Ecdysis
MyPTSD Pro
Hey all,
For any women experiencing a pronounced worsening of their mental health symptoms (depression, anxiety, etc) over the age of 40, I wanted to share my experience with this:
I'm 47 and have been in perimenopause for the last 4 years and it's turned my previous burden of PTSD from childhood trauma which was large, but manageable into a totally and utterly unmanageable mess in terms of depression and sucicidalness due to the shift in hormones.
It took ages to get a proper diagnosis and then I was taking HRT for a while, which helped, then went off it again cos of some issues with it and my depression got soooooo much worse again. I've just gone back on it this week because my depression is utterly off the scale... Saw a new pdoc last week and was given a depression questionaire and I maxed out the scale and she was like "You need to go inpatient NOW" and I was like "I can't - I live on a farm and have animals that I can't relocate for a hospital stay"...
Going back on the HRT this week hasn't magically fixed all my issues, but my depression is now back in the "manageable" range again.
Any women going through a massive worsening of their previous mental health symptoms who are 40+ I urge to consider whether peri/menopause may be worsening your symptoms, as it did for me.
Many of us women have known bad PMS/ PMT days throughout our cycle where mood darkens horrifically and we're at our absolute worst/ lowest. Well, peri/menopause for me has been being stuck in that state 24/7 without any reprieve for the last 4 years. It's been utterly harrowing and I've not been able to recognise it as "me"... It's just been wildly bad depression symptoms and everything I've tried (medication, therapy, lifestyle changes) has made close to zero impact.
Edit to add: There's a great informative Facebook group on it called The Irish Menopause. Definitely worth checking out if you're having weird/ unexplainable physical or mental symptoms and are 40+
For any women experiencing a pronounced worsening of their mental health symptoms (depression, anxiety, etc) over the age of 40, I wanted to share my experience with this:
I'm 47 and have been in perimenopause for the last 4 years and it's turned my previous burden of PTSD from childhood trauma which was large, but manageable into a totally and utterly unmanageable mess in terms of depression and sucicidalness due to the shift in hormones.
It took ages to get a proper diagnosis and then I was taking HRT for a while, which helped, then went off it again cos of some issues with it and my depression got soooooo much worse again. I've just gone back on it this week because my depression is utterly off the scale... Saw a new pdoc last week and was given a depression questionaire and I maxed out the scale and she was like "You need to go inpatient NOW" and I was like "I can't - I live on a farm and have animals that I can't relocate for a hospital stay"...
Going back on the HRT this week hasn't magically fixed all my issues, but my depression is now back in the "manageable" range again.
Any women going through a massive worsening of their previous mental health symptoms who are 40+ I urge to consider whether peri/menopause may be worsening your symptoms, as it did for me.
Many of us women have known bad PMS/ PMT days throughout our cycle where mood darkens horrifically and we're at our absolute worst/ lowest. Well, peri/menopause for me has been being stuck in that state 24/7 without any reprieve for the last 4 years. It's been utterly harrowing and I've not been able to recognise it as "me"... It's just been wildly bad depression symptoms and everything I've tried (medication, therapy, lifestyle changes) has made close to zero impact.
Edit to add: There's a great informative Facebook group on it called The Irish Menopause. Definitely worth checking out if you're having weird/ unexplainable physical or mental symptoms and are 40+
Last edited:
