Hi Sandi!I'm SO pleased for you that the magnesium and extra protein are helping.  It's a wonderful feeling when something begins to help, isn't it?

Now that you mention it -- I don't think I've ever had a hot flash while in the midst of a shaking episode....although, I've had a hot flash BEGIN with internal shaking, and once the hot flash is over, the shaking goes away too.  I'm convinced that in many cases, the internal shaking is a result of estrogen bottoming out.  Last night I came in the house after some yard work and felt just great.  Within a half hour, the %^$^%$(&*$  shaking began.  Jumped up, used a dab of Tri-est estrogen cream on my wrist, and within fifteen minutes the shaking went away.  

If this had happened once or twice, I'd guess it was coincidence, but a dab of Tri-est has stopped the shaking 99 times out of 100.  Of course, magnesium and a little extra protein help day to day.

Hope you keep feeling better!

Hugs,

Internal shaking has got to be the worst part of meno.  But, I am baffled at all of the different explanations of internal shaking.  IT Amazes me how differenet and yet so alike we are.  You know what I mean.

If I stay off the sweets the hot flashes and internal tremors are not nearly as bad, but, it seems like I just have got to have chocolate.  Jeez!!!

This is tough!  Does anyone love chocolate as much as me?????  :biggrin:

Hello to everyone,I have just finished reading through all the pages on this board and felt there were many things I can identify with.  I hate the thoughts I have, sometimes they repeat themselves over and over again, like a song being stuck in your head.  Then there are the feelings that something bad is about to happen. This was really bad for me for over a year.  I was so upset when I went to the doctor and told her everything and she just shrugged and recommended a phsyciatrist.  I knew I wasnt going mad, these symptoms plus the  unbearable shaking and blurred vision and not being able to eat at all set in exactly 10 hours before I got my period.  They would last all the way through it and then stop for a few days and start again when I was ovulating. Some months I had the symptoms all month.

I am a little confused as I have had this for nearly two years and still have very regular periods, I even fell pregnant but the pregnancy didnt progress past 6 weeks. I was 39 when it started and am now 41. Could this be early meno?? My hormones when tested were all normal except my testosterone which was very very low.

I really feel for you Sandi, I am glad the magnesium has helped and I am going to start taking it again.  After seeing the naturopath, I totally changed my diet and took homeopathic remedies and a lot of vitamins. Finally, after getting worse and worse I discovered a few things,1. I cant tolerate wheat and eating wheat makes it worse.2. I cant take Vit B. That brings the shaking on.3. I cant have too much sugar but cant have none at all either. Its a delicate balance as Jenna points out.4. I cant oversleep. Like many of you the shaking is worse when I wake up and if I sleep more than 7 hours it can be really bad.  It also works the other way with too little sleep.  I have to live this Goldilocks life now, you know, everything has to be just right or look out.5. I have yet to meet a doctor who knows about the shaky thing but have now met 3 other women in this small country town where I live who have the same thing!!!I tried many different drugs, mostly the seratonin uptake inhibitors of which I think Xanax might be one and finally in desperation ( I lost 17kilos which is around 2 stone because I could not eat ) I took a Stemetil which is Prochlorperazine and is used as an anti nausea treatment mostly.  The doctor did not prescribe it, I had some for nausea from an ear infection, but it worked, it lessened the shaking and all the other dreadful symptoms. I went back to the Doctor and told her, she then gave me a 6 month script and told me that this drug has very few side effects, is not addictive and can be taken over long periods in small doses.  I have since researched the drug and found out that in America it is also used as an anti phsycotic drug but in very large doses. 1200mg at a time.  I take 5mg when the shaky thing is bad.  The other thing I found is Maca. It is a ground vegetable root from Peru and it is very good but the dosage is so individual it takes experimenting with.

