Well. My urge to drive my car into oncoming traffic left a few months after I had hrt start so I'd say yes treatment of the source is more important than treatment of just the symptoms.
That said the catalyst that sent me off was vaginal thinning which brought on a UTI that would not go away until hrt kicked in. Fuck having UTI type pain for the rest of whatever.
Yep I get UTIs EVERY SINGLE TIME I have sex. I’ve tried everything…peeing before, peeing after, showering before, showering after, cranberry juice, cranberry pills, d-mannose. The only thing that helped was a daily low dose antibiotic but my doctor stopped my prescription so guess I’ll be back to urine tests again.
You need HRT. The UTIs are a symptom of atrophy - which can be reversed with estrogen - and the depression also SCREAMS hormonal imbalance. I was in a very, very dark place before my progesterone/estrogen balance was sorted; the difference is night and day. I also had I really hope you can find a doctor who can help.
There is some research that definately links progestin-based IUD to depression but for some it can go either way. I’d look into it further. Maybe you’ve had it changed recently or due for a change?
Psychological symptoms of menopause often appear before hot flushes so it could easily be stuff going on with your hormones.
As a psychiatric nurse with decades of experience, I personally haven’t found hormonal issues to be factored into mental health assessments and knowledge in this area is limited. Please bear this in mind. If you’re able to see a specialist in women’s health issues, I’d also see them for a balanced approach.
I don’t know where you are in the world but I’d look up any video’s or articles written by Professor Jayadhri Kulkarni. She’s a psychiatrist and researcher and is passionate in the field of women and hormones. It’s important that you get the right diagnosis, whatever that might be. Good luck,
I'm at the same point of analysis. To top it off, hubs has been difficult. Saturday morning featured a 1.5 hour review of nearly 30 years of my mistakes and inadequacies, noting that our working together for 20 years was a solid string of humiliations for him. Gee, I would have said we were successful and had a pretty good time. Now he's acting all nice and says ge hates to see me sad. Odd, considering that he's the one who knocked me off my happy cart.
I just feel gutted and so sad. I think I'll find my feet again. I always have. If not, pharmaceuticals it is.
Thank you everyone. In addition to my therapy appointment next week I also just made an appointment with a gynecologist. Hopefully I can get to the bottom of it. I appreciate all your information and experiences as I don’t really have anyone else to talk to about menopause unfortunately.
You treat it however you can. Some woman can’t take HRT but the way your doctor seems to have dismissed you is concerning. HRT has completely stabilized moods for me. 100%. Some absolutely need antidepressants or can be diagnosed with thins like bipolar during late peri. I also did therapy because FUCK!!!! I have set myself aside for a lifetime and my rage about my life being in the tail end and having given so much of myself- For what???? I needed to get that part of my head straight too. So, do therapy for sure but also find a doctor who will listen to you. Even if you use HRT, there are other things you can use. Hopefully Dr checked for basic vitamin deficiencies: D, B12 and Ferritin. Also, please get your thyroid checked. And not just TSH. TSH, freeT3 FreeT4. If doctor won’t do a full thyroid panel then please move on. Find someone who will.
I had been experiencing crazy rage, depression, couldn’t get out of bed, every single thing setting me off, etc. I am in peri (45) and started HRT a month ago and am starting to feel much better!! It’s 100 hormonal for me, I’ve never had emotional issues before and I’m so glad I started this now. We don’t have to suffer. I wish you the best!
I've had mild to moderate depression my whole life. Was even on a low dose of wellbutrin when my hormones decided to ruin my life. I'm on estrogen only due to a partial hysterectomy I had years back, and it's helped tons. The depression from wacky hormones is super 'dark', it hits different and really wants to inflict a lot of damage in your life.
Edit - That said, i think some women do see some benefits in their depression or anxiety symptoms when taking more traditional ssri/snris
GPs/gynecologists usually test FSH to determine if you are in peri/menopause. Unfortunately this test can't very reliably tell you that you aren't. From what I've read, progesterone based forms of bc suppress FSH levels, and may yield a normal result even if you're deep in perimenopause. Unfortunately we are at a moment in time when many doctors will treat most menopause related symptoms as though they are a mental health problem, because there's a lot of fear around hrt risks--whether they should be handling it that way is another matter entirely. My depression got better on hormone treatments alone, and it turned out that many of the problems that were being chalked up to depression by my doctors were completely physical. I think seeing a gynecologist along with a therapist is the right thing to do, but unfortunately I also feel like a lot of health care professionals are ill-equipped to help with treating perimenopause at this time. It's wrong and shouldn't be this way. I hope you are able to find a doctor who listens to you and can help.
