Help!! Is this peri?

[MATTSMAMMA]

So - I think this is peri. Age 51 so tearful and anxious which are my maIn symptoms. Still having periods regularly give or take 3 or 4’days a month. I have under active thyroid for which I am being treated and my endo has upped my levothyroxine to see if this helps but thinks ultimately symptoms may be down to peri menopause.

I feel awful - I have 2 amazing dc conceived in between 15 miscarriages and I’d always hoped for a third but it never happened. I keep finding myself overcome with waves of hopelessness and utter sadness and I’m sick of feeling awful. Im sad for the third child that never happened and sad for all my miscarriages which I never had counselling for and in hindsight should have. I’m finding my feelings towards DH changing also. I have issues with family in that my sister has completely cut off any contact with me and has left the care of our mother with Alzheimer’s up to me. She hardly helped before anyway but has not been in touch either me or my mum for 3 years now

Am I depressed or peri or both? My GP said blood tests for menopause are unreliable. Is this true? He recommended cyclical HRT - Really not sure what to do ! Can anyone offer me some advice? Thank you 😊

You've had so much going on in your life.
I'm very sorry for your lost children
Chances are it's more than one thing but if one of them is being perimenopausal, then that won't help.

I had antidepressants for a while and counselling and they were helpful but getting my hormones sorted out was a game changer.
I've heard that NHS don't like doing blood tests because the results can vary but whatever the reason I went private and it was worth it to get it sorted out quickly.

@Willowkins thank you so much for replying. Yes I’m thinking that’s the way to go - down the private route. I’m nervous about my GP prescribing a ‘one size fits all’ without any blood tests or any other investigations if that makes sense. Silly question but would it be a Gynaecologist or an Endocrinologist I’d need to see ? I need to sort something soon as I can’t go on like this as it’s every day

Hi, definitely gynaecologist for peri. Mine was a British Menopause Society Accredited Specialist if that helps (didn't know that at the time, just struck lucky). Incidentally, I'm also hypothyroid and saw endocrinologist for that long ago (stable for 15 years).

Thank you

Yes my hypo ha been stable. I’ve been on 100 much for nearly 13 years but endo said he could see I was hypo just by looking at me and said there was room for a little tweak and raised to
125 much abs to see how I feel after a few weeks. Worried about bone density with this tbh but that’s another issue!

Thank you again

Should say 125 mcg (not abs) !

Blood tests are useless and definitely go private. I did. HRT is a lifesaver. Here are two really informative articles.

i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/teach-me/113666670/perimenopause-lead-up-to-menopause-very-uncomfortable-and-poorly-understood

www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/health/menopause-antidepressants-symptoms-worse-hrt-shortage-a9148951.html%3famp

@Aquamarine1029 thank you for this info. There is so much to learn about the menopause and I have always read negativity about HRT and how it should be avoided because of all the ‘risks’ etc ,so this is helpful. Thank you