[Br0k3nW1ng3d]

So I had been doing great with just some minor tweaking to fight some anxiety I had been having. Thats when I changed birth control to the depo privara shot.
One thing the OB/GYN failed to tell me is that it has the possibility of worsening depression and anxiety.

Next thing I know I have fallen into a deep depression. Almost daily at random times I have horrendous crying fits with a side of extreme anxiety. I landed in the emergency room because I was unable to see my therapist or my psychiatrist for several days.

When I finally got in to see my psychiatrist he decided to double my gabapentin.

At first all was going well. The attacks were lesser in length and the depression lifted. Thats when the chest pain started. Back to the ER I went.
I had to go back to my original dosage of Gabapentin, and was back to the drawing board. Attacks resumed and I was defeated

Now my psychiatrist is attempting to adjust my Lamictal now. So far I have felt no change.

Its going to take months to get the depo shot out of my system. I feel so lost. Luckily work has been very supportive despite the fact that i am on week 2 of missing work. I have been declined FMLA because I havent worked there long enough so the fear of losing my job is still in the balance.

Any advice on coping mechanisms I can try when these attacks happen? Ive tried meditation, art therapy, mindful thinking, sleeping through it, and talking to close family. Nothing has lifted the depression and the attacks keep coming. Sometimes twice a day. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[Skeezyks]

Hello BrokenWing: I wish I had a solution for you. Unfortunately, since this is a medication-induced problem, it occurs to me there may not be much of anything you can do but wait for it to subside while your doctors try to figure out ways to mitigate the effects of the depo privara. At least that would be my thinking.

I do know, based on my own experiences, that when one starts increasing & decreasing or changing medications, it can throw everything into a state of confusion for a period of time. And about all one can do is to wait it out.

Anxiety seems to be something I'm struggling with quite a lot lately. One thing that helps me is going for long walks with our dog... especially now that the weather is moderating where we live. I also do some walking meditation. I find doing sitting meditation to not be very helpful when it comes to easing anxiety.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I'm so sorry you are going through this. (men look away)

I went through something similar several years ago. I was starting menopause really early (34) and having very heavy periods too frequently. So I had several procedures to check things out and remove a polyp and then they put in a Mirena IUD with the hope it would stop my periods or at least lessen them.

Unfortunately all it did was give me somewhat lighter periods every 2 weeks and nearly made me kill myself. I was suicidal and a psychiatric train wreck within days of that thing going in and never thought to blame it because my gyn and pdoc had agreed that there was so little hormone I'd be fine (I'm sensitive to everything and had a bad experience with birth control pills in the past so they were cautious). I was a mess for 9 months and then went back to my gyn. We decided to remove it and see what happened.

Within a few days I was much better. And between my pdoc and gyn they found several other cases of the same problem in a matter of weeks once they knew it could happen.

I wound up with a hysterectomy and while I completely understand why that wasn't the first step in someone my age it was the best thing ever.

I hope it leaves your system quickly and that you get meds adjusted to cover you until the shot is gone.

[Naynay99]

Hey sorry u r going thru this.
I've never taken the pill but I know that once I took plan b (am after pill) and I felt totally crazy for weeks. I felt ****ing nuts. And thats just like taking extra strong birth control pill so I can't imagine how this must be. Sorry. Hang in there.

In the future have u ever considered the copper iud for birth control? No hormones at all. And it lasts for 10 years. Just a thought.
Anyway, thinking of u and hope this passes soon.

[Moose72]

I had the depo shot back in 2001. It threw me into menopause-like symptoms (hot flashes, no periods, overly emotional). I didn't get another one and had to wait for the first one to wear off. I went on th e mini pill after that. (I was breastfeeding.) Right now I've got the Mirena to lighten my periods. I haven't actually had a period in almost a year I think. I'm 45 in a couple weeks, but I'm not having any other menopause symptoms.

