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Apparently I'm a "normal" woman!!!

Posted , 13 users are following.

elle127
elle127

Hi ladies,

Well I finally had my gyne consultation today and boy was I annoyed, dismayed, confused, upset........!!!!

Apparently, as I'm having regular periods I'm NOT menopausal nor am I peri menopausal!!!!  I was gobsmacked to say the least.  So WHY did my doctor put me on HRT for 3 years and why am I experiencing bodily and mood changes?  HRT never helped my hot sweats much to be honest but I was on a low dose.  My mood has gone downhill , I've gained so much weight and I've noticed changes with my periods even if they haven't actually stopped or even missed yet!!  My hormone tests were normal and according to the consultant if I'm still having periods then I'm ovulating regularly etc etc!!!

So at the age of 51 I've yet to even start any peri symptoms.  I'm just totally bewildered.  IF I'm not peri then what is causing my symptoms?

Anyone advise above and beyond a Gyne Consultant who reckons she has done her job for years and knows better than us women on a forum!!  Her words not mine sad   It's MY body and I know what is going on regardless of how long she has worked as a Gyne Consultant!!

E. xx

P.S.  Feeling so damn p**** off right now sad

1 like, 41 replies

41 Replies

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  • sharcerv52408
    sharcerv52408 elle127

    Posted

    My GYN told me the same thing that I was not in peri because I'm still seeing regular periods. Poppycock! We do know our bodies better than they do. My GYN is a male. I have a female General practitioner and she said that based on my symptoms that I am in peri. She told me she's in her 30's and is experiencing some of the same symptoms. So unless these doctors are a female and are going through the same thing, they have no frame of reference.
    • elle127
      elle127 sharcerv52408

      Posted

      My gyne doctor was female and in her 40's! Didnt make much difference she was adamant im not even peri!
  • debbie03785
    debbie03785 elle127

    Posted

    With just about every other ailment/condition, the NHS has nurse specialists, support groups etc. i think its hugely underestimated how menopause rocks our lives and worse, that we are left to muddle through in abject misery for sometimes years. I feel Im losing years of quality life and would be happy to be left on my own rather than have to face the world.....Im NOT depressed, just hugely frustrated with the way I feel and look. BMI over 30 despite good diet and loads of exercise. got to go, having a hot flush! X
    • shaznay96184
      shaznay96184 debbie03785

      Posted

      I completely endorse what you say.  For something that woman have experienced for centuries, why of why are there so few staff in the NHS trained to recognise, acknowledge and treat this important phase in our lives??  And is it really that hard to confirm, or for a GP to not attempt to 'Play God' over women, when all they really want is a bit of help for some truly cr*ppy symptoms.  I feel that most GPs see us 'women of age' walk into their surgeries and think "Emmm, here they come.  Demanding we waste our budget on their list of symptoms that are all in their heads".......I know what they mean now when that go on about the increasingly ageing population!!

        Its far from a taboo when everyone's Nan/Mum/Aunt/Sister has shown or told us about the classic signs/symptoms. Maybe they should 'employ' Menopausal ladies to advice those of in Peri what to expect and the options opened to us to help us during this transition.

      Going off on a bit of a tangent (although you'll get my point I'm sure)....Was watching 'GPs Behind Closed Doors' last week (repeat). There was a 75yr old man who went in to discuss his 'heavy testicles'. 

      His GP checked them over, then his Prostate (ol' fella looked like he was being abusedlol!!), and although it felt OK, the GP was to arrange a blood test "just to be sure".

      The ol' boy also mentioned a dimishing libido.  Strangely, and I mean strangely, even though he'd said he wasn't in a relationship and essentially his only occasional 'liason' was with his Right Hand(!), his GP said he'd do a test for his testosterone levels!!

      Not only was I screaming "What??!!!", my ol' man was too!!  I can't imagine our GP offering him that test, and Lord knows we'd both love a boost to BOTH our testosterone levels, I'm sure!!

