Anxiety and Insomnia

[manicmondayssunday]

I'd been suffering from anxiety and insomnia since the perimenopause. I am in my mid 50s and recently it's been better. I had four consecutive good nights sleeps this week and it was life changing. I felt so much better and got lots of things done. I thought I was finally coming through these menopause symptoms.

Over the past two days my anxiety and insomnia is back. I'm so disappointed and fed up. I've tried all sorts of things but nothing helps and the anxiety medication I tried made me feel awful.

Anyone else been through this? Sorry, just needed to vent

Have you tried kalms, herbal remedy, I use them, instead of prescription medicine, also take vitamins, use pillow sprays.
Magnesium spray on legs ect.
No caffeine and no phone an hour before bed, I just turn it off. X

HRT?

I'm on HRT and it does help with some symptoms but not anxiety and insomnia

I think my HRT does help generally with my insomnia and night time anxiety (which is when it kicks in for me), it does creep back though. This week has been awful but life is additionally stressful at the moment and I also had some really awful news. I am hopeful it will resolve in the new few weeks.

Are you under stress currently?

Yes, I'm under a lot of stress at the moment

I'm on hrt and also Mirtazapine. I was waiting for the hrt to kick in and was hoping it would sort my anxiety and insomnia but didn't touch the sides so had to go on Mirtazapine and this has helped me sleep every night and helped my anxiety. However I am also under massive stress right now so anxiety still making an appearance

@roohats what dosage of Mirtazepine have you been prescribed? I’ve tried everything under the sun (including Amitriptyline; and I’m on hrt) but apart from zopiclone nothing even touches my insomnia. I feel exhausted.

Jumping on to this thread as I'm wide awake at 3.30am and my mind is full of doom-laden thoughts and worries.

i have no problem getting to sleep but tend to wake around 2am for a wee and then it's the luck of the draw whether I can get back or not. At least twice a week I'm awake for a big chunk of the night (maybe 2am til 5am) and then the weekends bring other nights of disturbed sleep thanks to teenagers coming and going at all hours.

Not taking any medication as I don't have any other physical menopause symptoms (apart from these two) so I don't fancy HRT. I'd be nervous about sleeping meds as I do have a genuine need to go to the toilet in the night and I'd be worried about not waking up when I needed to go.

Have you tried Phenergan it's an antihistamine you can buy over the counter for insomnia. Works a treat and you still go for wees you just go back to sleep after

@manicmondayssunday maybe you need a higher HRT dosage. Low oestrogen will definitely cause insomnia and anxiety. What dose are you on just now?

High dose magnesium taken in the evening worked wonders for this. I still wake for a wee, but do get back to sleep straight away rather than lying there catastrophizing for hours. Friends also swear by.

People on our work menopause network said they take high dosage magnesium (500) and HRT and keep fit with gentle weight lifting. That was the main theme of the success stories shared that I picked up on the recent lunchtime call attended by ca. 500 women from around the globe

Do you mind me asking what dose of mirtazapine you are on and how long did it take to kick in? I started it in November, initially at 15mg but went up to 30 mg 9 weeks ago. My sleep is till awful (averaging 4/5 hours per night) and still waking feeling awful (churning tummy, sweating, nervous and tearful) Am thinking I need to go back to GP and say it’s not for me. My only problem is I’ve already tried sertraline (only for 2 weeks as it made me really sick) and escitalopram (did this for 4 months but Gp took me off it as felt it was making me worse - I did try to tell her this after 3 months!) I’m so worried nothing is going to work for me!

Same combo for me too. It's brilliant!

This & high strength magnesium works for me. You need the highest dose-2000mg.

@manicmondayssunday It's always a good idea to review your hrt dose if your symptoms are not under control.
Have you considered increasing the estrogen dose?
What sort are you on?

I don't know much about Mirtazapine but thought it was not a good drug to be on long term as there are risks? (I've read posts on MN where people say it's addictive.)

Try increasing your HRT

I didn't realise that I was under-medicated because HRT sorted out so many of my menopause problems. After some years the GP increased my dosage to help with a new symptom. Only then did I realise that I had been on too low a dose before, as I was so much better overall on the increased dosage.