This is turning into a very long winded posting but I have so much to say as for nearly two years I have been going through this on my own.  My husband has been wonderful and very supportive but I have 3 young children and a full time job.  Sometimes I felt that if my life was going to be like that forever I didnt want life anymore.  I am much better now though still get the shaky thing in the mornings a bit and still go through around 2 to 3 days a month that are really bad.  The unfortunate thing is the panic attacks, I have had to retrain my brain to cope with these, for instance I used to get a terrible panic attack everytime I stopped for a red light. Sweating, couldnt breathe, felt like vomiting, racing heart etc... then I decided to change my mind about the way I felt about red lights.  I told myself over and over that I enjoyed being stopped at red lights as I could have a drink of water, listen to the radio, relax and think my day through and to take that opportunity.  It worked and I no longer having panic attacks at red lights. I know this sounds crazy but it did work. Sometimes I think maybe the doctor was right and I am losing my mind!

Anyway, enough from me for now, I wish you all well and I hope you do start a revolution in the medical world, it is needed.  The ignorance and lack of caring I have experienced are heartbreaking.  My gyn told me I was not going through meno and it had nothing to do with my hormones and to see a shrink. He spent 5 min with me and charged me $190.00(Aust). I was devastated.

Thank you to you all, I am thinking of you and hoping you all get through it.

Fiona

Fiona,I don't think you are crazy.  I have experienced the red light thing as well.  It isn't too bad for me when I am the first one at the red light.  But if there are cars in front and behind me - then I sometimes panic, because I wouldn't be able to get away to go get help for my impending heart attack (which is always what I think when I have a panic attack).  Same thing for when I am stuck in traffic on the tollway and couldn't go anywhere unless I got out of my car and ran between the cars.

I was about to print off this entire link and fax it to Oprah so she can actually see how real people are suffering, and ask her to get some GYNs on to do a show - but I wanted to check first and make sure that this was not a problem with anyone - especially Dearest - who I, personally, am so grateful to for making this site.  

Fiona, I called my regular physician when the shaking began and he immediately felt it was a meno symptom and told me to call the GYN.   I was starting with a new one (due to insurance) and had to shake for a month before I finally got in.  I couldn't wait for the visit and  was very disappointed when she told me she never heard about it and really didn't seem too concerned.  She said she would run tests for thyroid and sugar, but she had to get a referral and would send the scripts for the tests.  Tuesday will be 2 weeks - no scripts yet.  I am calling my regular doctor for the tests on Monday.   We just have to get the doctors who don't know about this educated - so someone can find us something that helps.  Or, at least acknowledge that they know about it.

Sandi

Hi ladies,

I am another one who is appaled by the lack of knowledge among these doctors. I have been shuffled between doctors and each one has tunnel vision into their own specialty.  Not one of them has treated me as a whole person and stopped long enough to say to themselves " what's wrong with this picture'", here we have a 45 year old woman who is experiencing, panic attacks, dizziness, internal shaking, heart palps, heart pain, numbness, and a host of other problems. Could this be menopause?"   Instead, they look at me as if I just came from another planet.  My latest doctor knows 2 things.....statin drugs, and SSRI's.  I'm totally fed up with this. I've had to do all my own research into this matter and feel like sending each one of THEM a bill!  On Monday, i am going to do a lot of calling until I find someone who specializes in menopause.  This is horrendous to have to live this way. Thank God for the internet and Power Surge. Without them....i'd be a basket case by now.  

Hello Everyone Remember me? I decided not to post the boards for a while because I was getting nowhere with my symptoms. So this is my latest news.... I now take  400 mg Magnesium a day, 2 calcium tablets plus my usual vitamins. I also took up Yoga and am trying hard with meditation.  I am determined still not to start tranquilizers as I really feel that if I can be TOTALLY reassured that the internal shaking is caused by hormones then it will be no more a source of anxiety for my mind to work on than knowing that a hot flash is caused by hormones plummeting. Because everyone KNOWS about hot flashes and night sweats  they are annoying but not a reason to panic about them.  The other symptom I can identify with strongly is a sudden overwhelming feeling of dread and being very ill at easefor no reason and then after a time this passesoff  but while its happening   it     is   almost trying   to break out as a panic reaction......UGH!!!Then everything goes back to normal till the next time.Anyway I really feel the Yoga is helping .....dont know about the tablets yet.  I also saw a homeopathic doctor who is conventionally qualified too and he said that my symptoms were caused by a combination of hormones and anxiety about them.  I started PulsatillaX 30   one every five days and aconite X6 twice a day.  I'm interested to see what happens. I am in control in that I won't let a full blown panic attack happen.. NIce to meet with you all again but I wish I didn't need to if you know what I mean.........MAGGIEXXXXXXXXXXX

