Menopause - at what point did you go to the Dr's?

Never, at least not about peri or cessation of periods. I'm 57 now.

I went to the gp after about 9 months of having a week every month where I just felt awful. Nauseous the whole time, and generally feeling unwell. No hot flushes or brain fog, and periods getting lighter, but more frequent. Minimum dose of HRT sorted out the nausea and 'unwellness'. I was 46/47.

The rage and wanting to divorce my husband sent me to my GP. HRT is amazing. I'm still married 😂

When my periods were that unpredictable that I flooded in an airport queue despite not being due.

My periods became so erratic it was unbearable so I went to the GP who said it would be down to peri so had mirena coil. A while later I started on oestrogel because I was having other symptoms but it was the anxiety causing the most problems (and suddenly hating my husband/plotting divorce which is a pretty common side effect)

To those saying menopause is pathologised/medicalised, I’m so glad that this is not the attitude towards child birth which is another ‘natural’ process, but thank fuck for gas and air/epidurals/c-sections etc.
A lot of women are able to give birth naturally, and many are not. Same with menopause: some breeze through, others suffer. But should they need to?

I went on HR about 5 years after I personally felt i needed it. I wish the level of support I needed which is there now was there when I needed it.

Good luck x

37,38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, oh bingo you're old enough now.....

2 years too later than I should have done.

I was angry at the world and everyone in it and blamed the world rather than hormones.

HRT is a revelation. The whole the world and everyone in it might still be shit, I can deal with it oh so much better.

SO MUCH dangerous misinformation on this thread. I urge anyone wondering about HRT to do actual solid research and not listen to the likes of @Sausagenbacon nonsense.

Some general ppints- it isn't "fake" hormones necessarily, you can get bio-identical HRT. Also dosage is tailored to each woman's needs and can be changed as you go.

You don't become dependant on it, if you stop talking it, you return to your previous baseline.

Blood tests to check hormone levels are UNRELIABLE and fluctuate far too much. Symptoms = diagnosis. Blood tests are not reliable enough, unless you somehow get tested every day or hourly!

HRT protects us against very important risks like increased levels of heart disease, Alzheimer's, osteoporosis etc etc. The study showing link to increased risk for breast cancer was debunked, the increase is very small and applies to women with family history of it, from what my menopause specialist said.

HRT is not being over prescribed to make money for companies. Look on here and see just how many women are denied it until they are literally begging for it. It's a lot of us.

It's such an old fashioned regressive view, to think that women should put up and shut up, when we could instead take a safe medicine that improves our quality of life.

I reiterate, do proper research, half of the posts on here are wild misinformation.

I don't take HRT as I didn't have any symptoms associated with menopause. I do lift weights and have regular scans to monitor bone density plus a host of other health checks. I'm not against it but it's not something I want to consider at the moment.

I feel I need HRT as I literally hate everyone (apart from my immediate family), periods are all over the shop, I'm constantly itchy and often wake up at 3am and that's it for the night. I've always been decent at sport and now I'm slow and rubbish. I'm 48.

My worry is I'm actually just aneamic or something, and I also don't understand if you have you have to stay on HRT forever? What happens if you come off it at say 70? I also worry it will make me put weight on.

These stories are really jnterating, I think I might make an appointment with the Dr.

Well my mums dead but my nana who is 89 was talking to me about it last week and said to get on it the sooner the better because I'm going through perimenopause, and she said it was life changing. I'm guessing she's older than you and your friends.

I don't think you have to go.

I only went in my early 40's when my periods became extremely heavy (flooding) and irregular and (you are going to think my so naive) I had no idea this was a symptom of peri-menopause. I thought something was seriously wrong. I was put on the mini pill and stayed on it until last January.

I am now post-menopausal and have not been back the the GP as I do not feel that I need help with anything. I am 54.

With hindsight, I wish I’d taken this route to begin with.

It’s not just about managing the symptoms though, I’m hoping it will slow bone loss, help with cholesterol levels etc.

Magnesium in the evening has helped massively with sleep quality.

I was unsure about starting HRT five years ago, and all the evidence for me at the time seemed worth the risk. Symptoms were impacting my life quite significantly and HRT was great for a while.

Unfortunately, I’ve had to stop HRT for health reasons, but after stopping it a couple of months ago, I have found those symptoms to be not so bad now.

There are other ways to manage the symptoms. Movement is key, running, brisk walking, lifting weights, clean eating, hydration. All great for positivity, inspiration, aching joints, anxiety, stress, sense of achievement, feeling strong, metabolism, lowering inflammation.

I think that if you’re not sure if you need it, as pp said the symptoms creep up so slowly you don’t see them, try it for 6 months and see if you feel better.

I’ve been experiencing quite bad anxiety, low mood and sleeping badly/not wanting to get up. Is that enough to go to the doctors with? It’s a bit vague and difficult to explain 😕

OP- I've also been wondering at what point I see the GP? I'm 48 and still having very regular periods. For the past 6yrs though, I've slowly gone from a 32 day cycle to a 26 day one now. My skin is dry and I don't sleep the best, but otherwise don't feel too bad.

Years ago I used to go my local NHS, family planning clinic. Sometimes they are part of sexual health services. Other than contraceptive clinics, they also had menopause clinics. The clinics were either run by a consultant gynae or a specialist nurse and for contraception, they had far more knowledge than my GP/Practice nurse. Just as an option to your GP. You can search the link below, but you'd need to phone the individual place to see if they do run menopause clinics.

www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/sexual-health-services/find-a-sexual-health-clinic/

I was brushed off too. I remember going back about 5 years ago to try the pill again, when I started dating after my marriage ended, and telling the nurse at the time I didn't want to go on Cerazette as it turned me into a monster and I didn't recognise myself (those were my exact words). She prescribed the same thing under a different name and told me to try it. So I did, same thing happened again.

I took the combined pill in my early 20s and felt so nauseous, I mean it helped with weight loss I suppose as I just didn't want to eat. I stopped after 3 months as I just couldn't go on like that. Before that the one they gave me made me so moody.

I've decided fake hormones just don't agree with me.

Interesting thread for me. I've been meaning to find out whether the advice is that everyone should take hrt irrespective of symptoms, or what. I'm 43 and have symptoms mainly being hot all the time like the op, also some flushes of extreme heat and sweating, plus tired and no mojo but makes you think perhaps I'm just being crap ha ha. Totally agree things sneak up and it's hard to see a line.

Doesn't it depend on symptoms? I'm 60, and my periods stopped when I was 56 (hallelujah!). I haven't seen a doctor at all, about any of this stuff, because I feel fine. I'm not going to waste their time. But if you feel unwell, then it's up to you, OP.

Not until I was 53 and was realised it had happened as I wanted HRT to protect my bones. I had very mild physical symptoms that didn't need help. I naively hadn't realised that other things like the anxiety, early waking and low mood that I'd experience for the previous 8 years or so were connected, so it never occurred to me to try HRT earlier.

I had an early menopause at 44.
The tipping point for me was I went to the station to get the train and I just couldn't get on the over crowded hot train and go to fucking work.
I called my husband to come and pick me up, phoned the dr. (it was 16 years ago so got an appointment straight away). I said to the doctor give me HRT before I kill my husband or someone (light hearted and before woke safeguarding, don't suggest this as a strategy) he gave it to me then and there. I was on it for 2 years then I felt I could cope. I have had a pretty easy menopause to be honest and was out the other side quite quickly either that or I have just embraced the "don't give a fuck" movement.

I’m 41 and started it for anxiety and palpitations