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[JeanneHC]

Hello!  I'm so glad to have found this site and especially this forum.  I'm 51 and I *think* I've been having menopause symptoms for a couple of years, but didn't put it together until just a couple of months ago.

I had a hysterectomy when I was 37 (kept my ovaries), and had several really good years after a lifetime of heavy periods, pain, and PMS.   Then two years ago I started having a regular smorgasbord of problems: night sweats, anxiety, heart palpitations, several panic attacks - the list goes on and on.  I talked to my doctor about it and he told me I was too young for menopause, that I had General Anxiety Disorder and offered me antidepressants (which I declined) and told me to exercise and eat well.  It's hard to exercise when you can barely get off the couch.  Convinced that it was all in my head, I saw a psychotherapist for about a year and after CBT I was able to cope with the anxiety symptoms but they never went away and in fact seem to get worse the older I got. 

I moved to the UK from the states last summer, and my symptoms have gotten worse.  I really thought I was having a nervous breakdown and started staying at home more and more, not wanting to meet new people, feeling foggy most of the day, sleeping poorly.  It really alarmed my husband - I used to be a happy, gregarious person and was turning into something quite different - and it must be bad because he notices nothing! 

I saw my GP here, and while my FSH levels are normal he agreed that I am probably peri- or menopausal.  I requested Oestrogel since I could control the dose easily and start small, and I've been using it for only a few days.  Fingers crossed that it helps. 

The information on this site is great, but what's really helped is this forum.  I've been reading through the posts and I feel like I've found my tribe finally! 

[CLKD]

    

one is rarely 'too young' to be into peri-menopause!

Browse the menus, left of screen.  Have you found our 'funny' room yet?  Ask away ……….. 

R you in the UK alone, for work, for ………..  I'm *so* nosey 

[JeanneHC]

Hi CLKD.  You're not nosy at all - I moved over with my husband, mostly because I've wanted to live here forever.  Fortunately, the company I work for has a London office so I was able to bring my job over. 

I've learned since doing my own research - a lot of it on this site - that many doctors seem to be willing to diagnose you with anything BUT perimenopause or menopause.  Silly, really when so many women are complaining and suffering.  My doctor in the US told me that he was "very conservative" when treating menopause symptoms and then gave me a lecture about how all women go through this natural process and HRT was absolutely the last resort.  I could strangle him.  The GP I'm seeing here didn't seem to be very well informed about the latest information and research from the British Menopause Society, but was willing to listen to what I had to say.  So UK docs 1, US docs 0 at this point.   

[Kathleen]

Hello JeanneHC (or should that be 'Hi' or even 'Howdy' lol) and welcome to the forum.

It amazes me how medics can be so ignorant of the menopause and what it does to us poor women.

I recognise a lot of your experiences, including thinking I was having a breakdown and although I've never been a hugely out-going person I was always friendly and interested in people, whereas now I seem to dislike everyone and I am always irritable and intolerant.  I am experimenting with HRT and I'm also seeing a counsellor.

You are not alone in this journey and I think it's wise to use every resource to try and cope with the changes that come with this stage in our lives.

Good luck and wishing you well.
K.

[honeybun]

 

Nice to have you with us. It's great when you finally realise you are not going mad at all.
Browse round.....join in.


Honeyb
x

[CLKD]

Did your husband get a job too?  ….. do you have family in the UK or Europe?  Family history to explore ……..

[Hurdity]

Hi JeanneHC

  from me too!

It really is too bad that too many docs prescribe anti-depressant medication for hormonal problems. Glad your experience of the GP here in UK has been good and do hope you begin to see an improvement in your symptoms.

Glad you are finding this site and forum useful - we all do too!

Hurdity x

[bev567901]

Hi Jeanne, this all sounds very familiar! Good on you
For pushing on & getting somewhere. It could all have been put down to the move etc etc but we know our own bodies. I'm 51 too & new to HRT having accepted the AD's first. Hope it works for you & you feel more 'normal' by reading the forum. B x