Maggie I am glad that you are doing the yoga thing.  I find that it has helped me tremendously.  No one seems to understand what we women are going through except us.  Most people look at me as though I am crazy.  But everyone morning I do my a.m. yoga and then walk for 30 minutes and in the evening I do P.M. yoga and walk for 30 minutes again.  I still have the symptoms but not as bad.  Again I am one that has to stay off of chocolate and I am having a hard time w/this.  LOL. :smile:

I am trying to eat the right foods, but I do slip there too.

Hope you get better Maggie.

I have been going crazy with internal shaking. It seems to escalate after doing heavy work...lifting, vacuuming, anything that takes a little effort...I have been tested for everything Parkinson, MS, nerves you name it.  I seems to be the worst after I go to bed.  It is a constant trembling and takes me forever to go to sleep...any solutions?

Well, guess what?  The shaking returned today.  I was so upset I could barely stand it.  I kept stuffing down a ton of protein all day and only now, at 8pm, has it subsided a little - not gone, but just slight

Dearest....please give me the go ahead to print this link off and send it to Oprah and beg her to get some doctors on to discuss this shaking issue.

Sandi

Sandi,I would be really happy for you to go ahead with your ideas for Oprah.  I know the others and Dearest would have to O.K. it too but desperate times call for desperate measures. I was thinking of starting a little action group here in my town. I thought of putting an add in the paper - but what would I say, Does anyone with Internal Shaking and other mad symptoms want to start a group???

I too told my doctor about this site when Mum found it for me but she didnt even look into it.  I think someone else said before that it is not a very glamourous sickness to have and the symptoms are so varied and everyones responses so different that it is hard to treat.

Dianne, try everything you can.  I found that I had to eliminate nearly everything from my diet and take no pills of any description.  I just drank water for a day and then slowly reintroduced foods and one by one vitamins etc... It is a slow process but it works.  I have found many 'triggers' for the internal shaking. Onions, wheat, sugar, aspartame is dreadful.  But we are all so different and what works for one may not work for another.

I hope you are all having a good night, it must be night now on the other side of the world.  If any of you wake up in the middle of the night with the dreadful shaking remember that I am awake over here in Australia and sending positive thoughts to you.  One more thing that I found useful is to realise that  I wasnt going to die of a heart attack (l can so relate to you Sandi) and that the symptoms would pass.  This really helped me.

Lets all get well,Fiona

Fiona,

It is 11:28pm here in Illinois.  I am shaking slightly and dragging because I took Xanax to try to calm it down a little.  Your post did make me laugh though - about setting up the group.

I don't know - it seems like most of the men doctors don't understand and the young women doctors haven't gotten to this point yet - so I guess we have to look for doctors to treat us that are female, old, and shaking too.  

Maggie - I was so glad to see your post.  I have been thinking about you every day.

Well, I am still hoping to hear from Dearest to tell me that it is okay to print this off.  I can print it and retype it - taking off all the names if that would make people feel better.  I, personally, don't care who sees this with what I have said.  I just want this shaking to stop.

Has anyone taken Estroven?  My doctor says I can take it - it is natural and you get it over the counter.  She said it probably wouldn't work, but I could try it.  Now there is some positive thinking.  :-)Sandi

Sandi,I hope you have had a better day and night. What is Xanax?? I

'm going along quite well at the moment, still a bit breathless from time to time but the shakes are only in the morning when I wake up for a very short time so I can cope.  Hope the magnesium keeps working, I havnt started it yet but will get some tomorrow.

Does anyone get the shaky thing after taking a nap or does  it only strike in the mornings. I get it even after a nap. Must be something to do with the sleep chemicals??

Maggie,please let us know how the homeopathic remedies work, I would really love to know if you have any success with them. Hope you are feeling better today.

Has anyone reading the board heard of Maca???

Fiona

Fiona,

Xanax is an anti-anxiety drug that I was given in 1985 for panic disorder.  I have been taking it ever since.  It sometimes takes the edge of the shaking, but doesn't take it away.

