anxiety and depression

I have been on many different hrt's this last year trying to find the right one for me. Right now I am on Fem-ring. I have only be on it one week. I know it is soon to know, but my body seems to tell me right away if it is going to work or not.
I felt fine the first few days. The last two mornings I have awakened with panicky feelings, anxiety, and depression. I have to make myself get out of bed. I then have rubbery legs and feel very shaky. After about an hour I feel better. Could sleeping cause the hormone to build up or not circulate like it is supposed to and cause these symptoms. I had the same ones on Premarin. The femring is supposed to give you a steady dose, but in the afternoon I get that closed up feeling in my throat that I got when I was not taking anything-so I think that means it is low estrogen.
I just don't know if what I am feeling is because the dose is too low or too high. I have checked the charts, but my symptoms are so weird. I am on the lowest femring. My doctor is starting me on Elavil next week for pain issues-maybe that will help with the anxiety and depression? Do any of you get that shaky feeling or anxiety with femring? Also, I have developed what I would call tics (little jerky movements from time to time in my body)
Thanks for any insights

I have the same anxeity sx and it doesn't matter what hormone I'm on I still get the panic and anxiety. I have been on Xanax for two years and before that I was on Klonopin and I was switched to Xanax because the Klonopin stopped working. I was in a research project for anxiety and they couldn't tell me if it was hormones or just my system changing. I have tried several SSRI'S and I haven't been able to tolerate any or them. I feel my body is just too sensitive and any change starts a chain reaction. Have you ever seen a doctor that is into giving Armour thyroid? I know my doctor wants me to start with a small dose and increase it slowly. And all my thyroid panels are in the so called normal range. The one thing my doctor wanted me to do was totally give up caffeine and sugar. I have failed at that many times. I am so addicted to diet coke. I hope to find a way to start the Armour again. Because when I have caffeine or sugar with it I have a panic attack and start shaking. I was never addicted to the diet coke until I quit smoking 4 1/2 years ago. It's a shame theres not a better way to find the right hormone combination. I am so tired of trying different hormones over and over and nothing stopping the panic. I hope you fine something that will suit your system.
Take care, Trish

domwa- That is exactly how I feel when I am not getting enough estrogen, for me it is below .075. I am also on Elavil for bladder pain associated with Interstitial Cystitis. I still have bouts of depression but at this time I think they are more related to feelings of hopelessness about my health situation. My hematologist did find that I am severely B-12 deficient which can cause depression. I seem to be doing better since I started the b-12 shots on the depression front.

Hi all,
I, too, am suffering from depression and major anxiety episodes. I am currently using 0.2 of estraidol, testosterone and progesterone, in a compounded cream. I was originally using the Climara patch and taking Prometrium. Trouble was that I am allergic to adhesives. I got hives under my patch! My doctor is trying to get my hormones balanced, but, I have to say it is a rough road. My newest thing is that my heart feels like it is going to beat right out of my chest. I have had this checked, and thankfully, my doctor doesn't think it is life threatening. She thinks it is anxiety related, possibly from the horomones and all the stress that my body has been under with the TAH/BSO and the following staph infections. She wants me to take Xanax when i get the most severe type of episode, but, other than that, she has no recommendation for me. My mom told me that she has the same problem, and deep breathing exercises sometimes help.
I am sad that you are having the anxiety too. I wish I could be more help. Maybe just knowing that you aren't going through this alone will help somewhat.

I have to say that it is nice to know that I am not crazy and that other women experience the same symptoms as me. My anxiety is out of control. We must remain strong not let it take over our lives (I say this mostly to convince myself).

My doctor just put me on this femring on Monday. It falls half way out, it will not stay in place. I must not have a good bone down there....I feel horrible, I feel like I could cry, scream or what ever. I do not feel like me. My doctor wants me on this so my bones do not fall apart. UGH. I am having tightness feelings in my chest, I ache, I am having hot flashes again....I am even having cramping and headaches. I am 38 and everythingt has been removed for a couple of years now. I felt better when I was on NOTHING. Is this normal? I am calling my doc in the morning. But I feel nuts...3 days of this....or does it get better?

