Menopause and memory loss

[NicolineStIves]

I am in the menopause, and alongside the usual symptoms, the most difficult for me has been extreme memory loss - forgetting work appointments, names in meetings, the exact course of important conversations at work... and that's despite making copious lists every day and working through them.

These symptoms have disappeared now that my GP has put me on HRT, but he's very reluctant to prescribe it and has made it clear that he won't do it for long. I am worried that I won't be able to hold down my job once I come off it, let alone be able to compete successfully for a new one.

Has anyone had a similar experience? How have you dealt with it? Is your GP taking you seriously?

sounds just like me, I thought I was going mad and just like you I am now on HRt and 100% better.
But my GP has also said she will prescribe HRT for 2 years max and I dread the day she says no more.
I am only 42 so hope I can plead and plead that its just too early to stop.

Now that's interesting! I, too, am going through menopause early and have been on HRT since I was 43. I also have memory-loss, which HRT has improved enormously. And thought I was gong nuts. Anyway, not only did my GPnot put a limit on how long I can take HRT for, she said that the dangers of HRT only apply to women taking it at the natural age for menopause. If anything, unless your or your family history carries any risk factors eg oestrogen-sensitive cancers, the fact that you need to be protected from an extra 10y of osteoporosis overwhelms most possible risks. And my reading supports this. My GP says we will start thinking about what to do about my HRT when I hit 50. Until then I will have 6-monthly che k-ups.

Thanks very much for this - well, I'm 48, so my GP's patience may run out a bit sooner! Like zanz1bar, I'm dreading the day.

Yeah, me too. My POV is that I'd rather have a shorter life but be a good parent, than live longer as a ratty nutter making my children's lives a musery.

These drs make me very angry.
I see a gynae privately- I went to him as I had low bone dentisy in my late 40s and he is an expert who has a totally holistic appraoch to health. hH did not advocate HRT then, but at 53.5 my periods pretty much stopped and I took HRT for flushes and poor sleep. I have now been on it for 2 years.

I feel fantastic on HRT- I am on oestrogen gel and a once every 3-months dose of progesterone, as it is now thought it is progesterone that causes breast cancer, not oestrogen. Taking HRT as a pill with both hormones every day, or progesterone 14 days a month puts you at higher risk. I wish all women would be told this.

My dr is happy for me to have HRT for 5 years minumum providing I have no problems. I discussed cutting my dose with him (I am on a low dose anyway) and he said it was not necessary. There is no added risk for up to 5 years use. I am not blase though.
After that, there is a greater risk, but it is still small and you have to put it in perspective- you are actually at greater risk driving your car on the motorway.

Sorry if this sounds like a rant but my gyane is an expert- he actually treats the royal family- and when I hear about the treatment dished out by GPs who are not up to date it makes me cross.

I would urge you all to seek a dr who is an expert if you are having symptoms or to ask for a referral to a menopause clinic which can be NHS.

zanz1bar- you need to change drs. If you are having a prem meno you need to stay on HRT until you are 50 at least and your risk is no greater than someone not on HRT up to that age.
God, where do these drs train?

Thanks all, my dr is a lovely woman but bless her she
Looks barely 25yrs old and really doesn't get it.
So I will stand my ground and stay on HRT.

I am afraid I have no advice as I struggling with menopausal memory loss myself. It is reassuring for me, though that others are having the same sort of problems that I am as I have been worried at times, that I may have the early stages of dementia.

The one positive I have found is that as well as forgetting useful things, I also forget things that would normally stress me out ( like whether I might have dementia ) and am consequently much more laid back.

The idea that memory goes back to normal after the menopause is really no consolation... I need it to function now, especially as I may well be looking at joining the ranks of jobhunters in 2011.