Tag: Menopause

Tackling Insomnia – Part One

On By samanthaIn HEALTH3 Comments

Happy New Year!

This week I have really battled with insomnia. I tend to go to bed around 10.30pm and am usually asleep by 11pm but have been waking about at around 3am and finding it almost impossible to fall back to sleep. If I do manage to nod back off, I am plagued by the most terrible nightmares, possibly caused by the Propranolol that I take for migraine prevention. The sort of nightmares that stay with you all day. Menopause apparently is also a major culprit when it comes to low quality sleep.

Last night I woke with a migraine after sleeping for four hours and got out of bed to take a Sumitriptan tablet. That was it for the night then, I just lay there trying not to disturb my husband. We have a burglar alarm and, although I know you are suppose to get out of bed and not just lie there trying to sleep, I didn’t want to venture downstairs and risk the beeping waking the rest of my family. Fortunately today is a Saturday and I am not working and I don’t have to drive anywhere because I feel shattered.

My daughter bought me a rather lovely silk sleep mask from Millie & Boo for Christmas. The mask has wonderful reviews with people stating that using it radically improved the quality of their sleep. The mask, which is well made, super soft and a pretty silver grey, arrived beautifully boxed. It fastens with velcro and I have been careful not to secure it too tightly nonetheless I think the slight pressure across the top of my face has contributed to my migraine. Maybe not the solution I have been searching for.

My GP was optimistic that the Utrogestan capsules that I take before bed as part of my HRT routine would help, and for a few months they did, but my insomnia is now back with a vengeance. Once it gets to around 3am I am wide awake and unable to stop the racing thoughts that flood my mind. I start to worry about…well everything. A mistake I made at work in 1989, something daft I said at a coffee morning in 1999, I’m stressing about it at 3am in 2025. Apparently we experience a Cortisol (known as the stress hormone) spike at around this time and this is why early morning waking is so common. I note that my fists are often clenched and I have slept with a sheet over my face since I was a little girl and was frightened of ghosts whispering to me. Both of these things are apparently signs of high stress levels. It has become increasingly clear that one of the first things I need to tackle in 2025 is my insomnia as it is going to start affecting my long term health. In particular, in light of my mum’s Alzheimer’s disease, I am keen to regularly achieve a good night’s sleep to help prevent cognitive decline.

This week I am not going to watch television on my computer before bed which is a habit I have fallen into. I am going to sit in bed and read an actual book, nothing dark or frightening. I do read three or four books a month but it used to be around double that before I discovered the endless entertainment on Netflix . I am also going to try to do some sort of pre-sleep meditation to relax my body, particularly my hands and jaw which is where I seem to store most of my stress and tension. I shall report back.

Wish me luck.

Thank you for reading

Samantha

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To HRT or Not to HRT – Part One

On By samanthaIn HEALTHLeave a comment

The menopause, I am in my mid fifties and it is still a mystery to me. During my peri-menopause my periods got heavier and my migraines became much worse but, since then, I haven’t really had any symptoms. Or have I? I wake most nights feeling hotter than the surface of the sun and I sleep terribly, I’m usually awake between 3am and 4am. Then, in my research about preventing dementia I heard one Podcaster, Max Lugavere, whose mother died in her fifties from dementia, speak about how HRT can be an effective tool in warding off cognitive decline. I decided to undertake some rather belated research into HRT. Very few of my friends take it. Some of them have concerns about the increased risk of developing certain cancers and some are simply reluctant to take artificial hormones. Woman spend a third of their lives in menopause yet many of us really don’t know how to handle it or are even afraid of it. It seems to be viewed as the end of us being young(ish) and the first step on the path to decrepitude. Women past child bearing age are definitely less visible in society overall.