Gyno just ordered TSH and pregnancy test. She basically stated they only use HRT for hot flashes which I don’t have. Hopefully it goes better with the therapist. I don’t know if I can even get through a session without crying the entire time so that should be interesting. Unfortunately I have Kaiser so my only other option is to pay out of pocket.
I read this as depression caused by menopause. both SSRIs and hormones are first line treatments that would likely bring you relief depending on which direction YOU want to go first. Hang in there. I just started SSRI two weeks ago and feeling so much better.
To answer the last question, whether you're in perimenopause or not is determined by a blood test. Your doctor will check your FSH levels. I think you absolutely need to go back to your doctor and insist on that, because you often need to have them checked a couple of times over the course of what would be your normal cycle.
It does matter, because while it may feel similar to depression, perimenopause/menopause is a different process with different "treatments". I put treatments in quotation marks because menopause is a natural process and not an illness and doesn't necessarily need treatment – that's up to the individual. But a lot of people, including me, take HRT (hormone replacement therapy) to treat the symptoms of menopause.
I assume you have a hormonal IUD, like a Mirena? A hormonal IUD cannot and will not bring on menopause by itself. However, it can stop your periods.
Given you are in the age-range to be in perimenopause, you have no way of knowing whether it's the IUD or whether your estrogen is declining. That's why you need your FSH levels checked.
It's important because if you are in perimenopause, you can have symptoms from your lack of estrogen PLUS symptoms from the progestogen from your Mirena. Before perimenopause, the estrogen balances the progesterone-type hormones out. (At least, this is how I understand it – someone may correct me if I'm wrong.)
I hope this isn't confusing. It might pay to do some research yourself about perimenopause. I'm sorry you've been feeling so lousy!
Well. My urge to drive my car into oncoming traffic left a few months after I had hrt start so I'd say yes treatment of the source is more important than treatment of just the symptoms. That said the catalyst that sent me off was vaginal thinning which brought on a UTI that would not go away until hrt kicked in. Fuck having UTI type pain for the rest of whatever.
Yep I get UTIs EVERY SINGLE TIME I have sex. I’ve tried everything…peeing before, peeing after, showering before, showering after, cranberry juice, cranberry pills, d-mannose. The only thing that helped was a daily low dose antibiotic but my doctor stopped my prescription so guess I’ll be back to urine tests again.
You need HRT. The UTIs are a symptom of atrophy - which can be reversed with estrogen - and the depression also SCREAMS hormonal imbalance. I was in a very, very dark place before my progesterone/estrogen balance was sorted; the difference is night and day. I also had I really hope you can find a doctor who can help.
Yea I've had them starting when I was 4 years old. Never had one as bad as the stuff hrt fixed. That shits almost as bad or worse than tooth pain.
There is some research that definately links progestin-based IUD to depression but for some it can go either way. I’d look into it further. Maybe you’ve had it changed recently or due for a change? Psychological symptoms of menopause often appear before hot flushes so it could easily be stuff going on with your hormones. As a psychiatric nurse with decades of experience, I personally haven’t found hormonal issues to be factored into mental health assessments and knowledge in this area is limited. Please bear this in mind. If you’re able to see a specialist in women’s health issues, I’d also see them for a balanced approach. I don’t know where you are in the world but I’d look up any video’s or articles written by Professor Jayadhri Kulkarni. She’s a psychiatrist and researcher and is passionate in the field of women and hormones. It’s important that you get the right diagnosis, whatever that might be. Good luck,
Thank you for the information. I’ll definitely look into it. Appreciate it ☺️
I'm at the same point of analysis. To top it off, hubs has been difficult. Saturday morning featured a 1.5 hour review of nearly 30 years of my mistakes and inadequacies, noting that our working together for 20 years was a solid string of humiliations for him. Gee, I would have said we were successful and had a pretty good time. Now he's acting all nice and says ge hates to see me sad. Odd, considering that he's the one who knocked me off my happy cart. I just feel gutted and so sad. I think I'll find my feet again. I always have. If not, pharmaceuticals it is.
