Hello I hope someone can advise me. I'll try to make it as succinct as possible. I'm 44, my mum had quite an early menopause. I now see that I have been having symptoms for about 3 years. Only about 4 periods in that time, along with various other symptoms (tearful, angry, hair loss etc). I have been to various gynaecologists who have been unable to find a reason for my erratic periods (menopause did not occur to me either). In the end I was prescribed anti depressants (sertraline) which did lift my mood but I felt strangely detached and was tireder than before and lost any motivation I had left to do anything. During all of this period I was living in Istanbul (partner's work)
In August we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria and around that time I started to have strange sensations in my breasts as if I had mastitis, so I went to a another gynecologist and had a mammogram and blood tests. Breasts are fine blood tests revealed by low estrogen and Dr (via WhatsApp) said all the tests show I'm in 'climacterium' I'm not sure if this means peri or menopause. As a result I started googling etc and discovered the Newson health podcasts and website. I contacted the Dr again with the intention of discussing hrt options but was just told to take trisequens if I want to and let her know if my period starts. I said I was more concerned about the long term health risks etc could we discuss, no reply. I did start taking trisequens and I have actually felt a lot better despite the fact that I have almost completely stopped the anti depressants. (Currently down to 25mg a day).
Today I tried another Dr and had a very frustrating time. Main points from her- trisequens is the right thing to take - wouldn't explain to me what was in the different coloured pills (don't worry about what it is just take them and wait for your period to return) - hrt is a bad idea as too early aged 44 and all the risks cancer etc. I just couldn't get through to her and ended up saying ok and leaving.
My main questions/annoyances
I'm angry that any Dr would dismiss a patient's interest in what the medication it.
As far as I understand it would be a withdrawal bleed not a period?
The 'risks' are in fact not correct.
The only way forward as far as I see is to self diagnose myself with hrt (up to now I've been able to get any medication over the counter without prescription-apparantly standard in Bulgaria)
What are the most common type of patches/gel I think I will just have to try some.(and stop trisequens which is a contraceptive pill)
My last period was for 10 days at the start of July. Prior to that it was the previous October.
Thank you for reading this huge post, I just don't know where to turn now. I hope some of you who are better informed than me can correct any misconceptions I have and offer advice.