Hello everyone
I have spent most of this year falling apart and I was wondering if any of you would kindly throw your hat into the ring and tell me if you think I'm doing the right thing to get back on track.
I am 52 and work full time as a self employed gardener. I love my job and need and want to be fit and mobile enough to do it for a while yet. I have a wonderful husband who is trying his best to be supportive and understand the new high maintenance me, albeit in a "rabbit caught in the headlights" kind of way.
So...Easter 2015 I came off the pill due to my age after a good few years of trouble free use. It all worked like clockwork. In the months following I developed horrible joint pain, mostly hips, knees and sometimes neck, along with fatigue. I tried to ride it out thinking it would settle with OTC painkillers. I finally went to the GP who came up with a Vit D deficiency. This was corrected but the pain didn't truly stop.
Just before Easter 2016, I developed a frozen shoulder, a real nightmare and I've been to Hell and back trying to sort it and keep working. My GP referred me for a scan but the hospital over rode the referral and offered me one session of physio 3.5 months after I'd first asked about it. This was without ever clapping eyes on me I should add! I cancelled the appointment and saw an osteopath privately(at my expense) who has largely sorted it. I'm nearly there, not quite. I wouldn't have a business left otherwise.
Around this time I fell down a flight of stone steps at work and bruised my coccyx. It's probably not relevant but I don't think it helped matters much
Then, just after Easter I had a sudden and dramatic gastric bleed, totally out of the blue. After 3 days in hospital being prodded and poked they decided it was diverticular disease but no one would commit as to why I'd had a flare up. Long term NSAID use was written on my notes making me feel like a drug addict. I had asked my GP several times how much Ibuprofen I could safely take and was told I was fine.
Anyway...fast forward to now. Over the last few months I have been to-ing and fro-ing to the surgery for various blood tests. The joint pain is my main concern. I also have a heat issue where I don't seem to be able to get a comfortable temperature. I'm always too hot or too cold. I frequently sit there with hands like ice but with sweat pouring off me. It didn't sound like the conventional flushes I was reading about although I suspect my GP disagrees. I told her that I'd sat in front of the wood burner with 2 fleeces on and a blanket and still couldn't warm up and she said that it was probably the cold weather!!
Other oddities are, a maddening itching, mostly across my forehead but sometimes elsewhere, occasional breathlessness, burning/tingling under one foot only and my feet ache like crazy which is not good for someone that's on them for hours on end. The joint pain extends to most joints at various times. I went to work with awful elbow ache on Friday for goodness sake!
In all honesty I don't know what blood tests I've had. I put in a formal request last week for my medical notes for the last 2 years to try and get a handle on this. I have asked for exact readings. Haven't heard back yet but anti nuclear something or other, inflammatory markers and thyroid test have all apparently been "spot on" (my GP's words). During the course of all this coming and going, 3 separate GP's have all suggested I try HRT.
This came as quite a surprise to be honest. I didn't have it on my radar at all, probably naively. The last (female) GP I saw last week more or less said that I had nothing to lose by trying it for a few months. If it works, well hurrah, if it doesn't we'll think again. She made it quite clear that no more blood tests were going to be happening until I'd tried this.
She gave me Evorel Conti patches because I said I didn't want a bleed. I am 12 months without a period as near as damn it. They did restart after I came off the pill, I had 2 or 3 well behaved ones right on cue and then that was it, nothing since.
I came home and spent days reading everything I could find and working my way through this wonderful forum before taking the plunge and sticking one on. On balance I am OK with giving this a try and I accept that I have menopausal symptoms but mixed up with thyroid symptoms. I think the benefits will outweigh the risk. I live on a main road for goodness sake, frankly I'm probably more likely to get lung cancer.
However, part of me can't help wondering if there's an element of sending me away with this in the hope that it helps and mops up(pardon the pun) any other symptoms I might or might not hatch. If that were the case, would it matter if I felt better?
I'm only 2 patches in and I'm not sure there's a radical change yet understandably but I do feel a heck of a lot better. My mood is upbeat, my knees are not bad today and someone earlier told me I had a very healthy glow. Plus a builder addressed me as 'young lady' so all is not yet lost!
Sorry to ramble on for so long on my first post but I'd be hugely grateful for some feedback. I haven't been told anything by the surgery, just try it and see.
Thank you in anticipation x
