Hi. I’m looking for advice on heart racing. I was on HRT and this began to gradually develop and then get worse causing severe insomnia. I’m now a month off HRT and everything was looking up - now this increased heart rate and insomnia has returned the past 2-4 nights. Do hormones still fluctuate in post-menopause? I exercise 3-5 days a week, protect my sleep schedule and hygiene, don’t eat processed foods, stay hydrated….what am I missing?

Hi. I'm Brooke, I live in Dallas, TX and I want to sleep again. I was on HRT for almost 2 years and it was going well at first and then I started having insomnia here and there. Then my heart rate increased and the nights of no sleep became more common than sleeping. I'm now off HRT and my body still isn't back to normal. I just want to sleep so I can do all the things I need to do and the things I enjoy.

We ask because we have heard a lot in this community. And some of it deserves to be said out loud. "Your labs are normal." "It's probably just stress." "This is what happens at your age." "Have you tried eating less?" "Have you considered that it might be anxiety?" We hear these from women who are clinically literate, who have done their research, who have been demonstrating careers and households while feeling like a diminished version of themselves. You were not wrong to push back. You were not being difficult. You were right that something was being missed. And the fact that you are in this community means part of you never stopped looking for the right answer. Drop yours below. One sentence. What is the thing that was said to you that you knew was not the full story?