OT Depression, PMS & Pills

[Dogmama]

We had this thread awhile back, but thought since we have so many new people that I'd revive it (also, it is in my scope these days.)

First off, if I didn't ride, I'd be totally nuts. PMS and depression are huge issues for me and the primary reason I have to take antidepressants.
My shrink has been after me for years to take Effexor, but I've heard horror stories about getting off of it. Finally, the regular SSRI's just aren't cutting it for me and I've agreed. I've risen from the lethargic, "oh well..." that regular SSRI's induced to an almost manic state. I'm hoping that I adjust (it's only been a week).

I find myself thinking that I can go off of these pills (proven repeatedly that I can't), hating myself for not being "normal" and "natural" (I'm sold on organics, no red meat, etc.) This is something I do to beat myself up when I don't have any other club to use.

So, there it is. Just looking for other experiences so maybe I can put the club down. Thanks.

[mikki]

I'm sorry this is so hard for you. Changing antidepressants can be a tough challenge for a person. Trouble is, it can take several weeks for the medication to level out in your system. Have you spoken to your doc about the effects you are feeling?

What you are expressing can be a normal side effect of the medication. Perhaps you could try some relaxation techniques (deep breathing, meditation, counting) to help calm you. Better yet, get yourself in the saddle, sister. Ride off that anxiety.

We are too caught up in what is 'normal' in this society. You are normal for you. Your chemicals are just off. Please, work with your doc to stay on your meds. It's a small price to pay for being able to do the things we gotta/want to do.

[DeniseGoldberg]

...hating myself for not being "normal" and "natural" (I'm sold on organics, no red meat, etc.)

I wish it was as easy as one of us saying don't hate yourself! I can't comment on the PMS since I was lucky enough not to be bothered too much by it - but I have to say that being past menopause is awesome. (OK, OK, maybe my attitude is a bit odd, but it works for me!)

On the food front - organics & no red meat is the way I go too, although I take it a bit further. I eat fish, and I eat dairy products, but other than that my main protein sources are from tofu and beans. Don't beat yourself up for those food habits. I believe that the important thing here is to find a balance that supports your active lifestyle.

On the pills front - if they help, take them. It sounds like you already did this once, but sometimes once doesn't fix it - if the reason you want to stop taking them is that you don't like the effects of the medication, I'd ask to try something else.

And if you just need a place to vent - vent away. Maybe the combined responses of your TE friends will help...

--- Denise

[nuthatch]

Changing meds is always hard and you feel like you're swimming with no land in sight for a while. I've had rotten PMS and depression all my life (with meds and without). What took me, personally, so long to really believe was that I'd feel better by and by. While I was in the pit, so to speak, I had to learn to put off decisions, hold my breath and wait. It was like what we do when we're encouraging ourselves to keep riding with a chant or motto. Like running through Shelob's cave as fast as you can - there's an opening on the other side of the tunnel. Of course, this is just my cognitive approach to it. Many of us have been there and are still there. Riding really seems to help level things out (of course we can't ride 24 hrs a day!).

Right now, I'm getting very perimenopausal and, besides the usual symptoms of heavy flow, crazy emotions, flip-flopping heart, etc., I'm getting really extreme changes in my energy levels on the bike. One day normal, the next, under the same conditions on the trainer inside, my heartrate will be through the roof and I can barely make my legs peddle. It's very irritating!

Hang in there, kid and know that a whole lot of us are right there with you!!

[Selkie]

Switching my BCP from Ortho Tricyclen to Mircette "cured" me of PMS. In fact, I no longer get periods, PMS, etc. with this wonder BCP. My doctor told me that lack of periods/PMS was one of the positive side effects of Mircette. I highly recommend it to anyone already on the pill. I'm now 42 and hope that I can continue w/it until I clear menopause. In the five years that I've been on Mircette, I've probably saved enough on tampons and pamprin to buy myself a nice,new bike!!!

Depression is like diabetes---an illness that medicine can help control. You are normal. You just have a chemical imbalance.

[Irulan]

in the course of things, I've had to change anti depressants for one reason or another. It was different everytime, from lots of weird side effects to none. So hang in there, and talk to your doc.

Serious cycle related mood swings and a dianosis of PMDD is part of what had me on meds for a long time. ( 9 years) Only now have I felt good enough to manage the dips without meds, I got off them for good last month. But my menstrual issues are enough that my doc and I acknowledge that this is a big experiment. For those of use with serious cycle related issues, it's not enought to be a little witchy, it manifests itself as very serious depression, suicidal issues, etc. Thorw in perimenopause, other mental issues and whooo-eeee....

I've found a lot of help through
warning:controversial comment ahead
the teachings of Dr. John Lee who looks at hormonal imbalances through a different set of filters than mainstream medical teachings. Since I've been using natural progesterone cream my dips are less and my period is much less obnixious both in how I feel and how long and heavy it is.
Dr John Lee,

anyway hang in there, we're rooting for you.

I.

[joyrider]

Dogmama - I feel for you, and if you don't mind, I'll put in a good word with the "man upstairs". I've struggled with these issues myself. Anyway, have you tried vitamin/mineral/herbal support for PMS mood swings? I think it's helped me. Or could it have been cutting back on the multiple triple-lattes a day? Caffeine *for me* is a great contributor to mood swings.
And please don't think you're abnormal in some kind of defective way!

