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Menopause

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How do you even know if your in perimenopause?

69 replies

Afternooninthepark · 17/02/2019 19:22

I’m 46 next month. I’ve been feeling crappy for a year or two now. My GP says that as I have a regular 28(ish) day cycle I am not in perimenopause.
These are the regular symptoms I’m getting,
Really bad, daily anxiety which is currently my worst symptom
Depression
Very heavy periods (I do have several reoccurring uterine polyps)
Bad PMS the week before period (never really suffered before now)
Aura migraines, on 3rd day of my period
Lack of libido (happy never to have sex again 😟)
Dry down below and really itchy a week before period
Really itchy skin (especially on torso and scalp)
Aching muscles and achy joints
Fatigue (I am anaemic due to years of heavy periods)
Night sweats a week before period
More body odour than I ever had before
Lots of wind and bad indigestion
Can’t concentrate

Most of these things seem to be caused/exacerbated by my hormones as I feel worse a week before and during my period (absolutely dread having periods now) and feel shitty during mid cycle too. I only get a few days a month when I feel ok!

Anyone else get any of these? Feel my gp just doesn’t want to know tbh!

OP posts:
picklemepopcorn · 18/02/2019 14:07

It seems the research and knowledge just doesn't match our experiences. Starting much younger, and far more erratically, and with very wide ranging effects. For goodness sake, this has a huge impact on people's jobs, lives, relationships.

Afternooninthepark · 18/02/2019 15:46

I know pickle it has a huge impact on woman’s lives. I can’t help but think it’s because it’s a condition which only affects females and that if it was a male problem help would have been found decades ago. Doesn’t help that most gynaecologists are men, ok they may have the knowledge, qualifications and experience but unless you are extremely lucky to find a very empathetic one, most, in my opinion have absolutely no idea what it feels like.

OP posts:
picklemepopcorn · 18/02/2019 15:52

I think it's a bit of a conflict with being equal in the workplace.

Kahlua4me · 19/02/2019 20:42

I have almost identical symptoms to you Afternooninthepark .

I have seen a few doctors at our surgery over the last year or so without any great success, even the female ones. One lady doctor told me that palpitations are not a symptom of the menopause! The last one I saw wasn’t interested in my list of symptoms and simply offered me antidepressants and counselling.....

I have had more support and info from these pages and over on menopause matters.

SofiaAmes · 19/02/2019 22:57

Please print out the NICE guidelines and bring them in to your GP's. The Guidelines are very specific that antidepressants should NOT be the first course of action.

Kahlua4me I'm curious what the counselling was supposed to do for your symptoms. Or maybe it's just to keep you from murdering your useless GP.

Navratilover · 19/02/2019 23:06

Hi, OP, your symptoms sound very much like mine. Almost the day of my 45th birthday I was suddenly itchy with terrible indigestion and heavier periods. But by FAR the worst symptom was the anxiety. It was horrific, close to debilitating.

I'm 49 now, haven't had a period for 5 months (although the last one was the worst of all time, featuring flooding on a bus) and I feel SO much better. Still a bit achey, my skin isn't anything to write home about, but I actually enjoy an early night rather than fretting that I'll lie awake obsessing about my breathing. God, it was awful.

Perimenopause is so bad that it makes menopause look amazing. Please don't do what I did and just suffer through it all. Do whatever you can to make things bearable.

winniestone37 · 19/02/2019 23:12

I'm 42 and tests showed I was peri in jan last year. Hot flashes, very crazy, depressed , missed 2 periods. All stopped but periods can be a week or so late. It's all very subjective but I think you know yourself if things aren't right. You def' need a full blood works. I'm now not peri Hmm according to bloods but suspect it'll start again soon. They now think the pill mimicked it but who knows.

PenguinPandas · 19/02/2019 23:15

I am a similar age and getting some of those, starting to get very hot all the time, still getting periods so doctors have said I am too young but that can't be right. I did find magnesium helps with aches and pains but would really appreciate something else too. Also get brown discharge (sorry tmi) and looked and that's a sign of peri.

RandomMess · 19/02/2019 23:29

The thing with hormone levels is that they do fluctuate you need your bloods taken every day for 6 weeks to really have a view what is going on!

ChesterGreySideboard · 19/02/2019 23:37

Why do doctors never care about this?
Why are women never given information about this?
I went for my 40 year old check up and asked about it and was just brushed off.

As it stands now I’m on the injection. I’ve asked how this effects possible menopause and how I would know and I just got a shrug.

JinglingHellsBells · 20/02/2019 08:19

If you think you are in peri meno, it's important your GP treats this. The options are HRT or one type of the CCP- Qlaira- which is similar to HRT but sometimes better for younger women as it will help regulate cycles.

I suggest you read the NICE Menopause Guidelines which are for us and drs! These were published in Nov 2015 after a long consultation with menopause experts. ALL Gps should know and work within the guidelines.

NICE MENOPAUSE GUIDELINES

In particular read Diagnosis- linked above.

The British Menopause Society (website under that name) are aware GPs lack of education around menopause and run training workshops all year round- but they are not mandatory.
They show you what your GP should be doing- and not doing.

In peri, it's accepted that you often have erratic periods/ longer/ shorter cycles/ more/less bleeding. This is usually the first sign.

You may not however, but you could have other symptoms like flushes, mood swings, insomnia, weight gain, anxiety etc.

NICE makes it clear that in women under 45, blood tests (FSH levels) should be done (over 2 months not just 1 test).

For women over 45, the guidance is treat the symptoms if they show peri menopause.

