AIBU to expect my GP to "keep looking"?

[Eliza22]

Nine months ago I was fit and training for 25k. I'm 53 and in the throes of menopause. Suddenly, I started to feel "off colour". Symptoms: fatigue (as in totally knackered); constant nausea; feeling "full" all the time; waistline/abdomen expanding; unable to lie on my sides due to nausea/abdominal discomfort so, sleeping propped up. My GP referred me to a gastroenterologist (for all things digestive).

Had: abdominal scan, gastroscope, blood tests for coeliac disease, anaemia and hepatitis screen.... All came back negative.

Left it 4 months but went back today with continuing symptoms. Nothing's changed only now I have to undo all my zips I'm so "fat" and I feel like I'm about to go pop! I'm SO uncomfortable. GP said it's probably menopause and to keep taking the irritable bowel syndrome meds (I honestly don't think it's IBS) and anti nausea tablets (even in the night if it wakes me up) and because I have high BP and a family history of stroke, I can't have hrt.

I could cry. I've gone from being as fit as a flea and slim to a stone plus overweight, no energy and feeling like I have constant "morning sickness" to go with having swallowed a brick.

Am I a hypochondriac? I don't WANT to be ill but I feel shocking.

What can I reasonably do? AIBU to expect my GP to think along a different line other than "possible IBS/anxious menopausal woman....NEXT!"

Fibroids are oestrogen related. I was told mine might shrink after the menopause, or at worst stay the same.

Please be very blunt and say your symptoms are indicative of ovarian cancer and you need a proper referral to rule that out. Don't be fobbed off. Put the onus on them to prove you don't have it.

This book might help if you feel you need a bit of courage in dealing with the system

www.amazon.co.uk/Staying-Alive-Best-advice-doctor/dp/1848664516/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

cheap enough on Kindle

YANBU from what you've said. Go back, and explain you need to keep looking.

Sometimes, you do reach the end of investigations, and medically unexplained symptoms need to be dealt with. However, it does sound as if the gastro route has been explored without checking for gynae problems.

Anyone can claim to be a 'nutritionist', please don't see a quack, yet.

I also thought under active thyroid. Might be worth checking. I had terrible bloating, food coma after meals, weight gain despite calorie reduction, puffy face, brittle hair and nails, and terrible fatigue.

It might 'just' be the menopause. The menopause is weird - I know I never expected it to have such a huge impact on my health and wellbeing.

I struggle to think your ovaries haven't been checked. If they haven't, someone has cocked up hugely.

Echo what others have said. IBS should only be diagnosed when all other potential causes have been ruled out. (Wish someone had told my GP that when I had colon cancer!) I also thought it might be ovarian.

However, if you have had every test going, and they're all negative, which as the thread has gone on, I suspect that may be the case, YABU. I may me there is nothing to 'keep looking' for.

Investigate self-referral. i keep getting letters saying I need to get all my girly bits examined and I can schedule via my GP or contact women's health clinic directly.

I think your problem sounds like the thyroid problem my friend had. Sudden weight gain, and gradually building exhaustion to the point she couldnt work out, nausea. Her doc kept saying it was early menopause (she wasnt 40!) because her cycle was going wonky too, despite a family history of thyroid issues. She finally insisted on an different doctor, and got a woman who immediately did an endocrinolgy workup. The right treatment had her back to normal in 6 months. Her cycle settled back to normal, and she eventually had another baby at 41! That's how wrong he was!

In typical internet style... My friend had those symptoms and it was a uterus prolapse. Not saying that's what you've got but do keep hassling them!

Chocolate, I take your point but I do feel so shite. And I'm not a lazy person. Up to age 52 I've always exercised (gym, running, cycling a lot of walking) but I simply can't do it now for the simple reason I feel sick like I did when I was pregnant (I'm definitely NOT).

I've had a very thorough examination of my gastro area (liver, spleen, gall bladder, pancreas) but nothing else.

Before Xmas I was ill in the night. My dh took one look at me and called an ambulance. They said in a&E my body had had a type of shock reaction (passed out/BP in my boots, rapid heart beat and missed beats. I was all over the place and thought I was dying....that's when all the gastro tests were done. Result? "We don't know what caused it".

I will be going back and I will continue to ask until I get some kind of answer as to why I'm a shadow of my former self.

Op, I had some episodes like the ones you describe several years ago when I was falling ill with a horrible virus. It was very disturbing. The actual virus caused me problems for 3 years but I'm well again now. I didn't have any of the gastro problems you describe but I wonder if you could have picked something up that's not showing on the tests (I was exhausted all the time and had previously been a keen runner).

any updates OP? xx

I hate to say but I have similar and I am shitting myself its ovarian c word. have a GP appt next week.