      But not once was this ol' boy faced with the patronising line of "oh well, you do realise it is all part of the aging process, for libido to diminish..." - that we'd all be quite indignantly reminded of whilst seeking some help with our 'Change of Life'!!

      We could only conclude that it was all said to make the GP look good on TV.  If the ol' boy had any sense, he'd go get the treatment.......and make himself a few bob selling it off on eBay!!!!

      Like you, I'm not depressed. I KNOW I am Peri so don't need SSRIs or ADs (since when has Peri/Meno had anything to do with a chemical imbalance??!), feeling like I'm fighting a losing battle with my current weigh loss attempt (Slimming World: boy its harder at 54 than I ever imagined it to be!), but want to know that I can get proper advice, and HRT if and when I decide I want it. 

      But when there are so few who the NHS have deemed it necessary to train to help so many through, what is essential, an inevitable phase of change in health, it seems so bloody unfair. 

      Hope the flushes are abatting.....redface!!

      Sx

    • debbie03785
      debbie03785 shaznay96184

      Posted

      Thats shocking, what a waste of resources. But strangely, after a rant and rave with my MALE GP last week, Ive had a whole loads of bloods taken. The female GP just shrugs her shoulders and says there are no easy answers. Dont think shes hit peri yet! I for one struggled on for over a year before finding this site, its been the best source of help. But Im sure if Id had sound advice from a gynae doc or nurse specialist, I could have been spared some of the aches, pains, flushes, mood swings, headaches, weight gain, bloating, palpatations, lethergy, plantar fascitis, underactive thyroid.....I could go on. If the Nhs cant help on a physical level, perhaps they could fund a peri lady holiday hotel so we could go for some respite? Ahhhhh...xx
    • michelle50768
      michelle50768 debbie03785

      Posted

      What a great idea. Peri hotel.

      Ive also got too many symptoms to list. Been in perimenopause 8 years now 48.

      Today im tight chested bloated and depressed and the list goes on.

      My gp told me for five years I was too young for perimenopause. Fast forward eight years she now thinks I am!!!! Ive been telling them I am for years. Instead I was told your depressed and anxious. While that may be true only because my symptoms were getting the better of mesad(. I went in an AD mirtazapine last November which did heko but due to weight gain im having to wean off whuch is hard in itself. Some days I wonder if I will ever feel normal again.

      This site and the women here are an absolute Godsend. If it wasnt for being able to share here I think I would have gone insane!!!

    • cazjaz16
      cazjaz16 shaznay96184

      Posted

      Hi Hun

      I have to disagree with you regarding taking SSRIS I'm post menopausal by 3 years and know I wouldn't have got thru it without paroxatine it's been a life saver for me and it's one of the most recognised AD for menopausal woman xx

    • shaznay96184
      shaznay96184 cazjaz16

      Posted

      Hiya

      No offence intended. My opinion is based on a very personal view/opinion. I've been bought up around mental health issues/meds since childhood. I've seen those in dire need respond very well to their meds. Who knows, maybe this is the reason for my lifelong aversion to ANY meds??!!:-)

      I believe I've actually suggested others go see their GPs, and that although they weren't for me, maybe they were for others.

      There are v. recent studies that indicate that at least 30% of ADs are prescribed to those who don't even meet the criteria for them. I've read of many women on this site who had been taking these for yrs prior to Peri. And those who have been specifically prescribed this in Peri who found it did not help them at all.Also, like most long-term med, they need to be weaned off of gradually.

      I have no idea where this journey will take me - I feel good at the mo - and maybe I'll need the help of ADs/SSRIs, who knows? But for someone who has never felt the need for any meds all her life (not bad at 54!), and personal history, you'll appreciate my slight apprehension towards (OK, aversion) the doling out of those of us who may need HRT instead (think this fact has been well reported recently).

