Are my symptoms too early to ask for HRT?

[Walkingtheplank]

I have booked an appointment with GP but not sure if I am jumping the gun.

I'm 49 and just 'not right'. My periods are still regular - actually more regular than when I was younger and shorter cycles (used to be c.33 days, now more like 26 days).

My sleep is all over the place. I go through phases of not being able to sleep, usually because I'm stressing about things, or waking up too early.
I am anxious - so when lying in bed I'm stressing about things and when I wake the stress topic of the moment will enter my head before I've even opened my eyes.

I do have a lot of things on at the moment - I am trying to square a circle - but I think my continued anxiety is over the top.

I suspect my GP will put me on anti-depressants as this has been his response to previous problems e.g. when I was struggling to cope with the children when they were younger and I wasn't happy with how I reacted to them - basically blowing up. This was hormonal though as I was far far worse when I had PMT. This has reduced dramatically (or perhaps they are just more independent).

I'm starting a new job soon. I do not want to be a bundle of stress and I need to regulate my sleep. Would HRT help, is the answer the anti-depressants that I am sure the GP will actually want to prescribe, or are we both barking up the wrong tree?

Other possible symptoms are being itchy, having brain fog, being forgetful, definitely being hairier!

Any wise words would be gratefully received.

www.menopausedoctor.co.uk/news/menopause-symptom-sheet

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng23

I was on HRT at 42, your age has little to do with it.

Do not be fobbed off with anti depressants. Quote nice guidelines at you GP and do your research.

You need to have progesterone for your womb and then oestrogen in the form of patches or gel.

Would you consider a mirena coil? This is a great solution with gel but doesn't suit everyone.

Or there's patches with progesterone tablets or even vaginal tablets.

Your shorter, regular periods and waking early/stress in your head before you open your eyes is exactly what I’m suffering.
I’m waiting on a Mirena coil to hopefully fix my periods, and I’m finding no alcohol/cherry juice/ good bedtime routine helps with my sleep.

The anxious feelings were what made me get HRT. I’d never been anxious my whole life.

Get HRT. It works.

I was 45 btw

I got mine at 45 - I was lucky enough to get a GP with an interest in menopause. I did my research and walked in with a list of symptoms that I had all written down. For me it was shorter cycle, anxiety, depression, exhaustion, brain fog, forgetfulness, hot flushes, sore and aching joints. She put me on it without a quibble. I did get put on Prozac for a while too as well, which actually did an amazing job tackling my anxiety to get me to a point where I could actually deal with the day.

I'm 46 and getting my first HRT prescription this week. I had all the same symptoms as you, but what got to me most was the lack of sleep and the anxiety- I just had too many bad days and the good days were far and few between. At first my GP told me that I am too young for HRT and should go on anti-depressants instead, but thanks to this forum and the Davina documentary I had done my research and knew to push back. My GP was very reluctant to prescribe HRT, he said women who still have regular periods should not take it and he recommended that I should try mindfulness and yoga instead (have been doing yoga for 15 years, so that shut him up!). He also seemed to have no idea what kind of HRT to prescribe, so let's see what prescription I come back with today!

Thank you everyone who has replied. I really am quite crippled by anxiety at the moment. If I can resolve that I'll be much happier.

I'm not going near the Mirena coil. I had it in my 20s and fainted whilst it was being inserted, had a year of cramps and then had it removed.

I think my GP is a bit hopeless with hormones/gynaecology based on my own and local friends' experiences bit I don't think he'd argue with me if I proposed the solution myself. I shall have to go well researched.

I really appreciate the responses telling me that what I'm asking for is appropriate as in my anxiety I don't know what's right any more.

Well the bit about not taking it because you still have regular periods is complete bollocks. My GP, sadly now retired, although after two years of locums has now been replaced by another who is good, said on my first appointment that we’d be using it as a pre-emptive strike before things got really bad. I was on femoston tablets at first and she’s just switched me to Evotel 50 patches and Ultrogestan tablets x 2 weeks. Ask to see another GP with more knowledge if you can.

Sadly my GP is the only GP at that surgery so if he can't help I'll have to change surgery.

I like the idea of a 'pre-emptive strike'. I shall add that to my list!

I keep a note of my periods on the 'flo' app so I can see that over the past 43 months my cycle has been getting shorter. It started with a 28 day average and is not c.25 days but with quite some variance - I had a 29 day cycle followed by a 23 days cycle recently. I hadn't quite realised how irregular they were.

I've also downloaded the symptom list linked to by @grandmashotdoodlebugs which is a useful prompt. Some symptoms don't apply at all such as numbness, but there were more symptoms that I could identify with than I realised - so again a really useful list.