[Kiya]

I found this post from looking up hysterectomy because I am having a terrible time with my moods and my meds along with the hormone replacement therapy.
Each side points the finger at the other; the medical community says I need to get my psych meds and order, psych provider says I need to get the hormones in order. But psych wants to change a bunch of meds that I already know from experience I don't do well with, so I feel like I'm fighting an uphill battle here. Also I have never been diagnosed bipolar even though I am on lamictal but suddenly now bipolar has become a question put to me and all I can say is that it's the medications interacting. But I don't know where to go from here when neither side wants to cooperate.
:/

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

I'm so sorry you are going through this. (men look away)

I went through something similar several years ago. I was starting menopause really early (34) and having very heavy periods too frequently. So I had several procedures to check things out and remove a polyp and then they put in a Mirena IUD with the hope it would stop my periods or at least lessen them.

Unfortunately all it did was give me somewhat lighter periods every 2 weeks and nearly made me kill myself. I was suicidal and a psychiatric train wreck within days of that thing going in and never thought to blame it because my gyn and pdoc had agreed that there was so little hormone I'd be fine (I'm sensitive to everything and had a bad experience with birth control pills in the past so they were cautious). I was a mess for 9 months and then went back to my gyn. We decided to remove it and see what happened.

Within a few days I was much better. And between my pdoc and gyn they found several other cases of the same problem in a matter of weeks once they knew it could happen.

I wound up with a hysterectomy and while I completely understand why that wasn't the first step in someone my age it was the best thing ever.

I hope it leaves your system quickly and that you get meds adjusted to cover you until the shot is gone.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Kiya-I'm sorry you are going through this. When I had my hysterectomy they left my ovaries as being thrown into full menopause all at once was considered dangerous. But they removed my tubes which cuts blood flow to the ovaries and said I would probably be through menopause in 5 years, which is a few months away. I haven't had a hot flash or anything in a long time so I assume it's all over. And that actually makes me more stable than before.

I was very fortunate that my pdoc and gyn were at the same hospital and were able to communicate about what was best for me via email. The mirena was a fail but they did both agree to try it. And they also agreed to stop trying med adjustments and remove it. It also helped me to not be pushed into hormones I knew weren't a good idea, like the pill (which had been a disaster once before).

I hope you can get things to work out. I know how hard it is.

[Wild Coyote]

Originally Posted by Br0k3nW1ng3d

So I had been doing great with just some minor tweaking to fight some anxiety I had been having. Thats when I changed birth control to the depo privara shot.
One thing the OB/GYN failed to tell me is that it has the possibility of worsening depression and anxiety.

Next thing I know I have fallen into a deep depression. Almost daily at random times I have horrendous crying fits with a side of extreme anxiety. I landed in the emergency room because I was unable to see my therapist or my psychiatrist for several days.

When I finally got in to see my psychiatrist he decided to double my gabapentin.

At first all was going well. The attacks were lesser in length and the depression lifted. Thats when the chest pain started. Back to the ER I went.
I had to go back to my original dosage of Gabapentin, and was back to the drawing board. Attacks resumed and I was defeated

Now my psychiatrist is attempting to adjust my Lamictal now. So far I have felt no change.

Its going to take months to get the depo shot out of my system. I feel so lost. Luckily work has been very supportive despite the fact that i am on week 2 of missing work. I have been declined FMLA because I havent worked there long enough so the fear of losing my job is still in the balance.

Any advice on coping mechanisms I can try when these attacks happen? Ive tried meditation, art therapy, mindful thinking, sleeping through it, and talking to close family. Nothing has lifted the depression and the attacks keep coming. Sometimes twice a day. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Wow. So sorry you are going through this. Just uggh!

For the anxiety, have you tried benzodiazepines like lorazepam or clonazepam? I don't know if you can tolerate SNRI meds, yet if so, citalopram is one which helps with anxiety.

For the depression, have you tried Latuda (which is an AP also used in severe atypical or bipolar depressions)? Stimulants may or may not be an option for your depression as they are sometimes used in stubborn depressions, yet would require first getting the anxiety under control. (Stimulants require close monitoring incase the set-off a hypomania/mania reaction.)

Please don't feel you need to answer this point by point, I am just trying to share some potential options.

My heart goes out to you.


