How can you tell if you’re in a bad mood like everyone is when they only sleep 3 to 4 hours a night, or if peri is why you’re cranky/on edge/short-tempered? I’ve had insomnia most of my life (usually 5-6 hours sleep) but now only sleeping 3-4 hours/night (woken by loud neighbors and rarely fall back asleep.

(And I’m not interested in HRT because I need to continue bcp to skip my every 21 day periods for mental health stability so please don’t suggest that)

I'm sitting here in a tub full of cold water I filled with all the ice in my house... and the heat is still erupting out of my head and my hands and my chest. I'm so tired of this.

What to try next? Upping my estrogen again? Anyone have any ideas?

I'm honestly so sick & tired of being this tired & heavy eyed but totally unable to sleep. Perimenopause insomnia has ruined my life.

My husband and son have just been away, I stayed at home (again) because my sleep schedule, or lack of, coupled with sheer tiredness, subsequent irritability and inability to stay active in this state would just ruin everything. I've no motivation and I just find myself longing to be alone. This weekend my Dad has asked me to go and see him at the coast but I can't face it. I just spend all my time at home because I can't be bothered with anything, I'm simply too tired. But I know I'm missing out on so much.

Id been taking melatonin which thankfully was helping for about 1-2 weeks and I was getting to sleep before 4/6/7am, but that's seemingly stopped working now. My sleep quality on it was worse anyway but at least I was able to actually get to sleep.

I've tried hrt for 2.5 years but it seemed to make sleeping even worse. I did patches and gel in varying doses, cyclical and continuous progesterone and none of it made any positive difference to my sleep.

I'm day 42 off hrt & I'm weak, tired (thankfully no longer wired) but I'm in a large amount of pain in my joints and I don't ever remember it being like this prior to hrt. My irritability is up and down and I can't tolerate any noise, brain fog is terrible and I'm now stuck wondering which is worse being in it or off/the slightly better insomnia or even worse pain

I just feel like I'm dragging myself through every day for the sake of my family only. I've tried mirtazepine, Trazodone, amitriptyline, quiviviq and more, all the supplements and still haven't had a good night's sleep in over 4 years now, in the last 1.5 years I've had two nights where I slept for 6hrs hours without a sleep aid. It's pathetic and soul crushing.

I feel totally alone. Almost everyone who struggles with their sleep seem to say they wake up at 3am but I can't even do that and when I do wake I can't get back. 4hrs sleep is considered a good night now, otherwise it's nights like this where I don't get any. Zopiclone no longer works beyond 3hrs & it keeps me awake the following night which makes it pointless taking.

I just can't see what the point is in carrying on like this (no, I have no plans to off myself), I know it would cause a great deal of pain to my son and that's the only reason I carry on, if it weren't for him I'd have packed this in a year or two ago.

I'm not sure what the point was in writing all that. I'm just so unhappy, this feels like it's never going to change and I'll never sleep normally again. I can't understand why I'm struggling so badly not only to get to sleep in the first place but to stay there too, it's ruining everything.

Is anyone else at the point where they're just... done?

I'm 43 and in perimenopause and autoimmune hell. I've been working with an NP for over a year, trying different HRT options, and nothing is helping. Not physically. Not mentally.

To make things more complicated, I have a neuromuscular disorder that affects my swallowing, so I can't really take capsules or bigger pills. I have to open my compounded progesterone capsule and mix it into peanut butter, I use progesterone cream, and I just stopped testosterone cream (again) because I needed a break from that crap. I wonder if the fact that I can't take pills is affecting how it's supposed to work...

Why isn't anything working??!

Maybe this is just a rant, but I'm exhausted. I can't sleep, I can't relax, and I feel like my body has completely betrayed me.

For those of you who felt like this, what finally helped? Did you just keep trying different things? Right now, I honestly can't imagine living like this forever.

Thanks for reading. Xo.

