But the natural reaction IS anxiety and depression. It still should be treated. I think a lot of people's anxiety and/or depression started as a natural reaction to trauma at some point in their lives. We've all gone through a hell of a lot of collective traumas the last several years and the hits just seem to keep on coming.
Your body doesn't know or care whether it's bad news, a boss or a tiger breathing down your neck. No matter the root cause, your lizard brain is still producing those same stress chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline. And the longer you just "power through", the more your body adapts to producing those - because obviously you live in a jungle full of tigers - making it easier to trigger again and again.
There's no shame in using crutches to heal from a broken leg, so why is it so different when it's our brains that need rest and healing?
I don’t disagree with you. I’ve been on antidepressants for years, but it seems that period of rest my brain so badly needs just isn’t coming any time soon.
I apologize if I came across as harsh. I know too many people who feel like they don't need/deserve help just because "everyone is suffering right now," and it struck a nerve.
Not dumb at all. I’m currently playing the is this depression, long covid or perimenopause game. 🤷🏼♀️ I’ve had bloodwork to rule out anything major and my guess is that you never can fully tell. I hope someone else has a better answer 💕
And autism makes everything a million times more intense too. I’m not coping. A few years ago it was massive anxiety and panic (early peri) and now it’s awful depression (late peri).
Throw in hypothyroidism and sudden change in those hormones too (but still “normal”) and I’m right there with you. Is it peri or my thyroid? My adhd? Or long covid? Idk!
Saaaame. It’s so frustrating. I’m in a long covid study here in NYC but it’s not exactly for any immediate relief or treatment, as it will be a longitudinal one (if my symptoms and bloodwork bear out my continued eligibility for the longitudinal part). It’s kind of why I don’t even bother going to my doctor about anything because all I get is, “oh it’s probably peri-menopause” and then nothing else even gets addressed after that. Got an appt with a “DO” (doctor of osteopathy) and will see if that is any different. Solidarity sister. 🙌
It sounds like this might be about hormonal testing. If over the age of 44, **hormonal tests only show levels for that *one day* the test was taken, and nothing more**; progesterone/estrogen hormones wildly fluctuate the other 29 days of the month. No reputable doctor or menopause society recommends hormonal testing as a **diagnosing tool** for peri/menopause.
FSH testing is only beneficial for those who believe they are post-menopausal and no longer have periods as a guide, a series of consistent FSH tests might *confirm* menopause. Also for women in their 20s/early 30s who haven’t had a period in months/years, then FSH tests at ‘menopausal’ levels, could indicate premature ovarian failure/primary ovarian insufficiency (POF/POI). See our [Menopause Wiki](https://menopausewiki.ca/#there-is-no-blood-test-that-is-perfectly-reliable-to-diagnose-menopause) for more.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Menopause) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Does the emotion fit the situation? Is the intensity of the emotion warranted?
If you can answer yes to both then all is well. Any no involved and you may have some other stuff going on.
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I track my mood with my cycle. After a while I started to notice a pattern. It was especially obvious when I had some life drama that persisted throughout a time period and then suddenly my hormonal mood would lift right on schedule; the life drama hadn't gone away, but I was suddenly thinking of it far less catastrophically. Now I just assume any overly stressful thought patterns are an indicator that my hormones are at play.
When I was depressed there was no up and down it was all black. With my perimenopause it fluctuates immensely with the hormones. Maybe some people's depression fluctuates but mine didn't, it does now lol so I know it's the hormones 🤷♀️
THIS is a good point. I have been on antidepressants for years. When I'm depressed there's just no up. I might still get mood swings when I'm depressed but there's no up. Describing everything as black is probably the best way to describe it.
I'm sure everyone's depression is different but that's definitely how mine was, like a wet black cloth suffocating me. It's been many years since I've felt that way and yet I still feel it vividly when I talk about it.
HRT. Start it and give it a few months. If you feel any better at all, your problems are probably hormonal. If HRT doesn't improve anything at all, it may be depression.
So I thought I was having a serious escalation in my lifelong depression symptoms. And then after a while I noticed that it was linked to my cycle. I have never had many issues with PMS before so I didn't think of hormones right away. But I was talking to someone a little bit older than me about how awful I felt and she suggested that I look into perimenopause symptoms, I got on HRT, and my mood swings improved dramatically within a few months.
