Perimenopause - any point seeing GP?

[changeforthebetter]

Is there anything she can do - irregular, painful periods (have a smear booked also), general ratty, arsey, forgetfulness and intermittent night sweats. I am under a lot of pressure doing ITT and LP to 2 small kids.

I feel like my mojo has just upped and off and won't be back I used to be quite dynamic and a bit of a high achiever but I just feel old and dusty now. Am 45 though people tell me I don't look anything like it (but they could be being polite ). Can the GP do anything for me or should I just resign myself to feeling like this? I have had depression in the past but this doesn't feel like that. I am managing to stick to a healthy diet, meeting all my deadlines for assignments, lesson planning etc. I just feel like I am losing the plot internallyIYSWIM.

TIA

Sounds sooo familiar don't worry
I think I'm holding out for HRT due to the fact yhey recommend it's use for a limited time...so I will ask for it when I have punched holes in the walls and actually got to the stage where I forget my grandaughter and leave her in the shop

We have a good Peri quiche thread going where you can offload,get advice and generally laugh at your symptoms (ensuring tena pad in place when laughing of course [wink)

The Peris

Well if you're actually worried it's an idea to have a check up anyway esp if you've got a good G.P.

You could also see how you go on with alternatives such as cutting out ALL booze, and colas and wheat and taking high dose Evening primrose or starflower oil (which is so effective it thickened my previously sparse eyelashes !!) also camomile supplements and or strong tea is great for sleep.

You seem to be my long lost cyber-twin - I also started a very similar thread yesterday :)
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/1387257-Perimenopausal-please-come-and-talk-to-me-about-HRT

Like you I want to know how you tell when it's right to start HRT (if at all) - a few years before the menopause doesn't really help as an instruction unless you can tell from your current symptoms that you are a few years away! There are some useful posts on my thread that I got in response that may help you as well.

Ladies you might like to hop over to the Menopause forum here where I seem to have taken up residence as the meno expert- what a thought! simply because I am in it and have a great private gynae who has written a book on it and who gives me all the answers when I see him!
Having said that I'll try to answer a few quick questions here before getting back to my work which is piling up....

Lifestyle changes can help hugely- cut out/back on booze, cafffeine etc and take up 30 mins breath taking exercise a day- some studies show this alone is as good as HRT!

Clean up your diets- refined sugar is a no-no- affects energy levels and terrible for skin.

HRT_ the real experts do not necessarily think there is a limit to how long you take it. general advice is 5 years, but you can continue if you are happy with the risks and benefits . Latest research is querying the MWS findings about breast cancer and HRT.

You can start before your final period- many women take it or the Pill during peri.

My own history- had no peri symptoms that I recognised though was always cross but maybe that was living with 2 teenagers at the time.

Started HRT 3 years ago when periods finally stopped aged almost 54.

No real issues up till then, and periods pretty regular until final year.

Thanks for the replies and support. I don't seem to be able to get any of the links to work at the moment.

No bread and no booze? I am not a big drinker but like wine on Fridays and Saturdays and I adore bread. I take Omega 3 with Evening Primrose already.

Will try and find the Meno Thread - will probably forget as soon as I close one though. I wrote a cheque yesterday and promptly lost it FGS. I sat at my desk, wrote it. Did something else (forget what) and managed to lose the cheque without leaving the bloody (tiny) room I was in. This is not me. I never used to be like this

change not nec. no BREAD just no WHEAT (there's loads of breads and crackersetc that are wheat free) Waitrose sell a good selection Sainsbos just sells rye but it's very acceptable and it doesn't affect us like wheat .

It's an idea to cut wheat for a few days and then see how you feel IME I immediately feel tired and miserable the day after eating wheat. It makes DH angry and exhausted as well.

As long as you don't over do the wine and it's good quality (the sulphites aren't good IME )It 's not as bad for short term memory loss and tiredness as wheat IMO.!

Hmm, I'm not a big wine drinker but can't find any without sulphites.

Will try GF bread and see if it helps. Theoretically my breadmaker does GF bread but I never seem to have time to put it on these days.

And of course I forgot to say 'thanks' ppeat before posting!

You very welcome change I will add that I don't like the GF flour much and esp. the shop bought GF bread it 's overpriced and looks and tastes Yuch SOO industrial that's why i suggested you just go wheat free unless yr coeliac of course .

My mum makes nice bread in her maker without wheat not as nice as mine that I make by hand though (it's quick and easy 'cos it doesn't need kneading ! ) You can find the flours in H.F. shops. I use Spelt, Kamut, and rice.

