anxiety ??? with menopause

[Julianna65]

I feel like Im losing my mind !!!!! Im 45 and for the last week its been nothing but clusters of panic attacks !! I was given .25 mg xanax for my last hospital stay in the ICU when they couldnt figure out after echos and stress tests why my heart rate went nuts .. they said it was a normal  sinus rhythm but too fast so they gave me meds to calm them and got them to about 100 beats per min and said that was "normal" Im sorry but I was a e.m.t for many years 60 to 80 is normal and well mine at rest is much lower (normally) but anyway i was able to get them back to my normal rate before they discharged me and now 2 months later in this last week ive taken alot of xanax to calm down ..I was only using it when i felt like my heart was going to race again and managed to only use 10 of my 30 tab script in 2 months but now in the last week ive been taking them every day because i get theses flutters in my heart like its skipping a beats or something then my heart races out of control.. the xanax helps but it takes a while I havent slept well either  ..I feel like Ive lost all control and somedays want to just lie in bed im afraid something is going to set me off into another panic attack and Im so exausted from this I just cant take anymore !! is there anyone who feel like me ??

[sgtanthony]

I am going through the exact same thing.  I am 48 and my current Peri symptoms started about 4-5 years ago, and have progressively gotten worse.  I should preface this by saying that I was dx at 13 with PCOS so I am no stranger to hormonal problems.  Looking back now, I wonder just how much PCOS even could have affected my health.   At the time this started I didn't know it was Peri, because I have other health issues as well (Lyme disease, Epstein-Barr), but my usual health symptoms seemed different, stuff I wasn't having before.  What I noticed first was a worsening of my already bad digestion, and I also developed reflux.  I had to start sleeping sitting up on the sofa, which I still do to this day.  Sigh.  My upper stomach is constantly bloated with gas.  Everything I eat causes my stomach to react and I have had every lab and stomach test known to man.  My bloating is so bad that I look and feel 10 months pregnant 24/7.  All the stomach testing/labs are normal, except for some signs of leaky gut, but I have had that for years and it has never affected me like this.  Then I started the racing/palpy heart stuff, and like so many others here, ended up in the ER with a resting pulse of 140.  This was about 2-3 years ago.  At the same time, I had developed severe anxiety.  My mom had been diagnosed with cancer and I just figured the anxiety was due to my fears of losing her.  I moved back home to take care of her and my symptoms got progressively worse, which I again chalked up to watching my mother slowly die.  I went from being a totally independent person, taking care of her, taking her to her appointments, running the house, etc. to not being able to drive or be alone other than in my house, because at that point I had developed severe dizziness with bouts of vertigo, along with the other stuff.  Driving is the worst.  If I need to drive streets, I can as long as someone is with me, but no way, no how can I drive freeways right now, even with someone in the car.  The vertigo kicks right in.  Neither can I be alone in a store.  A lot of it has morphed it anticipatory anxiety, due to having so many attacks (racing heart, feeling like I am going to pass out), when I was still ok to go shopping alone, etc., but it got so bad that I need someone with me while out.  I've also developed motion sickness like feelings and asthma out of nowhere.  You don't see the motion sickness on the regular lists, but a lot of women seem to have it.  Have had ringing in the ears for over 15 years and was dx with Menieres, with no known cause.  Adrenal issues, which I now think are either hormonal in nature, or have not been able to get better, due to the hormone imbalance.  Despite having a complete workup from a cardiologist, who told me my heart is fine, I still can't climb stairs without having one of the heart racing episodes, let alone exercise.  Hot flashes.  Ah, those are a joy.  All of these symptoms often happen at the same time.

