Anxiety and Perimenopause

[EmmaL21]

I have had chronic anxiety since 2016, but I have always managed to keep it at bay with medication/exercise.

in August 2023 things started changing. Anxiety was consistent. I do have a lot of life stressors inc family, work, moving. 
Periods slightly started changing but nothing too serious. I had been to the dr and he told me it could be perimenopause. I dismissed it thinking I was too young. I did eventually start medication for 4 weeks and it made everything worse. So I stopped and went to another Dr. August I changed my medication as it wasn’t getting any better. Slowly started feeling better. However September came and things started going south again. Periods have started changing shorter, sharper, pain in my right hip, and every 2/3 weeks chronic anxiety attack that can last up to 1 week. Waking up in panic almost each morning. I have to take medication when needed to stop the panic. Does anyone have anything similar? It’s getting really tough and not feeling like living anymore. My 3 kids are the only think keeping me going. 

[lostvibes]

Hi Eagle Ray, I'm so sorry to hear this and I completely relate, I've been on a hormonal rollercoaster for decades and now perimenopausal for some time now, and there are days where I am 'just fine' and days where I am so completely lost, empty, hopeless and just... dark, that I can't see a way out. But, then it passes. It blindsides you, unpredictable, vicious and awful. I have MCAS as well, estrogen detox issues, MTHFR and a range of 'stuff' that compounds the hormone challenge. I really feel for you on the histamine front, such a double whammy.

One thing I have found (oddly) very helpful, is hot / cold therapy. I've found it helps with hormones, histamine, anxiety, even helps me get some much needed dopamine to lift my mood and clear my head (and sleeeeeeeep). If you have access to a sauna it might be worth a go? and then either a cold plunge (or just cold shower), it helps me balance my hormones and reset my stress /histamine response. I always feel calm and almost hopeful... after. If you cant get to a sauna, just using cold helps seems to help me too (cold shower (esp on your scalp if you can cope with it) and sometimes I plunge my face for a few seconds (up to the hairline) in a bowl of ice when I feel really overwhelmed (the histamine makes me feel AWFUL, and doing this seems to instantly calm me down). I even bought a cheap 'ice skull cap' (I think they're for migraines?) I keep in the freezer and wear on my head when I go to bed on the days it just feels like my body and brain is so wired it feels like I'm on fire... it almost instantly calms me down (and helps me sleep when the hormones are raging).

The other tip I got which is so common and turns out is (annoyingly) true, is to eat TONNES more protein than you think is usual (more than we had in our younger years too). Even if you have to drink it as well as eat it, and especially to support your hormone medication to work properly (esp if you have histamine issues). Apparently the brain needs it to help process our ever changing hormones, and when I really upped my daily intake, I saw a shift in my mood, energy and just general coping skills. (fyi I drink it as a smoothie in the morning, as during the day as well when I am too tired (which is most of the time) to make healthy food for lunch or even dinner. 

I hope this is helpful... so sorry you're hurting, you're not alone...  x

[lostvibes]

Hey seashells, I've been doing the HRT rollercoaster too.. I have to say, it takes some time (took me months) to get the dose, and timing right, it was awful to start (teary, angry, sleepless) until I got it right... then it helped a TONNE. My joints hurt less, I'm not so teary, irritable, generally I'm just calmer now, but still very very fatigued (not sure if thats hormones or just burnout).

Same on the libido front (ZERO) and motivation, ambition, energy - gone. Just, gone. Thats been one of the biggest surprises, I used to have tonnes of all the above, it seemed to disappear, overnight.

There's no miracle I've found yet (I've been searching for YEARS), but I have found that the stuff my mum said time and time again and I IGNORED (like, eat more protein, drink more water, touch grass, get sunshine, have magnesium baths, dance, journal, vent to friends etc) actually (annoyingly), do work. The irony is you just need the energy to do these things to start with... but, one baby step at a time and I've found it helps. 

With anxiety, I force myself to get up, put music on, and shake my body (or just jump up and down, or even stomp my feet) and dance like an idiot around the loungeroom even if only for a few seconds, when I feel really really anxious, (you know that heart racing for no reason feeling? truly awful). I HATED the idea of this when I was told about it, but weirdly, it seems to almost instantly move it through my body and I feel so much better. It's not a cure, but it makes me able to cope, if only for a short while.

I've found amino acids with my protein smoothie really helps too - supposed to help calm the nerves and balance hormones too? and they do seem to help me. And fibre, I wasn't eating nearly enough (i barely have the energy to cook anymore), so now I add that to my protein smoothie and that seems to help too, I feel more settled in the mornings now since I started doing that.

