Considering HRT

[AlfieGeorge40]

Hello everyone.
I'm 42 and suddenly find myself trawling through menopause threads to try and get as much information as possible.
I am recognising a few symptoms of peri menopause but the one that is bothering me the most is my mood. I have never suffered from any kind of depression or anxiety, I am a strong, confident women and have a successful career, a beautiful family, a wonderful husband and great friends but am noticing an absolute lack of interest and motivation in anything, both work and socially which is just not me.
I have started thinking that I am sick of life, sick of the struggles, sick of people and sick of everything that's going on in the world.

Don't I sound like a happy person :-( which makes me feel like a complete fraud because someone looking into my life would think I have nothing to be unhappy about.

I am considering trying HRT but I have a few questions that I'm hoping you lovely ladies with experience can help with

Should I go private? I'm worried that the NHS route wont look at all of my hormone levels. Do you think the whole experience will be better, more personal to my individual needs? I also want testosterone because I have literally zero libido and don't think I can get this on the NHS. Any private recommendations, I'm in Yorkshire but happy to travel.

Will I struggle with taking hormones? I couldn't take the usual pill when I was younger, caused migraines. I was switched to the mini progesterone only pill and this caused severe acne and I ended up having to take Accutane. Any similar experiences?

My periods aren't so bad ATM, getting a bit irregular and some very slight spotting in between but suffering with ovulation pain, its a killer! will HRT help with this?

Sorry for the massively long post, any advice will be very appreciated x

www.bloodpressureuk.org/news/news/blood-pressure-the-menopause-and-hrt-.html

No advice at all @AlfieGeorge40 but just wanted to say I'm feeling exactly the same.

I'm 40 and have quite a few symptoms but it's the rage/low mood/tearfulness I'm really struggling with.

I'm normally such a happy bubbly person and I suddenly don't recognise myself. I've got a great life too although I've been through a lot (that would be a whole other post!!), I've never once suffered from depression or stress.

I feel like this has hit me out of nowhere in the last 2 weeks (in hindsight it's been much longer and gradual) but then BAM it's a million times worse than ever.

I've been to my gp for an initial blood test but it's only testing fsh so don't think it will tell them much. I've then to get it repeated in 6 weeks and the thought of feeling like this for another 6 weeks is really getting me down. I done a post earlier on how it's impacting my relationship!

I'm also thinking of going private to speed things up but I'm in Scotland.

You’re both a bit young. I’ve just been through the menopause and I’m nearly 52. Not saying it’s not but could be other mood related reasons such as depression on it’s own.

IT’s symptoms not blood tests now (in England anyway) that count and you should according to Nice guidelines be entitled to try HRT though with many GPs it’s still hit and miss. There is no hard and fast rule and you have to try different tablets/pills/patches to see what works for you. Do some homework first, it really helps if you know what to ask for. Zero libido is the only reason GPS can prescribe testosterone at the moment and I’m not sure if it’s everywhere yet. A year ago there were definitely some areas it wasn’t permitted. Really though you need to get your oestrogen levels sorted before you look at testosterone I believe.

It may be different so I'll try not to hijack @AlfieGeorge40 thread.

In Scotland over 45 there are no blood tests and they go on symptoms alone.
Age 40-45 they do blood tests - gp is testing FSH but also thyroid etc

To be fair I seem to be fortunate and my GP is willing to discuss HRT (based on our previous discussions of my symptoms - I have quite a lot of typical peri issues that I didn't list in my post as the mood is the one I'm really really struggling with) but wants to rule out anything else first