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[toffeecushion]

Perhaps understanding that we are treated differently and often in a confusing way and a time in our lives when we are vulnerable and at our wits end, last thing we need is someone saying get on with it as its "natural". Whether someone can fall into a coma or whether someone is at the very end of their wits, both are conditions that should demand respect and proper guidance and treatment. 

I agree with you.  If someone feels at the wits end then they should be treated with the same seriousness as someone who could fall into a coma.  Any problem should be treated with the same professionalism.  We should not be prioritizing treatment needs.  The person suffering from menopausal symptoms is suffering and is so often overlooked because their condition is deemed natural.  The menopause is a natural process but the symptoms are real and can have a big impact on someone's life.  Obviously if someone was falling into a coma that would be a medical emergency but doctors shouldn't under estimate the effect of the menopause on someone's life.

[Annie0710]

I think if a condition affects a persons day to day life, causing pain and emotional problems then it should be seen as important and investigated and treated accordingly, I am sick to the back teeth of having blood taken from me, for the same tests with the same results and remain untreated and expected to just struggle on

[honeybun]

Peegeetips ...basically you were rude.


Honeybun

[Limpy]

My main point is that a person with diabetes or any other chronic condition is not labeled in the same way we are with peri or meno (or ignored).

There may be several reasons for that;
- Those conditions are more straightforward to diagnose
- The options for treatment (if they exist) are easier to identify
- They tend to cause people identifiable physical harm

Menopause, whilst it's tedious;
- Isn't straightforward to diagnose
- The treatment options are not clearly agreed, think of the debates on here
- In itself, won't kill us. It ain't good but it ain't fatal

I think the medical profession tend to concentrate on things that can be seen or measured. It's not surprising that the training of GPs is geared towards things that they can see, or do something about and are not open to debate. People whoever they are, will always go for the easier option.

The only thing we can hope for is that sensible information/education begins to spread through the medical schools. A forum like this has to be a good starting point.

[CLKD]

Sorry katsclaws, I disagree    - "Clinical depression is caused by a chemical imbalance and reactive depression by life events but I would think the symptoms of both types may be similar. …… "

Clinical depression is what you consider to be 'reactive' depression otherwise known as 'situational' depression.  What you call 'clinical' depression is 'organic' ……… I know, I suffer with both  .  Some medics still don't accept that there *is* 'organic' depression, where the brain doesn't make enough serotonin etc. to maintain a good mood; they slap the illnesses together and call it all 'clinical'.

I also found that I was depressed in the 24 hours prior to a bleed.  I would cry at the drop of a hat  .  My depression is cyclic which is why I have been advised to take medication for Life, I do know that when situations upset me the depression is worse.  Like those with clinical depression, issues that are difficult to sort can bring a person down very quickly.  Talk therapy can be very useful as it enables the suffered to clear their head and get problems into the open.  It might not solve the problem but allows the person breathing space. 

[CLKD]

Thanks Limpy - I wish I could get my thoughts onto paper as clearly as you have done. 

Without sounding like a stuck record  I don't see how menopause isn't 'natural' …….. and it is really up to the patient to continue nagging the GP, Practice Nurse or ask for referral to a Gynaecologist or Meno Clinic.  But when we are feeling poorly it is hard work! been there with other illnesses 

None of us has to accept yet more blood being taken ………. we can say 'no'.  We can ask our GPs how much experience they have of menopausal symptoms, we can ask why they won't listen or treat the symptoms we present with.  But we have to be clear as to why we are in the Surgery, it shouldn't be necessary but more and more patients are finding it harder and harder to be 'heard' - this is for many conditions that patients present with.  Because GPs are now spending more time on paper work due to the various 'recent' Government demands they are having less time to deal with patient issues  ……..


"The menopause is a natural process but the symptoms are real and can have a big impact on someone's life. " 
   :for you:   I think that ladies having problems with their GPs not listening should print this out and hand over ! 