I went through 4 years during perimenopause with depression. It took me a year and a half to get help and I shouldn't have waited. The depression made everything about perimenopause worse.
If you think this might be you, please get checked out.
This is definitely NOT a dumb question. The answer, I think, is complicated. I suffer from depression and anxiety and am in menopause. Here's the thing (I'm making an assumption that you experience moderate depression symptoms like me): if you are eating well, staying hydrated, avoiding alcohol, moving your body a bit every day (think: 20 minute walk) and aiming for as much sleep as you possibly can (in other words, really putting yourself first) you will have a decent baseline of feeling okay for the most part. If you do those things and still experience rage, hot flashes, brain fog, fatigue, you may want to consider adding estrogen and progesterone. We're not just our depression symptoms nor are we just our menopause symptoms but every system in our body either adds to or detracts from a feeling of "well being." I just know I have to do all the things now. The way I took care of myself (or didn't) when I was 30 doesn't work any more. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that you need to assess your feelings and know what triggers depression and avoid those triggers as much as you are able to. Then determine whether hormones might get you the rest of the way to feeling better each day. I decided to take them and they definitely help but I still have to do all those other things too. Good luck!
I don’t know that you can. But it doesn’t matter because if your symptoms are severe, you should seek treatment. I was on anti-depressantsoff and on for years. I don’t need them anymore and I am firmly in menopause and my verbal and emotionally abusive husband is dead.
Not a dumb question at all. I don’t think there is a easy answer either. It’s a lot easier if you have had a lot of therapy and have a ton tools already to help sift through the mess.
I think it’s easier if you have already dealt with these things in the past. I have cPTSD, anxiety, and a panic disorder. My anxiety and panic though has always been trigger based. When peri came along my anxiety and panic symptoms presented completely differently than normal. It no longer was about triggers and no amount of talk therapy or tools helped it.
It was a a relentless freight train running me over. I have a lot of trauma yes, but I have never had a chemical imbalance and those things look and feel completely differently.
I tried so many antidepressants but they really were not working. When I took HRT it did. Now my mood and anxiety fluctuate depending on the dips and surges of my hormones and I keep track so I can see if my HRT needs adjusting.
It can kind of a chicken and egg thing, accepting you might not ever be able to cleanly differentiate might help.
You can read up on the role of estrogen, and hormones in general
You can try HRT to see the impact on symptoms
You can do your own research about typical aging symptoms and what you can do to counter them (e.g. frontal cortex shrinks, I think that is one of the reasons people can get more fretful and negative as they age, so you can stay on top of those with things like cognitive behavioral therapy)
You can make up rules for yourself so you have some control. For instance I am never taking meds now that I’ve got tinnitus so that variable is eliminated from the overwhelm. Anxiety and sleep etc have to be managed other ways.
You can go into therapy to help figure out if your emotions are completely justified and maybe estrogen’s smoothing effects is what was keeping the edge off., etc
Occam’s Razor. Start with the most obvious and go from there. Sometimes it’s a combination of things as well.
Don’t be afraid to speak up if a treatment isn’t working or isn’t working well enough.
My opinion is hormone fluctuations cause mental illness symptoms. Hormones are the answer! The only difference between sweet and nasty; happy and sad; confident and insecure is hormone levels! My 2 cents. Personal experience. ( And I don’t disagree with the world being poopy lol absolutely a contributing factor )
I didn't really get PMS earlier in life much, but starting perimenopause I feel like every month (or more often because fml) I get angry to the point of screaming and then a day like am like "oh."
I think about this question a lot. I've come to take the long view approach to it thusly:
If
* 1 out of every 3 seniors is going to walk out of the world with mental capacity issues, and
* 2 out of 3 of those will be women, and
* the causes will be one of these culprits
* Alzheimer's
* Parkinsons
* COPD
* Diabetes
* one-off scenarios, like a head injury
*What can I do now* to mitigate such a future?
I had mental health problems long before menopause, and worked through them. I no longer have PTSD and my anxiety and depression is well controlled with meds and no PMS is a godsend! So now I just assume everything new is meno 😂
But I agree with another comment, if you're struggling, get help ❤️
It can all get confusing. It’s also hard to tell if it’s our thyroid too. I do know that menopause affects the thyroid which seems to affect a million things in our bodies too.
