need to be alert. I also want to change jobs and I feel anxiety is preventing me from moving forward at the moment.

I will speak to the GP next week and ask her advice on which drug might be worth trialling first. Thanks very much for sharing.

@Eyesopenwideawake well anxiety started in 2019, out of the blue. I realised I was menopausal and started HRT. It was all around driving.

After a long time on HRT, the anxiety has once again reared its ugly head.

I have a subserosal fibroid which is causing me real physical pain. I'm in the process of having tests and then I want to request a hysterectomy. Daily pain is grinding me down.

Brain fog has descended and the feeling of my brain being disconnected from my body. Driving is horrendous again. I've upped my hrt patch from 75 to 100, to see if it helps.

I'm also fed up with my job
and need to move on. DD is off to uni next week too.

Many life changes and I feel dreadful.

@PacmanIsLost I have resisted SSRIs for a long time. The fear of becoming addicted of suffering from side effects has put me off.

However, I think now is the time to become proactive and take stock of my mental health. I'm finding being menopausal, really really tough for some reason.

Were you a confident driver before 2019? Was there any particular incident that triggered the fear of driving?

I’m 52, changed jobs 4 months ago and hated everything about the move. My anxiety spiked and the GP prescribed citalopram. I’ve been on it a month and it’s totally eased it. I’m sleeping again, not waking up feeling sick and life feels more manageable. I’m still absolutely shattered all the time. I used to be a real night bird but now I’m ready for bed at 9pm!

@Eyesopenwideawake I'm not a huge fan of driving, but never experienced anxiety over doing it, until now. I sweat, get palpitations and get a really dry mouth. These are roads I've driven for 16 years.

@Frightenedbunny I'm glad you are in a better place now. I'm also 52 and desperately need to change jobs. However, I need to get my health in a better place first.
I'm also ready for bed at 9pm!

OK, so there's some part of your subconscious mind that's gone a bit rogue with regard to the driving. Anxiety is the emotion that's designed to draw our attention to stuff that's too important to ignore/forget. On a scale of 0 (no anxiety) to 10 (debilitating panic) it should be around 1-2 (otherwise we wouldn't bother doing anything, because we wouldn't see the point). The physical reactions are the fight or flight response kicking in due to the faulty thoughts; the body can not distinguish between a real threat and an imaginary one. It is very likely linked to the hormone changes but if you'd like to have a chat to see if remedial hypnosis would help drop me a note.

@Eyesopenwideawake that's very interesting. When a lorry comes towards me ( in the opposite direction) my brain tells me, it's going to crash into me. When I driving round a bend, my brain is saying I will end up in the ditch.

I also can't remember how to turn right at a roundabout and thinking which pedals my feet need to use.

Maybe this is dementia?

Much more likely to be menopause related - I remember the awful brain fog and not being able to string a simple sentence together. I'm 60 now and just as mentally sharp as I was before the menopause (which might not be saying much!).

Ive definitely become more anxious since the menopause too

@Eyesopenwideawake are you on Hrt? I wish this would all go away. It's very debilitating.

No, it's not routinely prescribed here in Portugal (or at least it wasn't 10 years ago). My menopause started two years after my hysterectomy and eased off after about 5 years.

@Sortmylifeout52 i don’t think you have dementia. It’s just brain fog. I’ve had my car for 3 years. I got into it the other day to drive and o couldn’t remember where my eco drive button was. I just sat and cried. Thought it may be dementia too

@Frightenedbunny it's very scary isn't it? I hate it. I just want to hide away until it's all over. Life seems too overwhelming!