Some symptoms of menopause are well known, mood swings, insomnia, hot flushes and brain fog but I was blissfully unaware of some other potential issues such as the inner labia shrivelling once the body’s oestrogen supply is depleted. I have noticed that one or two of my friends have already begun to look slightly frail and post-menopause there is commonly a loss of muscle mass. I have definitely become a more anxious person during the past decade and this also seems to be the case for many women. The lack of sleep was my most concerning symptom, even more so than the migraines, because there is strong evidence that good quality sleep contributes to good brain health.

I listened to a few podcasts on the subject but all of the hosts seemed to have gone down the personalised private healthcare route, blood tests and hormones tailored just for them. My experience on the NHS has not been anything like that. Once I had decided to give HRT a try I had a five minute telephone consultation with a locum GP. To be fair, she seemed very knowledgeable on the subject and said she thought it was a good idea for me to take HRT as it can help prevent both osteoporosis and cognitive decline as long as the woman begins the treatment within six years of finishing her periods. She prescribed Estradiol patches, to be changed twice weekly and Utrogestan tablets to be taken before bedtime every night. She then called me a fortnight later to see how I was getting on. That was it, the extent of the medical advice. It seems to be a strictly “one size fits all” approach. I did ask how she knew which hormones I was deficient it if I didn’t have bloods but she insisted it wasn’t necessary.

As HRT requires a regular prescription you can purchase a pre-payment certificate which is currently £19.80 for twelve months. Beware though! The pharmacist at my local Boots put my migraine medication into the same bag without me realising and I received a £100 fine. In fact, on my last visit they did the same and tried to insist that I did not need to pay for my additional medications. This is incorrect.

I started HRT in January last year but my migraines seemed to become worse than ever and, after six months, I went back to the GP, for an in-person appointment. This time I insisted on a blood test. I saw a male GP who was at a standing desk. I completely understand why he chooses to work this way but it does mean that there is very little eye contact with the seated patient. This GP told me he didn’t really think that HRT offers any protection against dementia or osteoporosis . This completely contradicted what the previous doctor had told me and much of the research I had read. He said that my bone health was determined by the time I was fifty and there now wasn’t anything I could do to change it. He told me to take a break from HRT and see if my migraines improved. I stopped the treatment but it made no difference, my migraines continued to be unbearable until I sort further help , see my Migraine Misery posts. As I left the surgery I realised he hadn’t even glanced at my blood test results.

To be continued…

Thank you for reading

Samantha

Cover Photo by amjd rdwan on Unsplash

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Migraine Misery – Part Two

On By samanthaIn HEALTH1 Comment

In my recent post, Migraine Misery, I was complaining about my frequent and painful migraines. I finally got around to going back to my GP and asking for some help. On the day of the appointment I was on the fifth day of a migraine and my left eye was pulsating with pain and felt very nauseous. Although it is never good to be ill, I think my GP could tell simply from looking at me that this wasn’t just an ordinary headache. During the past year I have had migraine pain on more days than not and has really been getting me down. My migraine attacks became much more frequent during my peri-menopause but improved after my periods stopped but, once I started taking HRT, they were back with a vengeance. I stopped taking HRT months ago but there has been no improvement. I am keen to restart HRT for some of the long-term benefits that it offers.

I don’t have time to go and lay down in a darkened room and, even if I could, it wouldn’t make me feel any better. Sometimes I sleep with an ice-pack wrapped in a tea towel balanced precariously on my temple. Paracetamol won’t make any difference and I don’t like to take Co-Codamol unless nothing else has worked, it will usually relax the knotty, tight feeling in my temple but don’t take it if you are hoping to go to the toilet in he next week! There is a roll on menthol medication called 4-Head that may work with a mild headache but, if my migraine pain is at 100 it will maybe bring it down to 99.9.