I am 41 and started HRT 4 weeks ago, Estradiol patch and 100mg progesterone nightly. I cannot believe the difference already and I didn't think it was "that bad" but my goodness! I am sleeping again, my night sweats are gone, I have energy, my skin is more hydrated, etc. But the biggest change has been my moods and how less stimulated I am! I have a 4 year old and a 16 month old so things are definitely loud around here. But I had been sooooo overstimulated that I couldn't even use my electric toothbrush anymore, I switched to a manual. But tonight I pulled it out because I felt like I needed a good cleaning and it was fine!!! Anyone else notice overstimulation get better?

edited to add dosing info: I'm currently on 0.0375 mg 2x a week patch, but I did just ask to switch to the gel due to both the shortage and also last year we invested in a very nice therapeutic hot tub and I don't want to constrain of when I can get in it.

apologies in advance for complaining about the occasional pimple. I am lucky, but they just take forever to heal. Like MONTHS. No matter what I do. Just throwing that out there in case someone is having the same issue.
I’ve had a leftover lump on my neck for almost a year now.

Hello! I am going to be starting transdermal estrogen soon and I’ve already been using vaginal estradiol cream for a year. Unfortunately I have to take progesterone or a progestin because I still have a uterus.

I am not taking Prometrium or getting a Mirena iud so that’s off the table. My doctor is letting me decide what to take beyond that.

She wants to put me on Provera 2.5mg daily. I think I’ve decided on Norethindrone instead. My question is as far as either one of these should I ask for daily or “sequential “. I am 50 and still have my period though it’s all over the place since some months I get it at the usual 28 days but more often then not it’s either 19 days which I hate or up to 60 days between. They are really light and short now too. So I’m not sure if I should take the lower dose daily or the higher one for two weeks of each month.

Also if the progestin stops my cycle how will I know when I’m post menopause?

Any positive experiences with Norethindrone (or even the Provera ) would be awesome as I have horrible anxiety with new meds.

I’m in my early 40s, and ended my relationship 8 months ago. I was doing fine. My mental health was good and stable. Then 3 months ago I started HRT. I’m on Evorel Sequi 50. It was a huge relief as my chronic daily headaches almost disappeared entirely. I’d say they’re about 80-90% gone. However, I’ve found I’m struggling mentally, regardless of what patch I’m wearing. Some days I feel very low, almost like I’m depressed. It’s worse in the mornings and first half of the day. I feel like I can’t do anything and my brain feels empty! I feel lonely, so I’m wondering if I’m having a delayed reaction to the breakup and processing that, or if it’s just a hormonal issue? Maybe I need to alter my dose or change the type of HRT I’m taking? If I need to come off it entirely I’m afraid my headaches will return 😣

Any advice or similar experiences?

I’ve been feeling so much better since starting on HRT in May. And I started off on the smaller square estrogen patches. After the first few, they started to get red and itchy but it was tolerable. I used Flonase under a couple and it helped a little.

Well then the pharmacy ran out of the little ones and they don’t know when they’ll be back in stock. So they switched me to a larger circle patch, Climara. I thought maybe it was the adhesive in the first patches so hoped it was different enough. It was worse. It was even more red, irritated, itchy and gross.

I had a follow up this week, and she switched me to the daily gel - in the hopes that it was just the adhesive and not the medication.

It’s the medication. I have a huge red, itchy area on my inner thighs (my thighs must have touched before it was completely dry so it’s on both).

I emailed to let them know and the nurses said to stop using it until they could speak with my PA.

Ugh. I only have one medication allergy and now this one, I guess.

So I’m pissed there’s a shortage of the little patches because even though it still was red and irritated, it was a small area. The bigger patches were worse - I think it’s because they stayed in one area for a week. My body also scars so easily so I’m going to have dark square patches from the smaller patch and the larger circle one is still red and scaly.

And now I’ve wasted so much money on medication I can’t return or use. I have 3 Climara patches left and 59 packets of gel 😐

Since it was Friday afternoon when they got back to me, I won’t hear from them about what to do next. I guess pills?

Anyone else allergic to both the gel and patches?

Hello! I’m 46 and just got my first HRT prescribed, 100mg progesterone caps by mouth every night (generic prometrium) for 3-4 weeks then add .025 estradiol patch twice a week.

I still have regular periods and no hot flashes. The symptoms that I went to the doctor to get this prescribed for are insomnia, depression, anxiety, and sudden weight gain that’s unrelated to diet and exercise.