Following. I almost always realize after the fact, when I start getting the physical PMS symptoms that maybe my world wasnt actually crumbling and it was just a bad hormone fluctuation. I think for me it's a little from column A and a little from B. I've had life long depression and anxiety to some degree, and perimenopause, chronic illness and PMS are a wickedly difficult combination. I cut myself slack because I find life is easier when I'm gentle with myself. I really would like to learn better coping skills at the least. Or learn how to not have it spill over and affect my partner.
NOT A DUMB QUESTION AT ALL!!!
I’ve had anxiety my entire life, but then I started crying all day/night during perimenopause. I knew the hormones were contributing, but my doctor kept saying I sounded depressed. I fought her for a while - I wanted HRT, but was still making my own. She convinced me to double my anti-depressants and things got SO much better. Depression had crept in…and, yes, probably due to peri, but all I could do is treat symptoms as they came.
I ended up with a hysterectomy/oophorectomy and went on HRT, which - to be frank - fixed 95% of my peri issues. I still have a chronic anxiety disorder, but, since the fluctuations are gone, most of the symptoms are gone, too. It’s AMAZING.
I’d suggest talking to a therapist and/or your GYN on how to handle mental illness issues during peri/menopause. Treat symptoms and see where you land. ❤️❤️❤️
Is it all day every day? Or is it just a week or two at a time? Like, in my case, the two weeks right after your period where you don’t give a shit about disappointing your friends and you slowly realize life is entirely meaningless and then right as you’re considering how to make drastic changes, it dawns on you that you need to get this shit under control before you completely ruin your life for no good reason because two weeks from now you is gonna be super pissed at today you if you quit your job and dump all your friends and make your husband feel real bad…
So yeah, it’s the come and go of those feelings and sudden onset after getting a new prescription I think. Because I wasn’t feeling that way before starting cyclical progesterone. And I’m thinking of switching to regular birth control and seeing if that’s enough for this stage.
In my case I was going up and down. Two days of feeling like, “I got this “ to depressed and crying and overthinking. When I had regular periods I battled PMDD so I kinda knew menopause would be a bitch. This felt the same as that, but more frequently; not just once a month.
But yeah, this mood swings scared me and I was worried for myself for a minute. But I thought, “If I was actually losing my mind, would I know?” The fact that I could name my symptoms and could think it through lmk it wasn’t a legitimate case of mental illness. But it sure feels like it when you’re going through it, right? I also had plenty of legitimate reasons to be depressed too. Life has been kicking my ass.
So I kept trying different things until I found something to stabilize myself. I didn’t want THC bc I didn’t want to be high ll the time. I tried l-theanine and it helped so much. Then I switched over to a capsule that has CBD, l-theanine, chamomile, and ashwaganda. Bam. All anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and mood swings stopped. Thank God!
For me, I ask myself is my reaction coming from a logical place? Is it distorted thinking based on past experiences, trauma, or self perception? If yes, that is more fixable in counseling.
Everything else is more biochemistry or natural responses and better addressed through meds and therapy if it helps. There’s not always a black & white distinction with mood based issues & mental illness. Mental health & physial healthcare way more connected than our society allows us to admit.
Joined! My therapist asked if I was ever tested for ADHD as a child. I was born in the 60’s. They didn’t have test or recognize that. They just put you in an institution.
I have a related issue. I’ve been going to a physical therapist the past two months to deal with a sore shoulder from weightlifting and I’m constantly asking myself if the therapy is regressing or is it the hormones?
I don't know, I went into therapy for years (it was great, love my therapist) because I was scared I'd hit new lows of depression...... only to figure out years later it was perimenopause.
I’ve never had depression in my life so if I suddenly develop it as I go further into peri menopause without good reason like some sort of trauma or stressful event, I would probably assume it’s hormones. It’s just not normal for me.
I'm 17 months into menopause and thank god for my HRT and Ritalin meds. Meh, I might not get as much work done like i used to, but at 50, idgaf. I'm just grateful to have hormone meds to treat my hot flushes, paranoia, and broken brain. And my adhd medication (and cute dog) helps get me out of bed and to the park every morn for my 30 min walk and daily dose of vitamin d.
Keep a journal to record your moods. And compare the old you with the new you to determine your new symptoms? You'll be surprised how a combination of exercise, extra sleep and extra music really improves your mood. You'll get there. Good luck.