Oh and for short term memory loss I use gingko biloba which is REALLY good also kelp is great to give you energy and help sleep.

Thanks - not coeliac thank god. My best friend is and it is an almighty pain. I like Spelt things. Do you make the whole loaf from spelt. I've never heard of Kamut (sounds like one of the Muppets ) Will try and call in at a local lentil weavery one night next week. Am off to google Gingko Bilboa - I already take Omega 3 plus Evening Primrose, Echinacea, St John's Wort and Berocca .

Yes whole spelt loaves are lovely and with half Kamut are better! They're just ancient forms of wheat but nicer, far less gluten than modern wheat, you can get spelt yeast as well.

Talking about googling; the Earth Clinic is a brilliant site; a bit weird sometimes but very helpful with alternatives to the HRT route. I love echinacea too but I do have to take a fair bit of it for good results so I only take it when I feel an infection coming on Have you tried Starflower or borage oil? It's stronger than EPO and more effective IMO.

I used to take St johns as well, (I got through the whole menopause with only those) I swore to myself I would do without HRT after my sis got br. cancer when she 'd been put on it after an early hysterectomy and the first thing the H.P.s did was take her off it.

PPfruit ^really don't want to underestimate your sis BC- sorry.

Howeverm if after her op she was only using oestrogen, and not progesterone too, AND she was under 50, the odds are that her BC was not caused by HRT.

HRT under the ageof 50 "doesn't count" in terms of years' use and BC risk, and the incidence of BC in women who take just oestrogen and not a cobined HRT is very low- some research actually shows a reduction in BC for women on it.

it may be that your sis'd consultant knew that her BC was oestrogen dependent, but it could have been a coincidence.

If I were you, I'd be very cautious of HRT with a close relative with BC BUT I don't think that women should automatically think HRT= inevitable BC- the stats are not as bad as the media makes out if you look at them carefully- it is still a low risk and has been equated with the risk of BC in women who are overweight and/or drink 1 alcoholic drink a day.

I'm sure that's true amelia but I prefer not to take a 'hammer to crack a walnut' IFYSWIM. I eat a VERY healthy diet which is a great help for everything I follow my blood type.

I forgot to say that along with the herbs mentioned I took yam and sometimes black cohosh and I got through the menopause with no probs. at all.

Then you were very lucky pp!

Eating according to your blood type is controversial and not actually proven to be of any use, scientifically.

Similarly, scientific studies on black cohosh do not prove improvement for peri meno women. It works for some women but they don't know why.

I do everything that you do and did- and it still was not enough. it was never with me a case of a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

I think you need to accept that what worked for you was great- but trials do not support your own success, and you will never know if it was a pacebo effect, OR you are simply one of those women whose symptoms resolve quickly and would have anyway without taking any drugs, herbs or whatever.

No not true (when i stopped taking the herbs the normal symptoms returned, I would not have started taking them if I had had no symptoms) what I DO know is that Iam the only person i know of my age and younger and older who has no health problems and my GM had awful arthritis as does my sis. who is sceptical of the blood type. My mum is also healthy she is 83 and on the blood type until she starts the eating rubbish (like at Xmas) then she gets unwell. I also know if I've eaten something that isn't 'right' for me because I start getting pains in my hands and eczema. It all clears up when I stop. It s worth having a look at IMO.

There was a thread on the weight loss page about the Bloodtype and a fully qualiified scientist called Thumbwitch was on it and as she said although it can't be fully proved it works for her as it does for me and a lot of others.

It's funny when the word science is used to deny anecdotal evidence.If Jenner's anecdotal evidence about innoculations had been ignored for that reason we wouldn't have them now would we?

Never heard of the 'blood type' and I'm a scientist. Maybe that's why :)

PP with respect, you cannot extrapolate that something works for everyone simply because it works for you. This is like saying that smoking does not cause lung cancer because you have smoked for 80 years and are still alive and have no problems!

IMO the blood type diet probably hinges on undiagnosed food intolerances. I have many food intolerances and a condition which is affected by food.

Certain foods are linked to conditions- think of gout, diabetes, arthritis, etc etc.
If enough people take out certain foods and see an improvement in their health- from one of these common conditions- they may link it to the "blood type" diet- but it may be nothing to do with blood type- simply that a lot of the population are intolerant to lots of common foods now eatner as part of a western style crappy diet!

I don't disagree with what you are trying out but I do disagree that it works for everyone when it's based on pseudoscience- and when real scientists have looked at the data and drawn other conclusions- which they have for both black cohosh and blood type diets.