Someone give me a shove!

[Userno1]

I’ve been having peri symptoms for a few years - significant hair loss, exhaustion, insomnia, terrible skin, brain fog and, causing the most problems, a lack of confidence and anxiety. This anxiety flares up out of nowhere to impact my hobbies and family life and makes me catastrophise everything. I finally bit the bullet and asked my GP for HRT. I got the prescription a month ago and haven’t been able to get over the worry about starting it. I don’t even know why - I feel completely ridiculous! None of this feels like me, it’s infuriating. How do I stop this madness?!

Have you tried the patches? I was on the gel and switched - much easier as you can stick it on and forget about it for a few days then replace.

I wouldnt mind if there was some defined pathway of testing this or that out, or if I had confidence in my GP, but neither of those things apply to me and Im left to googling, websites like this or paying out for a private consultation for a menopause expert and then hoping that any recommendations will be followed by my GP

Its no ones fault that there arent proper tests to determine what my levels are, I understand the body works in a way which means thats not possible but the lack of information, the contradictory information its too difficult to cope with. I wanted HRT, I wasnt pushed into it but theres no back up. GP didnt even want or require a follow up, just said to do an econsult 'if you want'.

I'd read about putting the patch in half and forgot about it, so thanks for that, good idea.

OP! Look at how it protects you from dementia, bone loss/osteoporosis etc. It has these longer reaching benefits as well as the more immediate ones.

I agree. It's all so hit and miss. If you're one of the anomalies, where hrt doesn't work as it should, you're out on your own really. Think my plan is to keep persevering for the full three months with the lowest dose of oestrogen I can get away with, in the hope that things will come good eventually. Frustratingly, I feel great on the combined weeks, close to how I used to be, but these oestrogen only weeks are pure torture.

I haven't. But it's an option for the future, once I've got through the first three months. Tbh, at the moment at least the gel allows me to tinker with the dose, I can easily reduce if I can feel my anxiety peaking.