I've been doing a LOT of research about this - I've been having some awful symptoms for the past 2 years (since turning 40) -- some of which are typical menopause related stuff and some are not, but I suspect all are related to hormonal decline. I've been getting bloodwork and basically, my estrogen and thyroid are both circling the drain --- my last bloodwork showed the estrogen level of a 60 year old (I'm 42! WTH!) I am pursuing bioidentical hormone replacement via cream. I don't have it all figured out yet (I get the feeling that there's a lot of experimenting on yourself til you find the right combo) but from the reading I did, I am pretty confident that this is what I need. Those of you saying you can't take HRT because of pre-existing tendency to blood clots or migraines or whatever might want to investigate the bioidentical stuff via transdermal cream. Blood clots are only an issue when estrogen is taken orally and passes through the liver -- if you are delivering it via skin or patch, there is no increased risk of blood clots (and in fact, your risk of other heart issues goes way down). Migraines are also one of the things that estrogen can help. And even the connection between estrogen and breast cancer is not as cut and dried as I thought -- I feel safe taking the bioidentical estrogen. I have read probably 20 books on the subject of menopause and HRT and the one I found most clear ad helpful is called Screaming to Be Heard by Elizabeth Vliet. I would recommend reading it - it pretty much debunks a lot of the things that I had heard about HRT including the results of that women's health study that caused everyone to abandon HRT -- did you know that whole study was done with synthetic hormones, not bioidentical? And that none of the horrible side effects found in that study have been found in studies that use bioidentical hormones? They are all related to the synthetic stuff like norethidrone and premarin. Because the pharmaceutical companies can't patent a naturally occuring substance and therefore can't make big bucks of bioidentical, there have been few efforts to educate doctors or do controlled studies on bioidentical hormones, but the studies that have been done show amazing benefits without the scary side effects. (Of course, the pharma companies don't want you to know that, because they want you to keep taking your premarin....)

enjoyingspring, I can understand your daughter being fearful of stopping the Effexor. When I googled to see what withdrawal effects might be, it scared me to death. That's why I talked to my doctor about weaning off of it. Would your daughter be willing to let you accompany her to her doctor to discuss getting off of Effexor or changing to something else? My personal battle with depression, hopefully, has been temporary. The past four years, quite a lot happened - husband was critically ill, father diagnosed with cancer, father-in-law put in nursing home, Katrina taking everything we owned, then watching father die the following year. I felt like an antidepressant would help me cope through these episodes, and I guess it did. For the majority of the time, I took Lexapro with no bad side effects. I changed to Effexor late last year, because I felt like I had no energy. When I look back at the situation, I realize it was probably because we were cooped up in a horrible, unsafe apartment, surrounded by memories of Katrina, where I didn't venture outside unless I had to. I took my last pill a few days ago. I'm not planning on going cold turkey, but so far, so good. I was not the best at taking it every day, so maybe that's why the withdrawal hasn't been severe. I do know if I feel out of sorts, I will take either half dosage or full pill immediately. And of course, call my doctor. I wish I could be of more help. Depression has many layers and affects each one of us differently. Good luck to you and your daughter.

My head is like a 'wobbly type' feeling...not like an even spinning, and not exactly like 'drunk'. (Sorta like when you get off one of those carnival rides like the 'scrambler'(?)) It's been pretty constant,sometimes it's mild enough just to be a bother, and sometimes it's so bad I can't stand or walk, as it's hard to balance. Not so bad while sitting or laying. I've also had a lot of confusion, forgetfulness, and anything that takes planning or organization, for example, seems to be especially difficult. I 'stopped' taking it the last Tuesday in November '07. I did finally break down and took 1/2 of a .5 mil tab Saturday (Dec 22) @ 7pm - after suffering all day long with bad anxiety/panic. (I just couldn't stand it anymore) I had been on .5 mg - two to three times/day. (ttl 1 - 1.5 mg ttl /day.) On really bad days I would take 4 each, which wasn't very often, and on a really rare (maybe about 5 times total), I have taken 5 tabs in one day. I was told that the 'dizziness' was from anxiety, however, I don't agree - not THIS type of 'dizziness'. When I took the 1/2 pill Sat, most of the symptoms finally subsided, but not the wobbly feeling. It also seems to get worse as the day progresses. I was in a situation I was low on meds with no refills - earliest time Doc could see me wasn't till Dec 27th (didn't have enuf to last that long), so I started waiting as long as I possibly could go without taking them. (The idea was I'd rather 'go without' while I till had a small supply as 'back-up'...just in case) It was literally a moment by moment thing...monitoring myself constantly. Curling up in a ball in front of TV with phone in hand and water/pills right there... for a week straight and doing absolutely nothing! After the first 1-1/2 days, I figured I'd try for 2 days...after 2, try for 3...it was a long week. Essentially, I quit cold-turkey, which I've found is a very bad and DANGEROUS thing to do. And STUPID, too. Now I'm looking for long-term side-effects, and from what I've found, nobody has ever followed patients for long term studies. Well, if they have, I'm not finding anything on it. The Docs keep telling me it's 'just' anxiety/panic attacks. I think there's something else going on. Many years ago, when this first started, I was on Klonopin. I took it for about 9 months, I think. Doc switched me to Xanax because the Klonopin didn't seem to work too well. I don't remember any side effects...probably because I was immediately given the xanax. (BUT, now that I think about it, I wasn't on a very high dose of Klonopin! Musta been the 'year' to push xanax?)

Hi puddinface ru still coming on this forum i notice that a lot of the postings are quite old wheras u seem to be new to it like me i have found grreat relief in actually looking at other womens opinions on the varied problems related to menopause id love to actually chat on here to someone rather than feel as though every time i write something i dont get any response at all i live in england and i do not have any friends my own age who are going through what i am going through at present which can be very scarey at times i can only try talking to my partner who bless him does try to understand and listen but he is 27 works long hours and i stay home all day it seems to me that in usa women have more actual info on perimenopause than here in the uk anyway if your out there and you read this id really like it if you felt like giving me a reply ok