Don't know why I'm posting. For commiserations? Maybe so someone can help me gauge how good/not good my gp is based on today's appointment? The outcome is not bad and I'm not here to run anyone down, I think I used to be pretty confident in my last gp and I'm not sure how I feel about this one.
I discussed my blood test results with the new gp this morning. Apparently if you get mood swings they prefer to treat you with antidepressants because they're 'safer than hrt'. I said I understood that to be in contravention of the NICE guidelines and as they are 'just guidelines' it doesn't matter, they do it anyway. 
Not super encouraging.
I had questioned the need for blood testing as I am 49 (those pesky NICE guidelines again) and gp said it wouldn't effect treatment but - surprise! - she said today that according to the tests I still have hormones circulating so it doesn't look like I'm close to menopause yet, which means she is reluctant to give me hrt. She says they only use hrt to treat hot flushes - ? We then did the dance of 'go away, do some reading and come back when it gets worse' vs 'oh thanks but I have done a lot of reading and I am here because it is worse' etc etc with which I'm sure we're all familiar.
To be fair she then said if I feel it is a problem that needs addressing immediately I can just ring her and she'll do a scrip for me, no need to wait six weeks for an appt etc which is good. I requested patches vs tablets (why do they go straight to tablets?) which is also fine with her. So in light of that I agreed to go away and see how I go for a few months.
There was a vague whiff of the menace of chemical intervention though, yk, 'But you might get through it all just fine without the need for drugs' (after having said they use antidepressants). 'It is a natural process which can be managed with diet and exercise.' If I suggested I was going to try diet and exercise in preference to drugs for anything else I can't see the gp giving it the thumbs up. There was some hand-wringing about having to keep a close eye on my blood pressure on hrt - ? - but how to explain why I can't remember when they last took my bp and I'm on enough thyroid meds to suppress my tsh and no one is interested in my bp now - ?
I was pleased to find I am 'not anaemic' until I asked what the results were (18). That's lower than when I was taking no iron supplements at all (before my periods got so heavy). So now I know I need to bump that up a lot.