Guess my conditions... cause the GP has no clue.

[startstopengine]

I've just gone into a GP appt fully prepared with my 6 months worth of symptoms.

Her take.. come off HRT and I'll put you on non hormonal antidepressants instead, cut out fibre from your diet and follow a FOMAP plan?

She has ordered in some bloods but any guesses? She's told me I'm not diabetic as my bloods said I wasn't.

Below for the long list...

Thought some were peri menopause related?

Thirst (increases)
Waking at night
Hungry
Sweating smelling like vinegar
Weight gain over 12kg in 8 months
Gastric pain and bloating weekly
Top area of stomach goes really hard
Tired sleeping for 14+ hours
Tired in the afternoons
Blurry eyes for a whole day (eye test) glasses
Gum work having to be done at dentist
Intolerance to any alcoholic drinks
Headaches low level fuzzy
Dizziness occasionally
Hair thinning
Nails brittle

I’m on HRT patch and non cyclic progesterone that stopped a zillion other symptoms, hot flushes, night sweats, awful biweekly heavy bleeding. So HRT has been good to me.

These are all low level until recently they seem to come and go and flare up., but are becoming more obvious

Main issue that’s bothering me is weight gain, I’m tracking 1200 calories a day and I’m still gaining weight, 5k+ steps exercise 3-4 times a week, I literally couldn’t be any better!

Have you had a colonoscopy? All my test results were normal and I can relate to a lot of your symptoms. I was told I had IBS for several years, told many symptoms were perimenopause. Turns out I had low level IBD.

Diabetes?

Less than 42 is normal for Hba1c.
42-48 is prediabetic
Above 48 diabetic.

Losing weight is so hard when you are menopausal. The only thing that worked for me was upping low fat protein and cutting out carbs. Lots of fish, chicken, low fat mince and vegetables. Cutting out carbs and sugar is hard for a few days but then I start to feel more energetic and less bloated.

No never had one or been offered? I get all the bloating and pains but when asked the question about stools I'm fairly regular and 90% of the time normal stools.

That doesn't rule it out. My CRP was only slightly elevated, but still within normal, but other inflammation markers were normal. Sometimes it's tucked away causing low level symptoms. Not saying this is what you have but it might be worth considering.

Yes and PPI’s such as omeprazole can stop absorption of levithyroxine.

they put me on cimetidine for that reason.

I just paid around 200 pounds today for full blood tests privately because of feeling tiredness all the time and the doctor doing this or that test and not coming up with anything. They do it in dribs or drabs . My thyroid has come up as being below the threshold. Let's see what my doctor whoever that is says.

That's the thing I've never had an issue with loosing weight or working with particular diets, I've followed low inflammatory and low histamine, I've weight trained for 8+ years (stopped after injury, wanting to start again soon) and been full Keto for some of that time, so it's really not from lack of trying.

I've worked with nutritional professionals and limited some trigger foods, but this time actually cutting dieting and tweaking is getting me nowhere!

A few weeks ago I did IF and 1100 calories for a week, low sugar, low carbs, high protein not quite keto but not far off and went onto the scales end of the week and I was 1kg up.

I'm measuring as well as I'm not currently weight training so this isn't muscle gain, it's 100% wobble and gut.

Water retention I would say can account for some but not all of this.

I said to my DH it's almost like a pregnancy, I've had my uterus felt to check for fibroids and the GP said there was nothing obvious she could feel.

@PrincessMee they really do have a fragmented approach and think it's just one thing. I hope your bloods are all clear though, I really don't want throyid or other conditions but there's something not balanced or right here.

@NannyGythaOgg I think you maybe right. It seems the majority are pointing to the lack of vitamins.

The only one I occasionally take is magnesium as I read about it helping sleep, but I only take it a few times when I remember.

Agree, I have IBS and high fibre is a trigger for me, will make bloating crazy & too many days of high fibre will cause pain.

I'm going to ease up on adding any extra for a while!

I definitely agree it could be a deficiency. I’ve been both vitamin D and folate deficient and had very similar symptoms.

