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[Limpy]

Does this mean that we should self diagnose as well as know what medications that are best for us.

Obviously after a diagnosis then we can learn more about the condition and ask appropriate questions.

HB - It ain't always that easy.
Sometimes, even when we are diagnosed GPs don't give us what we want or need.

I had to speak to several doctors in the practice before I got HRT.
They each knew what they were taking about but had quite different opinions as to what was needed.

[honeybun]

After spending heaven knows how many years training, I don't think I would like to be told by a patient what is wrong with them and how they want treated. Kind of defeats the purpose a bit.
Obviously we can be well informed and have discussions with our GPs.

I always find asking rather than insisting has worked well for me in the past.

We are entitled to the correct treatment of course but a GP has a lot more knowledge than I do, so.....


Honeyb
x

[Limpy]

Totally agree with asking rather than insisting.
The latter will, justifiably, irritate  anybody and put their backs up.
Discussions  have to be the way to go.

[honeybun]

Absolutely Limpy.

It's the only way that has ever worked for me and I have a tame GP 


Honeyb
x

[Rowan]

Me too, my GP is lovely, the rest of them in the Practice are not bad too

On a different note NICE can't even make there mind up about Paracetamol!

[peegeetip]

Sorry but other posts have said it all.

A lot of ladies posting seem to have gone to our docs and "asked" only to be refused.

Luckily for me it took till the second visit when I insisted that HRT was for me.
Others have taken more visits or been palmed off with highly addictive AD's at the drop of a hat.
For me it was then given rather reluctantly with a roll of the eye's.

If I wanted a lecture I'd attend the local college

[Rowan]

Even MM considers the simple stuff first  http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/newsitem.php?recordID=156 for symptoms 

[honeybun]

Just as many of us have been offered HRT with no difficulty.

You cannot tar all GPs with the same brush, it's neither true not fair.

I have never been lectured in the doctors surgery. Given advice yes which given the fact they know a heck of a lot more than me is fair enough.


Honeyb
x

[Taz2]

The prescribing of anti depressants for hot flushes is now common. These are not addictive anti depressants. They are issued at a lower dose than for depression and have good results and work almost immediately although there are side effects in the beginning for some women. Friends have also had good results, for stopping flushes, from Dixarit a blood pressure medication. HRT is the way forward for some women of course but if the major symptom is hot flushes then it is good to have an alternative. Nice to have a choice.

I believe that some women think the doc has diagnosed depression instead of menopause but this is probably because the doc hasn't explained the use of the anti depressant properly.

Taz x

[thorntrees]

I agree with Taz that antidepressants at a low dose can help with flushes and thus help you to cope with life generally when suffering menopause symptoms. Of course they are not for everyone but neither is HRT. My GP is very sympathetic but has no real treatment to offer but explained that trying an antidepressant, in my case, citalopram might help and it has. I don't like having to rely on theses tablets and I am definitely not depressed but I had got to the point of being willing to try anything.

[Rowan]

"If I wanted a lecture I'd attend the local college "

College is for learning and fun never for a lecture 

In all the time I have been a national health patient I don't think I have ever been lectured, not even By M.Os at sick Quarters or Military Hospitals.   

ADs in lower doses are prescribed for pain as well.  Think it is called off label uses.

The simple truth is menopause is a natural process, some ladies  get through with no help, others need help and guidance through it.

[Hurdity]

The most important difference between using anti-depressants for menopause, and HRT, is that the former will not restore oestrogen levels and therefore even if some of the symptoms of oestrogen deficiency (let's say hot flushes and anxiety) are lessened, they do nothing to prevent the long term health issues like protection of bone as one example. Menopause may be a natural process but we have had this argument before - this natural process has undesirable consequences for many of us living as we do maybe a third of our lives post-menopause.

I quite agree that the first thing any woman needs to do before thinking about HRT is to attend to dietary and lifestyle changes so that she is in the best possible state of health for this next stage of life - no use thinking that HRT is going to cure all ills if you smoke, drink, are overweight, take no exercise and eat lots of fatty processed foods!

Re the doctor issue - of course no woman should go to the doctors initially with an aggressive attitude - this will get nowhere, but we have had so many stories on here of women doing what the NICE chap suggested, reading up on HRT, asking for a particular product and even then being given something else.  And to repeat what has been said many times before - doctors are not gods and any GP who thinks they know it all should not be practising. Of course they cannot be a specialist about everything, and a good GP should acknowledge if someone is well informed. Being assertive is not the same as being aggressive.

Someone mentioned self-diagnosis - well ultimately it is up to the doctor - and usually a specialist for something serious. However in this case we are talking about menopause and HRT - not an illness so not the same thing at all.

I think it is very important for women not to be intimidated into taking medication they may not want when HRT is often more appropriate (if no medical reason why not), and especially if they have asked for it!

Hurdity x