Lurker coming out of hiding....

[TarnishedHalo]

Hi. I've been dealing with anxiety for a while now and am finally opening up to others about it. I have been a nurse for 20 years and know waaaaay too much about health issues. I've been having pain in my chin. One spot on my chin, not radiating to my jaw, neck or back. Well, to me that pain meant I was having a MI (heart attack). I went the ER and nope, EKG and troponin was normal. This was a few days before my period. I track things with my health to look for trends and have nailed my anxiety down to the week before my period and occasionally a day or so after it ends. I'm 46 so I know the big M is just around the corner. My GYN put me on Buspar 7.5mg twice a day. When I started the second dose made my head hurt so I halved it. I'm about to start taking the entire pill in the morning and evening. I've been on it since late January and have felt pretty good until tonight when the ole chin pain threw me into a panic attack. I have access to an EKG machine and it was normal. Stone cold normal.

Now that you know my history, I'd like to ask a few questions if I may:

1. Do any of you take a SSRI just for the week before your period? I know it takes a few weeks for the medicine to work, but I read a couple of studies on PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) that said a SSRI used only the week before works for this. I had to take Celexa and Paxil (not at the same time) for post-partum depression and divorce a year after son was born. Do either of those work for your anxiety?

2. Any of you ladies notice your anxiety getting worse the closer to menopause you got?

3. Have any of you been diagnosed with ADD (not hyperactive) instead of anxiety? I tested for ADD in my 30's, took meds for it until January this year when I had to stop due to anxiety. I had more anxiety during the withdrawl period, but it's been months so the medicine is out of my system.

Thank y'all so much for letting me type my anxiety out on this keyboard. Also a big thanks for sharing your experiences and making me realize it's not just me with this monkey on my back.

~TH

[Newgirl48453]

Hi. I'm 45 and also a single mom. I took Celexa in my early 30's but stopped when we got pregnant with my 2nd son. Now that I'm older I do notice that my anxiety does get worse right before I'm going to start. My counselor mentioned ADD the first time I went to see her a couple of weeks ago. But this last time she said it was GAD. Yeah the older I get the worse it is. I feel like I have dementia and feel like a little girl afraid of getting into trouble at the same time if that makes any sense.

[Hidden]

I'm so glad you brought this up! I've been having more anxiety starting about three days before I get my period and it lasts until a couple days in. My dr is having me up my Zoloft three days before I start until the last day of the period. I'll let you know how it works.

She said it has to do with the serotonin and estrogen cycles. Hope this helps

[hannah821]

I take Paxil for about 2 months now. I find that it does help with anxiety. I'm much better now than I was. I didn't have any appetite at all and now I do. It also helps with depression. Good Luck.

[TarnishedHalo]

Thank y'all for taking the time to answer me. Since I last posted I've had some mild anxiety, but was able to talk myself down. I did up the Buspar so I don't know if that helped or not. I'm a week late on my period so I think it's perimenopause kicking in. I know I'm not pregnant as my partner had a vasectomy years ago. I need to read up on perimenopause now. UGH!!

[Michele_B]

So I clicked on your name since you responded so kindly to my post and saw this.

My anxiety ramps up around that time of the month too. I don't understand why. My doc has run all sorts of blood tests, including checking to see if I'm pre-menopausal. She says I'm not. I just turned 40 last November. I just KNOW it is related to my period/hormones somehow because it ALWAYS affects me during that week. I wish I could pinpoint why this all started. I've been dealing with it for about a year now which isn't long considering that some people struggle with it for YEARS with no relief but still I just wish I could figure out how to make it all go away.

[TarnishedHalo in reply to Michele_B]

Keep going with the Buspar and hopefully it will work! I believe it's hormonal with me. Once I started tracking it there was a clear pattern. My GYN also did bloodwork and found I was low on Vit D. I take 2,000iu a day for that and 7.5 of Buspar 2x a day. So far it's working for me! I think people expect to feel something with the Buspar like you do with Benzo's and when they don't they assume it's not working. That's what I like the most about it, I don't feel different, just better if that makes sense.