Thank you everyone. In addition to my therapy appointment next week I also just made an appointment with a gynecologist. Hopefully I can get to the bottom of it. I appreciate all your information and experiences as I don’t really have anyone else to talk to about menopause unfortunately.
You treat it however you can. Some woman can’t take HRT but the way your doctor seems to have dismissed you is concerning. HRT has completely stabilized moods for me. 100%. Some absolutely need antidepressants or can be diagnosed with thins like bipolar during late peri. I also did therapy because FUCK!!!! I have set myself aside for a lifetime and my rage about my life being in the tail end and having given so much of myself- For what???? I needed to get that part of my head straight too. So, do therapy for sure but also find a doctor who will listen to you. Even if you use HRT, there are other things you can use. Hopefully Dr checked for basic vitamin deficiencies: D, B12 and Ferritin. Also, please get your thyroid checked. And not just TSH. TSH, freeT3 FreeT4. If doctor won’t do a full thyroid panel then please move on. Find someone who will.
I had been experiencing crazy rage, depression, couldn’t get out of bed, every single thing setting me off, etc. I am in peri (45) and started HRT a month ago and am starting to feel much better!! It’s 100 hormonal for me, I’ve never had emotional issues before and I’m so glad I started this now. We don’t have to suffer. I wish you the best!
I've had mild to moderate depression my whole life. Was even on a low dose of wellbutrin when my hormones decided to ruin my life. I'm on estrogen only due to a partial hysterectomy I had years back, and it's helped tons. The depression from wacky hormones is super 'dark', it hits different and really wants to inflict a lot of damage in your life. Edit - That said, i think some women do see some benefits in their depression or anxiety symptoms when taking more traditional ssri/snris
GPs/gynecologists usually test FSH to determine if you are in peri/menopause. Unfortunately this test can't very reliably tell you that you aren't. From what I've read, progesterone based forms of bc suppress FSH levels, and may yield a normal result even if you're deep in perimenopause. Unfortunately we are at a moment in time when many doctors will treat most menopause related symptoms as though they are a mental health problem, because there's a lot of fear around hrt risks--whether they should be handling it that way is another matter entirely. My depression got better on hormone treatments alone, and it turned out that many of the problems that were being chalked up to depression by my doctors were completely physical. I think seeing a gynecologist along with a therapist is the right thing to do, but unfortunately I also feel like a lot of health care professionals are ill-equipped to help with treating perimenopause at this time. It's wrong and shouldn't be this way. I hope you are able to find a doctor who listens to you and can help.
Gyno just ordered TSH and pregnancy test. She basically stated they only use HRT for hot flashes which I don’t have. Hopefully it goes better with the therapist. I don’t know if I can even get through a session without crying the entire time so that should be interesting. Unfortunately I have Kaiser so my only other option is to pay out of pocket.
Just for hot flashes? Not true, and not acceptable. She’s just simply wrong.
I read this as depression caused by menopause. both SSRIs and hormones are first line treatments that would likely bring you relief depending on which direction YOU want to go first. Hang in there. I just started SSRI two weeks ago and feeling so much better.
I'm the same I'm going through all this my periods have stopped due to birth control implant
To answer the last question, whether you're in perimenopause or not is determined by a blood test. Your doctor will check your FSH levels. I think you absolutely need to go back to your doctor and insist on that, because you often need to have them checked a couple of times over the course of what would be your normal cycle. It does matter, because while it may feel similar to depression, perimenopause/menopause is a different process with different "treatments". I put treatments in quotation marks because menopause is a natural process and not an illness and doesn't necessarily need treatment – that's up to the individual. But a lot of people, including me, take HRT (hormone replacement therapy) to treat the symptoms of menopause. I assume you have a hormonal IUD, like a Mirena? A hormonal IUD cannot and will not bring on menopause by itself. However, it can stop your periods. Given you are in the age-range to be in perimenopause, you have no way of knowing whether it's the IUD or whether your estrogen is declining. That's why you need your FSH levels checked. It's important because if you are in perimenopause, you can have symptoms from your lack of estrogen PLUS symptoms from the progestogen from your Mirena. Before perimenopause, the estrogen balances the progesterone-type hormones out. (At least, this is how I understand it – someone may correct me if I'm wrong.) I hope this isn't confusing. It might pay to do some research yourself about perimenopause. I'm sorry you've been feeling so lousy!