Hello!
Another newbie here, although I have been lurking around the site for a while reading all your posts (and commenting on one or two!). I'm also fairly new to the menopause. I suffered with endometriosis, fibroids and menorraghia for 20 years, and had 2 laparoscopies and an edometrial ablation before finally having a hysterectomy in 2011 (TAHBSO) aged 41.
I was told I'd have to take HRT for 10 years because I was young to have my ovaries removed. Sadly my gynaecologist prescribed the wrong HRT and I was put on an estrogen based pill instead of the continuous progesterone one which would have kept the endometriosis at bay. This wasn't discovered for a year, by which time the endo had had growth spurt thanks to all the lovely estrogen it was being fed, and had spread to my bladder, causing me more problems than I ever had before the hysterectomy
We tried the correct HRT but by then I was having so many endo issues my GP decided to give me a break from everything for a while and took me off it.
Without any hormones the endo has now settled down and I get very little pain which is great, but now the menopause symptoms have started. I have most of the "normal" symptoms, hot flushes, night sweats, lack of sleep, memory issues, mood swings, vaginal dryness & no libido whatsoever, plus I've started getting headaches. My doctor put me on Dixalix for the flushes but I had a horrible response to the side affects so that was a no go.
Since then my GP has pretty much given up on me (he's a middle aged man & I get the feeling he thinks I'm making a fuss), and I'm not taking anything other than Vit C/D supplements, although I am paying for accupuncture to see if it helps the hot flushes, and I'd love to hear if anyone else has tried it.
Having read your posts for a few days, and seeing what support so many of you are getting from your doctors surgeries, I was decided to try my surgery again, and find someone I could talk to. They have no-one that specialises in the menopause but I am seeing a new female doctor tonight, and I'm taking my list of "issues", plus a request for a referral to a menopause clinic, thanks to Hurdity for suggesting that to me :-)
Wish me luck...
Kim
My GP told me he was happy for me not to take the HRT because my endometriosis calmed down when I came off it. Even though when I had the surgery I was told I'd have to take it because of the risk of osteoporsis because I was only 41. When the hot flushes got really bad I tried my GP again, he gave me Dixarit which is a blood pressure drug supposed to help hot flushes. I had a bad experience with the side affects, light headed, dry mouth, and once time so dizzy I fell over! So I stopped taking them but my GP couldn't offer me anything else.
So now I have all the menopause symptoms, the worst being the VA and the lack of sleep & headaches.
I'm currently trying accupuncture out of desperation, but i keep reading that it's efficacy is not proven, has anyone else tried it?
After reading about all the help you ladies are getting from your GPs/nurses I've tried my surgery again and asked if they have any kind of menopause service so I can get some more advice, but they don't, and apparently they don't even have anyone that can advise specifically on the menopause, so tonight I am seeing a young female GP (my GP is a middle aged man). I'm taking a list of all my issues in the hope that she'll actually try to do something to help, as my own GP doesn't really seem to be interested :-(
