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[prestige]

Hello Ladies,

I posted last week that I was going to see a menopause specialist in Cambridge (private) Dr Imogen Shaw.
She listened to my long list of ailments of:

On going tiredness
Anxiety
Nausea
diarrhea
Dry and itchy ear canals and very dry throat.

To which she replied that most of these were not menopausal ailments. So I am even more confused than ever before?

I told her that my doctor has raised my hrt from Elleste duet sequi 1mg to 2mg due to my increased anxiety. She just advised me to go back to my doctor and get a faecal calprotectin test and to continue with the hrt as it had only been 7 days since I had been prescribed the higher dosage hrt.

Am I going mad or are these ailments something that is common in the perimenopause stage.

Over to you ladies....

[dangermouse]

They could be perimenopause symptoms before oestrogen has started falling (which doesn't tend to happen until the year before menopause) where oestrogen can have massive highs (often twice that of when younger) and massive crashes. This can cause all sorts of arbitrary symptoms including those you list, it can also be similar to a state of pregnancy.

If the specialist mainly deals with oestrogen deficiency then she's probably right that the symptoms don't match (apart from the dryness and general anxiety/lethargy I think can be from low oestrogen as well as low progesterone).

If these are all newish symptoms and you are over 35 then it could be peri but why not do the stool test and if the HRT is helping then continue with it as, even if you don't have low oestrogen yet, it may be suppressing your cycle and the fluctuations.

[prestige]

Thanks for the response dangermouse,

I did the stool sample yesterday and I am waiting for the results!

The increased hrt dosage has taken the crippling anxiety away thank goodness. I am hoping the tiredness and on\off nausea and scratchy throat will also fade, but understand that these things take time to settle. I am on day 13 of the new hrt packet.

I am 46 and had my last period in November.

[walkingthedog]

Hi prestige
My dry itchy ear canals definitely started in peri menopause and my GP told me it was linked . I'm now in surgical meno and still have the problem, now diagnosed as eczema, i have constant ear infections due to it.
Wish all those we see about menopause said the same thing, otherwise it definitely leads to confusion xx

[CLKD]

Did you PAY for this information  - what type of 'specialist' does she preport to be?

What you explain here are typical peri-symptoms for many of us!  Did you have anxiety prior ? 

It is known that as oestrogen levels drop the body may become Dry: that is skin, vagina, inside nostrils, deep in the ears - for me it started on my insteps, OK all day until I took off socks to step into the bath.  I sometimes wake with the ruff skin on one heel scratching the other instep!  My back has a low-grade background itch all the while.  Ears and nostrils are a real nuisance sometimes and add to that, tinnitus  .

What exactly is a faecal whatever test supposed to show?  Did you pay for that?  Blood tests are notoriously unreliable which leads me to think that a poo sample would also be!

Being 46 may lead you to read the advice on the 'daisy' web-site too.  Make notes. 

Do you feel supported by your GP?

[prestige]

Thanks for the response ladies! Yes I did pay, as I was at my wits end with unsympathetic GP, whose response was to "power my way" through my symptoms.

She said nausea and diarrhea were not typical meno symptoms. I explained that these were intermittent episodes and therefore must relate to fluctuating hormones.

Anyway, I went back to my surgery and they have agreed to do the stool test for inflammation of the gut.

I am trying to keep away from Dr Google - as this invariably makes me even more nervous and anxious.

[CLKD]

Oh Dr Google don't know much  but NHS-led web-sites do give information but I never found those useful.

So people don't get morning sickness then? My diarrhoea 10 mins. B4 each bleed wasn't hormonal ........ even if a period wasn't due I would have to dash to the loo because hormones made my bowel over-active  - does this woman have no feelings at all    .  Her time will come 

IBS can be made worse by hormonal upheaval.  At least it's a test out of the way  .

Do you have a Practice Nurse to chat with about Menopause?

[dangermouse]

It's just amazing isn't it when doctors say nausea isn't a symptom of hormone imbalance?!!!

I had that several times and my GP only took me seriously after I told her Jan Toledano (BHRT endocrinologist/ex NHS surgeon) confirmed it and, thankfully, made lots of notes to better inform her colleagues. Jan was shocked my GPs would only consider gastric causes.

Many docs just don't seem to be informed so genuinely don't realise and don't relate it back to morning sickness and migraine.

[Katejo]

It's just amazing isn't it when doctors say nausea isn't a symptom of hormone imbalance?!!!

I had that several times and my GP only took me seriously after I told her Jan Toledano (BHRT endocrinologist/ex NHS surgeon) confirmed it and, thankfully, made lots of notes to better inform her colleagues. Jan was shocked my GPs would only consider gastric causes.

Many docs just don't seem to be informed so genuinely don't realise and don't relate it back to morning sickness and migraine.

I frequently had early morning nausea during peri.