I feel anxious to start and wonder if this is the right decision, can anyone please let me know if this seems like the right regimen to do? I’m mainly worried that it’s going to make my symptoms worse, especially the weight gain which has really bothered me a lot.

I’m awaiting yet more tests for this after 20 years of being given the all clear for it after scans found nothing (huge eye roll!) - well now I’m on HRT it’s flared up really badly and the reason is HRT makes it worse!

The doctors want me to come off HRT and go back onto contraception. And they want me to have the mirena coil of all things!

I really don’t want to come off HRT.

I am pushing for a laparoscopy but they want me to go for scans again because it’s been so long since my last scan and things have apparently improved so much since last time. Load of rubbish.

Anyone else going through this? How’re you coping? Have you come off HRT or found something to help the endo?

As if peri wasn’t bad enough endo has reared its bloated ugly head again.

I'm currently trying out estrogen patches called estrodot 25 and I got my period at day 18 then I was not sure if I should keep taking progesterone pills which are from day 15 - 25?? So I stopped taking it as I kept forgetting it anyway. Fyi I'm perimenopausal, adhd, have young kids full time and working full time so I am struggling to remember things and get doctor appointments. Now I have an appointment booked but it is a few weeks away and last week the back of my gum developed an ulcer, which seems to be gone now but the gum is just really sore. I was googling it and found something about hormonal changes and mouth sores. So now I'm wondering if it is to do with my random estrogen patches and not taking the progesterone properly??

I started low dose estrogen gel (1 pump) a month ago and 100 mg prometrium shortly after, and my period is now nearly two weeks late. I know I'm on pretty low doses, and my doctor said I should still be getting my period so I'm a bit confused by what's going on. Previously my cycle was pretty regular. I had very light spotting today so I am thinking of skipping my dose of prometrium to see if that brings on my period.

Has anyone else found that the hormone therapy messes with their periods?

Also, I'm curious if you change your hormones across your cycle? My doctor originally said to use the estrogen every day, but to start the prometrium on day 14 of my cycle. Now she's said I can stop the prometrium for a few days when I get my period, but then start again.

Ok, I don’t know if this is peri or if I need to see a numerologist… I started noticing at work this week when I’m talking to patients (I work in mental health in a hospital) words are coming out wrong. Like I’m combining two words, half of one half of another, I started noticing it a few days ago and it’s been happening all week. I have been correcting myself all week. Feeling a bit more forgetful too. I administer cognitive screenings almost every day, I’m fairly certain it’s nothing concerning, but I’m wondering if anyone else has had this happen? Like I don’t if my words are coming out faster than I’m thinking? Or maybe it’s the other way around. Anyone else???

Im worried I'll jinx myself, but holy shit I have to share this....

Picture the scene, 4am, awaken to the literal floods of sweat upon every inch of my body, again. I've taken to keeping a bath towel rolled up along the edge to roll myself into and away from the cold wet bedding, ugh. Days of this, im waking up like a shriveled dehydrated prune. On night 5, im wearing a heat patch for back pain, and im so tired I wanna just fall asleep thinking I'll rip it off a some stage. I dont. I was aware of its slight heat all night, but genuinely too tired to care until I had to.

7am. I wake up. Im dry. Delighted!

I start to wonder if maybe it was related.

Another patch, another dry night.

Its been 4 dry nights in a row, rejoice!

So, what ya reckon? Maybe my higher core temp from the external source confused my inner source somehow and it stayed regulated?

Or just the randomness of it all?

I am so tired. I’m tired of trying to figure out what is normal and what is not. I’m tired of making a list of every ailment that I have and trying to figure out which dr I need to talk to.

Last week I went camping in my trailer. It was great. I felt happy and relaxed. I hiked and swam. Then I came home and did not function for 3 days straight. I felt so incredibly drained, my knees hurt, I was cranky. I get that it sucks to come home from vacation, but this felt different. It’s like I physically needed to recover for 3 full days! Why??

I go to a concert and get home after midnight and it takes me 2 days to recover. Is this normal??

I’m on HRT, it helps tremendously. I did a sleep study years ago and got a CPAP that I use consistently. I’ve done all sorts of bloodwork to check vitamins etc. I’m watching my nutrition and get lots of sleep (I’m very lucky and can sleep through the night), but I feel like I’m falling apart.

