Anyone else just UTTERLY EFFING SICK of peri?

[RipeApples]

I know there are plenty of you cos i see your threads but my GOD I am so over this shite. Not only the symptoms in the first place but the apparent need to just play it by ear as though we can just afford mentally and physically to just bob along with sometimes debilitating symptoms. Oh you think you're peri? Let's wait and see how those symptoms play out. Oh you are peri, try this gel. Oh that's not worked, let's wait and see. Oh that's too high a dose, oh let's reduce it. Oh you don't seem to be able to do your job which you've been very successful in doing for the last 25 years? Oh your symptoms are back. oh oh fucking OH.

I'm obviously in a foul mood over it as i'm ranting but even on my 'good' days (around 4 a month honestly for the last year or so- been on HRT for 18 months) I'm still agog that this is something which, to varying degrees, women will experience and we're left at the hands of uneducated GPs, having to scrape money together if need to go private to get someone to listen and even THEN the whole regime is just seemingly pot fucking luck.

I really hope I'm one of those who eventually finds my magic combination of dose, brand and delivery method but there are so many variables, alongside the changing symptoms as we age, that I really can't see it ever happening. And then seeing the thread yesterday (?) about women who are still not post menopause in their mid and even late 50s put the fear of God in me. I'm 46, around 3 years into Peri - How do you just accept you've got to suck it up? I'm so angry about the whole thing on top of being angry cos i'm permanently seemingly pre menstural. There's not even anyone i can complain to about it and that's winding me up too.

Rant over. If you've got this far, thanks for being on the receiving end. I do have friends of peri age but it seems they are all doing fine and aren't struggling like I am and if mention menopause at work, my colleagues visibly shrink away- and frankly my dh and dcs are sick of me going on about it and reading this thread back, I can see why;)

My brain fog also makes me feel totally disconnected from everything and real life it’s hard to explain 😐

I can't see that you've said what HRT you were on and how long you tried it for @RipeApples ?

Yep I get what you describe! Like ‘spaced’ from what’s going on around you, even walking down a street! x

Oh God, I'm with you all too. Utterly sick to the back teeth of it all. One friend with money sees a private menopause specialist and that sounds like the best option by far, at least she's listened to. I'm nearly 52, have had the Mirena coil for years and have been on HRT patches for about 4 months. They're not brilliant at all but I can't afford the endless time/admin /appointments/private specialist and am just sort of bobbing along feeling my mood get lower and lower, my fuse get ever shorter, and just totally fed up of the whole damn thing.

I have the driest eyes imaginable too! Itchy and sore - escalated to an infection last week, now back to just the standard irritation.

Some of these posts have made me laugh so hard. At least some of you have your sense of humour, mine seems to be wearing very thin atm.

tubetrain I'm currently on

3 pumps estrogel (4 pumps for the progesterone 14 days as I'm having even worse anxiety during those days of my cycle)

3 utrogestan x 14 days

1/8 sachet testogel per day.

Been in the Estrogen and Utrogestan since Oct 23, and Testosterone for about 8 months.

Given I'm at the very top end of all 3 hrts, and I'm suffering I'm wondering if some of my note symptoms are side effects of any of the above.

fitzfuckitall I know exactly what you mean! I feel like my brain fog puts me in some kind of parallel universe where I'm here but I'm also feeling totally "not here". I get very woozy, or maybe light headed is a better description with it sometimes and feel like I'm floating through the day. Not in a good way!

I hate the fooking gel for that very reason, plus I don't absorb it well . I'm in Scotland and it's brutal in winter, so they can shove the flippin' gel. I couldn't give a monkey's chuff if it is 'the gold standard'.

@SebastianFlytesTrousers I didn't get on with the gel either, I was encouraged to try it because of the problems getting patches a couple of years ago, I'm allergic to the glue on Evorel so can only have Estradot and they were like hen's teeth. So the GP encouraged me to try the gel and I was just awful on it, symptoms back almost straight away and the only thing I can think is that I just didn't absorb it in the same way. Much more stable on the patches - I think this is one of those things which really is individual and it's a matter of trial and error finding out what suits you.

Agree that I didn't like the faff of the gel, it is sticky and takes its time to dry, you can't go swimming or use sun cream within 2 hours or whatever, and it's not nearly as easy as sticking a patch on. Plus all the plastic containers.

Yes totally that’s what it’s like - hard to focus in on anything.

