Unwanted wake ups in the night!
I’m a 56 year old who has been in menopause since the age of 50. I suffered terribly with hot flushes every hour along with all the other fabulous symptoms that happens when your body is lacking in oestrogen, but life carrys on and you have to find a way to cope. I went back to my passion of athletics at 50 and I train as an elite master for the triple and long jumps at European and world level. I’ve adopted lots of protocols having listened to Huberman Lab for maybe three years now and meditate, cold plunge, supplement etc. I was foolish to think with enough good stuff I could get through the menopause without drugs!! Like most I was frightened by the HRT history. However severe ack of sleep and the feeling that you were going to lose the plot if something didn’t change I started HRT 3 years ago. It has been a game changer, with relief from most symptoms apart from sleep interruptions. I still wake 3/4/5 times a night often when I’m dreaming and it is exhausting and I just can’t find the right person with the expertise to help me. I take bio identical HRT, 0.3mg of Sandrena gel applied topically, 200mg oral utrogestan and a measure of 1% androfemme testosterone cream. Having listened to years of Mr Huberman telling me how sleep is the No 1 thing I feel u owe it to myself to try and find an answer but the menopause field seems like it’s in its infancy and there isn’t the knowledge out there. I’ve been all around the NHS and private medicine circuit and now I’m wondering if a neurology may have some ideas. Initially when I had a hot flush, my body would wake up and you think why am I awake and then you feel the heat start and rise and the hot flush happens and there is an increase in heart rate, this subsides and then you cool off put the covers back on and try to get back to sleep. This was happening every hour prior to HRT. Now the heat has gone but from about 1am I am woken up by what feels like palpitations and a definite rush of adrenalin and then I have to wait for that to flush away/ subside and get back to sleep. It happens 3/4/5 times every night and is so sleep disruptive, I wake up feeling more tired than when I went to bed. Some of the last adrenaline rushes are so strong I know I might as well get up as it would take too long to fall back to sleep. I do test my hormone levels probably twice a year and I have adjusted the HRT meds in all manner of ways to change symptoms. I also know that absorption of a gel is also quite hit and miss as everyone is different. I’m having more hormone tests hopefully this week, but they were in range last time I checked (can get figures) My last specialist did suggest that I try melatonin, initially I felt like that may be just covering symptoms but having listened to podcasts recently it may be worth a try? 0.3mg of Herbatonin…the synthetic melatonins aren’t so good?? but it’s not available in the UK. I know I’m just one more crazy menopausal woman to most, but I do look after myself and I’m sure I’m not the only person who is suffering these symptoms and I would like to get to the bottom of it but I am unsure on where to go… endocrinology, neuroscience… menopause doctors here in the UK don’t seem to know. I have had a 24hr heart monitor and everything seemed ok there. I had hoped that you would be able to see the palpitation/adrenalin pattern but apparently not. Help I need a nights uninterrupted sleep 🥲 Kind regards
Involuntary Breath Holding
I tend to hold my breath throughout the day. It happens all the time and I don't notice it until I'm breathing again. It doesn't seem like I'm holding it for very long as I'm not gasping for air. Interestingly enough, it doesn't happen while I'm sleeping (sleep apnea). Why does this happen? Is there a problem with signals from the brain? Trauma response? Also, because I do this, do I have an increased tolerance to CO2? I know people hold their breath on purpose to increase this tolerance.
Viewing sunlight within the first hours of waking...
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