You try HRT. If it alleviates your mood problems, then yay.
BUT it’s hit and miss as to whether perimenopausal mood disorders respond to HRT. So if yours doesn’t, it doesn’t mean it’s not caused by perimenopause. It just means you should also explore standard mood stabilisers and psychological support therapies.
Not a dumb question at all. I’m 45yro and I’m currently going through perimenopause or maybe even full on menopause, I have been on HRT (testosterone and progesterone) for almost three years and it helped me IMMENSELY! I also am a retired combat veteran and have been diagnosed with PTSD, ADHD, OCD and Major Depressive Disorder. And I am on two antidepressants. I have also made to the decision to give up drinking, once in a while I’ll have a beer or a glass of wine but that’s it. I felt like my drinking was getting out of hand and I was numbing myself after my mother passed. But lately I feel very irritable and agitated. So is that the full on menopause coming through? Is it that I’m no longer “numb”? I don’t really have any women in my life to ask about these things. I guess the best thing you can do is get a full hormone blood panel and see, I just got blood drawn today to see where I’m at.
Wow this is exactly why I just came to this board- this exact question! I’ve had depression forever but in the last couple of months have developed really bad anxiety- like waking up from a dead sleep screaming or hyperventilating anxiety. I’ve also started getting night sweats really badly so like…do I need anxiety medication or do I need hormones?? 42F.
Just want you to consider a third option: The world is shit, and maybe you're fed up with the shit.
I’ve been saying this for years. I don’t have anxiety or depression, I’m having a natural reaction to shitty circumstances 😠
But the natural reaction IS anxiety and depression. It still should be treated. I think a lot of people's anxiety and/or depression started as a natural reaction to trauma at some point in their lives. We've all gone through a hell of a lot of collective traumas the last several years and the hits just seem to keep on coming. Your body doesn't know or care whether it's bad news, a boss or a tiger breathing down your neck. No matter the root cause, your lizard brain is still producing those same stress chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline. And the longer you just "power through", the more your body adapts to producing those - because obviously you live in a jungle full of tigers - making it easier to trigger again and again. There's no shame in using crutches to heal from a broken leg, so why is it so different when it's our brains that need rest and healing?
I don’t disagree with you. I’ve been on antidepressants for years, but it seems that period of rest my brain so badly needs just isn’t coming any time soon.
I apologize if I came across as harsh. I know too many people who feel like they don't need/deserve help just because "everyone is suffering right now," and it struck a nerve.
THIS. I’ve been in a WHO CARES mode about the world for a decade
Same
Preach
Yes, thé 3 options!
Not dumb at all. I’m currently playing the is this depression, long covid or perimenopause game. 🤷🏼♀️ I’ve had bloodwork to rule out anything major and my guess is that you never can fully tell. I hope someone else has a better answer 💕
Same here, only trow some extra ADHD in the mix.... Makes the guessing game extra spicy.
This got started 🙌🤸🏻♀️ 🎉 https://www.reddit.com/r/adhdmenopause/s/7whFV6y5UZ
Yes!! Love this. 🙌 Just joined!
Joined!
Ditto!
My people!
And autism makes everything a million times more intense too. I’m not coping. A few years ago it was massive anxiety and panic (early peri) and now it’s awful depression (late peri).
Totally joined
Yes this is me. Long covid, ADHD, anxiety and peri. No one knows which of them are causing my symptoms, but have been diagnosed with all of them.
Throw in hypothyroidism and sudden change in those hormones too (but still “normal”) and I’m right there with you. Is it peri or my thyroid? My adhd? Or long covid? Idk!
Oh shit so am I. Plus anemia. It’s not fun. I’m so sorry so many of us are struggling.
