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[GypsyRoseLee]

On day 12 of my Estradot 25mg patch and day 10 of my Utrogestan 200mg (started HRT mid cycle).

I'm wary of sounding too optimistic in case I jinx something, but I already feel so much better. The daily diarrhoea I've had for nearly 3 weeks has completely disappeared.

The quality of my sleep is so much better. These last few months I have been cursed with insomnia. Even when I did sleep it was poor quality. My sleep felt 'thin' and not restful. I never dreamed and woke too early feeling wired and anxious. But three mornings in a row I have still woken early before 6am, but with virtually no anxiety and I have then actually gone back to sleep  I am having dreams again  This is something I haven't managed to do in nearly 9 months.

Since Friday my mood has remained steady. I feel upbeat and positive, and much more like my old self. No sign of the irrational 'fear' that has stalked me all these months.

And all this in less than 2 weeks!!! And during the progesterone part of my HRT!!! Dare I hope that I might feel even better during the next 2.5 weeks when I'm just wearing my patch???

And, finally...if this is the HRT kicking in, then I simply CANNOT believe how incredibly powerful my own fluctuating hormones were in endeavouring to make me feel so awful and ill. It defies belief. How can mere hormones be so destructive to your mental and physical health?

And, I am now starting to feel so angry that I wasn't treated with hormones when I had PND 14 years ago  Essentially I lost the first 2 years of my child's life because the ADs turned me into a functioning robot. I have very few memories of those first 2 years, and the photos of me show my mouth smiling but my eyes look dead.

I feel like marching into my GP's office (the same lady GP who put me on ADs when I had PND, and dismissed my peri menopause symptoms last year ('You're far too young') and diagnosed me with clinical depression/anxiety instead. And shaking her and saying "You are CRAP at your job. Shame on you. You allowed me to lose the first 2 years of my child's life, and you very nearly made me lose the next 5-10 years of my life by not diagnosing/treating me correctly. Shame on you."

    

[toffeecushion]

So glad you are starting to feel better. 

I think a lot of gps get it wrong and we suffer in silence as a consequence.  I wish I were brave enough to speak my feelings to my gp.  Sometimes you just want to be taken seriously and not written off as an emotional wreck.  Let's hope you continue to feel better and can start to live life again

[GypsyRoseLee]

Thank you ToffeeCushion

I wonder if actually going to see her and telling her how close she came to ballsing up my life for a second time might make her take stock?

So, the next 40 something woman she sees, who is suffering from unexplained anxiety/insomnia/mood swings/bowel issues she might not just write them off by writing them a script for ADs.

ADs can be a wonderful drug. But I wonder how many thousands of middle aged women are on them, when they should be on HRT? It doesn't bear thinking about.

[thorntrees]

Just want to redress the balance a bit and say that for those like me who cannot take HRT, ADs at a low dose and with the help of a sympathetic GP can really help with some of the problems of menopause. We all know this time of our lives can be very stressful and achieving relief can be very hit and miss. If you find a solution that suits you that's great but we are all so very different., both in our reaction to medication and what we are prepared to try to help us through this time. Really hope you continue to feel good GypsyRoseLee, it's always nice to read an upbeat post.

Thorntrees

[GypsyRoseLee]

I did say in my post Thorntree that ADs can be a wonderful drug. But they are not a one-size-fits-all drug for women.

I feel angry that my GP wasn't even prepared to 'try' me with HRT last year. And 14 years ago ADs turned me into a functioning robot when I had PND. I reported this several times to my GP. At no point did she wonder 'why' ADs didn't seem to really work for me. It was only when I stopped taking them, that I soon felt my normal spectrum of emotions returning.

