And then menopause happened…
I took the meds, feeling like I was admitting defeat. It’s not a miracle drug and my body is getting used to it … slowly. At first I felt dull and foggy, like I was moving underwater. The mood swings are less severe because my senses aren’t as sharp. My brain is active but it’s hard to get words out. My speech is slower and I have to think really hard, to concentrate on what words I’m going to say…
Antidepressants for menopause. Better than hormone therapy? Based on the side effects, it doesn’t sound like it.
All Things Chronic 
Sounds like the WRONG anti-depressant. I began taking them during menopause and felt better in 48 hours. I wasn’t foggy, or non-emotional. I still cried, I still felt. But I was far better able to control what I was experiencing. I could put aside the circular negative thoughts that dragged me down into depression. I could cool down from a rage quicker, and handle situations with more tact and care. I began communicating better because I could finally say what was bothering me rather than just getting caught up in it.
So yes, antidepressants for menopause. But work with your doctor!
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Yes, but were the antidepressants treating your depression or the menopause symptoms? I guess since they overlap so much, perhaps it doesn’t matter as long as they help. But depression is a medical condition, and menopause is… a stage of life. Should they be treated the same?
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Excellent question. I don’t see a need to ‘treat’ menopause: it’s natural, and every woman goes thru it. I do see a need to treat the side effects of menopause; the depression, mood swings, sweating, etc. Frankly I see it far more important for women to get some counseling during menopause. I know I would have appreciated it. It can be a bit frightening to feel that maybe you’ll never be that person you were, that you might be losing yourself. You don’t, of course. You just evolve.
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Is “evolve” a nicer way of saying you just “get older”? 🙂
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Better, darling, better. And you do evolve, trust me. It’s very freeing. You drop a lot of shit you never even realized you picked up. 🙂
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Oh, I believe you. It’s hard to say if I’m through with menopause, but I think so. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, but you’re right, it is freeing — mostly because no more periods. No more gut-wrenching cramps. 🙂
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Oh yeah! Saving money on feminine hygiene products adds up, too. As well as having to replace underwear ’cause said fem hygiene products didn’t work as well as claimed…
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Menopause… oh it was horrible. I’m so glad I’m through it!! While I was going through the worst of it, I took a very grim looking selfie and added the words: “I Don’t Suppose It Will Do Me Any Good To Call 911 and Tell Them My Emergency Is That I’m Out of Estrogen?”
I was on a prescription antidepressant and for me, it seemed to make me feel worse. After trying different ones and still feeling miserable, I did an ultra slow taper and weaned myself off of it. By ultra slow, I mean that I took almost a year getting off the drug, because i had been on an antidepressant for several years at that point and when I tried to stop quickly, it made me nuts. So after doing a lot of research, I got off the med by decreasing the amount I took by a tiny flea-bite amount, holding at that level for at least a couple of weeks, then decreasing by another tiny minute amount, and so on. (Going off a prescribed psychotropic is potentially very dangerous and not something I recommend doing without the oversight of a good physician.)
What helped me the most with my menopausal symptoms were health supplements. My favorite supplier is Swanson Vitamins (dot) com. The supplements I found most beneficial, when taken together, are as follows:
Evening Primrose Oil
Wild Yam Root
Black Cohosh
In addition to the above (which I took daily during my menopause but I no longer need as I am now four years past all that), I took (and continue to take) the powerful antioxidant Grape Seed Extract and a high quality fish oil, both of which help with overall health and well-being, both physically and emotionally.
I also find that taking a brisk half hour walk nearly every day, or fast dancing to music or jumping on an indoor trampoline when the weather is bad, makes an enormous difference in my mood. In the last couple of years I’ve also added Calcium, Vitamin D3, and Vitamin K2 to counter bone loss, and I feel physically and emotionally better than ever! (Calcium, D3 and K2 are all needed to work together and to prevent the calcium from going to the wrong place and hardening the arteries. This is a fairly new, mostly unknown fact, which I found by online research.)
When it comes to taking supplements, I recommend just trying one new supplement at a time. Give it at least a couple of days to see if you have any problems with it, before adding another supplement. I had to experiment with my three menopausal supplements to figure out what doses of each worked best for me, although in most cases I found that the recommended amount on the bottle worked just fine.
Today I am 62 and I look at least 15 or 20 years younger. I feel the best I have felt since I was a young girl! So don’t give up, there are answers that will probably work for you, too — and best of all, menopause isn’t forever! 😀
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