Peri menopausal insomnia so bad - what do I ask Dr for?

[user8800]

I'm 51

Have been in peri since I was 40 - lots of awful symptoms

I've tried the lot...mirena, oral hrt, patch hrt, gel hrt, ending in an endometrial ablation (which also didn't work)

I'm pretty sure I'm progesterone intolerant and suffered greatly whilst on hrt, which didn't really help my symptoms

I'm 2 months into a horrendous bout of insomnia. I get maybe 2 hours of broken sleep per night. I feel quite ill now.

I've done everything I can think of;
New pillow, lighter duvet, calm app on phone, melatonin, kalms, no naps, exercise
....everything that the websites recommend

Pharmacist says nothing they can recommend

So, drs it is...what do I ask for? Can they help?

I was on very low dose of mirtazipine for a while last year but 1. It didn't help that much and 2. Weight gain

I'm so desperate to get some sleep :(

Any advice? Thank you.

Get phenergan from the chemist (otc anti histamine). It's strong so just take one.

It's the only thing that works for me. It's not recommended long term though.

I've gone from 4 to 7 hours sleep every night for last month - feel like a new person

Thank you
I'll try it

How long have you been taking it?

I’m just the same, tried everything I can think of and look and feel a wreck. As the pp suggested, antihistamines work for me for a short time. Try Boots own otc antihistamines
Chlorphenamine maleate. If you ask for their own version of Piriton they usually offer their own unbranded ones. Don’t buy the ones off the shelf as they won’t help. I’d say they become less effective (for me) after a few weeks, I tend to take them a few times a week just so I can have some sleep. Sometimes I only take half a tablet so it may be worth trying that. It’s not ideal I know but when you’re desperate anything is worth a try.

Are you taking magnesium? also try Ashwagandha

Yes
Sorry should have made clear am taking vit d and magnesium daily

Can't get a drs appointment til end of march

I've just ordered a bladder supplement too

Were you on cyclical HRT?

I am also likely progesterone intolerant and my specialist basically said not to do cycles. Also everyone I've met on Mirena + oestrogen has been a lot happier than those on cycles.

Antihistamines are good, but ask (and insist) on some zopiclone from the GP. Even having some in stock helps me cope, even if I use it sparingly.

And exercise, I favour swimming as the best for sleeping.

This is absolutely the worst, it completely breaks you!

For me, HRT (oestrogen & testosterone gels... I'm on a super high dose!) has greatly improved things. I get probably 6/7 nights a month where I get the insomnia but the rest of the month is generally ok.

Btw, I heard David Baddiel on the radio this morning and he was talking about insomnia. He made a very funny comment about all the well meaning advice you get from others; he said you tell someone you suffer from insomnia and they say, oh, not me, I sleep like a baby. Or, I'd just try some mindfulness, sorted me out instantly. He said, if you were talking to someone and they said they were going blind, you wouldn't say, oh, not me, I can see perfectly.. you should just try some deep breathing exercises.

None of that will help you sadly but at least you know you're far from alone...!

Melatonin is good as well for this

Have you considered vaginal estradiol tablets? You can buy Gina otc but definitely worth mentioning if and when you can get a gp appointment. Really helped my bladder problems.

Melatonin. I’ve heard Mariella Frostrop talk about it in regards to peri meno insomnia, and gp’s prescribing for that.

Tried melatonin

Definitely vaginal oestrogen. Stopped me getting up all night to go to the loo.

Re: hrt
It caused very severe migraines, which made me a stroke risk
It's taken a long time to get back on an even keel in that respect
I just don't deal well with synthetic hormones it seems :(

I'm sitting here feeling really tearful, which is just not me

I'll ask re: estradiol (but I have no dryness issues...?)

I can't have a mirena now because of scarring from the ablation :(

I have nothing to suggest, but I didn't want to just click away. I had peri insomnia and thankfully HRT worked, but it was ruining my life before I pieced it all together.

I had varying amounts of luck with St John's Wort, 5HTP, Ashwaghanda, Red Clover, Black Cohosh.

It's easy to say exercise works/helps, but if you've had 90 minutes sleep between 4.30am and 6am, that's no use to anybody.

I don’t have dryness either but the estradiol pressures have helped enormously with bladder issues. If you can’t get them on prescription just buy some and see if they help.
Being absolutely exhausted makes everything feel so much worse x

Today's hormones aren't synthetic - they're body-identical. Have you spoken to someone at the Newson Clinic?

I'll try the Gina...is it otc?

Thank you for all the replies BTW. I'm very grateful

No.
She seems to recommend the same hrt to everyone

My gp is useless
I was given hrt by a locum dr who has now left
I've had: oral hrt, patches and gel
Nothing helped and actually made me feel worse
The patches were px by a private gynae and I was given a higher dose than usual (75mg??)
I eventually developed a contact dermatitis from the glue 🙄
Then there was a national shortage so I stopped taking them which greatly improved my migraines