Did HRT fix the desire to quit work (and life in general)?

[Shamoo44]

Over the last year I've been increasingly fed up at work with very little patience and a broken BS filter. Stressful situations and workloads that I previously thrived on are now resulting in high blood pressure and palpitations. GP said it wasn't the job, rather my age and we'll look at HRT. In the meantime I applied for and have been offered a lower paid job with far less responsibility and fewer people to drive me insane. Am now debating whether to take the significant drop in salary, status, hours and stress or stick with my role and see if HRT resolves my grouchiness and disenchantment.

In a previous thread people reference peri as a feeling of wanting to quit work and run away to a cottage by yourself. This probably nails it for me.

Does HRT fix that feeling?

It helped me significantly but those feelings haven’t completely gone away

Not for me as yet - I still want that cottage by myself. Wondering if testosterone will help.

I would personally wait and try the HRT. HRT was life changing for me. Before it my patience, rage, general emotional liability, energy levels were all over the place. HRT fixed 90% of that for me. Once I got on Estrogel I felt better almost immediately, however there can be some trial and error to get the dose right.

i wouldn’t do anything personally until you had started and felt settled on the HRT. Be easier to get a new job at that time then realise you made a mistake and try to get your old job back.

This was me last year. I too would wait for HRT. I actually tried to quit my job on the spot at one point prior to starting HRT, but luckily my supportive (male) boss knew I was in a bad place.

It probably took me 4 to 5 months to get to the right dose and HRT type for me (I'm on the gel now which is a bit of a faff but worth it IMO).

I look back now to the intense brain fog, intense rage, hating everyone, finding fault in everything to being my 'old' self that enjoys a laugh and doesn't take things as seriously as I did before going on HRT.

Don't underestimate the power of HRT until you've had a 'play' around with types and doses. That does understandably take time. I am so pleased it has worked for me as I honestly had some really dark times and was ready to leave the job, divorce, move abroad with whatever money I had to escape etc.

HRT didn't fix it. Retirement did.

Stick with the job. Hrt takes the edge off but why should you get a worse paid job because of menopause. Im going through this at the moment and the attitude of younger women towards menopause has shocked me.

It hasn't fixed my broken bs filter or made me care about everything in the same way I used to, but it has given me enough energy to get through the days, and I'm not as rageful. Retirement still seems appealing, but retirement in poverty not so much, so overall I'm glad to have the hrt keeping me going.

I would fight to the death before giving up on HRT, it’s been amazing. I lost my menopause weight gain as the fat cells move in to where the estrogen was once stored. My sister in law decided to go au natural, she now has osteoporosis, aching joints and struggling with work, she looks and sounds awful with a menopause belly, she’s naturally very slim normally.

I take oral estrogen as the patches cause break through bleeding and the gel irritated my skin as it’s sensitive. I feel so much better on it, I can’t imagine life without it. I don’t drink and have never smoked so the risks are minimal.

How did the GP decide your job isn't what's causing you stress, but instead it's your age?! Has he/she gone to your workplace and tried doing your job?

Not all unhappiness, frustration and anger is caused by perimenopause or menopause. Sometimes it's the situation we're in. Yet women are constantly told it's our silly female hormones talking or there's something wrong with us.

As others have said, yes and no. It sorted my low mood, testosterone gave me back a libido, oestrogen cream helps me enjoy the benefits of that. But a gradually vanishing BS filter is one of the perks of old age and something to nurture and treasure.

I think this is my debate - there are lots of factors influencing how I am feeling about work, probably not helped by cortisol surges and palpitations, which are my only current symptoms, other than increased rage at stupidity. It's difficult to know if the root cause is the job or peri.

My bloods showed I was deficient in everything so now have a huge pharmacy bag and multiple tablets, alongside BP meds.

On a side note, I was outraged at a referral to the "older persons medical unit" and then joined a queue of white haired ladies (fitting in well with my greying locks) fetching their equally chocful pharmacy bags! I'm still in my 40s fgs!