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[Gloria]

Hello everybody!

I first visited this site when it was a mere infant and have been only a rare visitor since - so I thought I would say hello and encourage all visitors to read and keep on reading....Not just me (though it would be nice if you did read what I have to say...) but everyone here. You will find wonders therein.

Before finding MM, I had honestly begun to wonder if I had some insidious disease.  I was always tired - though some days more exhausted than others - slept very poorly, could hardly get out of bed in the morning for the debilitating joint aches and pains, had poor skin, lacklustre hair (which was also falling out) AND....most distressing of all, I thought the disease was in my brain.
Having considered myself an intelligent, articulate woman, I found myself progressing from mild spelling, memory and coherency issues into deep, mental trauma. This last because I found that, whenever I opened my mouth, I had almost no control over which word would come out! That's when I could actually think straight enough to formulate a sentence in my head in the first place. I thought I was heading for early dementia or had some problem with my central nervous system. And in addition to all this I began to have panic attacks because I would go into a shop and emerge to find I did not recognise my surroundings at all. (This is like the moment when you forget where you parked your car but imagine if you suddenly find you don't even recognise the shop from which you had just walked out!)

But then a friend, who had visited the menopause clinic in Aberdeen and come back with various, very helpful,  recommendations, pointed me in the direction of this website. Not directly, but her words led me to google information and Menopause Matters popped up high on the list. For which I am truly truly grateful.

For within the website, then just a few months old, I found woman after woman who was experiencing the same symptoms as me - plus others that I would never have guessed could be associated with hormonal changes.

And not only was I not alone in my suffering but I was not alone in my inability to connect these symptoms with my hormones.   By the time I was sent to a neurologist by my GP (who had obviously been thinking along the same lines as me previously), I was pretty sure that HRT might be my salvation.  The neurologist could not condone my perceptions about HRT (not his speciality he said) but he certainly could not recognise my many and varied symptoms as pointers to any neurological disease in his experience!  Phew!

At which point I reverted to my GP pleading for HRT; he obliged with a six month trial and within two weeks of starting on the pills, I was much more like my old self.  Most dramatically, I recovered my language and syntax and could start to sound articulate again and my lapses of memory vanished almost entirely.  No more panic attacks.

I perhaps ought to say that I had been on HRT formerly from the age of 43 to 52 (having had a hysterectomy at the earlier age)...but after nearly a decade, my new GP had persuaded me to come off the HRT.  In the four years without it I declined rapidly into the withering, blabbering, hobbling and panicky woman I describe at the start of this post.

HRT may not be the right move for everyone but without the recognition that it WAS indeed my hornones - or lack thereof - that was provoking all those disparate problems - who would have believed it? - I would not have had the confidence to ask to go back onto the HRT. I tried patches for a while but they proved that I reacted allergically to the adhesive, so I am back on the pills. And yes I Have varicose veins, a family history of stroke, heart and circulatory problems - but, hey, what price longevity if it is spent as an anxiety ridden husk of a woman. At least now I can enjoy life again!

Having been back on the HRT now for another four years, I did try earlier this year to reduce my dosage but found that some of the bad symptoms were still present. So I am pretty much resigned to staying on HRT unless someone comes up with something therapeutically as effective.

So thanks to Dr Currie and her colleagues - three cheers!

Gloria

[ricky]

  :clap   Great post Gloria, just wish you had written it and I had read it 12 months ago. I am sure this will reassure many many ladies.

Ricky
X

[coffee mate]

Yes a very inspiring post, well done Gloria.  Hope other ladies will read it and find some reassurance. 

[CLKD]

This should be a 'sticky'!  Thanks for sharing 

[meno lesley]

Brilliant post.

Lesley x

[tropical-moment]

"DITTO"


TM

[ariadne]

So pleased to read how HRT has improved your health so dramatically and that MM was such a support to you.

It was a great post to read 

ariadne xx

[cubagirl]

Gloria, great post!  Can I ask where in Aberdeen the menopause clinic is which your friend attended?  Only one I know of is a private one.  Was it this one or is there an NHS one.  I live in Aberdeen you see & getting more & more fed up with GP's attitude towards my need for HRT.

[Mrs Purple]

Thank you so much for taking the time to come and make your post Gloria.  I think I speak for many people when I say how refreshing, positive and uplifting it is to read, and I llike your style.

We all need a lift and to read something edifying at times.

And thanks indeed to the people who run this site and weather all the storms that the job involves.

[silverlady]

Wonderful post, all  GPs should read it.

silverlady x

[Susan]

Brilliant post Gloria although it sounds more like HRT changed your life rather then menopause matters, perhaps being here and knowing that this site is clinician lead helped you to have the confidence to stick to your guns when faced with all the HRT sceptics. I sincerely hope you continue to do well and feel well.

As you say three cheers for Dr Currie

xxxx

[Jenny50]

What a great post, Gloria. I agree that MM does you the world of good.  Before finding this site I thought I was going bonkers.  Now I know I'm going bonkers but at least I understand why.  Thanks to everyone for all the great advice and laughs.

Jenny X

[Patricia]

Hear,hear Gloria - well said indeed.   Certainly just the boost I need a HUGE THANK YOU!!! I should print this off and show it two a couple of my girly acquaintances whose experiences so far have been a few hot flushes and just don't get me at all.  They make me feel like I'm some Hollywood drama queen.  Keep posting we need more positivity in our lives :-*Patxxxx

[honeybun]

Brilliant post Gloria......from someone who is suffering right now it was a huge lift to read this.

Thank you

 

Honeyb
x

[Suzi Q]