Was I brushed off?

[ThisNoisyTealLurker]

I’m 45 and have been having heavier periods (shorter duration), low sex drive, sleep problems, very low mood for no reason and just feeling different and not myself. I saw a dr a couple of months ago who suggested I may be approaching the start of menopause. She gave me info on hrt and suggested I go think about it. So I have and decided to give hrt a go. I saw a different female dr who basically said all my symptoms could be due to being in sertraline or possibly being anaemic. She said there’s no blood test to test for perimenopause but has ordered blood tests anyway. I just felt like she didn’t want to know about the perimenopause stuff. I’m considering making an appointment with the original dr but wondered if this is a common thing to be brushed off or is she right to look at different causes first?

Go back to the original doctor.

It is worth having blood tests to check you aren't anaemic, which may well be what second doctor has done.

It's good to make sure there isn't anything else going on - if you are anaemic for example, HRT won't make any difference to your symptoms.

She's right to look at different causes.

The symptoms I assumed were down to perimenopause were actually a very underactive thyroid.

If you are 45, NICE says no blood tests- go by symptoms.

You don't need blood tests. They waste resources and also your time.
If drs are doing this, they are going against guidance.

At 45, if you have peri symptoms, NICE says the first route is HRT.

Your GP should have prescribed you 3 months of it and then you'd have a review. if the symptoms don't improve, your HRT would be tweaked. If after 6 months you still felt unwell, they could do more blood tests.

You could also consider whether you need ADs because a LOT of women start using these when they really need HRT (lots of evidence online from menopause drs on this- it's not my opinion I'm posting.)

Funnily enough I actually went to the first dr because the antidepressants I was on at the time didn’t seem to be helping and she suggested it could be the onset of ‘the change’ it was something that just hadn’t occurred to me!
I’ll see whether the bloods come back with anything but in the meantime I’ll make an appointment with the first Dr and see what she thinks.
My mum had a terrible time around my age with hormonal changes and I really don’t want to, or think I should have to go through the same.

Thanks x