Other Menopause and ptsd?

[blackemerald1]

Just wanted to add my 10 cents worth. I had PTSD & menopause happening at the same time. Similar to a earlier response. It too was a double wammy. The physician is fairly certain the severity of my PTSD caused me to go into early menopause as my family history indicated I was well over a decade early compared with women on both maternal and paternal sides of my family.

In any case I cannot help with any practical advice because my PTSD symptoms were so brutal and I was heavily medicated for long stretches and lost a decade of my life because of this. So I would not recommend that.Still that is history now and I cannot go back and rewrite it.

I can say - looking in hindsight - I offer hope and peace to those of you suffering right now. It does end and you find yourself on the 'other side' not necessarily better for the experience but very glad it all stopped. I hope you start to feel better very soon @Tracee :hug:

 

[Sleepyhollow]

Just wanted to add my 10 cents worth. I had PTSD & menopause happening at the same time. Similar to a earlier response. It too was a double wammy. The physician is fairly certain the severity of my PTSD caused me to go into early menopause as my family history indicated I was well over a decade early compared with women on both maternal and paternal sides of my family.

In any case I cannot help with any practical advice because my PTSD symptoms were so brutal and I was heavily medicated for long stretches and lost a decade of my life because of this. So I would not recommend that.Still that is history now and I cannot go back and rewrite it.

I can say - looking in hindsight - I offer hope and peace to those of you suffering right now. It does end and you find yourself on the 'other side' not necessarily better for the experience but very glad it all stopped. I hope you start to feel better very soon @Tracee :hug:

Thank you for the hope! PTSD is awful and has caused a phobia making it hard to even leave my kitchen to go in the garage with days of planning and anxiety knowing I have to step into the garage. You say this ends. What did you do to help it along? Are you currently taking meds? THANKS

 

[blackemerald1]

Hey @Sleepyhollow I'm sorry you are feeling bad right now. As I said in my post I had a double whammy of both early Menopause and ptsd. Are you experiencing both now too?

There is hope, I am not trying to minimize anyone's experience and I am sure you will curse the day you became a woman a THOUSAND times before you finally find something like normal on 'the other side'. I did.

PTSD is awful and has caused a phobia making it hard to even leave my kitchen

I hope you are getting professional help for this part of your ptsd. You really need it so please reach out to even your gp or local mental health clinic. Keep looking and get help.

You say this ends.

Yes.. it does. But not easily so please keep your hope alive even on the worst days! It took a long, long time because with both conditions mingled I didn't know or understand what was causing one symptom or another. Since hormones do dictate our emotions to a very large extent it is so hard to distinguish what was causing one or the other. I did a lot of sobbing...

I can say the realization that menopause had finally finished with me and I was just left with the ptsd was a gradual process so please don't get me wrong I didn't wake up one morning and think wowee I'm feeling better! It was agonizingly slow and I think it was more of a realization that some of my symptoms were not as prevalent as they had once been... and slowly over time I then observed that there had been an absence of those same symptoms.

However there was some annoying symptoms that persisted many years later. They lingered on but finally left too. :)

What did you do to help it along? Are you currently taking meds?

To be honest I was as sick as a dog from both. I was struggling so much with the ptsd that actually asking about what the F*ck was happening with my body seemed too much. In my experience they crossed over a lot - especially the emotional symptoms. And I don't think my doctors even thought to question me. So, I got no medical intervention for menopause.

As I mentioned in my first post though I was heavily sedated for a very long time and that helped move me through the menopausal symptoms. However I was still really very crazy.

I am no longer taking any meds. In my heart I feel like I wasted a lot of my life being sedated to help control the ptsd symptoms so I guess they also damped down the menopausal symptoms too.

But, I know I am exquisitely sensitive to meds and now suffer without them. So if you can take medication or want to explore that possibility I think you should go right ahead and find out what is available and try. There is nothing good about suffering.

It may be that you will be able to find one drug that will help with both the ptsd and menopause symptoms - particularly the mental and emotional. It's really too much to have both going on at the same time.

I stopped tea, coffee, alcohol and all other beverages and started drinking water only and heaps of it. I also stopped smoking, cut down significantly on sugar and started to take care of myself a little more.

I'm not sure whether any of my strange ideas helped me but I am certain they didn't hinder my recovery or progress through menopause or dealing with both. I haven't restarted any of those things.

Starting to take control of what I ate and drank and how much exercise I did gave me a semblance of keeping some hope alive.

I hope this helps. Write back and let me know how you are going as you explore all of your options. :hug:

 

[Lucycat]

I am unsure how I will know if I am menopausal. That may sound daft but I never had 'regular' periods in my life. I am infertile and have always had a random menstrual cycle. Some years ago my GP suggested the pill for my mood swings, with the added bonus that they stop bleeding too. They have been a godsend - yes my moods improved and I rarely had any bleeding. Now that I am 55, it was suggested that I could stop the pills - but I still bleed - I tried it just last week. So, that to me means I still need them. I intend to stop again for a week in another 6 months - as long as they will let me keep taking them. My mother did not stop having periods until she was 58 - and she said she just stopped. No other classic menopausal symptoms at all, but of course she was not me. I hope I have it that easy.

However Rory has started to worry that I will go back to the awful mood swings without the pills. My presumption is that post menopausal hormones will be similar to pre-pubertal hormones, but I don't actually know that. I am assuming that without a monthly cycle hormone levels become static, without the fluctuations.

I have found it very hard to research this at all, as everything refers to normal cycles. I did ask a doctor once, but because that was not the reason for the consultation I was fobbed off, with come and see me about that another time in the 'well woman clinic'. That particular doctor has now left, and I have never been to a well woman clinic in my life. I understand it is important for contraceptive advice etc, but I only go to a doctor when I really have to.

