Advice/ experiences please. It's a long one so bear with me (don't like drip feeding)
I've gone into early surgical menopause from
Having BDO - tubes/ ovaries removed in 2018 (also had preventative mastectomy this year).
It took about 3 months for menopause to kick in. My symptoms are total
Utter loss of libido (fortunately have a very understanding hubby), dryness down below, weight gain (2 -3 stone which is nightmare to shift despite lots of exercise and good diet) memory fog (so bad I'd forget sentence half way through, but I now take high dosage b12 and b6 which helps massively with that), very little sleep (4 hours average but I've learnt to cope with that and adjusted) aches and pains in joints (got worse over last 6 months) and hot flushes (not nice but bearable). They were dry flushed to start but recently I find myself getting quite sweaty.
When I first had BSO the surgeon told me that I couldn't have hrt and I'd just have to deal with symptoms (I know others in my position were given hrt straight after op so I guess depends on consultant). Then when I went back to see him
A few months later he offered me progesterone only but wouldn't explain side effects and sent me on my way (I googled side affects, was horrified and never took them). The breast surgeon however said brca women (high risk of cancer) should take hrt. I just had such contradictory advice, I didn't know what to do. I was told hrt would be option after mastectomy.
My Gp was awful and just laughed and told me it was life and to get on with it, so I have.
I am aged to get referral to menopause clinic at hospital and spoke with someone there who went through options and has since offered me oestrogen gel (starting at half a pump a day) and low dosage progesterone (to protect uterus). She phoned today to talk to me about it and I agreed but there's still questions I either forgot to ask or she just can't answer.
I'm yet to start them. She says it's necessary to protect my heart etc but I'm very nervous of side effects. Especially weight gain? Will periods start again? Any advice or experience will be welcome. A friend (not close one, a colleague) takes it and has some awful horror stories but I know that's not case for everyone