[nuthatch]

Since I've been using natural progesterone cream my dips are less and my period is much less obnixious both in how I feel and how long and heavy it is.

Amazing you brought this up - I've been using progesterone cream (which my regular doctor gufaws at) for a couple of months and found it really helped with all the arthritic-old-woman pains I have in the second half of my cycle (which just goes to show that every part of our bodies is awash in sex hormones and withdrawal is horrible). It doesn't help me with night sweats but it does help with the emontional dips quite a bit, like you said. Hope I don't grow a third breast or anything because of it!!!

[AutumnBreez]

Well don't know, only a suggestion, you may need to get your thyroid tested, these are also signs of hypo-thyroidism. Depression, lack of energy, bad PMS, Weight gain, foggy mind, emotional, low concentration. There are more symptoms if you would like to know them...though sometime depression gets worse because of dealing with all the other limiting factors and life too becomes overwelming at times, work, kids and homework, housework, and unexpected stresses all at once.
I have suffered all my life with this....even though I take meds, sometimes it just creeps up and bites my a** anyway!
Being female can be a real beeatch sometimes! BUT..
We females are very special, chosen to hold the master key on skills of multi tasking, includes the art of being able to love and conquer all in the same breath.
When we are aware of our weakness (including the all too common human feelings of being abnormal) we are also achieving more strength, because the survival of the human spirit is stronger than any medicine, and any situation that can arise in our life time. It is always growing from our many experiences. You can see it if you look in other people too, especially children and the elderly, the self driven and everlasting spirit LIVES in each of us! Sneak a peak inside. Keep your chin up and get ready to grow.

Sorry....I tend to get a bit involved once I get a thought going.

[fasteryet]

Do you have total faith in your doctor, or do you think there may be someone better out there? I say that because I've been very happy with mine, who is willing to try anything and everything. After bad PMS and several years of Paxil, from roughly '97-2001, I'm now in that almost menopausal point. Still getting it, most of the time. But my hormones are pretty wacked out, so my doctor has me on a variety of things that seem to work. I take 900 mgs of St. Johns Wort, 1000 mgs of L-Tryptophan, and 5 mg of DHEA, plus Estroven (a soy-herbal combo), and it seems to be keeping the demons at bay. Exercise is, of course, very important, even though it can be hard to even get up when one is depressed. But if your doctor is only willing to try prescibed meds, it might help to look at alternatives or alternate doctors.
Also, could you be having any other problems in the disease dept., like Lyme or some auto-immune thing going on? Also speaking from experience, I started feeling sick and sluggish this fall, plus sensitivity to a number of things, as well as aches and pains, and it turns out I had Lyme disease. I was very fortunate in that a rigorous course of antibiotics got rid of it. But for a while I felt like I was slipping back into that dark hole.

[LBTC]

Wow, we're all goddesses, aren't we?

To add to the could-it-be-something-else concept: do you drink/eat anything regularly that contains aspartame? I've been to the states and found it amazingly hard to find on the labelling...in Canada the labels contain a lot more information! Anyway, ingesting aspartame has been linked to so many symptoms, including many that lead to a misdiagnosis of MS(!), lupus, and fibromyalsia (I'm sure I did not spell that right)... if it is something you have frequently, it would be easy to stop for awhile and see if it helps....I'll see if I can find more info about its effects.

As for other alternate remedies - I've been taking evening primrose oil for many years. I learned long ago, after I'd taken it daily for a couple of years, that if I don't take it, I get B**chy. I never miss it now. I haven't been to a doctor about any negative feelings or depressive behaviour that I've had over the years, so I hope you don't mind me making suggestions....I've always thought that dark thoughts and low energy were "normal" and that everyone deals with them in whatever way they think they can.

I dealt with the PMS issue with a BCP that never changes its dose, which I later started taking straight though, so I"m in the happy don't get a period camp. yay. can't say too much about this - I love it! no down time! though it is time to start looking at the strategies for menopause.....time for a doctor visit, I"m thinking...

Lastly, activity of some kind will always be helpful. and you do need something else to do other than biking for when the weather is too bad, or your bike is down for a repair, or your hoohaw is too sore after yesterday's huge ride, or whatever..... as you may have seen in other threads, I discovered Kickboxing and truly have never known anything else to elevate my energy level more constantly.... and I still do yoga when I have the time. Yoga Journal is a fabulous source of information, and they have very very thought provoking articles that have helped me to view the world and myself in new and wonderful ways.

And the last thing that I "need" to keep going is my personal hobby, taking photographs. If I go too many days without recording beautiful things, I do get very low. During the long winter I resort to buying potted flowers to take pix of....I just can't wait for them to come outta the ground!!

are you feeling any more normal yet?? I still think that many of us deal with lots of negativity and lots of demons, and we all just have to find ways to realize that we are perfectly goddesses, every one of us.

And, yes, by all means, please do keep posting, and venting, here! I've never met so very many encouraging and wonderful women with so much knowledge and information!! Go girls, go!!

Namaste,
~T~

[AutumnBreez]

Was looking up some things for myself and came across this and thought you may be interested to learn too...

http://www.naturesbounty.com/vf/heal...Supp/5-HTP.htm