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[ali 61]

Just something that I've picked up on. Many of you ladies keep mentioning your hormone levels.
I am Post-meno and my GP's tell me they dont do blood tests for hormones .

So how come you all know your levels and which particular hormone needs upping etc?

[Joaniepat]

Mine have been tested at the NHS menopause clinic at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. I can't imagine my GP surgery would do any such thing.

JP x

[sheila99]

I think the advice to NHS GPs is to go on sypmtoms, blood tests aren't required. Seems crazy to me too, if they know your levels they can give appropriate treatment instead of the suck it and see approach. I think those who know their levels have been seen privately or just been lucky with their GP. I'm in peri so my levels might be too variable to be useful.

[allie007]

Can you ask to be referred to a menopause clinic? My surgery has at least 10 GPs, plus trainees. Ive never seen the same GP twice and none of them seem to have a clue.

[Taz2]

My menopause clinic at john Radcliffe in Oxford never tested my hormone levels. My GP wouldn't either so, like you Ali, I'm not sure how some ladies on here have been able to access their oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone levels.

Taz 

[paisley]

The other problem with testing levels is we are all so different & some women can cope on low levels of oestrogen while others need a high dose to function. So unless we have been tested all through our life it's hard to know what our level should be. I think that is why doctors go on symptoms.

[paisley]

I also agree Stellajane
I think the ladies on here who have problems are more sensitive to fluctuations at various hormonal times in their lives.
I had PMT, PND & now menopause. If that doesn't prove a sensitivity to hormonal upheavals I don't know what does

[BlueButterfly]

I've had hormone tests but needed to push for them. Unfortunately, I'm in the category of "oh you're levels are fine" when they most certainly are not! I'd rather be treated based on symptoms and it would be helpful right now. I think my age is what is being the biggest hurdle for me right now (young, 36).
But I've always been very sensitive to hormone changes as well. I knew I was pregnant the week after conceiving because I could feel the shift, especially with my 2nd. I could tell my hormones weren't right after the 2nd pregnancy but that took about 5 years to get help with. I can feel just about every shift in my hormones now....I wish I knew which one was shifting exactly, it would probably help me balance them out myself.
I'm also very sensitive to shifts in my blood sugar levels as well...never had a blood test show I have problems even during pregnancy but I don't feel well when I don't eat....dizzy, weak...very very MOODY. And now these hormone shifts are giving more problems with blood sugar levels, and the anxiety that brings about lack of eating well and well....I don't know how anybody is able to be around me.
I do wonder if my sensitivity to hormones is why I'm noticing problems so young. I mean, I'm within the age of when things start to shift but most people are older when they get help.

[SueLW]

There are many cases of premature menopause, you are not alone.  But if your oestrogen levels are falling you need HRT at your age to protect heart and bones.  You might have to fight for it, but the NICE guidelines say you should be given the hormones.  Sadly many doctors don't realise that it's possible to be peri going on menopausal at a younger age.  Why did you stop taking the pill?  That can be used for younger women, but it is a stronger dose of hormones than HRT. 

[Kathleen]

Hello Ali 61.

My GP has never mentioned nor offered hormone blood testing but my private consultant wanted to test my oestrogen levels. At the time they were something like 275 and she said she wanted to see them at about 400. I am due to see her at the end of the month so she may want to test again. Having said  that if  I still have problems with a level at  400 I'm not sure what she may suggest! Some ladies on the forum have been told to aim for levels of 600 so perhaps that is the magic number?  I'm sure that how you actually feel is the better indication but numbers can be a helpful guide as well.

Wishing you well.

K.

[BlueButterfly]

I stopped the pill to get my hormones checked out. I needed to be off it for 3 months before they would. The pill was helping a bit but not enough. I had symptoms start over the last year while taking it now that I look back and then the anxiety/panic attacks shot out of a cannon. Nobody would believe me that it was hormone related (the anxiety jumped like nothing else during placebo weeks and honestly got much better when I started skipping those). And since stopping my cycles are getting more and more unpredictable and so are the hormone fluctuations. (I am regretting stopping the pill a bit but feel I needed to at the time)
And to top it off, I had 2 high d-dimer tests because of a blood clot scare in my leg(indicating clot break down but can be raised for auto-immune disease, cancer, inflammation, infection, etc??) but they haven't found a clot or other reason for it yet. My doctor is a bit nervous about me taking anything with estrogen because of the clot risk. So they (gyn and doc)are discussing possibly the mini-pill I guess. And I have growths on my ovary (I think endo since it only started after stopping the pill, had a scan done before that as well) so the gyn really wants me on something to see if it goes away...or laparoscopy or some really awful sounding meds to try. I really don't want the latter 2 unless absolutely necessary.   
I'm honestly just a mess. But very healthy according to all the tests. 

[racjen]

Hello Ali 61.

My GP has never mentioned nor offered hormone blood testing but my private consultant wanted to test my oestrogen levels. At the time they were something like 275 and she said she wanted to see them at about 400. I am due to see her at the end of the month so she may want to test again. Having said  that if  I still have problems with a level at  400 I'm not sure what she may suggest! Some ladies on the forum have been told to aim for levels of 600 so perhaps that is the magic number?  I'm sure that how you actually feel is the better indication but numbers can be a helpful guide as well.

Wishing you well.

I went to a private specialist a couple of times because my GP was so hopeless. My menopause was very sudden due to chemotherapy, so when my bloods were done the results were pretty extreme (something like estradiol 39 pmol and testosterone pretty much non-existent.) My GP agreed to do the blood tests on the strength  of the specialist's recommendation, she wouldn't have done them otherwise and just wasn't really interested in there beinga connection between menopause and mental health. In terms of what's recommended, 400 isn't that high - I think it depends on what symptoms you're experiencing. On the whole, physical symptoms seem to respond to this kind of level but depression can take a much much higher level to resolve - 800-1000 is suggested by some experts. Certainly my depression has needed this kind of level to get any result. I think everything that's been said about individual differences in sensitivity is true, but that doesn't make blood tests useless because an unusually low or high level of something is probably going to have some significance.

[Kathleen]

Hello BlueButterfly.

Your last comment resonated with me lol. The last time I complained to my GP about my ongoing anxiety issues he remarked that despite that my blood test results showed that I was infact very healthy! Pity  I felt so rubbish then.

Take care.

K.

[BlueButterfly]

Yes, that's the worst....being told you are healthy and feeling absolutely horrid.

[Annie0710]

My gp did a few blood tests for hormone levels at the beginning of peri and some showed I was then post meno BUT only because I'd had a hysterectomy years before so had no periods to go by and also I had been on hrt a long time with new symptoms x