I also think though that you probably aren’t eating very well if you’re only eating 1200 calories a day and considering cutting it even more. No wonder you’re tired and potentially nutrient deficient.

I’d change up your diet, more protein and fat, more fruit and veg and stop calorie counting. If you’re walking 5000 steps a day, that’s pretty sedentary. That’s what I do when I’m chained to my desk all day. I do 13k+ on a normal day when not exercising. I’d increase your activity level gently along with food and see how you feel, plus address any deficiencies that might pop up.

Definitely sounds like under active thyroid

I'm certain your iron levels would come up low. A whole host of that sounds related. It might be a case of addressing one thing at a time working through it.

It’s just the utrogestan capsule 100mg - Instead of taking it by mouth, you can insert vaginally

Hi @startstopengine has your GP asked for sample to test for H. Pylori?

I am only asking as I had similar symptoms for around 10 years and it was mentioned to me by an ex nurse, went to the Drs, test was done, came back positive, treatment completed and I feel like a different person - no tiredness, no more bloating, stomach pain, tiredness and I'm 2 months out from treatment.

Good Luck

@madamim not to my knowledge, I'll ask the nurse tomorrow if she can add it to the request.

@startstopengine
all you need to do is take in a stool sample and they'll send it of for you for testing.

Good luck, hope you start feeling well soon.

Have you had your calcium levels checked? Some of the symptoms sound like primary hyperPARAthyroidism.

I was on synthetic T4 for years but getting worse and worse because my body couldn’t convert the T4 into the useable T3. My doctor sent me to an endocrinologist who was less than useless.

I did some research and found a naturopathic doctor who specialises in thyroid health. She diagnosed me, put me on natural desiccated thyroid and adrenal gland supplement (literal dried bovine adrenal glands) and I’m a new woman.

It’s taken 3 months and it was not easy at the beginning but it’s getting better every day.

If any of these symptoms are related to gut issues you'd be much better getting a specific analysis. After years of general "IBS" fob off (a very broad term used by NHS that is unhelpful) I went to see a private nutritionist who ordered a stool analysis. This enabled her to pinpoint exactly what the issues were and suggest a targeted program to remediate - which did involve 6 weeks FODMAP as a restart and introducing gut microbes. As an example, I'd be chugging gaviscon for years for acidic stomach. It turned out I had low stomach acid and this was exacerbating the problem - I took acid capsules with meals for a couple of months and never had a problem since. Gut issues can cause a range of symptoms and a fix for one problem can exacerbate another. You really want to get specific. I'd been suffering for years and it was a miracle cure for me.

Fast forward 10+ years and now perimenopausal and a whole host of new issues 🤣 Like you I'd be suspicious of her suggestion to come off HRT and on to antidepressants without having provided a more solid basis for suggesting that. There could be lots of reasons for the weight gain other than HRT - and as you say, this is helping with other issues so coming off it could cause different problems even if that is causing weight gain. I'd be wary of any NHS GP advice sadly - a lot of what they recommend is out of date or driven by costs or both.

In terms of the weight - counting calories can be counterproductive. Not all calories are equal, it's about insulin response - again calories in, calories out is an outdated mantra still perpetuated by the NHS and UK government but years of low fat, added sweetener yo-yo Slimming World / Weight Watchers type diets are actually making the nation fatter. Low carb, high fat; intermittent fasting and consuming sugar/carbs with/after fat & protein are all better ways to manage weight. Recommend reading The Obesity Code by Jason Fung and following the Glucose Goddess on Instagram for some great visualisations of how different foods eaten in different situations / at different times / in different combinations has a massive impact on blood sugar spikes (however also note that while sweeteners don't cause a bloody sugar spike they cause an insulin response so has same negative affect so these should be avoided - a can of Diet Coke is no better than a can of Coke apart from for your teeth).

Gum disease, blurred vision for a day, weight gain, tiredness, waking in the night are perimenopause symptoms. Have a look at the symptom checker on the Balance or NHS website.

NHS usually only tests TSH for thyroid, when you need T4, T3 and reverse T3 checked. Look at medichecks and blue horizon for private blood tests.
Also always get a copy of your test results, I’ve found drs will say your results are normal even if borderline.