Aarrgghhh peri insomnia

[humptydumptyfelloff]

So here I am at 4 am having woken up drenched in sweat again and now I’m wide awake.

mid forties and am really noticing the last couple of months it’s ramping up.

sleep disturbed,hot flashes especially at night,I’m either boiling hot or cold I’ve totally lost any sort of thermostat.

periods are a lot more painful although still regular,my moods are horrendous and the fatigue is hard.

is now the time to seek a consult with the gp?

I am awake for exactly the same reason. I’ve currently got the fan blasting on me! And have come on mumsnet because I cannot sleep. I went to my GP about exactly this last week. I’m still having periods but they’re irregular and more heavy than usual, irritable, mood swings and fatigue! She gave me some information in HRT to read (I might read it now actually!) and once I’m armed with the information she said she would prescribe me with it. She actually offered it then but gave me the choice to read up on it first which I opted for.

Definitely time for an appointment. Good to keep options open.
Solidarity ✊🏿

I'm the same with no sleep
Regularly awake from 2 am to5 am ...or11 pm to 3am .
Can never have a full night's sleep

I'm 52 ,not keen on hrt personally
I'm on monjroro so permanently freezing,so no night sweats

But I quite enjoy the quiet of the night for a cup of tea in peace and a scroll on Mumsnet ..I just go to bed earlier to make up for it the next night

48 and awake for the same reasons. On hrt but patch is due to be changed today. Period must be due but can’t tell anymore as they’re so irregular but heavy. So tired but can’t sleep 😭

I'm still on progesterone only pill
I think that's why I've not had any menopause symptoms except not sleeping
No period ever either

HRT all the way. Will sort out the sleep & hot flushes, not to mention massively reducing the risk of osteoporosis, dementia and heart disease (better than statins for preventing cardiac events and reducing blood pressure).

Re. Patches, make sure you put your next one on for 12 hours before taking the old one off.

Arm yourself with all the evidence-based info via the balance website. The podcasts alone are amazing - just listening to the first one will tell you everything.

Me too - wake up so hot and full of adrenaline and anxiety. Cannot talk myself down from rumination and catastrophising so no wonder I can’t go back to sleep.

and I’m on 3 pumps of Oestrogel already!

Same here, am 46. Periods are still like clockwork and I don’t get hot flushes but the insomnia is annoying and the brain fog/memory failure 😞
im wondering if it’s time to see the gp also, am a bit ambivalent about HRT so will have to do some research first

Humpty, am also wide awake at 420am hot sweats and a loud bl**dy snorer beside me

I need to change my patches to a stronger dose ggrrrr

Me too! Been awake since 3.30. Can’t go back to sleep but I’m so tired. HRT is helping apart from the insomnia and brain fog. Definitely worth a consultation, worth asking if you have a menopause specialist GP. You might be lucky 😅

@herbettawhat podcasts do you recommend? I have a long journey this morning so might listen to it (if I don’t fall asleep!) Thanks.
Still awake! Since 1:50am. Alarm goes off in 40 bloody mins!

Finally fell asleep in the sofa wrapped in a dog at about 6. Just woken up and still feeling hot and knackered.
im going to ask my surgery if they have a menopause person to get as much info as I can.
hope everyone’s not too tired today

I’ve gone on it too as my periods were horrendous, I’ve now had no period for 3 months and I’m sleeping much better too. I used to wake up every night and be awake for 2 hrs at a time but since being on the pill, waking up during the night is also quite rare.

I have also been on iron tablets due to exhaustion, dizziness and fatigued (iron was extremely low) so I don’t know if this is helping with the better sleep too.

Good luck OP. I have been "functioning" on 4 hours of sleep a night for years and it's crippling me. Can't have HRT due to PE so I have to suffer (also have other problems including painful joints)

I was put on HRT in June, mainly for insomnia and night sweats. I had barely slept for months which in turn brought on the brain fogs. I have to drive to work, and some days I wondered how I got there.

I went on HRT and it was marvellous. Within 2 days I was sleeping again and the hot sweats had gone. I started on the minimum dosage and I have just creeped up to the standard dose as the night sweats / insomnia were starting to come back.

Another vote for how great HRT is. Go to see the GP with your list of symptoms. They may want to do blood tests to check your iron, thyroid, vitamin levels etc - that's all good. Hormone blood tests are useless though - NICE guidelines say that peri should be diagnosed based on symptoms

Magnesium glycinate also very helpful for sleep issues - take about an hour before bed

If you have Spotify its the Dr Louise Newson podcasts, or otherwise they can be accessed through the free Balance website or app.

The format has changed recently, so I recommend going back to some of the early ones too. Truly eye-opening, all the evidence is there via research or international top specialists in their field - and really wide-ranging.

I know there will genuinely be a few people who can't have oestrogen - but they CAN have vaginal oestrogen and also Testosterone (which again, early US studies show this may protect against recurrence of breast cancer).

Generally Oestrogen is a powerful anti-inflammatory and there are receptors for it throughout the body. This is why everything starts going wrong post meno, hence the onset of a lot of auto-immune disease in women at this time.

To add, I've been taking it for 5 years now.

Sorry if I'm speaking out of turn, but is that a definite for transdermal oestrogen still?? The thinking on this might have changed and can be looked at on a case by case basis.

No idea tbh as I can't get to see a GP for anything. It's just what I've read from various medical sites. There's also a lot of otc remedies I can't have as well, either because of PE or due to being on blood thinners.

And here I am again 🙈I’ve not even been to sleep yet and it’s 3am
what a joy I’m going to be tomorrow.

its driving me mad.
booking a gp appointment on Monday

Yeah I was awake for almost 24 hours, feel very groggy today thank god it’s the weekend!

I'm mid 40s and haven't been so bad yet; sleep quality not great due to waking up just before the night sweat arrives, but clearly not as bad as you. One thing that's helped lately is that I've been taking calcium+magnesium for bone health (after I broke a toe), and I've started taking it thirty minutes to an hour before bed rather than in the morning. I'd read that magnesium before bed helps with sleep quality. Seems to be helping me sleep better so far - probably psychological, but I figured it was an easy thing to try.

Get yourself on HRT the benefits will help with your general health to.