Perimenopause or depression

[VinoWitch]

How can you tell the difference? I have had periods of intense anxiety all my life so I recognise that, but I have never really been afflicted by low mood before. The GP gave me sertraline and said that at 43 I'm too young for peri menopause. But I have a real sense of sadness and impending doom hanging over me. I have a lot to be grateful for but am mainly angry, weepy and tired.

Periods have always been irregular but seem to alternate now between being murder scene heavy and a random one last month that was the lightest I've ever had. I have terrible brain fog and lethargy every day. Have always had lots of headaches. No hot flushes though I can get too hot very quickly in warm environments. Blood tests were all normal. I'm not sure where to go

I'm no expert but I will say that starting HRT was the best thing I've done for my mood and anxiety. All physical symptoms of my anxiety have virtually disappeared and my mood is much more stable. Some GPs are too quick to prescribe antidepressants when the cause is actually hormonal. It would definitely be worth seeking a second opinion, I had to try a few times before finding a sympathetic GP - a woman my age funnily enough.

Thank you, I do think I'll need to ask for a woman. It makes me cross that my GP refused to see a connection between low mood and my age and just put it down to my lifestyle (apparently lots of women have "high functioning depression" and isn't it inevitable with work and kids?)

All your symptoms you describe are perimenopause symptoms.

It might be worth filling in a symptom checker and taking ot in next time and asking the GP to refer you to a menopause specialist.

Thank you

Sounds like perimenopause.
I used to be the most chilled out person I know. Now the feeling of doom somedays is almost overwhelming.

It's really reassuring to hear that, though I'm sorry you're suffering!

I have to remind myself it's all in my head. Thankfully I can talk myself down, but anxiety is all very new to me.

That's good that you can do that, I get stuck on worries about the future and "what ifs" and feel like I'm living my life waiting for the inevitable worst case scenarios to happen. It's awful!

Mind you, my anxiety has always been like that. But this low depressive pointless feeling is new

43 is when it hit me like a tonne of bricks in a similar way, I want to a private clinic and have been broght back from the brink and thank my lucky starts every day for HRT. Have subsequently seen female GP who was spectacularly unhelpful, internalised misogyny is alive and well, and the medical profession is no exception. Inform yourself, keep going, it's not you.

If you can afford to get even one appointment with a private clinic and then transfer over to the NHS would recommend highly, if at all possible. Worth going without a holiday for, to get you on the right track. Game changing.

It sounds like I do need to go private which I'll have to save up for. I plan to try the GP one more time (the last GP I saw was male) and then I'll have to find my own way I suppose