Please help - debilitating anxiety in perimenopause

[PopRay80]

Morning ladies. I’m 43 and going through this horrendous perimenopause. I feel like it’s ruining my life 😢
I’ve never had anxiety before but this was one of the symptoms that made me go to the GP to ask for HRT as I knew it was hormonal.
I’ve been off work for about 3 weeks now and don’t know how I am supposed to work with such crippling anxiety and tiredness.
I wake up at around 4am every morning and the anxiety hits. I have a really tight chest and my brain is in overdrive.
I have been on HRT (gel and utrogestan) for around 10 days (prior to that I was on Evorel Sequi patches for 2.5 weeks, which made me feel worse) and desperately want to know if anyone can tell me if this will help with this debilitating anxiety??
Please let me know if HRT will help with anxiety as I’m desperate.
I’m SO unhappy right now and can’t cope with this 😢

Thanks to PopRay80 for starting this thread. Xxx

@ThunderThighs123 what AD are you taking? I’ve been given sertraline (currently on 125mg) but not sure it’s really working. Although I feel a bit less anxious I feel so low now and cry loads. It’s just awful 😢

Menopause seminar sounds good. Just doing the research is exhausting and I feel never really know if I have the right information.

Just to say maybe ask GP for a thyroid check. I had panic attacks and it was linked to my hyperthyroidism - am on propranolol for the symptoms of anxiety such as hypertension and the panic which has enabled me to leave the house and sleep and stop the spiralling.

I'm on Sertraline. Started on 50mg and now on 200mg. X

I was referred by my GP. X

@ThunderThighs123 How long did it take to get up to 200mg and then how long for it to feel like it was “kicking in”? After being on 100mg for 8 weeks I had 6/7 good weeks but then went downhill again. I’ve been on the increased dose for 8 weeks and still struggling x

8 weeks is plenty of time for Sertraline to take full effect. My GP said 6 weeks.

Keep going back and request a higher dose. That should do the trick

In my experience, the gp will assume you're ok unless you get in touch. Keep going back until you feel better. ADs should help with mood and tearfulness. So sorry hear you're going through that at the moment. You WILL get better, it's just a matter of time and the right medication.

I've been on Sertraline for 4 months, since I started feeling bad. Began with 50mg for 2 weeks, then I requested an increase, and spent 3 weeks on 100g and then 150g. That didn't make me feel normal, so I rang the GP to request another increase, this time to 200g (the max dose).

That was on Friday of last week, and by Monday I was feeling much better. My background feeling of anxiety began to fade, and my low mood has gone. I'm feeling a bit flat, but that's a small price to pay.

I should mention that I have been on 200g sertraline for the past 10 years, and decided (unwisely) come off them by myself in February this year. Wish I hadn't done that. Might have had an easier time of it now. We live and learn.

I have no plans to ever come off them again!

Good luck. Xx

Hi OP. I had a total cure from debilitating anxiety with HRT. I had no prior history of anxiety and actually it was post menopause mine hit - about 6 months after periods had stopped altogether.

My eyesight was the first to be affected. I even had a brainscan! But all tests came back normal. My stomach was so knotted for about 18 months. I had so many awful symptoms.

Within 3 weeks of starting hrt (femi conti) i physically felt the anxiety lift away. That was in 2016. Still on hrt and it still suits me.

Give it a try!

Great news!

May I ask those on antidepressants if they’ve had any negative side effects re sexual function? Mine do and looking to change

Me too! I'm so glad I've found this thread. I've been signed off work for the past two weeks with crippling anxiety and depression. I'm falling asleep ok but then waking throughout the night until about 4am when I can't go back to sleep. I have intrusive thoughts about family members dying, losing my job because of this, people at work or friends moaning about me thinking I'm a liability etc. I just want to sit at home where I feel safe. It's awful. I have always been on Citalopram 10mg for anxiety but this has been upped to 40mg per day, Evorel 50 patch, Utrogesten, Vitamin D and Propanalol every day.

Just wanted to ask if anyone one else is experiencing worrying short-term memory problems? Not being able to retain new information, losing things in the house, forgetting to put groceries away etc? I am stressed and have a young child etc, but am worried it’s not just peri! Hoping to hear that HRT has helped some people with this

My short-term memory is appalling and has been for several years. HRT has helped but not there are still a couple of weeks a month where I really struggle to recall words, names etc. I think it’s pretty common.