Advice please - how do I know if it's menopause

[Anonymouse27]

Please advise me.
I'm 50, for the last few years, I have been bothered by severe brain fog and fatigue which interferes with my work/ quality of life. Every so often I go to the GP about this and they find some thing wrong. So fa4 low thyroid, low but D, low folate. Each time they prescribe something and there is some improvement but never back to baseline.

Since November, it has got worse and also severe joint pain and stiffness. I was practically bed bound and have been gradually improving over the last couple weeks. I hav3 been off work since Dec. I wanted to try anything at all to help me.

Today I collected my HRT and the thing is, I feel much better. The stiffness has almost gone and I feel I can return to work soon.

Sorry for long post. Short version: do menopause symptoms come and go like this or is it likely to be unrelated and no need for HRT?

Thanks for any advice

It's hard to tell - so many menopause symptoms can also be the symptoms of other conditions - hot flushes and night sweats tend to be the symptoms doctors look for not because they're the main symptoms but because unlike the others they aren't characteristic of anything else!

One clue, if you're still having periods, is whether your symptoms vary across the month. Other than that sometimes it's a case of trying HRT and seeing if that helps - though even in that case it can be tricky to know whether you're getting the right dose/means of delivery to have an effect.

Menopause symptoms do come and go. I would be amazed if you weren't perimenopausal at 50! I'm 45 and have had great success with HRT, there are long term health benefits to taking it too

I'd say they are all classic signs of reducing oestrogen - brain fog, tiredness, joint stiffness - all classic. So yes, to me this is peri and maybe going into actual meno.

I'm exactly the same as you. No hot flushes, but did get anxiety, tiredness, poor sleep and periods started becoming spaced out by months. I did eight years of that before starting HRT, for the anxiety about being a passenger in a car. And hip pain. I've always been slim and fit. Anyway the HRT sorted it but now I bleed once a month, so back to that.

Symptoms defo come and go. A year ago my hair loss was ridiculous then 6 months later it was much better. But, at 50 I would say it's highly likely that HRT will be of huge benefit to you. It's totally sorted my hip pain and brain fog is hugely improved. Also have so much more energy! Stick with it!

Thanks. I will definitely give it a go. I have a question about when to start it and will start new thread.