Hormone hell 11 months postpartum - breastfeeding or perimenopause?

[ThaliRose]

Hi all,

So, I had my daughter 11 months ago and despite exclusively breastfeeding the whole time, my periods returned when she was 4 months old. They were initially heavier and longer but with no pain (suffered with awful cramps pre-pregnancy) and my cycle seemed to hover around the usual 28 days. However, my last 2 cycles have been much longer - 34 days and then 39 days. In this time my mood has plummeted and I have what feels like awful PMS - irritable, tearful and angry pretty much constantly. I'm also wiped out with exhaustion and feel shaky and on edge. I also have absolutely no sex-drive but know this can be caused by breastfeeding.

I found out recently that my mum went through menopause at 39 and my nan at 34 - I'm 32. Is there any chance that what I'm experiencing is peri-menopause? I'm awaiting hormone blood tests which will hopefully tell me what's going on, but I don't feel hopeful. Has anyone experienced anything similar? Could my hormones just be completely out of whack from breastfeeding a very hungry 11 month old who still sometimes feeds like a newborn? She also still wakes (on average) 4 times a night to feed, and we cosleep.

I've toyed with the idea of going on antidepressants recently as it's really getting on top of me and affecting my day-to-day life dramatically. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

That angry face was supposed to haha. Apt I guess!

3rd time lucky - the angry face was supposed to be flowers!

I actually was diagnosed with Postnatal Depression when my Dc was 11 months old. I thought at the time it was connected to the fact I had also stopped breastfeeding at the same time, but possibly it wasn’t.

I went on Prozac and in two weeks felt normal again. My only regret was to stop taking the Prozac after 6months, I should have stayed on it longer.

From your history it could be peri I suppose, I hope the blood tests can tell you. If not I would consider trying the antidepressants. Don’t forget that you will also be suffering from sleep deprivation and that can make you feel really low.

Take care.

Thanks @Isheabastard, that's really helpful and sorry to hear you suffered too! I've heard lots about how ^stopping breastfeeding can cause anxiety and depression and am dreading it because I feel this way whilst still breastfeeding all the time, so wonder how much worse it can get!

Perhaps I will think about going down the antidepressant route, but then ideally would like to wean my dd before doing that and she certainly isn't ready. It's a tricky one. And you are right - I sometimes forget I'm chronically sleep deprived as its my new normal!

I found breastfeeding gave me perimenopausal symptoms including hot flushes, I ended up using topical oestrogen and honestly only feeling better after stopping breastfeeding.best of luck getting some help!

Unfortunately this sounds like peri to me. Many women experience their periods returning whilst bf, mine came back at 6 weeks with both and i don't know many women who are not depressed or entering menopause going through what you describe. I'm part of a large bf group for context.

Hey @ususer1471518119, thank you for your response! Were you able to use the topical oestrogen whilst breastfeeding?

I got my blood test results today and seemingly not peri-menopausal or menopausal (although not sure this can be ascertained from 1 blood test). Did have abnormally high prolactin levels though which was expected from breastfeeding, but know this causes low oestrogen and all my symptoms seem to be stemming from this! I'm wondering if the only way to feel better is to stop breastfeeding, too 😔

Thanks @Flittingaboutagain. Yeah, everything I'm experiencing seems to point towards it. Even the past few days I couldn't understand why I've felt even worse than usual, had period-type cramps and been unable to concentrate on anything - my period tracker says I'm ovulating and these symptoms seem to have coincided. I've never had anything like this at this point in my cycle before and have heard this can be a peri symptom. My blood tests haven't shown anything too out of the ordinary, but I know being diagnosed really isn't that easy and my very unsympathetic male doctor will need lots of persuasion to do any further investigating. But, then again - perhaps I need to wait and see what happens when I stop breastfeeding, but I really hadn't planned on stopping anytime soon.
I have also wondered if this is very delayed postnatal depression, too. It certainly feels like it a lot of the time.

Yes I could use it but it was via vagina pessary 😬. I ended up with vaginal atrophy as well which was distressing. I stopped breastfeeding(though I was on one feed a day) and the hot flushes went away immediately though the other unpleasant symptoms took months to go away. It felt really sad stopping but looking back on it I was sacrificing my own health/happiness to feed a baby who actually didn't really need milk anymore (my son was 22 months when I stopped).

Could be sleep deprivation. You haven’t had a full nights sleep for over a year at this point. I had similar as mine did not sleep through the night until they were 2-3yrs old. I also breastfed. The stress of working and no sleep made my period very erratic. I also mentally was stretched thin and very irritable. It all settled down once I was getting proper sleep instead of living on 90min naps.

Maybe ask for your prolactin level to be checked. Sometimes pregnancy can stimulate your pituitary gland to produce far more prolactin than you need to sustain breastfeeding. You may need it downregulated when you decide to stop bf.
I have a prolactinoma that was dormant before pregnancy but during bf the level of prolactin was considerably higher than it normally would be, pregnancy had stimulated the adenine’s to become active. All the symptoms mimic peri menopause. It could be that your mum and grandma had them . Untreated they put you into an early/false menopause. They are probably more common than they appear since it’s not the first thing GPS think of when you present with peri menopause symptoms.

Adenine- adenoma

I second checking this. I also had high prolactin that was put down to breastfeeding but which stayed high even after I finished and I was eventually diagnosed with a prolactinoma. Maybe ask about this, they can often be missed. It took me years to get a proper diagnosis. The solution was to take cabergoline but I had to wait till I finished breastfeeding to take it. I felt rubbish for a long time...

That's not to say you should stop breastfeeding :) I carried on for quite a while.

I was diagnosed with a prolactinoma in my early 20s and was put on a new drugs trial which once licensed was cabergoline.
My endocrinologist reconned I was the first person to be treated with the drug in the uk.
My response was so quick during the trial they knew it couldn’t be the placebo or the bromocriptin that was being used along side the cabergoline during the trial. During the initial therapy I lost over 2 stone in 3 mnths with no effort. It was a much higher dose than is prescribed now but one of the early signs of my prolactin increasing is weight gain. Over the years I have a “holiday” from cabergoline so have to watch for signs it is rising. I was assured that menopause would solve the problem but unfortunately I have an adenoma that has continued to be active post meno.
It’s nice to come across a fellow sufferer. Most people have no idea how debilitating the side effects are when untreated.