More Menopause...

[Crankin]

Lethargy is a symptom of depression, which can be caused by hormonal changes related to menopause. I have a couple of patients who are taking a low does of an anti-depressant (prescribed by their PCP before they started seeing me for counseling), which has helped with both mild depression symptoms and the physical symptoms of menopause. See how the HRT goes; it is scary, but short term, you are probably fine.

[Ritamarie]

Thanks Crankin. If the HRT makes a difference, then at least I'll feel better about chalking it all up to menopause.

[nuliajuk]

I went through menopause at age 50. The first year I had a lot of hot flashes, so my doctor tried me on low dose HRT. Unfortunately, I had an adverse reaction just three days after starting, ending up in the emergency ward with stroke-like symptoms. After putting me through the MRI machine and determining that I didn't have a stroke, they told me to stop taking it.

I eventually reduced the hot flashes with a ketogenic diet, from about 16 a day to 4 or 5, but gained a lot of weight on the high fat ketogenic diet that I've never been able to lose. Now I just use an estrogen vaginal cream a few times a week to prevent atrophy.

On the whole, I like being post menopausal. I don't feel like I'm a prisoner of my hormones any more.

One thing you need to watch out for after menopause is hypothyroidism. When my cholesterol levels suddenly changed for the worse (I'd always had really good numbers), my doctor ran an extra thyroid test and, sure enough, I was very low. She says that a lot of post menopausal women have under-active thyroids and often they're treated for the symptoms - such as changed cholesterol levels - instead of the cause. So, now I take Eltroxin very early in the morning

[WindingRoad]

Well apparently I'm one of the lucky ones and am beginning peri at 38-39 years of age. I have a gyno appt this week to confirm but I am pretty sure based on my symptoms this is what's going on. My Mom actually didn't start this process early but my Grandmother did so I don't know... Anyways I have been having the horrible periods, super long and heavy. Been having the crazy mood changes, depression, lethargy, insomnia and night sweats. Ugh it's awful. I just starting using a progesterone cream to see if that will help with the symptoms. I will run it by my new gyno when I see her this week but it took over a month to get into her so I was getting desperate for some relief. My period was at least 7 days this last time and not 3 weeks!

Have any of your heard about adrenal fatigue contributing to peri onset? I am concerned about this as I recently stopped taking my ADHD medications after about 4 years and it seemed the worst of it was after I did this. I realize there are a certain amount of withdrawal symptoms associated with stopping this type of med but after several weeks those should lessen and go away. Based on my own knowledge, is it possible that b/c I was taking ADHD meds, which drive the sympathetic response and pushes a lot of hormones through your system has somehow fatigued my adrenal glands and contributed to my lack of Progesterone (based on symptoms) or Estrogen dominance? Slowly since adding the Progesterone cream things have improved some.

[Crankin]

I am not a doctor. But, in my role as a therapist, I have to be up side effects of certain meds. Yes, ADHD meds do affect the sympathetic response, but I have never read any articles or heard the psychiatrists I work with, or my clients talk about the kind of response you are having. ADHD meds aren't like SSRIs, in that they work immediately, and then they are out of your system after a few hours. Could taking them for 4 years make permanent changes in your hormone levels? Anything is possible, but this is something I have not heard of.
Peri-menopause at age 38-39 is *not* unusual. I was about the same age, and I know many people who were the same. It may just be that going off of the meds and your symptoms happened at the same time, but it's not the cause. Everything you describe is related to menopause.
I know others here will disagree, but adrenal fatigue, well, I don't believe it's been empirically validated as a real thing. I know it's popular in the naturopathic community, but I am suspicious. I'm all for natural treatment, as much as possible, but... tread cautiously before spending $ on treatments. All of these symptoms suck, but, I would listen to see what your gyn says.

[VerRobinson]

Thank you for sharing their ideas...