I am having a horrid day today.  I am shaking very badly.  I contacted my regular physician and he is out of town until next week.  I called the GYN and they said they mailed out the scripts for the blood work, but I never got it - so they are faxing over a copy.   Can't get it done today because I have already eaten something.  Since this doctor never heard of shaking due to meno, she is testing me for diabetes and thyroid.

I can't stand this anymore.  It is over-shadowing my entire life.  I went to the grocery store yesterday and started sweating profusely and then got shaky and very weak.  I actually bought this soy drink stuff and started drinking it right there in the store.  It was gross.  I had gone to the store to purchase the estroven - but they didn't have it - so I ended up with Health Woman - which consists of a lot of soy. (These were prescribed by my GYN).    Started taking it yesterday.  Do hot flashes also come with the shaking and weakness part, or just the sweating?  It is still going thru my mind all of the time that this is my heart.  

And yes, Fiona, I get the shaking after sleeping as well - even naps.  There again I think that because I have gotten up and I am moving around it must be caused by my heart.  I am turning into a real nut case.

I contacted the producers at Oprah last night.  I am praying that she will put this problem on the air.

I am about ready to contact the GYN for HRT.  Can anyone tell me what would be the best thing to ask for?  I kind of like the idea of the stuff you rub on yourself.

Other than staying away from sugar, caffeine, chocolate --- what does everyone eat?  For instance - what is a good breakfast?  

Sandi

Sandi,how horrible for you.  I know that feeling well of it overshadowing your entire life - it is terrible. You cant get away from it no matter what you do.  I really hope you are feeling better when you get this reply.  Keep working on the ideas offered up by everyone on the board, I know you will find one or more that help you.  I know now that it is many things that can trigger the shaking.

I cant eat many types of food at all.  Fruit for breakfast, mainly bananas as they suit me, maybe an apple.  Then natural fizzy mineral water to drink.  Dont know why but this settles my tummy.  I eat around every 2 hours, just little amounts and this also helps.  

I am 99% sure that its not a heart thing.  I know you must have it checked out to be sure but my heart does the same sort of things, I even get pains in the chest but only when I have my period.  Then I worry that it is the stress of the shaking and feeling so bad that is giving me the pains in the chest.  What a cycle we live in. I actually dont get hot flashes at all, when the shaky thing is about to hit, I get deathly cold. We live in the tropics and everyone else will be sleeping with no covers and the fans and I am under the doona trying to get warm!!! I must be the weird one as have never had a hot flash.

Dont give in, try reading some Louise Hay (Heal your Life), it may not have the answers but it does uplift and help you to come up with positive thinking to help you through.  I'm so glad you have gone ahead with the Oprah idea.

Stay positive, you will find the things you need to help you deal with this.

Kindest thoughts,Fiona

Hi Fiona...

Can I relate to being cold. It is so hot outside and I have goosebumps. But it is a different kind of cold then what is weather related. My coldness seems to freeze my bones and it is an internal chill rather than a skin cold.  When I am chilled like that, nothing will warm me up...I just have to let it run it's course.  Geez...somedays, freezing, otherdays hot flashes. I wish this body of mine would make up it's mind.  LOL

Hugs

Hi Everyone,I had my blood work done finally today.  They tested my hormones, thyroid, glucose, and lipids.  Now I just have to wait for the results.   Expected since I had to fast for 14 hours to be shaking like a leaf today.  Just the reverse.  No shaking at all.  I am totally confused.  Just yesterday I was shaking like a leaf.  And getting tired of sitting on the couch because I am too weak and shaky to walk around and get things done.  They better figure out what to do with me.  This is my 3rd day on Healthy Woman - the soy supplement.

Hoping to hear something back from the Oprah producers.

Sandi

Hi,I got my blood work results back and I do not have a problem with my sugar or my thyroid.  Sad when you get results back that you should be happy about but were hoping might be the cause of this infernal shaking.

I am still shaking.  I HATE THIS!!!!!   My FSH level came back at 38.6 - which they said shows my levels to be rated as postmenopausal.  I haven't had my period for 3 months.  

