Perimenopause/crazy Hormones

I was similar.. my dr recommended over the counter progesterone cream.. suggested using it the last 2 weeks before my period.. it helps.. helps with insomnia, anxiety, and moodiness.

you might want to try it..

Good for you for wanting to try something other than drugs if you can. I have 2 friends who breezed through menopause using a food-based (non-pharmaceutical) product. One friend had particularly awful night sweats and hot flashes, plus fatigue and sleep problems. It's a lot easier to work on the cause of these problems than to try to medicate the symptoms afterwards. I didn't have the menopausal issues, but I did have significant clinical depression. I took meds for years. I had terrible fatigue and brain fog, too. With my doctor's approval and blessing, I weaned off the antidepressants and am medication free. I also got off other medications because I was able to strengthen my immune system so much that everything just functioned better. I think those chemical changes in the brain from hormones and other things are showing clear response to safe and consistent introduction of helpful nutrients with a high absorption rate. I'm also never sick, my skin is better, my sleep is much improved, and my doctor is blown away by my lab results on everything those annual blood tests record. This isn't an overnight fix but you've got a lot of years left of maybe feeling lousy, so it might be worth taking a look at!

I am a "crazy" lady, too.
I just switched OBGYNs -- This doctor listens to my every word !---She gave me full thyroid blood work and rec that I just put some of the cream she prescribed on my hand. I am seeing her again in a few weeks !! I eat loads of organic veggies, drink pure water, eat organic protein, take probiotics and stay away from sugar since research states that it is "addictive."

You could try acupuncture, a naturopath dr, or a very high quality health food store for ideas.

Get a lot of sleep. Eat a good breakfast...and exercise for the moods !!!

Christianne Northrup has a gd book out. She says to embrace peri-menopuase as a new chapter in life. I was on the floor laughing and screaming anger 2 minutes later. Her book (though) is wonderful and is about staying on a natural path.

Also, perimenopuse is a tad about looking back on your life so far and regretting your past decisions?

So much to deal with...It is not easy !!!

Christiane Northrup talks a lot about how this is the time in our lives when everything catches up to us and it is a time that we get to evaluate how we are living our lives.

What unresolved issues do you still have to heal? What regrets do you have to forgive? What anger do you need to express? What lifestyle changes are you craving? What dirty little secrets are you still denying? Do you have permission to care for yourself? Have you been or are you still a people pleaser? Are you a "nice girl" rather than "strong woman"?

If you could ask your body what it needed right now, what would it say? Do you know how to listen to your body? Do you know that your body has it's own wisdom and will always let you know exactly what it needs (or doesn't like in the case of the antidepressants)?

Mind/body wisdom tells us that our body chemistry is created by our thoughts and beliefs. That our body is directly effected by the environment we allow ourselves to be in. Could hot flashes be a result of years of stuffing anger? Could exhaustion be because we expend so much energy being someone other than who we are to please other people? Could our emotions now be overflowing because we haven't allowed ourselves to be human and have sought to be "perfect" instead?

Now is the time to consider where you have been and where you are. It is time to discover things like boundaries and self-care. It is time to evaluate and question your core beliefs and to free yourself from negative, irrational belief systems. It is time to put yourself first. This is not selfish, this is essential. Selfish is benefiting at someone else's expense. Caring for yourself is never selfish.

A great book is "The Art of Extreme Self-Care" by Cheryl Richardson. She also has a wonderful website and newsletter.

I'm in my 50's now and finally my periods are stopped (actually they stopped when I was 54. But, I'm still going through a few hot flashes. I never went through the mood swings (only pms when I was younger). I would suggest eating lots of cruciferous vegetables as they have hormone regulating properties (i.e. purple cabbage, broccoli, etc.)
Also, eat Omega 3 oils, fish oil supplements, flax oil...not only do these help regulate hormones, but they are good for your brain, nervous system and moods. Personally, I'd stay off the drugs.