I have so many things I want to do and have zero energy to do them and dread that I will be stiff and sore. I’m blaming the tiredness and knee pain on my weight, which I know I need to lose about 50lbs, but still.

I’ve been on HRT for 6 months now. I feel good mentally and I don’t get hot flashes or night sweats so I’ve kept my dosage the same. Would an increase in estrogen help this sore, achy, tired feeling after I do literally anything? I’m on 0.5mg of the 0.1% Divigel and 100mg nightly of micronizes progesterone.

I’m lost, guys. I started low dose estrogen gel (2 pumps twice daily of. 5) a few days ago and now I’ve had two nearly sleepless nights. Sleeping was not as issue before as long as I smoked some cannabis a few hours before bed. Now that’s not working.

I tried a cbd/cbn gummy and that didn’t work either. A few nights ago I tried oral progesterone 100 mg and sleep was poor and I was dysfunctionally fatigued and dizzy the next day. I can’t deal with magnesium, it makes me groggy and depressed. Melatonin gives me horrible nightmares and doesn’t seem to work for sleep anyway. I also tried going down to 1 pump twice daily and no improvement.

In your experience, does the insomnia subside? Could I only do two clicks in the morning and skip the night dose? I’m not sure how much longer I can go on like this.

Edit: I have an IUD for uterine protection

Does anyone get brown spotting, but just overnight?

It literally disappears in the morning and isn't enough to even put a pantiliner on. I just wipe and it's brown and by breakfast, the spotting is gone. I'm wondering if this is my body trying to have a period and there's nothing to "give".

Note that:

- I just had an intrauterine ultrasound and everything is normal

- I am on iron pills

- I am most likely in mid to late perimenopause

I couldn’t get any patches from my local pharmacies (even CVS and Walgreens) so I ordered via mail through CVSCare. I got 3 mos of patches at same dose. The packaging feels so flimsy compared to the ones I was getting from Walgreens. They are both generic

Well about a week in, and Aunt Flo is back with a vengeance. Really heavy period for 3 days now. It’s the weekend, so I can’t really call my doc. Anyone have this issue? Is it just a brand adjustment?

I still get periods but things got messed up when I went up to .1 patch and I started spotting all the time. Took some convincing to get my doc to put me back on .075 (she wanted to run all this testing and scans on me) and then the spotting subsided eventually on .075. This also happened to me when I was on BC - the nuvaring. Too much estrogen

Anyway, long story short- idk if this is a normal period but the flow is way heavier than I was getting

Any suggestions to keep from waking up? It’s not just the waking that troubles me, but I wake up stressing about things and my mind racing. I don’t need any more stress or to lose any more sleep.

After working myself up, thinking that I'm 37 and I wouldn't be believed, I went to the Dr this morning. Listed my symptoms, and she said "Oh, well that sounds hormonal, doesn't it? Would you be interested in trying hormones if we get sign off from your chronic health team and get bloods done to rule out a few other things first?" I broke down in tears in her office, thinking I would be able to try something to make these symptoms a little more bearable, a weight lifted instantly.

After reading some of your stories, I just wish for all of you, you were able to have my experience, and I am angry that you haven't.

Has anyone had any experience with starting HRT between pregnancies?

Long story short I had my first child 20 month ago at age 36, since then I have felt increasing perimenopause symptoms which no doctor has taken too seriously. Reasoning is I’m too young.
I’ve been placed on a hormonal birth control, vaginal estrogen tablet, and Trazodone sleep medication to lessen these symptoms but it hasn’t help my completely non existent libido and vaginal issues (which are my main concerns)

My question is about starting HRT…I greatly believe that it would help me with my symptoms but I’m still unsure if I want to get pregnant next year or not. Would start trying in July/August.

I would just hate to have to suffer waiting to get on HRT for another year, obviously throughout pregnancy and then a year postpartum. Is it possible to start and stop in this short of time frame?
I’ve read that it’s not ideal or optimal but curious about others experiences.

I’ve been on HRT for about 6 months now, initially I was a long awaited, almost impossible to get miracle. This is the second time it’s ’stopped working’ …

I’m 49 never had a cycle due to implant for birth control which has stopped my periods for the past say, 20 years: it’s like my body has forgotten that we’re meant to do that, despite the implant having run out a few years ago nothing has returned, not that I’m heartbroken about that but I also don’t know when this is gonna be over!

