hi michelle here , just wondering if any one has suffered panic attacks going through perimenopause.

[chelle23976]

i had 2 full blown panic attacks last night and took me over an hour to try and get my breathing back to normal. i at one point my body was shaking uncontrollably, i was petrified. when i went to bed i was up again having another . woke up this morning with pain in my back when i breath in. oh and a pounding headache, is this normal? i don't want to call the doctors with all that is going on at the moment..

[Lamornalee]

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your symptoms. Can I ask you a few questions? Was this the first time you have suffered panic attacks and are you having hot flushes at all?

I can tell when I'm going to get a hot flush as my heart starts to pound and I get quite breathless. In bed at night, after the flush (which makes me sweat), I can get shivery. I was told that it is caused by the body temperature lowering suddenly.

If you are worried that it may be something else (such as the coronavirus), please have a look on the NHS website. I'm sure you can still phone your GP and they WON'T feel like you're wasting their time!

[chelle23976 in reply to Lamornalee]

hi lamornalee, thankyou for your reply.

no it wasn't the first attack i have experienced, i had 1 back in january just before i found out that i was going through perimenopause and it wasn't as bad .. i started Hrt at the end of january and it has taken a little while to kick in . i was starting to feel a little bit more like myself again and then that happened and with everything else going on just now it is quite possible it being stress related but just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced it going through menopause..

[Chleo11]

Hello Chelle. Yes, panic attacks are quite common. When I described to my gynecologist that it was like having your head held under water she said that a lot of women are describing their panic attacks during perimenopause in those words. The confinement situation we are living at the moment has probably a lot to do with these panic attacks. A lot of people (even men) are having them at the moment. You would need to wait until the confinement situation is over and then go to see your GP. The only thing I can suggest at the moment is that you listen to your body and when you feel that something is not right (meaning that a panic attack is coming), change whatever you are doing at the moment, for instance, if you are preparing your evening meal, stop for a few minutes and check on your house plants (yes, I know, stupid example). But it is likely hormonal. I had plenty of those attacks (even at night, they would wake me up) and they stopped within 48 hours after starting HRT, which I swore to myself I would never take. Good luck!

[chelle23976 in reply to Chleo11]

hi chleo11 thankyou for your reply x

i have started HRT elleste duet 1mg per tablet just now . i had experienced 1 attack prior to the ones on thursday night but it was before i found out that i was perimenopause. it wasn't as bad as these ones and i was very scared of it but i did get out of it . funny thing is i was actually just sitting chilling colouring in a book . it started off like my tongue was swelling then i was finding it hard to breath, then that sent me into panic overdrive which made matters worse , thought i was going to pass out and felt severly sick. my daughter and husband were their so they helped to pull me out .