Hello, at 49 been going thru the same situation since about 42.. that said, most docs want to prescribe meds and really don't know what the H is going on with the person in terms of hormones and moods..
allow me to suggest a book that helped me to better understand wth my body/mind was going through.. "screaming to be heard" by dr vliet..
it entails what is going on hormonally with your body at at diff ages..
this includes your 40s..
after reading the book and coming away with a better idea of what was going on with me, I began to deal with things more positively..
one thing that helped for sure has been to meticulously track my monthly cycle EVERY month.. (once you really get into PM) you ll be glad you did.. because you'll be able to better gage when you have the most emotional outburst.. I should also add, you may be exp them now because with the initial drop in Estrogen (assuming yours has dropped) estrogen controls the stress hormone, cortisol.. so as estrogen drops.. cortisol can run wild...as it doesnt have as much estrogen keeping it in check.. (hence why you may now as you say get even more upset with your child.. also, things that exacerbate this cortisol issue and raise are outside stress factors, certain foods and whatever is your stress point...
exercise can help tame it..
also.. assuming you are ovulating each month, the rush of progesterone in your body can cause others dilemmas.. such as.. an increase in cravings.. that's b/c progesterone makes up more insulin resistance and hence.. we crave crave crave.. those feel good foods (which is also a result of the drop in estrogen and out of control cortisol)
anyway... other issues.. constipation... again, progesterone... it want to slow down your intenstines so that in the event u b/c pregnant, your body can absorb more nutrients.... alas.. you aren't going nuts and probably dont need meds unless you suffer from severe depression.. but for you, it's just passing from time to time.. which makes me think, if you are like me.. just learning more about your body and cycle.. will help ease your mind tremendously.. then as u learn what's going on.. you can better remedy it..
def get your hormones checked.. see what you stand and if u can, check out that book..

good luck

I'm 53 and have had very few of the usual symptoms. I still have a period every month, just not exactly on time. I did start noticing at 51 that I would have unexplained anxiety and other moods, and once I paid attention, these always hit during the PMS week. Now that I know that, I can deal with them better. I exercise every day, eat relatively healthily, and track my cycle so that I can be better prepared for moods. This is new for me since I spent most of my adult life on the pill and everything was super predictable.

A simple blood test will give you an answer. Think it's the FSH.
Why would a doctor give you antidepressants ??? Seems crazy to me. You are probably starting menopause. I was same age. Not too early

I don't know if I am starting perimenopause yet or not, but, I do know that I have been dealing with a lot of the same issues that you are describing for the last year or so, but really bad the last 6 months. I finally found a doctor that listened to me and changed my antidepressant, and I feel like "ME" again. So, I wouldn't discount the benefits of the one he gave you.

I do agree that you should have your hormones tested and see what is going on there as well. Personally, I would go to a Gynecologist for this since they really understand women's hormones in ways that a family doc doesn't necessarily. I hope you find some answers and can start to feel better. I would keep trying different docs until you get someone to actually take care of you. I am on my 4th in the last year and half, but I think I finally did it.

I have recently been dealing with the same issues (still am to some extent). My doc put me on the pill and that is helping to even things out. I had gotten to the point that when I got angry with my boys about something my older son said a couple of times "Mom, you are being really scary right now." I won't say that things are perfect, but the pill is helping me a lot.

M

I had very minimal discomfort going through peri- and full menopause, but did wake up at 4 AM most nights with a racing heart wondering how my husband did not feel my heartbeat. I had a hard time falling asleep after that and was often tired and irritable during the day. I would suggest you get a new doctor since anti-depressants are perhaps not the first answer for menopausal symptoms. Your doctor should discuss the pros and cons of hormonal treatments and whatever treatments there are for your most annoying symptoms.

Oh man, it was like I morphed into my worst PMS self, when I started going through perimenopause. There is a book by Dr. John Lee, "what your doctor won't tell you about perimenopause" that I found helpful.

The dr put me on the a low dose pill--made me seriously emotional & irrational & I couldn't sleep for more than an hour or two a night. My mother had similar issues on the pill. Should of just listened to her, & jumped straight into what helped her. Another dr put me on 2 different anti-depressants, I felt horrible, dizzy, foggy, like I was slogging through jello everyday.

Ultimately, using the over the counter progesterone bio-identical cream, exercising every day & making sure to eat healthy made a BIG difference for me. And it is what my mother did, although she also added soy to her diet. My dr still says that the cream doesn't work, but frankly, I'm still married & I wouldn't be if I had continued down the path they were prescribing! Good Luck.

You didn't say if the doc did the hormone test. I'd go to a different doctor. Make sure he or she is a gyn who works with menopausal women. Ask around for suggestions.

You're pretty young to be going through peri-menopause. I really think you need a full work up and some investigative diagnostics. You shouldn't be so miserable this young.

Peri-menopause can last a long time. When you finally do reach menopause, it's not like a magic wand is waved and you're all better. Get some real help here and don't let it just go. You need real answers.

PS - I've never been on anti-depressants, but I think that you don't know what you're doing with them, from your description. Just one week is not enough time to know if they work or not. I agree that you shouldn't have been put on them without a full blood work-up, so I wouldn't go back to that doctor. If it turns out that another doctor suggests it, be honest and forthcoming about what you did here so that he or she understands your thought processes.