To be nervous about seeing my GP for menopause symptoms

[Eeksteek]

I don’t suppose the last few years have been winners for anyone, but for me they have been real doozies. I’ve also had lots of niggling health problems which have actually been quite impactful, altogether, but I haven’t bothered the GP with any of them because they had enough to cope with, they all seemed so trivial and truthfully, I couldn’t get it together. I just put it down to the stress and tried to deal with the problems through fog, tiredness and apathy.

A couple of people have mentioned menopause when I asked for skincare advice and something else (i forget what 🙄) which sowed a seed and I got round to looking it up, and a lot of things clicked. Forgetful, apathetic, brain fog, poor sleep, Headaches, dizziness, nausea, night sweats, dry eyes, pins and needles, jumpy legs, cramps, can’t lose weight, lots of aches and pains, saggy boobs and hair loss. More recently anxiety and mood swings. Not like me at all. I used to be so enthusiastic and busy. I did try antidepressants, which have worked for me before during stressful times and I have on repeat but they didn’t help this time.

I don’t have periods (at all) because of PCOS and I have a coil anyway. And I’ve had no hot flushes. I’m ‘only’ 44 (I feel about a hundred) So the big markers are absent. I’m sure this is the problem, but my symptoms are a bit malingery and I’m worried I’ll get some old dinosaur of a GP who’s going to fob me off with more antidepressants or give me a lot a basic lifestyle advice and (except for diet, which isn’t ideal and I can’t change because of money) I’m already doing it. Go to bed as the same time, sleep in a cool, dark room, long walks in the fresh air; journaling, meditation, yoga, limited tv (no news) and media. Hobbies, seeing family and friends. More bloody walks….

Spam me with wonderful stories of understanding GPs swiftly prescribing eostogen which will magically restore my spark and get my life back on track in no time!

@daisyjgrey I did in my 40s. Saw my GP (my old nice GP, before he retired!) and he did some bloody tests. Turns out I had an underactive thyroid and a few deficiencies (B12, vit D, that kind of thing).

yes go to your GP - get bloods done - I had thyroid issues and I have b12 deficiency - these cause similar symptoms

I am now on HRT a few years on - my initial meeting with female GP aged about 25 was pretty dismissive but I then met with the practice nurse who was my age, got it totally and sorted it all out

What does menopause was over mean? I'm reading this thread because I need to see my own GP about some of these very things and your post confuses me

You don't mention when that was, HRT has moved on a lot in the last 10 to 20 years.

Have you watched the Davina programs OP? It will give you the confidence to ask for what you need. Also note that the sooner you get HRT the better, it's found that leaving it until you really cannot cope can also mean it will not work. Also it's very bad for women to just muddle on through and make do. Ultimately your future self will thank you.

Having had similar brain fog problems along with other symptoms like yours , I am now on oestrogen and thyroxine.

My biggest suggestion is write down all your symptoms and how long they have been going on for in a list. Add any treatments/lifestyle changes you have made and if they worked or not etc. Then when you get to the GP, if you get all foggy (which in my case was highly likely) you can just pull out your list. I also highly recommend you try and show your true emotions about your condition, no British stiff upper lip as that minimizes your experience. If you want to cry or rage a bit, do it…it often makes doctors sit up and take you seriously as they can really see the impact on you.

I would strongly suggest you get some blood work done to rule out thyroid problems (thyroid antibody tests as well as TSH) Vit B12, iron and ferritin and Vit D as a minimum. The chances are your symptoms are caused by a couple of things rather than just one, as life is never straight forward!

Thank you all. I had bloods before, and I already have well- managed under-active thyroid and low vit D. I wondered about anemia, as I’ve given up eating meat lately, so I’m taking iron/b12 already. Of course these things may have changed and I’m open to that. But if you hear hoof beats, look for horses, right?

Yea good point- dm’s was about 20 years ago. Glad it’s moved on- I feel more confident asking about it next doc appointment.

There are other preventative indications, too. Heart health, for example.

There is insufficient evidence to support HRT use for heart health. Ditto, for dementia.

I'd ask for full bloods and hormone levels incase it's something else. Oestrogen levels such be checked twice in same month as they fluctuate anyway.

@sleepingophelia post-oophorectomy - there is relevant research for women like me with my medical history and family medical history.

But what's important is that the OP has a good quality discussion with her GP. I wish her all the very best, and hope she has a positive experience.

post-oophorectomy - there is relevant research for women like me with my medical history and family medical history.

That's nice. But you weren't speaking about a select group, you made a general declaration re HRT promoting cardiovascular health, which decades of research has proven to not be the case.

I've told this on here before, but my male GP was insistent my hormone levels were normal from my bloods (errr, yes, I took the pill for heavy periods at the time). I was 47 and feeling like I was done tbh.

