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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by owensmar on August 31, 2004, at 22:48:43
I know that Progesterone (especially the bioidentical kind) is supposed to make you feel *better* once you're peri or menopausal. But every time I go on certain kinds of HRT, I get these horrible anxiety attacks and feel just in anguish, despair. Admittedly, all three times I've had these kinds of episodes, something else was at play - a new a/d usually. But it is seeming more and more that if I take progesterone (estrogen treats me fine) I get very close to suicidal. Even the bioidentical progesterone seems to be making me feel horrible.
Have any of you had this experience? I'm 48 and in early menopause. I've had this experience with Activella (continuous synthetic) and with continuous bioidenticals. Not so much with a cyclical like Ortho-Prefest (3 days of estradiol, then 3 days of estradiol plus synthetic progestin).
Does progesterone do this to you? Or is it just coincidental that everytime I've felt this way, I've been on HRT?
Please help. I don't know if I need to go on atypical antipsychotics, change meds entirely, augment my Effexor or just give up on hormones and suffer the hot flashes, etc.
I'm feeling at the end of my rope.
Marsha
Posted by JLx on September 29, 2004, at 11:25:35
In reply to Progesterone - has it caused or worsened anxiety?, posted by owensmar on August 31, 2004, at 22:48:43
Hi Marsha,
I had that same kind of reaction to progesterone (I used the natural kind) and was very disappointed.
I ran across this questionnaire http://www.yourmenopausetype.com/questionnaire.html recently which indicated that symptomologically I was progesterone adequate and estrogen/testosterone deficient. If I'd seen that before I wouldn't have even tried it. This probably explains why I felt terrible on more progesterone but better taking DHEA in a herbal women's formula, as DHEA boosts both estrogen and testosterone.
> I'm feeling at the end of my rope.
Sorry to hear that.
In my experience, sometimes a hyperstressed out feeling can indicate a magnesium deficiency, especially when extremely irritable and sound sensitive. I can't explain the chemistry but it's something to do with neuronal firing and the calcium/magnesium ratio within cells. A high calcium diet or use of calcium supplements without the proper amount of magnesium can aggravate this. What "the proper amount of magnesium" may be might depend on the individual. I personally take much more magnesium than calcium, but most other people seem to need a 2:1 or 1:1 cal/mag ratio.
If you take Cal/mag supplements and the magnesium portion is magnesium oxide, you should know that you may not be getting as much magnesium as you think because mg oxide is very poorly absorbed by the body. (Magnesium aspartate and mg glutamate should also be avoided by anyone experiencing depression.) Magnesium citrate, mg malate, mg glycinate and mg taurate are better choices.
Magnesium is also depleted by stress, a high sugar/carb/fat diet, and prescription drugs.
If you're getting too much calcium in your diet and not enough magnesium, you may paradoxically not be getting much calcium because magnesium is needed for the proper absorption of calcium (and vice versa).
Most people eating our typical diet don't get even the RDA for magnesium, much less what they may really need.
Can you tell I usually hang out on the Alternative board? :) I talk about this a lot because magnesium suppelemention has helped me enormously and I don't think the message is out there enough about how essential this mineral is to our health and sense of mental/emotional well being.
Here's an excerpt from "The Miracle of Magnesium", by Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=0345445880&view=excerpt
JL
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