      Cazjaz, no offence intended, but like most things in life, and especially with my current weight gain, I believe there is a solution for most of us, but its definitely a case of One Size DOESN'T Fit All!!:-)

      Stay well and happy girl:-)

      Sx

    • shaznay96184
      shaznay96184 debbie03785

      Posted

      oh Debbie. Just the thought of a 'Peri Hotel' sends chills.

      I've got this mental image of it all kicking off when someone takes the last ice-chilled, lemon-scented flannel in the Spa, or jumping the queue for a hose-down from a hunk in Speedos (emm, the Daniel Craig ones, not the nut-cluster type - ewwww!!).

      Sadly, that 'Spa' image is of a beautiful 5* hotel anywhere in Cyprus.

      In reality it'd look more like a Sun newspaper 9quid 'Holiday' at Butlins in Skegie!!!!! Anyone who ever endured a Butlins holiday for the sake of their kids in the early 90s will have a vivid, memory of this 'experience' etched on their memory!!!!

      Sx

    • debbie03785
      debbie03785 shaznay96184

      Posted

      It will be the most luxurious hotel on a sun drenched beach, all rooms have swim up pools. Tempur mattresses... No men, no kids. Lots of puppies and kittens. We will look demure, as we meander to the restaurant, which only serves delicious low carb delecacies. We will have free detox massages as well as a range of therapies, talks on how best to manage all our ailments, presented by world leading experts. Ah..... Butlins will seem like a million miles away! X
  • lol64
    lol64 elle127

    Posted

    Sorry to hear u had such an unsatisfactory outcome . Ive found in last six months of goin thru this there is just no support at all for us women we just gotta cope on our own n if it wasnt for this forum i wudve cracked up long time ago n i think ladies r right we know our own bodies better than anyone x hope u feel better soon xx
  • Shelly0069
    Shelly0069 elle127

    Posted

    Hi Elaine, yep been there done that &got the T-shirt. On both occasions that I have been the doctors &seen 2 different gp's. I'm to young to b peri (I'm 45) &because I'm regularly on my periods no I cannot b peri!!!!!!. So as well as load more they are saying no! Tour not peri! Unless my mother/ sister went through a early menopause, I'm told NO. So again I have to go for more blood tests ( because my sleeping has become affected (I don't suffer from night sweats) so again it's immposible I carnt b peri). Mood swings are erratic naming a few others she swears I'm not peri!!!!!!!!. Reading different posts its humiliating embarising and unfair how these doctors make u feel. In this day and age seeing a gp why are they not trained / qualified to know more about peri? I know I'm peri from November 2014 I started getting symptoms. It's my mood swings I'm concerned about I'm just wondering does anyone have any idea what I could purchase over the counter at a chemist? 
    • michelle50768
      michelle50768 Shelly0069

      Posted

      Hi hun

      All I can say is everything you have written could have been me writing it. Im 48 been in perimenopause 8 years. Periods becoming further apart now.I went on an AD mirtazapine in Nov I couldn't cooe with the anxiety and depression. As for over the counter stuff 5htp from Holland and the os good for moods and sleep. These cannot be taken if you are on an AD though.

    • michelle50768
      michelle50768

      Posted

      Unfortunately AD caused me weight gain so im currently weaning offsad(
    • michelle50768
      michelle50768

      Posted

      Unfortunately AD caused me weight gain so im currently weaning offsad(
    • Shelly0069
      Shelly0069 michelle50768

      Posted

      Hi Michelle, rrrrr thanking u for your lhelpful advice. 5htp what is that u said from Holland ( that from holland and Barrett).  I have 3 children so the mood swings r not fair on them when I'm miserable and snappy. So just need something if and when also been tired any good at all how do we cope as well annoyed/ angry/ frusrated/ sometimes feel like a zombie. My youngest is nearly 8 so I basically needs loads of energy!. Been with him. 
    • michelle50768
      michelle50768 Shelly0069

      Posted

      I have five grown up children. Four girls one boy. A granddaughter four weeks away as well. They all think ive lost the plot. 5htp is a natural alternative to an AD. Google them and see what you think. X
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