53 minutes ago, Sminismoni said:

@Heatherjane I am not tapering but am certainly in withdrawal (8 months off drugs). I am 49 and until starting meds for ADHD at 47, never had huge menopause issues. Once on meds I started getting mood swings, joint pain, night sweats, hot flushes, brain fog, crying spells. I was told it was perimenopause and put on oestrogen gel. They kept putting the dose up, nothing changed. Then they checked my testosterone and told me that was low, so started me on that as well. Nothing changed. Eventually I decided it was an adverse reaction to my Atomoxetine and stopped it. I then went into the withdrawal I am in today. I am still on HRT as I don't want to destabilise my system with another withdrawal, but my honest home take is that all my symptoms are WD.

If you think about it, women over thousands of years went through menopause and never made a song and dance about it. I do believe a small proportion of women get severe depression, anxiety and suicidal due to oestrogen deficiency(my grandmother committed suicide aged 50). I have a patient of mine who literally came alive after starting HRT, when she had been depressed for over 2 years. HOWEVER, my honest belief is this is 5-10% of women. The rest of us have been sold a trend by big pharma, saying menopause is an awful condition that must be held at bay at all costs.

Personally, if I wasn't already on HRT I wouldn't have jumped on it during WD. Oestrogen STRONGLY modulates serotonin receptors and could destabilise things in my opinion. When I tried HRT a year before WD I got anxious and jittery, and stopped after a month. I was convinced to go back on it because of my symptoms, which I now regret.

Thanks for the reply. I started hrt 3 years before deciding to taper and I was doing fairly well. I stopped catching fire in bed, brain fog went and generally I felt strong and well. For me I feel hrt has helped. My sleep however has been crap for ages, I can’t even remember when that started going bad. Perhaps since I swapped from citalopram to sertraline about 5 years ago but I can’t be sure.

I have managed to cycle over 4500 miles since starting my taper in Oct 24 so overall I’m doing okay. 16500 miles since 2020. 1600 so far this year..

I'm am terrified however that everything could come crashing down.

My hrt recipe has recently been altered as the night sweats and genital issues started bothering me again. Hopefully I will get a good balance of hrt meds and that will all settle down.

I will say over the last few years my anxiety level has generally increased but that also coincides with have 2 neuro diverse children, fighting for suitable school places with tribunals and then finding out last year my husband has a rare incurable cancer..

I do get triggered by responses so please be aware I do get scared and frightened easily as @Chippy knows..x

20 minutes ago, Heatherjane said:

I do get triggered by responses so please be aware I do get scared and frightened easily as @Chippy knows..x

Always here for you @Heatherjane x