I went back armed with a list of all my symptoms and the NICE guidelines, I'm happily not a patient of @Sarahcoggles , and my GP did what a decent one should. Listened and researched.
The following day he called me in and gave me a prescription for HRT.

My friend is 51. Her GP refuses to prescribe. She has all the symptoms and is thoroughly miserable. I've given her the guidelines, I've given her the checklists, but she wont go in there and stand up for herself so he keeps fobbing her off with 'wait another year'. She wont change GP and she wont help herself. I no longer mention it as it frustrates me how easily she is willing to accept it all.

So whilst GP's might not like the 'attitude', some of us women don't like being constantly fobbed off and suffering with perfectly controllable symptoms and if that means you don't want us as patients then thats perfectly fine because we don't want you as our GP's!

Im glad you have your underactive thyroid well controlled. But just so you know, peri and menopause can change the amount of supplemental thyroxine you need to stay in balance. When I was peri-menopausal I had to keep increasing my dose little by little every 6 months to maintain control. I then had a hysterectomy and started on estrogen and found that I needed much much less thyroxine. But no one really talks about it..sigh

@Verstappen I’m sorrry about your friends experience. I hope she gets support soon. Would you be kind enough to send me the checklists and guidelines, as you have them to hand already? I’d like to go in prepared.

There’s attitude, and attitude. Health is, and should be, different from other consumer-industries. The healthcare provider’s knowledge and experience should be respected. But it should also be respectable. I will see how we go, and be politely persistent if required (and in the absence of good reasons not to be!)

I've just booked an appointment with my GP to talk about HRT. I did it online and it asked me what condition I was concerned about: when I selected "menopause" it took me through a whole set of checklists of physical/ psychological symptoms and possible indications/ contraindications for HRT so I hope when the GP sees me it'll all be quite streamlined - tbh in a ten minute appointment you need to have got as many of the basic questions as poss over and done with in advance.

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng23/chapter/Recommendations

Op, I'm in a similar boat. I'm mid 30s and noticed a few of the same symptoms. Hot flushes, and night sweats over the last week, and yesterday I spent a few hours just feeling rage. But rage with no focus. And over the last year, my periods have been either early or late, but only by a few days. I used to have fairly light, painless periods, lasting for three days. Now they're all over the place, lasting from 1 to five days, and swinging between being relatively painless to being so bad, I can't sleep with the pain. There's no pattern to it at all.

There's a family history of early menopause and thyroid issues, and I've had a few invasive gynae surgeries, so I've a gp appointment for next week. My gp is usually great, and has already referred me for a scan, but who knows how long that will take. While I don't think he will try to fob me off, I'm still a bit nervous about the whole thing.

I’m mostly worried because I’m not having hot flushes. But I’ve so many other symptoms, and the antidepressants didn’t help so I’m sure it’s not that. But I do very much appear to have mental health issues.

The guidelines heavily draw on being over 45, vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes I assume) and disrupted periods. None of which I have (because I have not had a natural period since my 20s, even off contraception) So I’m concerned I will end up having to jump through a lot of mental health hoops before I can try a hormonal approach. I’d really like to just give hrt a shot for a month and see if it helps. I mean, if they want to go the depression route, that’ll be the approach, won’t it? Try these ADs and come back if they don’t help. My hormones have been screwed since my mid twenties and I was rather looking forward to being in control of them, for a change.

I’m also mildly worried about my IUD. I don’t need it for contraception, but it was advised for progesterone support. It needs to come out this year, and it was unbelievably painful going in and I am NOT having another. So there’s that. Clearly I need some sort of women’s health MOT. Not to be fobbed off ADs and counselling. Only I can see how it could present like that, too and it’s happened before.

My brain has been a mess for so long, and it was such a lightbulb moment to realise (probably) why. I’m champing at the bit to get my mojo back and my life in order. I don’t want to be shunted off down a mindfulness, exercise and hot milky drinks tangent and waste any more time.

An update - my gp was truly lovely. They have a telephone appointment first contact system, here. She rang me at 9.15, was delighted I had a list of symptoms to hand, listened sympathetically and reassured me that peri menopause can be very nebulous and woolly to diagnose, but was happy to go with it as the most likely probability. Then had me in before 11 for a gynae exam (ok, that part was less lovely) and swabs, weight and BP with a view to HRT following bloods (on Monday) and a ultrasound (because I had some random spotting the other day) No fobbing off because it’s all very woolly at all, or putting it down to stress or MH issues (not that they aren’t important issues. I just feel they aren’t the issue here) I couldn’t be more impressed (except with the internal. Thought I was done with those for a while. Wish I’d asked her to do a smear while she was in there!) Finger crossed the ultrasound isn’t too far away, but at least they’re being through.

Thank you all for the handholding.