WC

[Kiya]

The gyn clinic has made up their mind that they won't change hormones. Won't even test the levels (because I'm on hormones- which makes no sense... I have no ovaries so if I weren't on them, there'd be nothing TO test). Because I have no hot flashes or night sweats, I'm "on enough". There's no talk of trying a different brand or anything. They even tried to get me to cancel my gyn appointment. the only thing all sides agree on is that I should be in psych hospital.
I don't even have words....

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Do you have another gyn clinic you could go to? Maybe at a teaching hospital where they also have psych? (That was where I was and like I said it really helped me that my gyn and pdoc were communicating but it also helped other women because they discovered the Mirena is too strong for some bipolar women by collaborating with me, which they had to do b/c I'm on an MAOI and it affected my surgery). I found until my last gyn who did my surgeries that gyns were not the most personable or patient people and they seemed to want automatically have bias against me as a psych patient.

If you do IP maybe you can request a consult with gyn there and see if they can figure out the HRT? I wish I knew more to help you; I never even looked into it because I knew it wasn't an option for me. They were afraid I'd need weeks or months IP if I went into instant menopause after seeing the Mirena reaction.

Have you been on hystersisters? Maybe you can find something on there that helps? My same story is on there several places (but 5 years ago so not the first thing that comes up I bet) but so many women use that site that you may find someone in the same boat.

[Kiya]

Wow you hit everything on the head: the bias against psych patients, the "not the most personal", even the possible months in IP.
One thing I didn't think about was going to IP in a hospital with a gyn (good idea) and see if there's anything they can come up with. The "trauma informed" mental hospital here doesn't have a "hospitalist", as they call them, and have to call in a GP for things.
My pnp just suggested some sort of magnate brain stimulation :O so I think I prefer hospitalization and gyn access Vs that!
Thanks

[BeyondtheRainbow]

TMS (the magnetic thing) is supposed to be really good for depression. We talked about it a while back for me but financially it wasn't an option and it also wouldn't work well b/c I live 2 hours from the place that does it and 5 days a week of 4 hours of driving wasn't going to help me.

I know where I go IP I always see a family dr once and a NP every few days if not daily. They will get specialists in to see people if needed; I've seen them do it. And since working with your hormones is going to be beyond what the pdocs IP can do it would be a completely reasonable request to see both.

I had one gyn who was great but moved away. Then I asked my family dr for a referral for someone good with trauma. He said this woman was great, he referred his own finance to her and all his friends. He even set up the appointment himself so I'd see her and not her NP. I told her that I needed to talk during the exam to be distracted. Her idea of distracting conversation? "So, do you do breast exams monthly?" She was SOOOOO uncomfortable. Oh, and on the history forms I marked that my brother had a stroke soon after birth. Her nurse asked in a gossipy way"so did he live?" but didn't really care, just wanted to hear a horror story I think. That's when I found my Dr. Wonderful (who has since moved across the country so I hope I never have another problem that might require a gyn).

I'm just so sorry you're going through this. I can tell you that it took months for things to calm down after my hysterectomy. My hormones were crazy with hot flashes and migraines nearly daily that flattened me and all kinds of things that were weird. But as menopause has progressed I have found that some of my most rapid cycling was hormonal and that things are easier on that level. I think that I was responding to both hormonal peaks each month before menopause and now I don't. So presumably you can get your HRT worked out and feel better. It has to be possible; you can't be the first person this has happened to. Someone knows how to fix it.

[Kiya]

Oh goodness that ... No words. So much for trauma informed!! @_@ yeah I finally have a gyn I can tolerate. Took years. I had hoped tho that I wouldn't have to see her for a while, but I can't believe they'd just toss me out after surgery with only one hormone option and be like "good luck!"
My family doc refuses to be involved. Fun.
I'm somewhere between "what should be possible" and "screw it".
One moment at a time, right?
And to think all this stemmed from the simple question to the nurse line of "how long should I expect all this to go on?"

[Sunflower123]

I'm sorry you're having such a tough time. I hope something gets worked out and you start feeling better.