Really depressed...hormones??

Avatar for mumontherun
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Really depressed...hormones??
8
Wed, 11-10-2004 - 11:45am
I have been feeling very depressed for about three weeks. In the beginning, it was only in the evenings, but for the past few days, it is all day, every day. I can hardly get the energy to move and I want to cry all the time. I think often of suicide. A voice in my head keeps saying, "I want to die," even though I really don't. The strange thing is that this often happens to me for a day or two before I get my period, but I'm actually just starting a new cycle (day 5 of my period). I also have had really terrible skin for a few weeks, just like when I'm getting my period but lasting longer. I'm taking vitamin B and an Omega supplement, as well as my Celexa, but it's not helping. Does anyone have any suggestions? I've just turned 38; could this be some kind of pre-menopause? How could I find out?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Nicola

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-03-2004
Wed, 11-10-2004 - 3:46pm
Hi Nicola, it could be hormones. You are in the age range to be starting Perimenopause. There is a great board here on ivilliage that can give you tons of info so you can decide if it's possibly part of your problem. They have a page with all of the symptoms of Perimenopause and Menopause and the ladies on the board are great. I don't know where you live but could it be the change in the weather? Have you read the posts about sad? Seasonal Affective Disorder. If it's effecting your skin though it does sound like peri. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear. I am 46 and was kind of shocked when I found out earlier this year that I am in peri. Take Care

Maureen/Mo


If this was a real life it would have come with instructions.

Maureen/Mo

If this was a real life it would have come with instructions.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2004
Wed, 11-10-2004 - 5:46pm
Hi i'm 42 and for the last year off and on i've noticed a big change in my emotional status just around my period...this past spring i went away for 3 months on a course which was very stressful and became very depressed...for 7 months i've been fighting depression...last week i wanted to jump off a bridge while i was on my period...now my period is over and i feel great...i can actually feel my mood changing as i get closer to starting and i miss my best friend (who i met on course) and have become extremely sad and depressed over missing her...anyhow i'm currently being treated with a mild dose of antidepressant and it seems to help abit...but i worry when i know i'm due to start my period again if those old feeling of wanting to die will come back...my doctor just upped my meds to 30mgs a day vise 20...which is pretty mild to say the least...and i have to go back to see him...i don't want to die either but sometimes i can't control my thoughts and emotions...i'm hoping the meds will stabilize my mood a little it worked when i first started taking them 5 months ago but since then kinda fizzled out so now the higher dose may work...time will tell...don't get discouraged...there is scientific evidence of depression for pms...just forget what it is called...sorry...anyhow hope this helps and please don't lose faith...i've become alot closer to god in the last 6 months then i ever imagined...it gives me alot of strength during the hard times...hang in there and God Bless
Avatar for mumontherun
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Wed, 11-10-2004 - 7:05pm
Thanks for the info. I took the perimenopause quiz, and I don't seem to have any of the symptoms except some that I had before (e.g. irregular periods, low sex drive). Even so, I think I will make an appt w/ my ob/gyn to see if there's anything he can do about the sex drive problem. My psych suggested it may be low testosterone.

I has been getting darker where I live, but I don't have SAD symptoms. I got really depressed in the spring this year, so I don't think it's related. I have a light that my mum gave me when she got a smaller one (she has SAD), but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Anyway, thanks for your reply.

Nicola

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-11-2004
Thu, 11-11-2004 - 7:41am
hello- im sorry. what i have to say really has nothing to do with your response. i am new to this message board. i found this while bawling my eyes out-looking for someone to talk to just to vent and i had to go through the whole stupid process of signing up and confirming and stuff. it made me SO MUCH more frustrated! then i finally got signed up and i couldnt figure out how to start my own new discussion! i am such an idiot. anyway- the reason why i have been so upset is that i always go unnoticed by those i love! (mainly my boyfriend.) you see, i beat myself up about it and get SO SAD that he doesnt appreciate the things i do for him. i have tried to talk to him and everything and he says he is sorry and all that stuff but it just happens over and over. i feel so stupid when i talk about it because i know what i am SUPOSED to do in this situation. i give advice to my "friends" about it all the time. i tell them to drop the guy and that they can do so much better and blah blah balh. so, when i hear this stuff...i just feel like they are thinking that i am a complete idiot and that makes me feel even worse.

i attempted to commit suicide a few times in the past- or at least it ended up being that way. i swear i wasnt thinking "i want to die" while i was doing it. it was just the sort of thing where i wanted to see if i could still feel at all. i was SO emotionally exhausted that i literally felt numb to everything. i felt so invisible to everyone important in my life that i just had to...i dont know...prove to myself that i was still really there i guess? i know it sounds crazy... i doubt anyone really even knows what im talking about...its a really akward thing for me to talk about because i hear myself saying the words and know what i would think of someone if i didnt feel the same way and they were telling me the same thing. i would probably think they were crazy... i have thoughts like this all the time but i am so afraid to talk to the people i love about it. i alreayd know that i need help...i know what i have to do but i dont have the strength and courage to do anything about it. i could never see myself saying "mom...dad..i need help." they think so highly of me right now and i dont want to ruin that. they ahve their own problems and we just buried the ones we had in the past. (my parents getting divorced and the hostility i had towards it...i finally just gave up and took it for what it was.) i dont know...i better stop before you guys get tired or reading and dont finish... i dontk now what im expecting to get out of this...but hey...i guess i dont know a lot of things...

~Leanna~
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-01-2004
Thu, 11-11-2004 - 7:45am

(((Nicola))) I am sorry you are feeling bad.

Avatar for mumontherun
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Thu, 11-11-2004 - 3:18pm
Thanks, Lisa. Actually, I've been craving milk like crazy lately, maybe that's why.

I hope you are doing better today,

Nicola

Avatar for mumontherun
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Thu, 11-11-2004 - 3:20pm
Thanks Vicky. I'm sure I have PMDD (I think that's what you were talking about) but it usually goes away once I get my period. Anyway, I saw my therapist today and we talked about lots of issues, so I am feeling quite a bit better.

Thanks for your reply,

Nicola

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2004
Thu, 11-11-2004 - 4:47pm
I'm glad to be of help...i am definately feeling better since being finished my period and i almost dread next week when i pms again...i just hope the meds will help more...can't wait to see my therapist...i've been waiting 2 weeks and they're pretty slow getting me in...take care and best of luck to you...God Bless