Hi everyone
I became aware of this site last week after the Patsy Kensit interview on This Morning and have been reading all your posts with great interest ever since, it's a real eye opener to realise there are lots of people going through the same thing as yourself; there have been times when I thought I was going mad. Here is my journey:
I first noticed really bad pmt in my mid forties, I struggled on to 47/48 and then asked my gp for hrt as I was convinced my symptoms were menopausal. My good fortune I feel (reading from some of your experiences on here) is that my gp is female in her 50s and therefore sympathetic. My symptoms included hot flushes (only during night time), irregular periods all of which I could cope with but more importantly horrendous pmt, mood swings, foggy thinking, bouts of crying and low libido all of which I could not cope with. My gp referred me to a Mr Spooner at Rotherham Hospital (previously mentioned in my posts to Lewis and Ju Ju). He took a case history and some blood samples and results showed one of my hormones (sorry didn't ask which ones) was sky high while another was very low which meant my pituitary was signalling to my ovaries to release an egg and my ovaries were not responding, basically this meant the system was breaking down! hence all the aformentioned symptoms and I was definitely peri menopausal. He recommended hrt and testosterone patches (intrinsa - sadly discontinued now) and wrote to my gp with his recomendations.
I then went on hrt. I tried elleste duet first which did not work for me, I perservered with it for 3 months but felt depressed the whole time I was on it (interestingly I was exactly the same on the contraceptive pill) the depression went the day I stopped taking it! Next I tried Prempak C which is made from conjugated urine from pregnant mares. This was better in that it stopped the hot flushes and regulated my periods, however, in the past year I have felt it wasn't working so well as the pmt, crying bouts and general can't be bothered feelings were increasing so I decided to do some research into other types of hrt available. Around this time I had read Denise Welch's (Loose Women) autobiography in which she chronicles her battle with depression which was linked with her cycle, after a long journey with anti depressants she had discovered Professor John Studd Consultant Gynaecologist in London who also runs the London PMS and Menopause clinic. Long story short he had basically cured her. His website is
www.studd.co.uk Although I could not afford to go private I studied his website and learnt such a lot, basically he is an advocate of biodentical hormones (please read his website for yourself). Armed with this information I went back to my gp and asked for the biodentical hormones.
Phew, this brings me to now. My gp prescribed me evorel sequi, these are made up of 4 x estradiol (biodentical) hormone patches and 4 x evorel conti which have norethisterone acetate (which is not biodentical) patches to give you a monthly bleed. I am only 10 days in and all I can say is wow what a difference!!! Within 24 hours of starting them I began to feel better but thought it can't be the patch yet it must be a fluke. Within 48 hours I began to feel positively well and that is how I have remained, the anxiety has gone my mood has stabilised and dare I say it I feel like my old self, in fact it's only now that I am realising just how much I was struggling before but you just get on with it don't you! I am aware I have not started on the norethisterone yet (and that some of you have not got on with this) but I remain positive because if it doesn't suit me I will just change it to a progesterone which does. Regarding the testogel I am giving myself a month on the evorel only so my body can get used to it before I introduce anything else and then I will start using the testogel and will know just what causes what if I get any symptoms (none as yet though I feel great).
So that's my journey so far girls, it's taken me 5 years (I will be 50 in August) but I feel as though I am almost there and there is something you can do rather than suffer in silence if you persevere and know where to look. Peri xx
