Well this is fun...

[DarkForces]

Mid 40s and wide awake at stupid o'clock, every time I try to fall asleep I boil in my bones, meanwhile dh snores beside me. I'm exhausted and fall asleep every time I sit on the sofa then wake up boiling, then try to sleep in bed and the whole bloody cycle starts again. By day I'm ok so I get too absorbed in work to remember to call my gp during the 5 seconds they release appointments. I'm too young for this shit. After years of endometriosis I had an ablation and coil and 5 years off and now I'm back at the mercy of my fecking hormones again.
Arghhhhh!!!!

Sympathy. Call the doctor.

I'm up sat in the front of a fan set on high, eating ice lollies absolutely boiling. Every bloody night without fail it happens, it's rubbish x

It is rubbish. Bloody bloody hormonal nonsense. I just want to switch it all off. How can dh be sleeping? I'm coming back as a man 😡

Oh and when I pull the covers down I'm fecking freezing.
Ive ordered some supplements to hopefully tide me over until I can see my gp

Hideous, isn’t it? You need to call the GP. Set yourself reminders. HRT is a game-changer.

Meanwhile, try timing the hot flushes. They feel like they go on for hours, but I found that mine tended to last less than 3 minutes, and then took about as long again to fade away. When I get a flush I try to remember that I will only feel like this for another few minutes, rather than fret about how dreadful and out of control I am feeling. A bit like a contraction: horrible while it’s going on, but knowing that it will end soon helps to tolerate it. It doesn’t change the facts, you still get the bastard hot flush, it just changes how overwhelming they are. I said ‘get’ BTW because I still get the occasional flush, though not nearly as intensely nor as frequently as before HRT.

Thanks all. Managed about another hour and have woken up to find I have swallowed the sun 😭

Mine started at 42, and they refused to test me for menopause so by 49 I was having virtually no sleep and desperately begged for something as I was in so much pain I couldn't walk up the stairs at the end of the day. Turns out I had osteoporosis by then. He gave me HRT that first day and after putting the first patch on, I had 2 'hot flushes' and have never had one again.

Get yourself to the doctor as soon as you can. I had to show him my Fitbit sleep stats to persuade him I wasn't lying.

I know they don't make it easy to get an appointment but honestly HRT is such a game changer it's worth the humongous effort! Make sure you ask whether your surgery has a menopause specialist dr or nurse and if they do book with them and only them, it makes a world of difference when you see someone who actually has a clue about menopause/hrt.

My knees are feeling weak. I was blaming my weight loss as assumed I've lost too much muscle but now you're making me think. I'm going to schedule gp calls until I get an appointment. You've spurred me on!

Another one for HRT. 👍 Its really helped me. I still get the occasional flush but a lot less and the night sweats have completely gone.

I'm on the copper coil so when I have a period its like the bloody red sea, which at my time of life (age 46) is very annoying! But I'm feeling better with HRT and no synthetic birth control hormones in my body.

I'm so glad to hear everyone's symptoms improved loads on hrt. It's like a really shit club and I want out! Hopefully a prescription will be mine soon and I'll be gone!

Yes to the knee thing, I've gone from having to hobble upstairs slowly and painfully to running up them again like I'm a spring chicken! I ran out of HRT recently (my own fault, forgot to order repeat) and within days all my aches, pains and weakness came back, I hadn't actually realised how bad it was before because it was a more gradual decline but suddenly being without HRT was eye opening as all the symptoms came back at once.

That sounds awful @Messyandconceited. You've terrified me into taking action.

One more for HRT- the best thing ever to get rid of hot flashes, insomnia and to delay rapid aging.

In the meantime waiting for hrt take an antihistamine in the afternoon for better sleep at night and no night sweats, immediately. I’ve just started hrt and if I don’t take an antihistamine I still wake up sweaty in the night and can’t get back to sleep. Honestly it’s been amazing for me

Great tip @Bonsaibaby . I'll give it a go. Thank you all so much. I've been trying to ignore it all a bit but last night just finished me off!

This is really good to hear. I'm hugely struggling with my legs, my knee hurts, I've pulled something in my calf, I feel like they're made of china if I run. I'm hobbling up and down the stairs like I'm 80.

I'm with you@DarkForces, I tried to phone the GP at 8.15 on Thursday, all appt gone. Tried on the app on Friday at 8.08, all appts gone. I am setting alarms at 2 mins to 8 next week.

I've ordered some supplements too that a friend recommended. Hopefully will help hang in there until I can see a dr

Hopefully we'll be sorted soon @Doje . It's absolutely shit 😭

I spent about 3 months trying to get a GP appointment and not being able to find one (admittedly via systm online not phone) and in the end I wrote a letter to my GP detailing my symptoms and she gave me a quick call (only took a couple of mins as I put as much as I could to cover the usual questions) in my letter and sent a prescription to the pharmacy there and then.

I am only 2 weeks in on the lowest dose but feel so much better already.

That's a good idea @OddBoots . You can only book appointments on the phone here so it's like fastest finger wins!

I’m not getting the hot flushes but the wide awake at 4am, the aches etc. And like you I keep forgetting to call the GP. Also like you I am returning as a man

HRT is what you need. I had sleep problems, knee problems, shoulder problems and a load of other symptoms - all pretty much resolved now. It took a good 8 weeks to properly kick in for me so hang in there

The NICE guidelines say that perimenopause should be diagnosed based on symptoms only, hormonal blood tests are useless so push back if they start on that. Blood tests for iron, vitamin levels etc would be a good idea though

I’m also in this shitty club. And I also haven’t been able to summon the energy to attempt to get a Dr’s appointment. My night sweats have been next level for the last few months however and I don’t think I’ve had more than 4 hours sleep a night in that time. We are about to move house and will be changing GP which will be a huge faff I think, so I’m wondering about just paying for a menopause specialist-has anyone any experience of using one?