Hi Everyone
I am a new member, however not new to the board.
I had been going through peri menopause for quite a number of years and was sent away from the GP surgery with a prescription for anti depressants
I never took them even though, yes I was also depressed. It makes me so angry to think of the wasted years I have had going untreated, even though I had presented with screamingly obvious symptoms!
First of all it hit me right in the vanity and aged my facial skin overnight!! Honestly I know and remember the exact day/minute it happened! It just crinkled up, and stayed, not a gradual aging, just bam!
Also I noticed I was receding, I never had great hair as it has always been fine, but I have now lost an inch and a half from the front
I starting to feel reclusive and anxious, where previously I enjoyed working with people and loved socialising.
My periods were scanty, I spent alot of money on pregnancy tests even when I knew I couldnt possibly be pregnant!
(anxiety?)
Mood swings, loss of libido, dry vagina, stress incontinence, brain fog, eyesight deteriorated, complete exhaustion, weight gain (up 2 dress sizes) etc etc perhaps one of the only things I didn't have were flushes, infact I don't even sweat from underarms, I get so so hot and feel i could spontaneously combust! although for the majority of the time I was freezing cold.
In a very short time I was not the person I was before, and this was put down to depression!
I think if I had lied and said I had flushes I may have been offered blood tests sooner and I may have not suffered so much.
It was only after I had no periods for a year that I was then diagnosed. i was put on Elleste duet 1mg, I felt no real change.
I am now happy to have found a sympathetic female doctor of my age (49) and i am now being treated for an underactive Thyroid too and have been given Levothyroxine 50 mcg and Elleste duet conti 2mg. I am on day 6 of the Levo and day 2 of hrt. I am full of hope that I will feel a little more like myself someday soon.
This site and perhaps more so this forum has been a complete godsend to me, i know no one at all that has any experience of what I am going through and had no one to talk to about it, so if I felt a new symptom I would google it and invariably I would get the answer from one of the members posts! reading all of your posts and experiences, I know that i'm not alone, thank you all for your words of experience. GPs should give the link of this site to all women with menopausal symtoms.
Thank you All