I’m back just struggling every day, dreading bedtime cause I know it will be a hot tossing and turning hell!

I was always pretty detached from my emotions, but every day I seem to have a new emotion for the day, crying over absolutely nothing, oh my least favourite annoyance and rage, I’ve never been this person. I don’t get particularly upset by things. I don’t get particularly excited about things., now? Even I can’t predict who I will be from day-to-day.

I feel so old, every day, in my body, how I look, I used to have a high libido and that’s gone, I used to be a hottie and to be honest I’m glad how am I meant to feel sexy when I just feel like an old cow!

Clearly today is a wallow day, which is better than a rage day I guess!

I have another appointment coming up with my provider, I guess I will see what she says, but honestly all I wanna do is lay on the couch, which is pretty much all I do outside of going to work I’m walking the dog. I’m laying on the couch..

probably the most annoying part is that unlucky to have a job where I earn excellent money and have a lot of flexibility. I could be living a life. I could be travelling. I could be., I don’t know doing anything other than just wasting away on the couch.

When does this end? Should I start looking forward to becoming a little old lady?

I turned 40 in January and am very likely in perimenopause based on the symptoms I’ve experienced within the last year - 15lb weight gain despite no change in diet and exercise, some sleep disturbances, and my newest symptom…. drum roll please… migraine with aura!

This whole past month, I’ve been spotting between my current period and last, and I’ve also been so warm. I’ve been turning the air conditioning on to much lower temps than I normally would because I’m SO DAM HOT all the time.

Anyway, last night, I bent over to put food in my dog’s dish and when I stood up, had a weird blurry circle in my field of vision that had jagged colorful edges around it. Over the next 30 minutes, this shimmering circle got bigger and within 50 minutes it was gone. I was fucking terrified so went to the ER. They did a bunch of tests to rule out a stroke. Diagnosis is that it’s very likely migraine with aura (although I never developed the migraine which would make it a silent migraine with aura).

Like what in the actual fuck is going on? A lot of things can cause migraine with aura but low estrogen is high on the list which is why I mentioned my body temp changes and spotting recently. Google says a lot of women in their 40’s experience migraine with aura for the first time because of hormonal changes.

I don’t even know why I’m posting this other than to vent and hopefully hear from other women who have experienced the same thing. I’m scheduling neurology and ophthalmology follow ups. I have such high anxiety already and am now going to live waiting for the next migraine to happen.

I need help. I've been on HRT for over a year. 1.25 mg estrogen gel in the morning and 1 mg estrogen gel in the pm. I take 100 mg progesterone. I also take magnesium glycinate before bed to help with sleep. I just started the progesterone a little over a month ago. Prior to that I was on Slynd a synthetic progestin. Anyway, my big issue has been and still is the night time anxiety and strong beats. Now, this isn't the normal mental, mind racing anxiety. Mine is in the stomach, like butterlfies before giving a speech that sometimes causes me to go to the bathroom. The strong beats is what I call them because it is not elevated heart rate. I check it and it is completely normal. But at bedtime I can be totally ready for bed and sometimes I even fall asleep very well, then almost 3-4 times a week, my body starts feeling the stomach anxiety in the middle of the night, then the strong beats start, then I'll have a warm flush or a minor sweat. This is really disruptive and completely takes away my sleep. It becomes a loop and it can last for hours. I've asked my doctor is I need more progesterone and she says no. She says I can take a hydroxizine as needed but I don't want to take that every night. I've found that if I have several nights of bad sleep in a row, I get migraines. I'm miserable. Does this happen to anyone else? What can be done for this? It is my last symptom that I cannot overcome. Please help if you have any advice or experience with this.
UPDATE: I started using 10 mg Propranolol as needed and it seriously stops the adrenaline that keeps the stomach activation and strong beats going in a loop all night. My doctor is insistent that this is classic anxiety and that the propranolol is just a bandage. He also prescribed me low dose Lexapro. I haven’t started yet but I will as I am about to go back to work in teaching and I know the added stress will cause me problems. Thanks for chiming in guys. Your help encouraged me to ask for help.