I was hoping my GP would agree to send me for a MRI but, as the pain has not changed the way it presents, she said it is not necessary. I have been taking a drug called Sumitriptan for about fifteen years but lately it has not been very effective. My Doctor has prescribed Zolmitriptan instead. Triptans don’t prevent migraine but, if taken at the onset of an attack, they can be very effective in treating it. As a preventative measure my GP prescribed a beta-blocker called Propranolol. I have to take 40mg, twice a day, every day. There was some delay with the pharmacy having the medication in stock and I have to admit I was very reluctant to start taking the tablets, a daily medication feels like a significant step. I have friends who take Propranolol for anxiety and my dad takes beta-blockers since suffering a heart attack. The pharmacist telephoned me twice within the first fortnight of me starting the beta-blocker to check I wasn’t experiencing any unpleasant side effects such as “vivid dreams”. Well, three weeks in and I have never had such strange dreams in my life! I dreamed about my childhood bedroom and the detail was incredible right down to feel of the anaglypta wallpaper that I thought I had forgotten ever existed. It is amazing what our sub-conscious can dredge up.

A month into my new treatment plan and I have only had one migraine and that was on a day when I was dehydrated, always a trigger. The Zolmitriptan was extremely effective and I only needed one dose as opposed to three or dour doses of the Sumatriptan. Usually in this time period I would expect to suffer from as many as five migraine attacks so, so far, the results have been excellent. Other than the weird dreams, I haven’t had any side-effects other than feeling much better.

Thanks for reading,

Samantha


Cover Photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash

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Migraine Misery

On By samanthaIn HEALTH1 Comment

What does a migraine feel like? Well I suppose it is different for every sufferer. I am on the fourth day of a migraine that feels like somebody is power drilling into my left eyeball. It usually starts with a pulsating pain in my eye and radiates out to my temple, ear and neck. Sometimes my gums start throbbing as well and I feel nauseous. The pain usually lasts around four days. My prescription medication, Sumitriptan, is generally very effective but sometimes it just doesn’t work and this seems to be happening more often as of late. I rang my GP surgery a month ago for a “non-urgent” appointment and am finally booked to see a doctor next week.

I had my first migraine while having lunch with my mum in the restaurant in Debenhams department store, Romford in 1986. I was eating an egg mayonnaise sandwich and the pain just hit me out of nowhere. I can eat eggs, a couple a week, but more than that and I can expect to have a pounding head. Other triggers include processed cheese, grinding my teeth, stress, being dehydrated, being overtired, perfume and repetitive noise. Since my first attack I have seen my GP a few times but they never refer me on for a brain scan simply telling me it isn’t necessary as long as the pain doesn’t change its pattern. My GP surgery isn’t big on sending people for tests.

I sit at my computer for at least three days every week for my job, I am a Personal Assistant to a private hospital consultant, not a neurologist sadly. Like the rest of the world I also spend too much of every day pointlessly scrolling through my phone and then I will often watch an hour of something on Netflix before I go to bed. So much screen time! I have just had my eyes tested though and that doesn’t appear to be the cause.

I stopped taking HRT in the summer after I had a migraine for almost every day during July. I saw my GP who hardly even glanced in my direction and said, again, that I don’t need further investigation as the pain is the same as it has always been. He told me to come off HRT for a fortnight and see if it made a difference. Surely it would take more than a fortnight for the effects to be noticeable? Anyway I have not resumed taking it but that is another thing I want to discuss during my ten minute appointment next week. I initially started taking HRT after two five minute telephone consultations. I had read that it could be helpful in warding off dementia. There were no blood tests involved so I don’t understand how the GP knew which hormones I needed if they didn’t know which I was deficient in. I have now started waking up in the night feeling hotter than the surface of the sun so perhaps I need to restart.

During the five years proceeding my menopause I had weekly horrible migraines. My family got fed up with hearing about it. People think it is a “just a headache”. I was working in an office and I am sure the colleague I sat next to thought I was addicted to pain killers. I actually try to take as few painkillers as I can get away with but you try looking at a screen all day and making chirpy phone calls when it feels like you have a pick-axe embedded in your brain. It is different if you are at home and can go and lie in a quiet dark room but who has time to do that?

So, a rather moany post from me but I will report back after my visit to the GP. Wish me luck.

Thanks for reading,

Samantha


Cover Photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash