Hello
After some advice please
I am menopausal in that I have hot flushes (not sweats though) and whilst they are getting more frequent and probably a bit worse my main symptom is tiredness. That said I would be happy to get rid of the flushes!
I work full time and some but really enjoy my work (it's desk job btw) so obviously that doesn't help and I do have a good social life which I enjoy but have tried to cut down to alleviate tiredness. However, I can sleep for 10 hours + and still nap for 1-2 hours and sometimes more during the day without adversely affecting my sleep the following night.
I do wake up feeling hot but generally I am asleep again within minutes. When alarm goes off in the morning I often sleep straight through it or snooze the alarm that often it stops going off! Admittedly I do occasionally have the opposite problem ie, can't sleep but that is generally related to have something on my mind - usually work!
Work are being very supportive but although Occ Health think me working from home one day per week will help ie, cuts out 2 hours travel time but I'm not sure it's enough but going with it for now. Better than nothing me thinks!
First GP I saw said she gets loads of people in with tiredness and I reminded me I went to docs 2 ish years ago with the same problem but it is much worse now. She suggested upping my Anti-Ds as maybe I was tired due to depression so did that for the recommended month and no change. Would love to come off anti-ds completely but they want me to stay on as common prob in menopause + I have suffered before
Went back to diff doc this week, who said tiredness does affect some in the menopause but none of the women I know the same age as me have this symptom. Doc also explained my options re hrt but I am really not keen + not licensed for tiredness but is for flushes so may not help. Other suggestion was to have another Mirena coil + progesterone. I had Mirena up to just over a year ago and since removal periods have been about every 3 months. Initially treated as post-meno bleed due to age/blood tests showing me post-meno.
My understanding of natural remedies is that anything with estrogen/progesterone hrt or natural is increasing risk as your body is having these hormones for longer than is natural. If this is right would not been keen on natural approach either.
So is this normal for the menopause and is there anything I can do about it? Other than give up my social life and job and just sleep instead that is!
Apologies for long post but just trying to give the whole picture.
TIA