Okay - now if I go on HRT - can anyone tell me what worked for them when they were plaqued with this shaking?  Hot flashes/night sweats are not really a big issue with me right now.

Sandi

Hi Sandy,

Did they check all your hormone levels or just your FSH?  I'm in the process of looking for a doctor who will do it MY way.  I'd like to know exactly what i'm lowest in.

I know we all have one symptom that is the worst for us. Mine is anxiety and although it's somewhat better, it's still number one on my list of complaints. The estrogen patch did help with my heart palps and dizziness, i'd just like to know how much I need without all this experimenting i'm doing.  Maybe some estrogen/progesterone would help with your internal shaking. I'm reading "Screaming to be Heard" and Dr. Vliet seems to think lack of estrogen is causing most of our problems.  Sure hope you find something that works for you. I know that after 3 years of this,i'm ready to try anything to get some relief.    Good Luck!

Kari,

They did an FSH and only part of the results are back.  They said that something like the estroven (don't know if I even spelled that correctly) hasn't come back yet.  Should be back on Monday.  So I guess there are 2 parts to this test.  Are there some other hormone levels that should be checked?  

Thanks for listing the book you are reading.  Can anyone else recommend books that they have found particularly helpful.  From the looks of it, I am going to have to figure this out for myself - so I better get educated.

Sandi

Sandi,

Maybe the rest of your test results are still coming. They should be able to test your levels of estrodiol, progesterone, testosterone, dhea, and cortisol. Also your thyroid test should involve the T-3, T-4, and antibody count.  Sometimes just testing the TSH level of thyroid is not enough. My doctor just does the bare minimum on anything, so I feel i'm being shortchanged  here. I'm now looking for a clone of Dr. Vliet. LOL! Did your doctor have any input as to what causes internal shaking?  Sure hope you get some answers soon.....this is maddening, isn't it.

Hello Ladies,

I have stayed off the boards for a while b/c I am having a time w/meno.  I have been slaking in my exercises and walking and it shows.  Would you believe that this blasted internal shaking or electrical woke me up this morning.  I just can't stand feeling like this anymore.  I am losing my mind.  Hot flashes and sweats have subsided for a little while, but they are still there.  I feel as though I have no peace.

Aunt B,I am so sorry.  I know exactly what you are dealing with.  I am right there with you.  My family is starting to get upset - because I am basically sitting around cause I am so shaky.  I did contact the Oprah show and absolutely begged them to get some doctors together that know about this shaking problem and put them on the air.  I also gave them this site URL and asked them to take a look at our posts and see how we are suffering with this and looking for help.I wish I could tell you what to do to help yourself, but I haven't a clue - because mine is just as bad as yours right now.Then you start to wonder ---- could this really be meno.  Could it be MS, Parkinsons, brain tumor, my heart not being able to take this anymore.  Then you get panicky and things go numb, your chest starts to hurt, your head starts to hurt -- makes you just plain crazy!  I got almost no sleep last night.  I alternated all night from being way too hot - to freezing.  The blankets were on and off all night.Sandi

Hello Sandi ande all of you wonderful shakers! I too have stayed off the boards for a little just because it reminded me of how stuck with this dreadful symptom I am. I have been shaking on and off since about the end of March. I just believed that the body would eventually right itself  and all these up and down hormones would gradually level out. Now I'm not sure I can trust my body.  I asked a helpline on menopause about the trembling and I was told that the hormone oestrogen interacts also with a lot of the other hormones in our bodies and throws them out of line too and that it was the surges so caused by adrenaline that makes us anxious and tremble . We in turn have to let the rushes come and go and really ignore them. That is so difficult to do when you start to think you're having a stroke or beginning to get some awful neurological disease... I am determined still that I will not take any medication in chemical form as I think it would add to my problems. If only a doctor somewhere would come out and name this shaking internally as a fairly common menopausal symptom the same as they do with sweats and flashes.  Anyway in spite of my homeopathy, yoga and spasmodic meditation I still have the tremors.  i am not pannicked by them so much and i can get through them but they are certainly not lessened.  does anyone want to say how long the periods of shakiness last each  time/I actually start mine as soon as i am coming back to consciousness after sleeping even before I open my eyes and the vibrating inside lasts about ten minutes and then it all subsides. When I get up I feel as IF i HAVE HAD A BAD SHOCK  and something bad is about to happen and after about an hour or two the feeling passes and then I might get it out of nowhere later on in the day.  If I should ever take a nap in the day I know I will get the "shakey wakes" But then I always did even before the meno with that bit.   Good luck all of you Istill readthe boards every day and pray for all of us that we will come through this and be  our old selves again.......LOL      MAGGIE..XXXXXXXXXXX

