Vivid disturbing dreams - affecting my MH

[Mykittensmittens]

I’m 52 and at the end of June had a polypectomy and mirena fitted for adenomyosis. I had a mirena before, 12 years ago and had it removed 7 years ago as DH had the snip. I had no issues with mirena first time. It stopped my periods completely and I didn’t have any side effects.

my periods were regular(ish) but very heavy, I was anaemic, and they were interfering with functioning as the blood loss was so extreme.

i’ve had the mirena in about 9 or 10 weeks and still had 3 periods and a lot of spotting. At my post surgery check up the gynaecologist said I need to give it more time. With quite advanced adenomyosis he said an improvement in periods and blood loss is the aim, and that they are likely not to stop altogether. He advised against hysterectomy at this stage as he says menopause could be just round the corner.

however since the mirena fitting, I’ve been plagued with problems in the night.

im not someone who recalls dreams frequently, or has disturbing dreams, but they are off the scale. Every night from 2am onwards my sleep is disrupted by me waking up in the middle of horrible dreams, I am drenched in sweat and boiling hot. I think im waking because of being so hot but I’m probably in the middle of a dream, or vice versa. I feel like the nightmares are becuase I’m hotter than I normally am, or maybe the hormones from
the mirena or maybe menopause.

I’m trying to stay cool, good sleep routine etc but these dreams are horrendous. Last night I had 3 including one where I was dreaming I was awake and it was 5am and someone was in my room - then I properly woke up and it was 2am and I was drenched in sweat. I also dream almost nightly about a close relative who died last year, and not in a good context of dreaming either - these are properly scary, vivid dreams.

anyone got any ideas what’s going on? Should I go back to the gynae? Give up on the mirena? HRT? I can’t have oestrogen due to a familial cancer.

Stop alcohol and take magnesium glycinate before bed.

That sounds like menopause symptoms rather than the mirena

If you use HRT that would mean adding estrogen to your Mirena.

Why can't you have estrogen?

There are so many posts here saying that and 99% of the time, women are misinformed, having either been told something by a dr that is out of date, or assuming something .

A relevant family history would be your mum or sister with breast cancer at a young age, in which case you would need genetic testing for the BRACa gene.

Is it that?

Thanks.

I already take magnesium - I take the gummies (they are glycinate). I do drink but not daily, but happy to ditch it altogether for a bit to see if that helps.

I can’t have oestrogen as my Mum had an oestrogen receptive breast cancer in her 40s. It was ‘advised against’ by both my GP and my Gynaecologist?

it’s all just spiralling. I get up exhausted and edgy, then because of that I get anxious about things that I’d normally deal with fine. I spend the day playing back these awful nightmares becuase they are so vivid and unpleasant they play on my mind.

I don’t know what happened there -
somehow I reported my own post by accident.

I already take magnesium (glycinate chewable ones). I do drink but not daily and I’ll stop altogether and see.

I can’t have oestrogen as my Mum had oestrogen receptive breast cancer in her 40s. I’ve been ‘advised against’ by both GP and gynaecologist ?

I feel like it’s a spiral - I wake with tired and anxious because of what I’ve dreamt. I then ruminate on the dreams all day as they are so unpleasant and disturbing. It’s really impacting my life.

. You could ask for the BRACa gene test. If you want to listen to info about inherited risk, there is a very good and informative video on the BMS website where Prof Michael Baum discusses this.https://thebms.org.uk/publications/bms-tv/

It's near the bottom of the videos on the right.