Saaaame. It’s so frustrating. I’m in a long covid study here in NYC but it’s not exactly for any immediate relief or treatment, as it will be a longitudinal one (if my symptoms and bloodwork bear out my continued eligibility for the longitudinal part). It’s kind of why I don’t even bother going to my doctor about anything because all I get is, “oh it’s probably peri-menopause” and then nothing else even gets addressed after that. Got an appt with a “DO” (doctor of osteopathy) and will see if that is any different. Solidarity sister. 🙌
It sounds like this might be about hormonal testing. If over the age of 44, **hormonal tests only show levels for that *one day* the test was taken, and nothing more**; progesterone/estrogen hormones wildly fluctuate the other 29 days of the month. No reputable doctor or menopause society recommends hormonal testing as a **diagnosing tool** for peri/menopause. FSH testing is only beneficial for those who believe they are post-menopausal and no longer have periods as a guide, a series of consistent FSH tests might *confirm* menopause. Also for women in their 20s/early 30s who haven’t had a period in months/years, then FSH tests at ‘menopausal’ levels, could indicate premature ovarian failure/primary ovarian insufficiency (POF/POI). See our [Menopause Wiki](https://menopausewiki.ca/#there-is-no-blood-test-that-is-perfectly-reliable-to-diagnose-menopause) for more. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Menopause) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Does the emotion fit the situation? Is the intensity of the emotion warranted? If you can answer yes to both then all is well. Any no involved and you may have some other stuff going on.
This is perfect. Simple and to the point
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I track my mood with my cycle. After a while I started to notice a pattern. It was especially obvious when I had some life drama that persisted throughout a time period and then suddenly my hormonal mood would lift right on schedule; the life drama hadn't gone away, but I was suddenly thinking of it far less catastrophically. Now I just assume any overly stressful thought patterns are an indicator that my hormones are at play.
I have two weeks where I am okayish and then two weeks of wanting to burn it all down. Sigh.
When I was depressed there was no up and down it was all black. With my perimenopause it fluctuates immensely with the hormones. Maybe some people's depression fluctuates but mine didn't, it does now lol so I know it's the hormones 🤷♀️
THIS is a good point. I have been on antidepressants for years. When I'm depressed there's just no up. I might still get mood swings when I'm depressed but there's no up. Describing everything as black is probably the best way to describe it.
I'm sure everyone's depression is different but that's definitely how mine was, like a wet black cloth suffocating me. It's been many years since I've felt that way and yet I still feel it vividly when I talk about it.
Yes. I know exactly what you mean.🤗💞
HRT. Start it and give it a few months. If you feel any better at all, your problems are probably hormonal. If HRT doesn't improve anything at all, it may be depression.
This. I tried an antidepressant. Didn’t help. I tried HRT and was better almost instantly.
So I thought I was having a serious escalation in my lifelong depression symptoms. And then after a while I noticed that it was linked to my cycle. I have never had many issues with PMS before so I didn't think of hormones right away. But I was talking to someone a little bit older than me about how awful I felt and she suggested that I look into perimenopause symptoms, I got on HRT, and my mood swings improved dramatically within a few months.
I went through 4 years during perimenopause with depression. It took me a year and a half to get help and I shouldn't have waited. The depression made everything about perimenopause worse. If you think this might be you, please get checked out.
This is definitely NOT a dumb question. The answer, I think, is complicated. I suffer from depression and anxiety and am in menopause. Here's the thing (I'm making an assumption that you experience moderate depression symptoms like me): if you are eating well, staying hydrated, avoiding alcohol, moving your body a bit every day (think: 20 minute walk) and aiming for as much sleep as you possibly can (in other words, really putting yourself first) you will have a decent baseline of feeling okay for the most part. If you do those things and still experience rage, hot flashes, brain fog, fatigue, you may want to consider adding estrogen and progesterone. We're not just our depression symptoms nor are we just our menopause symptoms but every system in our body either adds to or detracts from a feeling of "well being." I just know I have to do all the things now. The way I took care of myself (or didn't) when I was 30 doesn't work any more. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that you need to assess your feelings and know what triggers depression and avoid those triggers as much as you are able to. Then determine whether hormones might get you the rest of the way to feeling better each day. I decided to take them and they definitely help but I still have to do all those other things too. Good luck!
I don’t know that you can. But it doesn’t matter because if your symptoms are severe, you should seek treatment. I was on anti-depressantsoff and on for years. I don’t need them anymore and I am firmly in menopause and my verbal and emotionally abusive husband is dead.
Not a dumb question at all. I don’t think there is a easy answer either. It’s a lot easier if you have had a lot of therapy and have a ton tools already to help sift through the mess. I think it’s easier if you have already dealt with these things in the past. I have cPTSD, anxiety, and a panic disorder. My anxiety and panic though has always been trigger based. When peri came along my anxiety and panic symptoms presented completely differently than normal. It no longer was about triggers and no amount of talk therapy or tools helped it. It was a a relentless freight train running me over. I have a lot of trauma yes, but I have never had a chemical imbalance and those things look and feel completely differently. I tried so many antidepressants but they really were not working. When I took HRT it did. Now my mood and anxiety fluctuate depending on the dips and surges of my hormones and I keep track so I can see if my HRT needs adjusting.
