Re: Name that feeling!

[Anonymous]

It makes sense, in an odd way…bear with me.

I currently work in a Gynecology office. My doc doesn’t do OB anymore, just GYN and women’s health. We get a lot of women in here who are perimenopausal, or who are going through PMDD or other hormonal issues and my doc gives them an SSRI like Celexa, Paxil, etc. A lot of the time, our patients are confused as to why they are getting anti depressants when they assumed that they would be getting more hormones (in the form of birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy.) SSRIs have been found not only to help with the emotional component of hormone fluctuations but also the ‘vasomotor’, ie-hot flashes, night sweats, etc. It’s basically a miracle drug for a lot of women who have sought out treatment for a myriad of symptoms and never felt relief before. An incidental finding that has helped numerous women in our office!!!

Having worked here for 7 1/2 years now, I’ve learned that hormones are tricky tricky things. They are CONSTANTLY changing. Most people think that you’re only dealing with fluctuations during the ‘2 weeks prior’ to and then during your menstrual period, but actually, like phases of the moon, every day is a new and exciting hormonal flux! Woo hooo!

It would make perfect sense that the Prozac helps you out because of the effect that these meds have on quelling the effects of the hormone fluxes. Once I started on my own journey with ADHD, I found it ironical that much like my own issue, some people were quick to belittle ‘hormones’ and what it can do to women. I’ve talked to women on the phone who have opened their call with “I want to kill and I don’t know why…” I’ve also had women break down on the phone insisting that they aren’t ‘usually like this’, and then celebrating the fact that they are feeling ‘normal’ again. I’ve also had patients who when they first come to see us are surly and snarky and very combative. 4-6 weeks later, it’s a completely different story!!

So between my job and my life, I’ve realized that nothing is ‘nothing’. The mind/body connection is real and nuturing one WILL help the other.

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