Popular myth (I assume) is that you have a menopause once your ovaries run out of eggs. However as I have rarely ovulated, I might continue to have eggs into my nineties and beyond!!

Has anyone else had experience of abnormal menopause because of abnormal hormone levels throughout life?

 

[TruthSeeker]

You are my twin. I am 50 and menopause has destroyed my life. Retired early last year and have money to do whatever I want and I just want to be left alone to die at home. Can't drive anymore and all doctors and counselors are clueless. I will become a statistic on their data- and not in a good way. Had 3 showers in a month and chain smoke all day and state at the tv. Doctors have shamed into thinking all is unimportant and I am lying to them. I will see them in hell.

I really can relate. If you care to share, what keeps you from being independent and getting around. I have had my independence stripped because of medical reasons. Losing independence and driving privileges is a horrific experience-and being dependent on others is even worse. And in my case, I had to rely on abusive people to drive me when I was sick. Their controlling behaviors, sarcasm, and irritation was unbearable. Is there any hope for driving again, or becoming more independent? Are you in a positively supportive relationship?

I am 47 and perimenopausal. Aside from the worst periods and cramps of my life, when I get it; my emotions are crazy all over the place...ptsd exacerbated. The sweating and hot flashes really just suck. The antidepressants they typically give for this make me suicidally depressed. I have about 1 good week a month right now. Who knows what will happen when I get full blown menopause.

Im sorry you are having such a hard time with this. Hopefully, menopause will come soon....real soon.

 

[Tammylynn06]

Hi. Im also glad i came across your post. I am 53 and diagnosed PTSD (and other mental health issues) and Menopausal. I have not been medicated in anyway for menopause. I have been on medication for my mental health for many years. But, it feels like the meds gave stopped working. I am a friggin mess. Worse than when i am not on my mental health meds. I dont hardly sleep and when i do "sleep" i apparently have SEVERE night terrors. According to my family, i scream so loud the neighbors could hear me. I am always in some incredibly terrible situation but i never remember any of it. I feel like, if THAT is considered sleep, it can't be restful sleep and im still tired. Which doesn't help my moods. I smoke marijuana now and then and i must say that it has been what helps me most.
Im a very active, got get em kind of lady and cant stand feeling lazy. I dont want to wait for someone else to do for me. Example: i just replaced the radiator in my car by myself.
My hands keep going numb now so doing those types of things are getting darn near impossible. Im a damn ness and i dont even recognize myself anymore. Sex is just me pleasuring him because i have no desire and ive always had high sex drive before. Wtf can i do? Ive even considered leaving my hone and my life. Im scared and feel alone in this. No one seems to understand.

 

[blackemerald1]

Hi @Tammylynn06 I'm so sorry you are going through this.

I've just one thing you must remember. It gets better so hang in there.

Do simple things to make yourself more comfortable. Leaving your relationship is probably not a great idea. Right now you need some extra support. Please head back to a doctor who specialises in menopause and get checked out.

There are a number of things you can do to help you through this time. Making them a part of your routine each day may help.

Everything from having a personal fan you can switch on and off as you need it to hormone replacement therapy.

It is a bit of a surprise to get to this age and get hammered by this but you will be ok when it stops. Different but still ok.

 

[mamachick]

I started menopause at 50, was same time as empty nest and also trauma. I did not medicate for the menopause but have been on anti depressants and did take anti anxiety meds to sleep and keep anxiety down. It was so hard to separate which was which (in hindsight). I just felt crazy and nobody focused on the menopause in part because I also had a traumatic brain injury just a year before the onset of menopause. So accident when I was 48, during which time crazy and heavy periods which had stopped by age 50 when I got full blown ptsd. Now to the other side, no more hot flashes or night sweats and certain things. However, depression was horrible and some of my own beliefs eroded during all of this.....causing me to withdraw from world....stop working...give up hobbies, etc. So 10 yrs later I am just kind of lost and don't fit in anywhere. I also don't have motivation or ambition or desire. (said due to head injury) Im just not certain of the cause of anything at this point.

 

[blackemerald1]

It was so hard to separate which was which (in hindsight).

^I had a similar problem @brat17 - It was really so hard to identify what was causing what. But afterwards the cessation of some symptoms made it easier. :) But by then I was just relieved.

So 10 yrs later I am just kind of lost and don't fit in anywhere.

^I know it's not the same as the real world but I reckon you fit in here just fine :hug:

 

[TruthSeeker]

Hi. Im also glad i came across your post. I am 53 and diagnosed PTSD (and other mental health issues) and Menopausal. I have not been medicated in anyway for menopause. I have been on medication for my mental health for many years. But, it feels like the meds gave stopped working. I am a friggin mess. Worse than when i am not on my mental health meds. I dont hardly sleep and when i do "sleep" i apparently have SEVERE night terrors. According to my family, i scream so loud the neighbors could hear me. I am always in some incredibly terrible situation but i never remember any of it. I feel like, if THAT is considered sleep, it can't be restful sleep and im still tired. Which doesn't help my moods. I smoke marijuana now and then and i must say that it has been what helps me most.
Im a very active, got get em kind of lady and cant stand feeling lazy. I dont want to wait for someone else to do for me. Example: i just replaced the radiator in my car by myself.
My hands keep going numb now so doing those types of things are getting darn near impossible. Im a damn ness and i dont even recognize myself anymore. Sex is just me pleasuring him because i have no desire and ive always had high sex drive before. Wtf can i do? Ive even considered leaving my hone and my life. Im scared and feel alone in this. No one seems to understand.

Find one thing you enjoy doing and do it....if you like to paint, read, bath/music with candles, pedicure (one of my personal favorites) or even get a massage (or get a free one from honey). Exercise, daily can help, too......I'm doing water aerobics now and that's helping.