Hope - HRT metabolism timing+ Stress Reduction
I wanted to add a little hope to the thread for anyone who has seen all the posts where people say HRT helped them within a day or a week etc and then have not had that experience themselves.
I started HRT in December of last year and I think it took my body a lot longer to adjust because just in the last month or so my crippling anxiety and brain fog has finally started to come down. These were the symptoms that worried me the most and they did not go away quickly. I generally have a slow metabolism so perhaps the HRT adjustment was slow too. But overall I had this thing where I would get these horrible brain surges or like adrenaline surges out of nowhere that were terrifying and my mind would go haywire and I would feel like I could barely construct a sentence. This would be especially bad if I was stressed out in any even minor way (driving on highways became impossible). And this is thankfully finally mostly gone!
Also I want to note that I think stress levels majorly play into Peri symptoms. My parents end of life with dementia came at the same time as my start with Peri and the stress was so so high for years. Recently through therapy and grief groups I’ve started to reduce my grief and stress and I think that in combo with the HRT is a big reason some of my worst symptoms seem better.
Just wanted to add all this as a little beacon of hope for anyone on HRT that doesn’t feel much of a change yet. I think for some of us it just takes longer.
Keep on trucking! Solidarity! This time of life is HARD!!