After my mom passed away everything seemed to go to hell.  Everything intensified and I sincerely thought I was losing my mind.  I had had a full hormone panel done last year with a different doc and of course everything came back normal.  How often have we all heard that?  Bonehead doc insisted I couldn't be Peri because tests were normal. So I figured I was officially losing my mind from grief.  I had some therapy, which didn't help at all, in fact I was having anxiety and heart palp episodes just trying to walk from my car to her office.  I realized at that point that this was physical, not emotional and kept coming back to Peri.  So now I am seeing a phenomenal ND who actually listens to me and is trying to get to the bottom of this nightmare with me.  HRT is not an option for me, due to the cancer risks, so she is going to try and treat me as naturally as possible.  I also just started acupuncture,  i had immediate relief from my anxiety and heart palps after the first treatment, but didn't have the same relief after the second treatment.  There is no way I could go through years of this as so many women do.  I have no life, and having to rely on others just to even go grocery shopping has been demoralizing.  Of the typical 34 symptoms you see all over the net, I have 30 of them.  So glad to read others' stories and realize I am not going crazy after all.  If only we could find more doctors who didn't have their heads up their butts and actually listened to us.  

[Papimama]

I'm soon to be thirty and for the past year my anxiety gas been driving me crazy, but this year it I feel like it's been the worsen. I have had chest pain, but if I was rate to the pain from 1-10 it would more like a 3, this scars me so much to point I'm just always thinking something is going to happen. Is this normal for someone my age?

[pl47]

I've been reading the menopause comments and I'm familiar with everyone's symptoms. Especially Jean 72253. My problems started in Aug 2011. Out of the blue I started getting very nervous, anxious and depressed. It was so bad my hands would shake uncontrollably and I cried all the time. I went to my doctor and she seem to think it was anxiety and depression from loosing my father 5 months earlier.
She put me on Wellbutrin XL which seem to help for a while. (but I don't recommend it )  I went back and asked if it could be premenopause symptoms. She done hormone testing and all of it came back normal. I was still very nervous and depressed.  Well then I started having the chest pains. Scared me to death. I made 2 trips to the ER, had 4 ekgs, ct scan with contrast, chest x ray, gall bladder test, and a stress echocardigram all in a 2 month period.  All came back normal.
Well to my surprise after 34 years of normal periods I started missing periods. Since April I've only had 2 periods, one in early april and one in late june Haven't had one since. My blood pressure is higher now and so is my heart rate.  I have trouble sleeping, I have night sweats, mood swings, depression,etc.
I don't have a solution, I just know it's miserable. And wanted you to know you're not alone.
However, you still need to have every symptom checked out including the chest pains. You never know, better safe than sorry. My doctor did put me on a water pill for the blood pressure and I still take the wellbutrin xl daily and buspar only when needed and I still have anxiety issues. The buspar seems to help the most and it makes me feel better knowing I only have to take it as needed. But everyone is different.  Hope this helps.

[believes]

I've been reading this thread and so much of it sounds familiar. I've posted recently under the anxiety forum but I'm wondering how much of my problem might be menopause (I'm 49).  These posts sound just like me and it's so helpful to learn I'm not alone and I'm not crazy!

[TNStruggler]

I have about had it with menopause, too.  In two years, after stopping BC pills, I have aged about 10 years and spend every day figuring out how to deal with depression, dry and brittle nails, fuzzy hair, dry skin, achy joints and on and on. If I had known about all these symptoms that no one talks about, I would have started bioidentical HRT about 10 years ago and not gone through all this.  Of course, I'd have to go back to having periods. Hmmm, it might have been worth it.

[TNStruggler]

I have about had it with menopause, too.  In two years, after stopping BC pills, I have aged about 10 years and spend every day figuring out how to deal with depression, dry and brittle nails, fuzzy hair, dry skin, achy joints and on and on. If I had known about all these symptoms that no one talks about, I would have started bioidentical HRT about 10 years ago and not gone through all this. And now it's too late - I'm 56.  Of course, I'd have to go back to having periods. Hmmm, it might have been worth it.

[martica123]

I'm glad to see I am not the only one. I'm 48 and my period stopped 3 years ago.  When the happened I started having panic attacks, couldn't breath, felt like I was about to die etc.  My doc told me it's part of menopause.  He put me on Xanax.  I only take it when I'm having the panic attack. I really hate menapuse.  I get tingly numbness in my head and now my gums are bleeding.  This really *****.  I'm going to the doctor this week to check out the tingly numbness thing out.

[carmen802]

sounds like anxiety to me. But it could also be depression to from menopause. I am 47 and haven't had a period for almost 2 yrs now. For the last year or two I have had hot flashes,etc. My doctor upped my antidepressant,and has now given Ativan to take as needed.And so far it has helped. Plus he suggested taking Estroven at night too. Menopause is such a weird thing.