I tried the Femring several months ago. I ended up with heart palps, headaches, stomach cramps. Even after I took it out after a week, the heart palps continued. I finally went on a beta blocker and that took care of them and then I weaned off.

Liz

Yes, I had major problems on the low dose Femring as well - heart beating like crazy, anxiety and intestional upset. I have read that just using a vaginal estrogen product is now proving to be enough to protect the bones (but not build them). The article cited Estring and Premarin cream as being as protective as low dose systemic estrogen. I do not know if this is true so if anyone has information, it would be really helpful.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by Coffeelatte Yes, I had major problems on the low dose Femring as well - heart beating like crazy, anxiety and intestional upset. I have read that just using a vaginal estrogen product is now proving to be enough to protect the bones (but not build them). The article cited Estring and Premarin cream as being as protective as low dose systemic estrogen. I do not know if this is true so if anyone has information, it would be really helpful.

I am interested in reading these articles if you can find them coffeelatte. I am a little skeptical of vaginal estrogen alone protecting your bones as I have been on systemic hrt since my hysterectomy and still ended up with osteoporosis. I can't imagine what my scores would have been like on vaginal estrogen alone, especially at my age. I did do a quick search on vaginal estrogen and protection of bones and found the following paragraph from this link:

http://www.drugs.com/cons/estring-vaginal.html


<"When used vaginally or on the skin, most estrogens are absorbed into the bloodstream and cause some, but not all, of the same effects as when they are taken by mouth. Estrogens used vaginally at very low doses for treating local problems of the genitals and urinary system will not protect against osteoporosis or stop the hot flushes caused by menopause.">

I also found an article from Journal Watch online regarding studies done on bone density of women who took vaginal estrogen only. Unfortunately I can not provide the link to it as I had to register to receive the full article, but the title was
"Ultra-Low-Dose Vaginal Estrogen May Prevent Bone Loss"
and the source was:

Naessen T et al. Bone loss in elderly women prevented by ultralow doses of parenteral 17ß-estradiol. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1997 Jul 177 115-119.

The title is a bit misleading since the studies were only done measuring women's forearms (NOT the hip or spine) which does not show a very accurate picture of what is going on in terms of bone loss. The author of the article does admit to this and also states that more long term studies are needed as well as effects on the hip and spine.

Of course estrogen is only one factor in maintaining bone health. Testosterone and progesterone play important roles as does weight bearing exercise, and a healthy diet and plenty of vitamin D and calcium.

I hope this helps!

BTW,

I tried Femring but only lasted a week on it as I had terrible intestinal cramping and could not keep the ring in. Didnt wear it long enough to experience any anxiety or depression, but I have had heart palps when my estrogen was too low..and also had them just recently and it turned out I was being overtreated with Synthroid for my hypothyroidism. My TSH was .017 (normal range .3-3). Since lowering my Synthroid dose the anxiety and heart palps went away. I tend to automatically think every symptom is hrt related but that has not always been the case. Just my experience.

Thank you all for your replies. I have now been on the Fem-ring for almost 6 weeks and the shakiness and rubbery legs are gone. I still have the small tics from time to time, but I can handle those. I still have some depression, but I am still functioning--just feel sad a lot. I started on Elavil 25 mg. about 4 weeks ago. It is a low dose and has helped my pain and maybe helped my depression some. I am going to keep things like they are right now and visit with my doctor the second week of May. I don't know if I should try the higher dose of Fem-ring or not. I am trying to heal my urethra and estrogen is supposed to help (that is the source of my pain), so part of me thinks I should, but then this level has been my best option so far and I have tried just about everything else! On the Elavil, I still have minor pain, but I can deal with it at this level so far. I just wish it would go away for good! It has been quite a year since my hysterectomy last May!