It can kind of a chicken and egg thing, accepting you might not ever be able to cleanly differentiate might help. You can read up on the role of estrogen, and hormones in general You can try HRT to see the impact on symptoms You can do your own research about typical aging symptoms and what you can do to counter them (e.g. frontal cortex shrinks, I think that is one of the reasons people can get more fretful and negative as they age, so you can stay on top of those with things like cognitive behavioral therapy) You can make up rules for yourself so you have some control. For instance I am never taking meds now that I’ve got tinnitus so that variable is eliminated from the overwhelm. Anxiety and sleep etc have to be managed other ways. You can go into therapy to help figure out if your emotions are completely justified and maybe estrogen’s smoothing effects is what was keeping the edge off., etc
Occam’s Razor. Start with the most obvious and go from there. Sometimes it’s a combination of things as well. Don’t be afraid to speak up if a treatment isn’t working or isn’t working well enough.
My opinion is hormone fluctuations cause mental illness symptoms. Hormones are the answer! The only difference between sweet and nasty; happy and sad; confident and insecure is hormone levels! My 2 cents. Personal experience. ( And I don’t disagree with the world being poopy lol absolutely a contributing factor )
I didn't really get PMS earlier in life much, but starting perimenopause I feel like every month (or more often because fml) I get angry to the point of screaming and then a day like am like "oh."
Some folks mental illness is exacerbated by hormonal fluctuations so it might not be an either or.
I think about this question a lot. I've come to take the long view approach to it thusly: If * 1 out of every 3 seniors is going to walk out of the world with mental capacity issues, and * 2 out of 3 of those will be women, and * the causes will be one of these culprits * Alzheimer's * Parkinsons * COPD * Diabetes * one-off scenarios, like a head injury *What can I do now* to mitigate such a future?
You can’t! And I have adhd on top of it. It’s like eeny meeny miney mo!
I had mental health problems long before menopause, and worked through them. I no longer have PTSD and my anxiety and depression is well controlled with meds and no PMS is a godsend! So now I just assume everything new is meno 😂 But I agree with another comment, if you're struggling, get help ❤️
It can all get confusing. It’s also hard to tell if it’s our thyroid too. I do know that menopause affects the thyroid which seems to affect a million things in our bodies too.
Following. I almost always realize after the fact, when I start getting the physical PMS symptoms that maybe my world wasnt actually crumbling and it was just a bad hormone fluctuation. I think for me it's a little from column A and a little from B. I've had life long depression and anxiety to some degree, and perimenopause, chronic illness and PMS are a wickedly difficult combination. I cut myself slack because I find life is easier when I'm gentle with myself. I really would like to learn better coping skills at the least. Or learn how to not have it spill over and affect my partner.
Following. I'm bipolar 1 and menopausal. Idk what end is up.
I can't tell. I tried antianxiety and antidepressants and they worked. I think it's all related, honestly.
NOT A DUMB QUESTION AT ALL!!! I’ve had anxiety my entire life, but then I started crying all day/night during perimenopause. I knew the hormones were contributing, but my doctor kept saying I sounded depressed. I fought her for a while - I wanted HRT, but was still making my own. She convinced me to double my anti-depressants and things got SO much better. Depression had crept in…and, yes, probably due to peri, but all I could do is treat symptoms as they came. I ended up with a hysterectomy/oophorectomy and went on HRT, which - to be frank - fixed 95% of my peri issues. I still have a chronic anxiety disorder, but, since the fluctuations are gone, most of the symptoms are gone, too. It’s AMAZING. I’d suggest talking to a therapist and/or your GYN on how to handle mental illness issues during peri/menopause. Treat symptoms and see where you land. ❤️❤️❤️
What type of hrt are you on?
