my best friend is a female GP, I told her I think I'm peri menopausal, she completely dismissed it because I'm 43! What hope do I have of being taken seriously?

[ihatethecold]

I'm 43 and adopted so I can't ask birth family for any history of early menopause.
Since I came off the mini pill a year ago my periods have completely changed.
23 day cycle, no pain anymore. Used to be 28/30 days and hideously painful

I have brain fog, my sleeping isn't great anymore, I wake up 2 to 3 times a night feeling unusually hot and I am a person that really feels the cold normally.
I'm having to get up 1 to 2 times a night to have a wee. The volume of wee is unbelievable. I don't drink any liquids after 6 to 7pm so try stop the night visits.

Is there any point seeing my GP?
I feel I will be brushed off.
Should I just try some supplements to help with the night time issues, sleep, heat, wearing!

Any advice is really welcome.

Yes Alzheimers is a risk of early menopause - hence the need for HRT.

ps- sorry to hear the news about your mum.

Did they do a hba1c as well as a spot sugar check?

I have no idea Anatidea

What's the difference?

My mums periods stopped completely when she was 41. So I'm assuming had peri menopause before that. I'm 35 and starting to wonder but if I went to the gp I'm pretty sure they'd laugh at me. So I'm just watching and waiting for now.
My mum talks about hrt giving her terrible symptoms so I've always assumed it's not for me but there must be better ones available now? She's 71 so this was 30 years ago when she went thru it all.

45 here and I'm certain I've been peri (general definition not NICE) for a good 4 years. Not that any of my GPs seem to agree with me.

My periods have been changing for some time but the last 18 months they've been all over the map - shortest cycle was 21 days, longest was 58 days! They are horrendously heavy and painful too. More absent minded and I do get very hot overnight, but then I've always had that since puberty so its hard to tell if they are proper night sweats.

Why can't the first point medical professions get more clued up about early menopause?
I hate the thought that it's likely I will be told to wait and see. 🙁

Quiet
I've been doing lots of reading and I think HRT has come a long way in 30 years.

A spot blood sugar will tell you what your blood glucose is at that point in time. You can have blood sugar issues and have a perfectly normal reading depending on when and what you last ate.
Hba1c is a measure of how your blood globose has been over the last3 months - high sugars alter some of the haemoglobin to a glycated form. So a high hba1c shows you that your sugars have been uncontrolled.

If you have ANY symptoms that suggest blood sugar issues (and peeing excessively is one) then you need to have that investigated. Just a blood glucose on the spot isn't enough.

Agree that your symptoms do sound like they could be peri menopausal - at the same time they could be other things too and those are worth investigation.

Good luck with it - I've found the medical profession to be utterly dismissive of 'women's issues.' I was very sick during my pregnancy and have lasting issues from it - dh is beginning to understand that women are expected to put up and shut up with things that he would be investigated for immediately. Not fair is it?

Thanks for the explanation