Wrongly diagnosed with psychological issues/depression instead of being offered support with peri menopause

[Imhappynotsad]

I’m so angry. I’ve been having what I’m sure is perimenopause symptoms for nearly 3 years now (I’m 46)

I have always been happy ! Enjoyed my life ! No MH issues whatsoever, I’ve been seen multiple times by my gp and a few times at an and e (severe Period bleeding and passing out) . I’m anaemic.

I have been having regular periods but much shorter cycles and heavier bleeding 24-26 days when used to be 30-32 day cycles and light.

Im obviously knackered , I’ve had to significantly cut down my hours at work because of physical issues and the sheer exhaustion. I’ve now been told that it’s all psychological and the screening tools are showing moderate depression??? Therefor as I’m refusing medication for that and a referral they can’t who me any more . I’m not depressed !!! I’m going to have to find a new gp surgery I think

Op see this is the problem I had at one time. I have a chronic health condition, I spoke to one GP and because I was tired rundown and not coping they tried to diagnosis me with depression and given antidepressants. No I was just ill and needed help with pain, I went to my normal doctor and she agreed I didn't need antidepressants and just help with my medical condition.

Once I had the actual help I needed and felt better I was fine.

Those results are LOW!
Clearly the supplements you have been taking are doing absolutely zero to correct this.

you need to look at alternatives and that is highly likely to mean privately.

Your periods are draining the actual life out of you. The coil, tranexamix acid.. whatever, your periods need addressing.

Blood tests are not accurate during perimenopause as your hormones are fluctuating wildly. Over the age of 45 you should be prescribed HRT based on symptoms, no blood test required.

If ferrous fumerate isn't getting your level above 13 I'd say that's a big part of your problem. When my level was 13 I felt absolutely dreadful. Sounds like you need to stop the bleeding, but HRT isn't great for that unless you have a Mirena.

As an aside, I have actually found antidepressants very helpful for perimenopause symptoms. They help me sleep, they stop hot flushes, they give me more motivation.

The gp said my levels aren’t low enough to enable them to look at any other type of treatment so I needed to buy myself some spatone and eat more foods with iron and vitamin c (I do already!) and to just repeat bloods in 3 months as I’ve declined antidepressants and referral for MH so there’s no more they can do except monitor the anaemia

But antidepressants are a sticking plaster over the actual problem are they not?

How much better would people feel if the actual problem was identified and dealt with appropriately?
I worry about the medication after medication given out when the original problem still exists.

I despair.

At those levels I felt like death.

It doesn't matter how much iron you swallow, if you still have very heavy periods then it's like trying to fill a bath when you haven't put the plug in.

You will never stop being anaemic until something is done about your periods.

This… i despair.

I'm angry on your behalf but not surprised- women's health care with GPs is shockingly bad.

I advise you learn as much as you can about it yourself. Join Facebook groups, research peri and menhorragia. Research iron levels. Spatone is good (especially the apple flavoured one as it is complete with vitamin C which aids absorption- iron is notoriously hard to absorb) but I bet your GP didn't talk quantity, did they? One sachet contains 1/3 of the recommended daily iron intake so you need 3 a day just to supplement at maintanence dose for an average person (ie not a woman who is experiencing heavy bleeds, not for one who is already depleted and needs to reload). Iron tablets can make you horribly constipated, and are poorly absorbed, and fe/hb blood tests aren't great at identifying low iron, because the blood is the last place it will show up. If your bloods show you are slightly low it could mean your reserves are severely depleted but your body is just about getting by enough to keep what's in your blood normalish. My suggestion is to both supplement and eat an iron + vit C rich diet (lean red meat and as many leafy greens as you can stomach) as standard from now on.

B12 and vit D are both important ones to supplement well and can both help improve the tiredness and brain fog.

As others have said and in a similar way to the iron, peri can't really be blood tested for. The definitive blood test result for menopause is (something) hormone at under (something) value for two tests 6 months apart - which is essentially that your body has completely stopped cycling, but there can be many years of perimenopause and hormones all over the place until then.

GPs don't tend to know these things in my experience.

There are more natural ways to regulate heavy bleeding than the pill or coil, (which both have down sides) if you want to. Menhorragia and dysmenorrhoea Facebook group is helpful, as is Dr Lara Briden's work.

My TLDR version is ginger tablets during the bleed (ibuprofen can help too, as can traxanemic acid), and eating 2tbsp ground flaxseed daily along with edamame beans or tofu 3 x week - phytoestrogens help regulate a dysregulated oestrogen cycle, which is the most likely cause of your heavy bleeds.

Finally I also strongly recommend finding a good herbalist to work with, one who is trained professionally in TCM (chinese medicine) and women's repro health. My Herbalist has been worth 10× what my "women's specialist" GP was.

You know its the menopause, you do not need the GP to confirm it for you. You need to start sorting out your symptoms.
Take a look here for more info on the menopause: https://www.balance-menopause.com/
And here for advice on sorting out your iron:

If you decide you need HRT you are going to need to argue your corner. As a rule Gp's know nothing about menopause and have no idea how to help, so you are going to have to do your own research. It is a ridiculous situation, but this is where you are.
I hope you get the help you need.

Your ferritin is shockingly low. No wonder you feel awful. Have you funds for an iron infusion? I went to the Iron Clinic on Harley St who were great. Best £700 I've spent in a long time.

So is your hb. That should be 120-150.

I’d be sorting out your menorrhagia before giving you oestrogen, personally.

Your GP is shocking, have you not even been given Tranexamic acid to reduce your bleeding 😳

Floradix is better than Spatone to get your iron levels improved quickly.

Time to move surgeries I think

OP I'm 45. A year ago my gp got my bloods tested and my ferritin was 16.

I was neatly fainting at work. My GP was horrified.

The bloods said 'VERY LOW FERRITIN INVESTIGATE CAUSE and put treatment in place'. This was written my my local hospital.

13 is horrifically low!!!!