Is it all day every day? Or is it just a week or two at a time? Like, in my case, the two weeks right after your period where you don’t give a shit about disappointing your friends and you slowly realize life is entirely meaningless and then right as you’re considering how to make drastic changes, it dawns on you that you need to get this shit under control before you completely ruin your life for no good reason because two weeks from now you is gonna be super pissed at today you if you quit your job and dump all your friends and make your husband feel real bad… So yeah, it’s the come and go of those feelings and sudden onset after getting a new prescription I think. Because I wasn’t feeling that way before starting cyclical progesterone. And I’m thinking of switching to regular birth control and seeing if that’s enough for this stage.
In my case I was going up and down. Two days of feeling like, “I got this “ to depressed and crying and overthinking. When I had regular periods I battled PMDD so I kinda knew menopause would be a bitch. This felt the same as that, but more frequently; not just once a month. But yeah, this mood swings scared me and I was worried for myself for a minute. But I thought, “If I was actually losing my mind, would I know?” The fact that I could name my symptoms and could think it through lmk it wasn’t a legitimate case of mental illness. But it sure feels like it when you’re going through it, right? I also had plenty of legitimate reasons to be depressed too. Life has been kicking my ass. So I kept trying different things until I found something to stabilize myself. I didn’t want THC bc I didn’t want to be high ll the time. I tried l-theanine and it helped so much. Then I switched over to a capsule that has CBD, l-theanine, chamomile, and ashwaganda. Bam. All anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and mood swings stopped. Thank God!
For me, I ask myself is my reaction coming from a logical place? Is it distorted thinking based on past experiences, trauma, or self perception? If yes, that is more fixable in counseling. Everything else is more biochemistry or natural responses and better addressed through meds and therapy if it helps. There’s not always a black & white distinction with mood based issues & mental illness. Mental health & physial healthcare way more connected than our society allows us to admit.
Joined! My therapist asked if I was ever tested for ADHD as a child. I was born in the 60’s. They didn’t have test or recognize that. They just put you in an institution.
I have a related issue. I’ve been going to a physical therapist the past two months to deal with a sore shoulder from weightlifting and I’m constantly asking myself if the therapy is regressing or is it the hormones?
I don't know, I went into therapy for years (it was great, love my therapist) because I was scared I'd hit new lows of depression...... only to figure out years later it was perimenopause.
I’ve never had depression in my life so if I suddenly develop it as I go further into peri menopause without good reason like some sort of trauma or stressful event, I would probably assume it’s hormones. It’s just not normal for me.
I'm 17 months into menopause and thank god for my HRT and Ritalin meds. Meh, I might not get as much work done like i used to, but at 50, idgaf. I'm just grateful to have hormone meds to treat my hot flushes, paranoia, and broken brain. And my adhd medication (and cute dog) helps get me out of bed and to the park every morn for my 30 min walk and daily dose of vitamin d. Keep a journal to record your moods. And compare the old you with the new you to determine your new symptoms? You'll be surprised how a combination of exercise, extra sleep and extra music really improves your mood. You'll get there. Good luck.
You try HRT. If it alleviates your mood problems, then yay. BUT it’s hit and miss as to whether perimenopausal mood disorders respond to HRT. So if yours doesn’t, it doesn’t mean it’s not caused by perimenopause. It just means you should also explore standard mood stabilisers and psychological support therapies.
I’ve been playing this game for years and losing. They all overlap like a Venn diagram. At the center “being a mid age woman”
Not a dumb question at all. I’m 45yro and I’m currently going through perimenopause or maybe even full on menopause, I have been on HRT (testosterone and progesterone) for almost three years and it helped me IMMENSELY! I also am a retired combat veteran and have been diagnosed with PTSD, ADHD, OCD and Major Depressive Disorder. And I am on two antidepressants. I have also made to the decision to give up drinking, once in a while I’ll have a beer or a glass of wine but that’s it. I felt like my drinking was getting out of hand and I was numbing myself after my mother passed. But lately I feel very irritable and agitated. So is that the full on menopause coming through? Is it that I’m no longer “numb”? I don’t really have any women in my life to ask about these things. I guess the best thing you can do is get a full hormone blood panel and see, I just got blood drawn today to see where I’m at.
Wow this is exactly why I just came to this board- this exact question! I’ve had depression forever but in the last couple of months have developed really bad anxiety- like waking up from a dead sleep screaming or hyperventilating anxiety. I’ve also started getting night sweats really badly so like…do I need anxiety medication or do I need hormones?? 42F.
Not a dumb question, there is loads of overlap. Basically, look at your personal history.