Hello all

Can I just say that I LOVE this website!!!! You all seem very friendly and helpful and kind...Kudos to you all.
I have suffered from panic disorder for the better part of my adult life. I have always done a very good job of managing and functioning...Recently, however, the panic has gotten much worse...I had some medical issues and the doctors seem to think my panic is being aggrivated by my early menapause and also possibly the ovary problems I have been experiencing...Thus I am watching several sections of this website at once! LOL (see: ovary, menapause, anxiety!) LOL...whatever the case, I wanted to say hello and introduce myself.

[cakemommy]

Hi!  I discovered this site and these forums last night while doing research for my GAD.  I just ran across your post and decided to welcome you and introduce myself as well.

I was diagnosed with GAD back in 2002 after my first son was born with a heart defect and two weeks before my mother died!  Yeah, I was pretty stressed out.  I had been feeling way too high strung for years before being diagnosed.  It just took me that long to see someone about it.  

I am a SAHM of two boys ages 5 and 3.  I go nuts or rather insane every day.  I crave alone time.  I am currently on two medications Welbutrin and Prozac.  Twice a day Welbutrin and once a day low dose Prozac.  Before these I was on Paxil.  NEVER AGAIN!  That did NOT help my marriage let me tell you!!!!!  All I want is to be on an even keel again.  I feel as though I have become immune to these meds.  I still get so mad.  Mad at the littlest of things.  I can't let things roll off my back.  I even create things to stress about.  Who does that????  I feel so out of control.  I get mad at myself for getting mad!!?!?! Somethings wrong with that.

Other than some gall stones I don't have any other health issues.  I had a complete physical a few months ago and my Dr. said everything looks fine.  

Travandboo, I asked my Dr. about early menopause symptoms and she didn't give me any information that was helpful.  She just said that my estrogen levels probably need a boost and prescribed BCP'S to help regulate my heavy cycle.  

Did your Dr. give you any information that leads you to believe that a lot of this stress and anxiety and in my case, inability to focus on any one thing, is caused my the onset of menopause?

Again, welcome to you and I do hope that you find the answers and help you need to feel normal again.  I am hoping to do the same.

[travandboo]

Hello. Well, I'm not certain...I am no doctor and I am just beginning my own search for answers... Here is my story and issues... i have always had panic issues and I think that perhaps my doctor was (at first) reluctant to call my symptoms menapausal due to my history with anxiety...But, when I finally started having "night sweats" he started to take me seriously.  Also, I began working with a therapist a few months back and she (surprisingly) told me that she thought many of my anxiety issues were pre-menapausal...

[travandboo]

oopps...hit POST accidentaly! Anyway, long story short...I had an ovary removed about 3 weeks ago...so now all the docs are on the same page with hormone issues....
I think my doctor is leaning towards putting me on BCPs to help regulate my periods AND my moods (his words)...
SO, to answer your question...I would guess that the pill will help with my anxiety and possibly yours as well...

[travandboo]

DID IT AGAIN! sorry...
I hope that I helped...but I did find a lot of info that helped me when I started looking up menapausal issues...the symptoms are ALL too familiar...dizziness, "foggy brain", fatigue...ANXIETY...
Good luck...try checking out the menapause section of this website...

[cakemommy]

Night sweats!!!  OMGoodness.  For quite a few months now I wake up in the middle of the night and I am absolutely drenched!!!  Right in between my breasts is just dripping with sweat and the small of my back and the sheets, soaked!!!!!!  I've been thinking that it might be due to dreams, which I don't have, or at least I don't ever remember having.

I can't believe my Dr. made my question about pre-menopausal symptoms seem laughable.  I am seriously concerned.  I wanted her to run blood tests to check my estrogen levels but she said she didn't think I needed to have that done.

As far as BCP's helping with mood.....  hasn't happened yet.  Of course I am just now finishing my second monthly pack.  Goodness knows Welbutrin and Prozac don't seem to help anymore.  I took BCP's for 11 years before getting pregnant with my first child.  Took them for about another year and a half before getting pregnant with my second child.  Had my tubes tied back in '05 so I have been without the added hormonal help for a few years now.  I am SO over being stressed out over NOTHING!!!!!  I certainly hope withing a few more months that I notice things to start mellowing out but I know that's a lot to ask for.

Thank you for your encouragement.  It is genuinely appreciated!

[JSGeare]

I just thought I'd give you a big welcome and say how glad I am you are here although I feel like I'm interrupting what appears to be a very nice -and productive- conversation. May I say that the material you are discussing is truly a big deal. That boundary at menopause can be confusing (foggy is right) for a female who has panic; and cakemommy's frustration and hair trigger temper frequently rides side saddle with anxiety and panic, and has the effect of making you get angry with yourself for not being yourself, which makes you angry for being angry ....you get the idea, yadda yadda.

Anyway, the material you guys are producing, in addition to providing some moral uplift and hope, is also valuable information as part of our collective wisdom, so I encourage you to keep up with it. You may or may not know that you can connect with a drug database simply by entering the name of the drug in the search box and than looking up whatever citations are of interest to you.

I hope to be seeing more of you two and what you are doing is EXACTLY what this forum is all about. Welcome to you both.

[CaliGirl48]

I have often thought I was going through early menopause. I had many of the symptoms (hot flashes, change in period, sicky icky feeling around that time) But as with every other little issue I seem to be having, it all ended back with my anxiety.

After reading this post I am wondering...

Is my anxiety causing my pre menopausal symptoms...
...or is my pre menopause causing my anxiety....

Hmmm

I won't google it though, I have learned that only causes me more stress, I will find some other disease and convince myself I have it, ugh

...anyway welcome to the group!

~ Crystal

[travandboo]

Thank you for the welcome and the input...Yes, it does seem that many of us are trying to answer the "which came first, the chick or the egg" question.
I suffered from panic disorder for years...I was highly functioning- it has only been in the past year that it started to get the better of me. My only clue was the night sweats...I had always had the panic/anxiety...but NEVER the sweats. Now, I have to assume that the two are somehow linked. I like the fact that I am not on other meds, because it does simplify my case a bit- but like it or not...I am where I am...regardless of WHY I am here (hormones or otherwise) I am still stressed out.
This is why I still see my therapist- dispite the fact that she agrees that many of my symptoms are menapausal...I still have the symptoms and I need help with them.
Cake, I'd give the BCPs a little time and I think they may work for you...You may also want to have your Thyroid checked. Also, I just found a book that I like alot...it gives a number of medical explinations for aggrivated anxiety. Its called "Panic Free" by Lynne Freeman. There is an entire chapter on all the OTHER medical possibilities...Good luck.