Hi Maggie,It is nice to hear from you.  It is funny that you posted what you did, because I was just about to post that maybe we should develop some kind of survey that each of us takes, and journals that we keep, and try to find things out  things we may have in common that would make us have this.  Like how early did you get your periods, how many children, meds you take, what makes it stop for you, what makes it start, eating habits - just anything and everything that we can think of to start looking for a reason that this happens.  If the doctors can't help us, maybe we can help ourselves, maybe we can stumble across something that will make it stop.  My personal email is steward@ameritech.net.  It would be good if we could set up a group or chat line somewhere where we could talk in real-time without cluttering up Dearest's board with all of the basic details, and then we could post findings and results here for people who didn't want to participate.  After waking from sleeping ALL DAY today because of the shakes I am determined to stop feeling like I am sick or incapacitated because of this.  I am determined to make this go away.  I feel the depression returning and the anxiety building.

Maggie, in answer to your question.  I am absolutely fine when I am asleep and when I first wake up.  I have sweats during the night, but no shaking.  When I wake up I have no shaking.  Then after I am up and walking around a bit - the shaking usually begins.  And it lasts continuously for most of the day.  Toward late in the evening, around 9 to 10 pm - it usually either lessens a great deal, or goes away.  Then it comes back the next day after I am up for a while.  The one day when I fasted from 8pm on, in order to have my blood work done, I didn't have it at all.  I felt pretty good in fact until we stopped at a restaurant for lunch and I had a steak.  Then I got very tired - but still no shaking.  Just extremely tired.   Go figure, maybe I have to stop eating.   Usually, though, if I skip breakfast and don't eat, the shaking is much worse.  It used to be that I would wake up, walk around, begin to shake, take Xanax and it would make it go away.  But Xanax isn't doing that for me anymore.  

I take my blood pressure meds and Inderal before I go to bed.  I am now wondering if the shaking lessens and goes away in the evening because those meds are wearing off, and then I take them and start it all up again.  

Sandi

I also get the internal (infernal!) shaking. But I use progesterone cream, and although I still shake a lot of the time - it truly doesn't bother me any more. I think it's because the cream has calmed me down, and I can now accept that it's not my heart, or a disease, but is some strange manifestaion of meno and can be safely lived with. I was also terrible strung up about my eyesight, numb skin etc., and all that has become less worrisome.At the risk of sounding like a salesperson (!), I do honestly think you could try the cream to see if it would help you. It really has helped me so much,HugsJools xxxxxx

hello Jools... Did you mean for me to try the progesterone cream?   Can you buy it without a prescription?  I will try anything except chemical tranquilizers.. Is it safe?  I long to be in the place you are where you KNOW that it is the darned meno and you can tell the shakes to do their worst 'cos they don't scare you any more.  Its just that it scares me to death and I am afraid that I am losing my mind and I will spin off into somedistant place in my mind . Then it all comes back to normal till the next time... UGGGGH!  It really does make me feel so lonely......Thanks everyone and Dearest   How incredible is she!!!!!Love always    MAGGIE>>XXXXXXXXXX

Jools,I was going to ask the same question - the progesterone cream - that is a prescription correct?  Also, tell me about your eyesight.  I must have missed that somewhere.  I am having trouble as well - not consistently - off and on.  I have read that people use bi-est cream (I think that is what it was).  This is prescription too isn't it?  If I have to do hormones I would prefer to use the ones you rub in.I am also wondering if dwelling on this symptom is making it worse.  I can't figure out why in the evening it stops.  I thought it might be because I take my dyazide (blood pressure) and Inderal (for migraines) before I go to bed.  And that it stops at night because those two drugs are wearing off.  So I didn't take it last night.  Still have the shakes today.  So I guess that wasn't it.Sandi