@Insidenumber09 @Fitzfuckitall yes!! I'm walking around in a daze all the time and have done for the last two years. I feel like I'm on a completely different planet. I can't focus on anything else. I can't take in what anyone is saying to me and was getting so scared that there was something wrong with my brain. I had a CT scan and all came back fine. I don't feel fine though... I feel completely detached from reality 😔👎🏽

I was at the doctors this morning to discuss my symptoms (booked 4 weeks ago 🙄).

they are booking me in for bloods for the brain fog? and if I have mid-cycle bleeding this month I have to book in for an internal examination and swabs to rule out other factors 🤷‍♀️

if anything comes from the brain fog test results I will report back - could be deficient in something I guess? I dunno but like you I have felt this way since my little boy was born 2 years agoso a long time - initially thought it was postpartum brain fog (but I think that ship has sailed now lol!) so I don’t know but I’m definitely not myself. Things just happen around me and noises take over and I can’t switch “on” and I don’t feel present 😵‍💫

@butterflysandrobins I feel awful hearing so many other people are going through this but equally I can't tell you the relief it brings knowing I'm not going mad. I'm so glad I started this thread! This brain fog / detached from reality / spaced out feeling is freaking me out. At least I know it's probably just the peri now.

@Insidenumber09 I did have low ferritin on my bloods (and folic acid) and I thought thank God I can take the ferritin supplement and this fog will lift. Unfortunately not. I hope you have more luck with your blood showing something they can help with

@RipeApples you're definitely not alone. I can honestly say Perimenopause is ruining my life right now. I'm on Everol sequi patches and the progesterone makes me feel even worse. My anxiety and panic attacks have been so bad that I've ended up in A&E twice thinking I was dying. I live on the edge of panic every single day and have literally no energy to do any form of exercise.
My heart palpitations are horrendous and I think my blood pressure is now being affected. I was never taught about menopause because my mum sailed through it with no symptoms

Ps. I'm 45 and thought of feeling like this for many more years scares the crap out of me you

Don't know why I wrote you at the end lol
See my brain is mashed 😂

Another weetabix / crisp here! Dry, scaly, sore itchy eyes and ears and scalp, and now a rash under my boobs which just will not go. High blood pressure, awful digestive issues, neck / back ache which has flared up after many years of no issues, bladder problems. Currently awaiting 2 hospital appts. And just starting with the night sweats which I thought I had escaped. Oh and the vertigo, that's a nice addition - that one actually has me praying for someone to put me out of my misery when that flares up.

I went to a private meno specialist. She prescribed a regime of HRT (nothing outlandish) which my doctor refused to put me on due to the high BP, and that my periods hadn't actually stopped. So now I either have to go back to the specialist and ask her to recommend something else, or make yet another GP appt and watch them ignore the advice I paid £250 for. I tried HRT about 2 years ago, but my GP was useless and I basically had to do the research myself and ask for exactly what I wanted, which didn't end up suiting me. Hence the private appt....and round and round we go.

I am struggling at work as I'm either in some kind of pain/discomfort of one kind or another or a complete space cadet, struggling with my relationship with DH (who is sympathetic but I imagine wishing he'd married someone his own age, he's several years younger than me), no energy to exercise which I know would make me feel better if I could bring myself to do it - I just want to hide under a blanket and sleep and cry FOREVER.

I will report back if I get any answers-bloods not booked in for another week though.

i am getting off lightly so far though compared to some on this thread - dreading what else will come along..

much respect to other lost/unconnected/crispy people x

Completely agree, I have just come back from a meeting at work where we have all agreed I am still not well enough for work.

It is the waiting that I find frustrating. Three months to see if this is the right dose of HRT, 4 weeks to see if this antidepressant will help. Give it another week, just so frustrating xx

@lorisparkle sorry to hear you're going through that. Is it the menopause symptoms or the HRT side effects causing you not to be able to work? Are your workplace supportive?

I am medicated for high BP.

My GP prescribed HRT once I asked for it. Just have to provide a BP reading upon HRT meds review once per year. No problem 🙂

I would work towards getting your BP sorted through meds or lifestyle changes or both and then ask for HRT. Good luck!

Does it get better? 56 here....no periods for 6 years. Not on HRT. Been an absolute mess for 8 years. Miserable as fuck , but the worst thing for me is the full on brain fog, and the procrastination. I'm seemingly totally incapable of doing my job, which I've been doing very well at for 30 odd years. I just need to know if I'm EVER going to get back to normal 😕

My message was in response to this post, but it didn't attach to my original post above. See...I'm fucking shite 🤣

The weirdest symptom for me is that I can't stand hair on the back of my neck anymore so its permanently up in a pony tail, especially at night but it does seem to help with the nighttime heat!

@RipeApples I really don't know. My anxiety is terrible, terrible intrusive thoughts, not sleeping, exhausted, I have imposter syndrome, I struggle with driving, brain fog. I wish someone could tell me what is causing all of this and what I need to do to feel better.