HRT

Hello everyone,
I want to know if any of you are on HRT for peri/menopause and if it helps with Fibromyalgia or do most opt for anti depressant and or anti anxiety meds instead? Also, which anti depressant is best for the daytime? Thanks for any input!

Peace,
Elizabeth

Everything hit me all at once during a very long stressful time in my life, anxiety, depression, peri-menopause and fatigue, needless to say I was a mess. My doc upped my amitriptyline to 100 mg a day, put me on xanax for the anxiety and panic attacks (caused by the situation I was going through) and tried to get me to take HRT but we have so much cancer in my family I opted not to take anything. The hormonal symptoms, I didn't think, was that bad compared to everything else I was going through. Guess I will never know if it would have helped or not since I'm through all that now. That was also the beginning of fibro but I didn't know it at the time.

 

I figured women have been going through menopause since the beginning of time without meds so I could do it too.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

Hi
I was on HRT for many years and didn't have too much trouble with my fibro. Then I got breast cancer. So I'm off the hormones. My fibro is worse, but I can't say it is due to stopping the HRT. I prefer the fibro to the cancer treatment!

I have at least some relief with gabapentin 100 mg TID, tramadol 50 mg as needed, preferable QD unless I'm having a flare, then up to QID. Tylenol and Advil don't do anything for me. I can't take any tranqs - give me feelings of suicide, which scares me!

I began going through perimenopause when I was about 47. It was the perimenopause from hell, and lasted at least 10 years. It seemed to meld with my fibromyalgia. In fact, there were times when I didn't know which was which, and times when I began to think that some of us develop FMS from losing our hormones.

I had a really bad uterine bleed about age 48 and was started on HRT then. The HRT made me crazier than usual, and I believe it also gave me GERD. For the GERD I was put on a medication that gave me daily migraines for a year and a half, then just a couple a week for several more years.
I guess what I'm saying is that its impossible to know what one should do! In retrospect, I would have just bitten the bullet and not taken the HRT because I think it caused problems that necessitated more meds, and those meds caused even more problems. But who knows for sure?
Also in retrospect, I realize that something about losing my hormones caused me to have panic attacks, sleep apnea, headaches, etc., etc, so I'm thinking that if I had taken the zoloft and the beta blocker and had been put on the CPAP that I am now using, life might have been much better regulated.
Unfortunately, its so individualized as to what will help and what will hurt. Its a trial and error period. Unfortunately, some drugs take several months before you know if they will work or not.
There are so many different antidepressants out there, and if one doesn't work, that doesn't mean another one won't. They can have lots of side-effects too, which is why I think people should start out on very low doses first.
Good luck to you! Perimenopause can be exceptionally challenging when you already have FMS.

Alcie, I'm so sorry about the breast cancer, I hope your okay now.

 

Donna, my doc rxd Estrace three months ago for dryness but I haven't even read the insert about it yet, does that go into your system like other hormones even though it is inserted???

 

I didn't have the heavy bleeding and the hot flashes were no worse than they are now that my doc says is coming from the hypothalamus, not hormones, but there were days when I didn't know how I was going to live with myself I was such a B. My oldest sister had really bad night sweats but I didn't have one.

 

I think it is a personal decision depending on how bad your symptoms are and how many family members have moved out cause of it.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

Thanks Donna!!! Since I deal with horrible headaches everyday as it is I think I will pass on the Estrace and continue using the over the counter remedies. My Sjogren's is my biggest problem when it comes to that little problem anyway.

 

Viagra is about $5.00 a pill with ins co-pay LOL.

 

We got a print out in the mail the other day of what our meds cost without our $3.00 for generic and $9.00 for name brand meds and it was unbelievable.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

 

That tube might be expensive, Donna, but it could come in handy some nights!  You don't have to say you have a headache.  Just point to the tube! 

 

Sherrine