Hello Maggie and Sanmarie! You could be me a few months ago, when I used to regularly post here BEGGING for support and help (and I always got it from the wonderful souls on this board). Yes, I have had problems with my eyesight - hard to describe but pick one of the following: feels like I am looking through a mist - as if I've got greasy eyeballs - colours look distorted - supermarket lights do my head in - things look as if they are in a dream....sort of hard to describe really!!!!The cream cannot be bought over the counter in the UK or canada, but I believe it can be bought in the USA easily enough. Try and get a cream that contains at least 900mg of progesterone per 2oz jar or tube. Follow the instructions on the jar or tube or post under the 'progesterone' board and we 'users' will help you all we can! It is COMPLETELY safe, and whatever else it does or doesn't do, it certainly seems to help the vast majority of women with anxiety. I have not had a panic attack since about the third week of using it, and I am MUCH calmer. All my symptoms (and believe me I had them ALL) are either gone, eased, or I don't worry about them anyway.If you need more confirmation, ask on the progesterone board about its calming effects and I think you'll get lots of positive replies. If you are on HRT already, you will have to stop the progestin element at least, and preferably the estrogen as well. If you're not on HRT then just slap it on straight away! You could ask on the other board for brands that other people use, to see which is most common. I use one I get from South Africa, but I have used Serenity which I believe you can buy in the USA and seemed fine.Once you feel calmer and not so scared, I think you may find it easier to cope with your shaking and other horrible symptoms. You have all my love and sympathy, because I know exactly what it feels like to lay awake scared and begging for it all to stop. I really never thought I would feel any better, and I thank my stars every day for the support I found here and the fact that I came through and discovered that I AM okay. And so will you be - as soon as we have helped you find a way to feel calmer.Good luck and keep in touch - you are never alone; we are always here to support you,hugsJools xxxxxxxxx

Maggie, Jools doesn't mean to be telling you to use progesterone cream. She is sharng *her* experience with it.

Power Surge wishes to remind any woman using HRT who wishes to make changes to the modality, or get off HRT, to see her doctor before making changes of that nature.

I must comment on the statement regarding progesterone cream:   "It is COMPLETELY safe, and whatever else it does or doesn't do, it certainly seems to help the vast majority of women with anxiety."

That's a bit of a sweeping statment about what helps the "the vast majority of women." Women who frequent the  progesterone board exclaiming their success with it do not qualify as the "vast majority of women" who have tried it. They only represent the women who frequent that board.

I tried many brands of NP cream and had no reaction to it at all. I tried in my early perimenopausal days/years and during the throes of perimenopause. It didn't help my symptoms, although I don't think it was a waste of time to use it for a while. I have communicated with thousands of other women who've either had no reaction to the creams after trying them for months and many who've experienced depression, irritability and more anxiety from using natural progesterone cream.

Bear in mind that every woman is different -- different chemistry,  different physiology, different health history, different allergies, hence, different reactions to various methods of treatment.

What works for one person may not be what works for you.

Case in point, I asked my doctor about the Clonazepam / Klonopin some women had successfully used to treat internal shaking on this board. I will post later about my experience yesterday and today with Clonazepam. It wasn't a positive experience.

There are various levels of internal shaking and/or anxiety -- sometimes so severe that they aren't likely to be impacted by over the counter progesterone creams.

Please remember that what we are doing here is sharing *our* personal experiences. Everyone on these boards has a story to share. That's what this is all about. However, everyone reading these boards is educating herself -- garnering all the information she can to make educated choices for her own healthcare. No one can tell another  woman what product will work for her, or that she can't help but have success with what she's using because no woman knows how another person will react to the same product.  

The notion that a woman can "slap on the cream" and feel better and/or not as fearful is a bit extreme. It concerns me for those women who won't have the same positive reaction to those raving about a product, or perhaps are having a more intense experience of internal shaking than others.

Were it so that this cream could help every woman's peri or postmenopausal symptoms, every woman would be using it.  

Would it were so that these things were so simply resolved. The severity of internal shaking some women experience during peri and postmenopause often requires more serious treatment.