Zoladex and severe anxiety - any advice?

[Spangalow07]

Hi all. I had my first Zoladex injection last month (due my second next week) and I wonder if anyone has any tips on managing anxiety/brain fog? I am really struggling as in a high pressure work environment and feeling as though I cannot keep up with what is going on around me. I have never really suffered with anxiety before but today I was dealing with month end invoicing and I was physically shaking seeing emails coming in. When I do manage to keep up or hold meetings, I am struggling to think straight and get my words out in the right order. I feel as though I am going mad and people are starting to notice me acting out of character.

Has anyone had similar and any tips/supplements that helped with this? I expected some side effects but these are really causing so much stress in an already stressful job and i'm feeling a little down about it.

I'm having a chat with my HR BP about this next week as my company are actually listed as an Endometriosis friendly employer and my manager has been nothing short of horrible to me this past week, my GP has signed me a fit note to say I will be working amended duties (staying working from home until the end of my 6 months treatment, taking longer breaks etc), but this has not stopped her piling the pressure on.

Thanks as always x

[Minnie153]

Hi Handspan07,

Are you on what is termed add back therapy? This is supplemental oestrogen and progesterone to address the side effects of the treatment (effectively all menopausal symptoms). The injection/implant causes a medical menopause so therefore, what you’re experiencing are symptoms on the menopause. With this therapy it will alleviate symptoms without affecting your endo. If you’re on therapy maybe the dose needs to be increased. The oestrogel is the safest and can easily be increased.

Good luck

[Marcia71]

Add back hrt could help as it’s menopause symptoms you’re describing. And it needs to be combined for endo sufferers to not give you too much oestrogen to stop injections working.

[Spangalow07]

Thanks all. Are there no complimentary therapies out there? Just conscious of pumping too many synthetic drugs into my system and where possible I prefer the holistic route x

[Mince_LV in reply to Spangalow07]

U should look in to some teas and some herbal extracts for menopause women.. nad also some food groups.. that is beneficial for menopause women...they could help a litle.. but im not shure about that.. didnt tried that.. but my doctor said that it is an option.. and also you should exercise and go for a walks every day.. drink a lot of water.. and get healthy sleep.. sleep was a harder thing for me.. with those flushes.. but I think that it has the biggest impact on brain and anxiety and concentration power...

[csytasista]

Hiya. I've experienced something similar and it's really unpleasant so I feel for you.. the brain feels like it's struggling to keep up and it's pretty scary. I started Zoladex last year and really I don't know if i'd got through the physical side of my job without it, but the loss of verbal skills and general brain issues were a bit of a nightmare at times. Personally, they did settle down after a couple of months. I started HRT in month 4-5, the first type I tried didn't suit me but Tibolone (once it settled) has been working out pretty well. I also take a good quality menopause supplement which contains magnesium, dong quai, ashwaganda, milk thistle... magnesium baths are magic too! I very rarely have alcohol now, one drink occasionally max, I just can't tolerate it anymore. Any endo friendly employer must be menopause aware too I would think? It is menopausal symptoms, but it's also brutal to be plunged into them rather than a gradual change. It's in the employers best interests to support you, hard but sometimes we have to just spell things out for folk. This isn't forever and things will shift and change. Unless they're complete idiots they won't want to lose you (recruiting and training a replacement is way more costly and hard work for them), they also can't treat you like cr*p for having a chronic illness which requires medication/treatment which might effect your performance for a bit. Good luck with HR and hopefully they will be sympathetic - they should in any case have your back with your boss, perhaps she's unaware of the extent of what you're going through, or has her own stresses. No excuse to be sh*tty to you, but there should be a resolution here - she maybe just needs to know what's going on and get a plan in place to make sure your work is covered if you need to ease off for a bit. Take care x