Please help, really upset.

[Wtaf5691]

Short summary:
39
Have so many symptoms which lead me to think am perimenopausal. My hormones dictate my life. Can go from being totally fine and nothing bothers me to suicidal depending on where I am in my cycle.

Spoke to the GP almost a year ago "you're depressed, here's some ADs" said no, I'm not depressed, "it's Covid, you need ADs," explained again I'm not depressed and it is my hormones which dictate everything.

Paid hundreds of pounds to the Newson Health clinic, on the appointment the dr said I am v likely perimenopausal and need HRT but want to do blood tests too. Fine.

Just got a short paragraph through saying my thyroid is low and cholesterol low and once both of those are sorted if I still have symptoms come back to them?! Wtf.

I've replied and said this is not what I understood was going to happen and that why can't I get HRT while still reviewing my thyroid meds etc with the dr? Have been on Levothyroxine for almost a decade.

I feel so upset. No one is listening!! Maybe I'm over reacting but I tick every box for symptoms and get my thyroid checked by the GP every year and I just can't believe that I've paid literally hundreds of pounds to be back to square one. I'm so upset.

Aw I'm sorry. Sounds very frustrating. I would imagine that there is caution because of your age. If thyroid is low then does that mean your meds need adjusting? Sounds like private clinic are willing to reassess but want other issues resolved first. Would you be able to go to GP with this recommendation? Perhaps a different GP?

Thank you, frustrating is the exact word!

Yes, I can try and get an appointment with a different GP - it's very much a 5 mins and out type of of place.

Right, at 42 I was in the same boat. I didn't go to wotsername Newson's clinic, but I did have to change ordinary GP.

Print off the NICE guidelines around menopause and HRT. They state very clearly that you shouldn't be offered ADs for menopausal symptoms. I got offered those too. I then got told that due to a blood disorder, the side effect of HRT for me would be 'death'. One of the GPs I saw there over 3 years said I didn't need a blood test to see if I was menopausal (FSH), because it was indicated by my age. I asked her to google it in front of me, she did, and there it was - anyone under 42 should be tested if they had the menopausal symptoms that I had.

I took my furious self to a new GP straight away - came out of the surgery and went straight round to a new one. Saw him 2 days later, went through the tick list for menopause, he agreed that I should have HRT. He very gently told me to put the NICE guidelines I was flapping at him, away, that he 'got it'. Lovely man.

Had to see a consultant due to blood thing, but the first thing she said to me when I walked in, before I even sat down, was "You can have HRT, now breath out"

Keep at it, change drs until you get what you want - get the NICE guidelines, highlight them, be absolutely certain what you want.

Changed my life!

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

Right, at 42 I was in the same boat. I didn't go to wotsername Newson's clinic, but I did have to change ordinary GP.

Print off the NICE guidelines around menopause and HRT. They state very clearly that you shouldn't be offered ADs for menopausal symptoms. I got offered those too. I then got told that due to a blood disorder, the side effect of HRT for me would be 'death'. One of the GPs I saw there over 3 years said I didn't need a blood test to see if I was menopausal (FSH), because it was indicated by my age. I asked her to google it in front of me, she did, and there it was - anyone under 42 should be tested if they had the menopausal symptoms that I had.

I took my furious self to a new GP straight away - came out of the surgery and went straight round to a new one. Saw him 2 days later, went through the tick list for menopause, he agreed that I should have HRT. He very gently told me to put the NICE guidelines I was flapping at him, away, that he 'got it'. Lovely man.

Had to see a consultant due to blood thing, but the first thing she said to me when I walked in, before I even sat down, was "You can have HRT, now breath out"

Keep at it, change drs until you get what you want - get the NICE guidelines, highlight them, be absolutely certain what you want.

Changed my life!

Thank you for giving me some hope!

I will try changing doctors. The dr even said on the phone that the levels of hormones fluctuate so much they don't tell you anything?!

I'm so pissed off. Thank you for giving me a bit of hope again!

OP's cholesterol is too low?

Sorry it's elevated, too much of a flap to check my typing.

I have several different doctors at my practice. I'm on another new one. They seem to come and go these days but she's much better at explaining and listening than the last one. Keep going and we'll get there. Shouldn't be this hard but there is hope.

Thank you so much! It's so kind of you to reply and be supportive, I really appreciate it.

I can't have HRT 😭

Anyway I now take Taurine, magnesium, Vit B6 and it's definitely helped. I would recommend whilst battling out with the GP.

@RandomMess 😭

Thank you, I will look at those and possibly order them just now as need to get magnesium anyway and any thing is worth a try at this point!

The best thing is natural not synthetic oestrogen but I don't know if you can get it here and anyway it's £££££

@Wtaf5691 Why not phone the Newson Clinic and speak to the dr who you had your appt with?

I understand your frustration but in theory they are doing the right thing. They have not said you can't have HRT. All they are doing is making sure your thyroid isn't adding to your problems, first, and want you to get the right dose for it.

Instead of going back to your GP or another one, your next step is to call the Newson clinic. You ought to be entitled to a follow up call as part of your first appt.

Tell them exactly how you feel and ask them why they can't prescribe hrt now, and ask how long it may take before they can.

Unless you speak to them you aren't giving them a chance to explain the process they have in mind, and it's been a waste of your money.

Presumably they did other tests like your FSH levels to be sure this was early menopause?

@RandomMess 90% of hrt now used here is natural, (called body-identical) and has been available for at least 15 years. I've used it for many years and it's available on the nhs.

