Hi, I'm 40 years old and around 2 years ago I started to experience irregular periods. They became very heavy and more frequent, around every 2 weeks. My GP decided to change my copper coil to a Marina to see if that helped but after 6 months I requested he take it out as I had started to feel really down and associated it with the change in coil. He changed me back to a copper coil and I decided to let my body do what it wanted without any added hormones.
For the last 2 years I have gone from the odd night sweat to experiencing them every single night. I cannot honestly remember the last full nights sleep I had. My periods are now all over the place. Sometimes I go 2 months without one, sometimes I have 2 within a month and sometimes I just bleed for a day sporadically and then nothing. My breasts hurt, I've put on weight, my hair is thinning, I'm exhausted.. like I cannot keep my eyes open after work. Sometimes I go to bed for the day at the week end as I'm just shattered! My sex drive has gone..... I just feel like I have lost myself somewhere over those 2 years. I have days where depression wafts over me and they are becoming more frequent which is extremely worrying. It doesn't last, it just comes and goes but it's very severe when its here and all my symptoms are increasing in severity as time goes on. I have made several visits to my GP who initially put me on Citalopram, 20mg per day. I wasn't feeling down at the time so was confused by this but she said it would help with my night sweats. I'm now on 30mg a day and just feel worse as time goes by. My GP has now mentioned HRT but says she need to take advice due to my age. This could take weeks and I already feel at my wits end. I honestly don't know how I can get through this period of my life. I never thought I would have to deal with anything like this for a long while and am scared that my options are limited due to my age. I am really struggling and am just looking for some advice and support. I am a full time working mum and need to be able to function, Is there anyone who can help me please??