Also many ladies are working, raising children, caring for elderly relatives: which adds to stress i.e. travelling, time short, already tired ……..

[Judith57]

This is all so sad isn't it. Like GypsyRoseLee, I was enjoying my life so much, just eighteen months ago I went and queued at 6am for the new Isabel Marant collection at H&M, I don't know where that person has gone.

Today I was talking to the young girls (well they are 30) who work for me and we had a bit of a laugh and one of them said 'Do you remember how much fun we used to have before you became ill?' That made me so sad because I so want to be that person again!

I have had constant bladder/UTI problems and pelvic pain since February last year and am at the end of my tether with it all.

Where has that happy healthy woman gone?

[CLKD]

Depression took me like that  - confident, able, then wham - over a few months I was unable so began treatment; then got better so stopped the medication: add to that anxiety …… no way could I do the job/s that I did in the 70s/80s/early 1990s.  Life became a battle  ………

[Annie0710]

Was everyone's transition gradual or instant?

Mine was sudden, I can remember where and when the sudden feeling that I had something 'nasty and dangerous' happening to me.  I went dizzy and couldn't quite understand the accounts task I was doing, despite having done it there for over 5 years. Very quickly, within weeks lots more symptoms were emerging, still no hot flushes and no period problems (hysterectomy) so never imagined nenopause

[Limpy]

Think mine was gradual - I didn't actually realise it had happened till I was post.
OH did but I shouted him down.

[honeybun]

My periods just stopped. I wasn't really aware of anything before. Now looking back and being a lot more clued up there were signs but I had a busy life and teenagers to deal with. My own health was not at the forefront of my mind.  I guess it was a gradual process with flushes being one of my last symptoms.
It was the insomnia and night sweats that sent me to the GP. I asked for patches and was given them with no problem. Guess I was lucky.
My anxiety came much later and that has been my main issue. I have had a lot of stress over the past few years so I think I would have suffered in one way or another eventually.

I think the fact that there are so many varied symptoms of meno is one of the reasons that doctors may well miss what's happening.

Honeybun
X

[Joyce]

I'm sure my mum would have benefitted from HRT. She suffered with crippling anxiety etc. Sure what she described to me must also have been VA. Instead she got ADs. That was back in the early 60s.

I had hysterectomy, so it was obviously sudden with me. Did I know the half of it? You bet I didn't. Hopefully my daughter's generation will be better informed.

[Annie0710]

My symptoms started 3 months after my dad passed away (cardiac arrest), my mum had died from a brain haemmhorage so I was pretty low anyway, 45 and no parents.  But I think the headaches and heart palpitations (same organs that robbed me of my parents) tipped me over the edge and I was convinced I was dying too , just a slow painful one.  When they first diagnosed b12 drficiency but wouldn't treat it as I was 197 and borderline I got angry and kicked up a fuss so they gave me tablet supplements for 6 weeks I think then retested me, which was 219 (uk 'normal ' range was 211-911) so wrote me off as ok, symptoms resumed then they did hormone tests and said I was peri and because I was on oestrogen already nothing they could do

[CLKD]

I drifted into peri-menopause.  Having had very bad period pains and heavy bleeds for years, followed by The Pill and PMT - I was pleased to see the back of periods.  At the time I had 4 very ill pets  so didn't have time to consider how I was feeling outside of what it took to care for them, fortunately any 'side effects': i.e. flushes, didn't last long.  I was already on treatment for anxiety and depression ……….

Then the bleeds stopped  ………. and I'm left with low grade all over itchiness, occasionally I get extra hot but not in the way of flushing, anxiety/depression still present …….

I think if ladies in general had more support from the medics they wouldn't feel so shocked ……… if ladies were to go along to their Surgeries and be told that this is 'the change' and we *are* able to help ……...

[Dandelion]

I thought I was reacting to the drugs of my doctor when my symptoms started.
I was weaning off a medication and I thought I had withdrawals, but little did I know I was going into perimenopause and I was only 42 at the time.