Thank you @JinglingHellsBells, I'll do that - I emailed them last night to say that as far as I understood the plan was to get started on HRT regardless of what the test results were which is why I was so upset last night. But I will do that. Yes, they tested loads of things, but the way I understood it on the phone is that you're hormones fluctuate so much so that even if the test comes back as fine, it won't indicate there's an issue anyway? FSH is showing as normal range?

@JinglingHellsBells that's good to know but then makes me more upset that I'm not allowed it

Sorry just reading it again, oestradiol is normal, is that FSH? I can't actually see a result labelled FSH specifically, they tested for so much I assumed it was in there and normal as only the things above are out of whack, but can't actually see that on the list.

@Wtaf5691

Thank you *@JinglingHellsBells*, I'll do that - I emailed them last night to say that as far as I understood the plan was to get started on HRT regardless of what the test results were which is why I was so upset last night. But I will do that. Yes, they tested loads of things, but the way I understood it on the phone is that you're hormones fluctuate so much so that even if the test comes back as fine, it won't indicate there's an issue anyway? FSH is showing as normal range?

Ask for a short follow up call following the email results they sent you. It's much better to talk so they can hear your voice.

FSH has to be done on days 2-5 of your cycle and over 2 months. If a woman is very much post menopause the results are more accurate but in peri they can be inaccurate.

Just make sure you get across how upset you are and hoped you'd not have to wait for hrt.

[quote RandomMess]@JinglingHellsBells that's good to know but then makes me more upset that I'm not allowed it [/quote]
Why are you not allowed it? I'm just wondering if you have been mislead as there are so many cases of women being denied hrt for mistaken reasons. The 'rule' is that unless you have had a recent blood clot or heart attack, recent (certain types) of breast cancer, a very very strong family history of it, there is no reason not to use it.

Had a stroke and there is unsurprisingly no research for taking HRT whilst on blood thinners.

Seems mad though if HRT is just return your hormones to normal levels using natural rather product then why should it matter? For all they know it's the dropping off of hormones that caused my blood to get sticky?

Thank you @JinglingHellsBells

Hi OP. I sympathise since I started to have peri menopause symptoms at a similar age (40) and I have now been on HRT for a couple of years. Im 46.

However, you do need to let them rule everything else out first. The last thing you want is to find that you go onto the HRT too early and then you have issues (or can't take the hormones later when your body is really crying out for them). Doctors are being careful since there is a rising trend in self diagnosis and for a desire for beauty hormones (aka middle aged women wanting the aesthetic benefits of HRT). In addition there are supply issues still with various forms of HRT.

I think you need to sit tight. If your levels are currently within normal range then HRT isn't likely to be the answer at the moment. I'd be asking for them to be tested a few times to check they definitely are normal. If they are normal then isn't it a good thing that the doctors are trying to find out what the medical problem actually is?

@RandomMess

Had a stroke and there is unsurprisingly no research for taking HRT whilst on blood thinners.

Seems mad though if HRT is just return your hormones to normal levels using natural rather product then why should it matter? For all they know it's the dropping off of hormones that caused my blood to get sticky?

I think @RandomMess that most menopause specialists would allow you to use hrt.

Transdermal hrt (patches or gel) are shown in all the research not to increase the risk of stroke above your own base rate.
I doubt any GP would allow it however.

Most women now are offered transdermal hrt anyway- the drive is to get women off tablet form where possible.

It has also been shown in several research trials that estrogen improves the arteries and reduces plaque ( cause of strokes) by 50%.

Are you able to fund a private appt with a specialist? Roughly around £300.

@HasaDigaEebowai

Hi OP. I sympathise since I started to have peri menopause symptoms at a similar age (40) and I have now been on HRT for a couple of years. Im 46.

However, you do need to let them rule everything else out first. The last thing you want is to find that you go onto the HRT too early and then you have issues (or can't take the hormones later when your body is really crying out for them). Doctors are being careful since there is a rising trend in self diagnosis and for a desire for beauty hormones (aka middle aged women wanting the aesthetic benefits of HRT). In addition there are supply issues still with various forms of HRT.

I think you need to sit tight. If your levels are currently within normal range then HRT isn't likely to be the answer at the moment. I'd be asking for them to be tested a few times to check they definitely are normal. If they are normal then isn't it a good thing that the doctors are trying to find out what the medical problem actually is?

Can't see any evidence that women are asking for hrt for 'vanity reasons'. Most women I know (of) are desperate for sleep or an end to flushes and mood swings. The only rising trend is for women to ask for treatment for these,

The NICE guidance is to prescribe on the basis of symptoms in women under 45.

In women under 45, they suggest ruling out other conditions that may give rise to menopause symptoms. Thyroid is one.

In peri menopause, hormones are all over the place. One day they may be normal, the next low or high. The only relevant one is FSH done over 2 months but as the OP has all the symptoms of menopause, the usual way forward is to try HRT and if it works, that's the answer.

I suspect you know more about it than me jingling. My experience is really limited to my own situation. But there is definitely a trend in wanting it for vanity reasons, particularly as the information changes about the risks of taking it. I only have to look around my own peers to see it and hear discussions being had about it.

I don't know what 'vanity reasons' are :) Enlighten me?!
What are your friends hoping to achieve?

No GP will give them HRT unless they have symptoms affecting quality of life.

@JinglingHellsBells I could, at the moment it's hard to know what is stroke recovery and what is peri so no rush tbh.

The specialist GP did research properly it wasn't a flat at no. It doesn't help that I had womb ablation so it's harder to track if I am having a period or just spotting. I had months of spotting again that then stopped when I had my first AZ vaccine so again may as well wait until I've had the 2nd one.

Worst symptoms are insomnia but I've never been a fear sleeper and always had severe PMT.

Urgh it's just a mess and complicated!