[Jean72253]

Hi again!  I really like reading all the posts on here and knowing I'm not the only one with all these problems!  The anxiety is getting worse and xanax is the only thing I've found to put me to sleep (.5 mg - not too big of a dose thank goodness).  But I find I get really nauseated during the day and early evening.  It's never ending anymore.  Tomorrow I'm going to see a new Cardiologist (with a 5-star rating--- yay!) for my high blood pressure spikes which is so scary.  I hope he can do something for me.  It's hard to find a doctor who will spend time with you and not just say, here's another prescription.   See you back in 4 months.   Four months is a long time to wait while the bp spikes, have anxiety attacks, have nausea, insomnia and honestly feel like I'm not going to survive this.  I find myself repeating the same stuff all the time... it's just a hard time right now.  I wish we could all keep in touch and help eachother somehow!  Just by knowing there are others going through similar situations helps alot.  Take care.  Jean.

[coolmom52]

Try some relaxation techniques and find a good therapist who uses hypnosis for teaching you ways to relax yourself with meds.. The same thing happened to me this summer and Thought I had an anxiety disorder.. Then you get the panic attacks and the constant worrying about will it happen at work, whats wrong with me, and it causes more of them.. Check at Andrew Johnson's website in Scotland, he has terrific relaxation mp3s if you like.  They have been helping me.  Racing heart is part of menopause and can be caused by HRT.. No one told me that and I am stopping that too.. Magniesium I have heard is a help, Get the heart checked out if it doesn't stop soon.  Maybe a monitor for a couple of days.. That is what my doctor is going to do just to be safe.. Because women's smpytoms of a heart attack can take months and are weird.  Remember that all of these things came on at once, so alot of it is from the menopause and doctors pushing unneeded meds.. The natural way is the best once you make sure you don't have any other medical thing going on.  WOuld be happy to share my thoughts.. My mom passed when I was young so I don't have anyone to ask about it either.

[Julianna65]

Thank you for responding I was beginning to wonder if i was nuts .. actually lately I was able to calm the panic attacks to about 1 a day but now im still not sleeping and litterly cant function ive been laying on the couch the last couple days my head is pounding and im weak and shaking I just started my period 2 weeks early and Im missing the beautiful weather we are having right now here in CT ...UUUGH its so frustrating I know what your saying about feeling like your gonna die my heart actually felt like it stopped beating a few times and then it jump starts itself again !! I thought it was the end !! and of course that sent me into a panic attack and the lingering feeling like its gonna happen again !!
I feel better knowing there is someone out there like me and Im not going crazy because Ive been thinking Im creating all this drama myself .. If this is premenopause OMG its going to last for years !! i feel like im not gonna make it LOL !!!  SO maybe magnesium is something i should look into ??  I ended up with more symptoms left side of my face feeling numb one night and woke up with night sweats and just feeling like i cant concentrate I find myself zoning out alot ... I dont have a mother to ask how she got through it anymore so this site is helpful and thank god you responded keep me posted on your progress maybe we can hold hands through our journey my boyfriend keeps saying just think your turning into a butterfly = ) he has no idea !! lol  Julianna

[Marylandcountrygirl]

Oh boy, do I know what you are going through!  I too am 45 years old and I'm right there with you. In fact, it's almost identical to my story.  Only difference is I was perscribed topral to try try to slow the heart down (no Xanax).  Pills did nothing for me except made a bad situation worse when I started experiencing PVC's in addition to the racing.  I literally thought my heart was going to stop beating & I was going to die.  It was horrible!  Now I know what a panic attack really is.  (I ended up in the ER 3 times).   Magnesioum supplements really help me a lot. . .  panic attacks are under control, my heart rate is back to 60 (it races only a few times a day as opposed to the hundreds of times previously), I can finally sleep and my energy level is getting back to normal.   I still have the night sweats & the internal trembling, but all in all, the magnesium has been a lifesaver for me.  I don't have near the number of "bad days" I had been experiencing.

Everyday is a journey.  I'm trying to stay positive, that helps a lot too.  Hang in there and stay stong.  Perimenopause cant last for ever.

Best wishes!