Hope this is helpful...? hormones are a BUGGER. So sorry x

[lostvibes]

Hey Eagle Ray,

I've been suffering the same challenges with HRT / estrogen and histamine. Through this awful process, eventually I found out I have a detox issue (methylation pathways aren't working), which meant I had trouble metabolising + detoxing estrogen, so it can become toxic for me (and estrogen and histamine have a very complex relationship - frenemies I think!). I have mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) which is related to histamine too. As part of this I gave up alcohol completely, which helped heaps (as it helped my liver too).

I had the SAME symptoms, literally wailing and sobbing on the floor - seemingly for no reason, feeling so dark and lost and just empty and awful - awful intrusive thoughts, totally wanted to isolate myself... for years off and on. Fatigue, headaches, joint pain, sometimes honestly just rage for no reason, feeling 'out of my skin' and swollen/hot all over, truly diabolical.

So if you're having trouble with your HRT and going through this too, might be worth asking your Dr to check your estrogen metabolites? or if you have a methylation challenge like I do (I have the MTHFR gene mutation - which is apparently quite common) and it can have dastardly effects on hormones + histamine clearing. 

I've been on this path for DECADES trying to heal myself from hormone struggles, and have learned (and failed) a lot!

I hate to think of other suffering the way I have been - and you're so right, getting good information (thats not conflicting) is so so hard. I have learned more from books, podcasts, tiktok and honestly, just bloody google than I ever did from the multitude of esteemed Drs over the years, (luckily there's actually way more great menopause content available online now, from all over the world - thank god)

So now I show up to my appointments with research, lots of probing questions, and make sure to really challenge them on the current intel - as I know menopause and womens health has sooooo far to go in terms of general practitioner awareness and knowledge (or even functional doctos/hormone specialists, for the most part). 

Hope any of this is helpful Really hope you feel better.. it can be a really hard road. x

[Eagle Ray]

Hey lostvibes,

Thank you so much for the info you have shared. It is sooo helpful and supportive. I can profoundly relate to what you write about. I am sorry you have the MTHFR too. I had to look that up to learn about it. I wonder if I should be looking into that one too. I do believe the cold therapy helps me too. When my hot water system recently failed I was having cold showers, and I felt better for the rest of the day.

I restarted hormone meds a week ago and I'm really starting to reap the benefits now, but the histamine symptoms are inching their way back. So I also have a histamine/oestrogen war. However, I am practising calming my autonomic nervous system and have been using myofascial unwinding when I start to feel the histamine symptoms getting active. I learned about this a few years ago whereby there is a kind of letting go and unwinding in the body that you just allow to happen intuitively and it releases holding/bracing patterns which has a calming effect. I saw my hormone specialist doctor today actually and said I feel the histamine reactivity in me is linked to lifelong stress/trauma patterns in my body. She totally agreed. Like you I almost certainly have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. In 2005 I developed a condition called Bladder Pain Syndrome or Interstitial Cystitis which also involves abnormal mast cell behaviour.

What a nightmare, rollercoaster etc it is, isn't it! What I am doing now is keeping the hormone meds at a low level. The hormone specialist doctor thinks keep it this way because the estradiol will build up in the body over time, and it's just a case of trying to keep a balance with the histamine reactivity. It is very clear my mental health goes into severe collapse again and again when the oestrogen drops out and losing its neuroprotective effects has a dramatic impact on me. But equally I have problems if it builds up too much in my system and it seems to be a very delicate balancing act for me, as it sounds it is for you too.

Have you had any really out there symptoms with things like visions, altered consciousness etc? I've had almost two months as if I'm on a psychedelic trip without taking psychedelics. From what I've read, when oestrogen and progesterone levels fall it affects/modulates the function of things like glutamate and GABA in the brain, as well as dopamine and serotonin. I've had almost psychotic-like effects at times, though with the latest lot of symptoms they have been lighter (positive healing visions mostly, a feeling of healing presence) rather than darker (intrusive thoughts, awful visions, recurrent nightmares etc) as I've also experienced. There is no doubt my brain is super sensitive to hormonal changes. I actually felt like I was becoming schizophrenic, and there is an increased risk in perimenopausal women, but I can feel that disturbance alleviating the longer I am back on the hormone meds.

Anyway, thanks again for sharing your journey. I'm so sorry it has been decades long. I suspect I've had lifelong hormone dysregulation too, but perimenopause has just made that so obvious to me. I really, really appreciate your support and really wish you much hope and healing. You are also not alone and I'm always happy to chat if you need too. Hugs, ER