The reason for no blood tests on women 45+ is that a) they are unreliable due to fluctuation hormones and b) they are a waste of time and money because the signs are clearly perimenopause (unless there are signs of other illness like thyroid issues.)

If you are in your 40s, you are within your rights to ask for HRT or the CCP to help your symptoms, or counselling, or CBT, or anything else mainstream that may help you.

If your GP won't listen, be more insistent, or change to another dr.

Sorry for the lecture! I'm a health writer and have covered this so many times in my work, and spoken to UK consultants, who are fully behind the guidelines, but women need to educate GPs at times!

MrsJayy · 20/02/2019 08:26

Im 47 with a regularish cycle and have been on HRT 9 months, the practice nurse who prescriped them I was in for a smear and came out with my prescription. Your gp is so behind the times see somebody else.

MrsJayy · 20/02/2019 08:28

The nurse I saw was the only person to take me seriously and listen the Gp had sent me away.

picklemepopcorn · 20/02/2019 08:43

I'm asking about HRT next time I'm in, but I don't don't don't want my periods back. So I think I have to wait a bit longer.

Grace212 · 20/02/2019 11:30

good question OP

there was a long thread about peri but I can't find it?

Here's my random query, I hope you don't mind, OP, as we are maybe in the same boat.

I'm 43. I am on the Pill because of horrendous periods. Generally I feel fine physically. However, last year, my father fell ill and died, and various symptoms that I thought were stress related, I now wonder if they are peri - because in the time he was ill and the time after he passed, I took the Pill very sporadically and even had 2 week breaks.

so the main thing I've noticed is a strange heavy head feeling behind my eyes, and I think it was on the other thread, that sometimes my feet get very hot. Also, my emotions are bizarrely up and down - I thought that was all about the dad situation but it might be hormonal?

I supposed it doesn't matter because I'm allowed to stay on my low dose pill and the peri seems to be improved by it? But at some point I will need to switch from Pill to HRT?

Thanks for any thoughts. I am back to taking my Pill religiously!

Grace212 · 20/02/2019 11:41

P.S. It is amazing to me that Boots now has big adverts for Viagra, but no one cares about all this stuff women are going through - because dog forbid a man can't get it up. ugh.

Beaverhausen · 20/02/2019 11:45

I went and saw my GP a week ago as I have terrible moods, heavy period, terrible pain, headaches, night sweats, dizzy, nausea.

She put me on Mefenac acid which seems to be doing the trick, so far, I am sleeping better, my mood is good, my period is not too clotty this week and not as much pain either.

She does think I am perimenopausal, I have a scan booked for Monday after which considering the results she wants to start me on HRT.

Grace212 · 20/02/2019 14:05

I just had a huge sobbing fit and I'm even more convinced it was hormonal

you know when you can tell the difference between emotional and hormonal? I was remembering my dad, but it should have been a twinge, not a full on "sit down and weep painfully for 30 mins" thing. On a non hormonal day, it would have been a twinge.

MrsJayy · 20/02/2019 14:36

Before i got my medication i could switch from normal t o basketcase in a nano second it was horrible since my HRT im so much more level I know some women can't take but it saved me I honestly thought i was losing the plot!

Rade · 20/02/2019 14:43

I remember feeling that my health was going downhill from mid forties onwards though I'm reluctant to blame everything on hormones / periods.

Would you take HRT if they offered it - is that what you were hoping for?
Have you considered the Mirena coil? It completely cleared all my period problems from PMS to heavy bleeding and I had one right through to mid fifties after the menopause.

MrsJayy · 20/02/2019 15:03

My friend took Mirena right into her mid 50s

JinglingHellsBells · 20/02/2019 15:29

The Mirena coil stops heavy bleeding but it won't stop other symptoms and in fact can make them worse as all you are getting is a dose of progestogen- the meno symptoms are due to loss of estrogen. A lot of women find a Mirena plus estrogen is a good combo.

Afternooninthepark · 20/02/2019 19:06

Thanks all. And thanks for all the info jingling. I’ve been advised to have the Mirena due to the reoccurring uterine polyps and the progesterone in it should shrink them. However, I’m really confused about my level of hormones as I’ve been told the reason I have the polyps is due to too much oestrogen, which worries and baffles me as I don’t know why my body would be producing too much, I’m a size 10, exercise a lot, I eat healthy, I don’t drink or smoke etc (ah what a bore!!). I’m concerned about messing about with my hormones as my gp says I’m not in perimenopause he won’t test my levels and yet my gynaecologist says I have too much oestrogen so I’m concerned that if I go on HRT I’ll be overloading my body with too much??!!

OP posts:
lljkk · 20/02/2019 20:01

Why are women never given information about this?

Gosh, that's funny. I feel like I'm drowning in relevant info!
Maybe it's not discussed on Love Island, true.
I guess i mean to say the info is ample out there if you are lurking in some places.

JinglingHellsBells · 20/02/2019 20:07

@Afternooninthepark

I'm afraid i don't rate your GP very well from what you have posted.
How can your GP say you are not in peri when you all the symptoms and are the right age for it? Is he a complete idiot ????

Did your gynae discuss your peri symptoms? He ought to take the lead, not your GP.

Polyps can grow under the influence of estrogen but you can still have HRT even with polyps!

The Mirena works almost solely locally in the womb.
Women who are on HRT can have the Mirena plus estrogen (pill, patch, gel.) Together they make up one type of HRT. The Mirena stops the womb lining growing ( so no bleeding) and the estrogen gives all the good stuff to stop you feeling crap.

I am disappointed and shocked your gynae has not offered you HRT for all your symptoms.

I'd push to see another for a 2nd opinion. Or pay to see a private gynae.