[toffeecushion]

Gypsyroselee - I have had a similar experience to you.  When my youngest was a year old we lost our house, it was a very stressful time and about a year later I started to suffer with anxiety and panic attacks.  It was all blamed on the stress plus maybe a bit of PND.  I was prescribed ADs but they never really worked for me.  Maybe that's because I needed hormonal treatment rather than ADs.  I had CBT, which, while it was good to talk to someone, didn't really help.  I kept going back to the doctor with loads of different symptoms but they could never find a reason for them.  I had test after test and was always told that I was fine and essentially it was all in my head.  I became agoraphobic for many years, scared to leave the safety of my house in case I had a panic attack.  I missed out on so much of my children's lives.  The thing was some of the time I could go out and be more or less normal, I wasn't depressed and anxious every day.  How was it possible that I had a 'selective' mental illness?  Well, maybe it was possible because I didn't have a mental illness after all.  Maybe it was a hormonal problem.  I think that ADs do have a role to play and help many people but we require a correct diagnosis before they are prescribed and for that we have to depend on our doctors.  And our doctors need to know that we are not all text book cases, sometimes people are different.  Just because we are not in our 50's doesn't mean we aren't experiencing menopausal symptoms.  I wish I had the confidence to do something positive about the  lack of understanding we receive.  Until someone does I feel many more women will lose out on so much.

[Ju Ju]

This web site is a start. There are doctors out there who are aware and very helpful, like mine. Sadly, it takes time and education for things to change. No longer do I feel, when I go to the doctors surgery that they are dealing with a neurotic, menopausal, time wasting woman. I choose not to see those doctors, who appear to have an attitude. Can you see a different doctor in the practice or change practices?

[GypsyRoseLee]

Hi Toffee

Yes, we sound very similar. I had had a very stressful year prior to starting with my peri symptoms. So My GP refused to look beyond the fact I had been under stress = anxiety/depression. She wasn't interested in understanding why it was that for several days at a time, a couple of times a month, I would suddenly perfectly okay/normal again. Like you, I was confused how I could have selective clinical depression/anxiety.

But my GP just shrugged it off. Dismissed me with ADs for the blanket covering-up of my symptoms. Not CURING my symptoms. Just covering them up.

Same when I had PND. I strongly suspect that when you give powerful ADs to a woman who ISN'T actually clinical depressed, they screw with her brain chemistry and turn her into a functioning robot. I was essentially poisoned with ADs when I should have been given hormones 

[Dandelion]

Hi GypsyRoseLee

My evorel also took away the daily diarrhoea I had for about 6yrs.
I didnt think to address it and just accepted it as the norm, and found out I had IBS.
I think lack of oestrogen caused my IBS.
I still get the odd bit but nowhere near as bad, and I have my "shit pills" loperamide, for when I need them.

Evorel 75mcg and utro were the first HRT's to work for me, femoston didnt. DG on here said that she has a colleague whom HRT doesnt work for and I was scared I would be another one of those women. I upped the evorel to 100mcg.
I reckon HRT takes about five weeks to kick in properly.

I like your description of thin sleep. I hated waking up with that roller coaster stomach feeling, but the hrt seems to be helping (crossed fingers for you and me)

The moods were hard to control, not like normal psychiatric anxiety or depression, more a physical anxietu and depression.

Oestrogen is a big helper, take a woman's oestrogen away and you take away her quality of life.
I hope your eyes come alive again.
My ovaries downed tools at 42, but I thought my symptoms were due to a medication that I was weaning off with the doctor. I'm now 48 and started HRT at age 47.
I only got tested cos a girl online suggested it, and she sparked off my recovery..
It took a while and I was on femosotn for a year, without bothering to ask my GP for aother one as she was really funny about giving me hrt, whereas another doctor in the practice gave me it.
One GP said I could not have patches as I have migraine auras, but I wrote to Heather and she said patches are better for migraineers.

[CLKD]

I don't think bursting into the GP in high dudgeon would do anyone much good  - but I take your point that the next lady may well be treated the same 

(I thought I replied to this thread yesterday so of course, my thought patterns have disappeared  )

Is there a Practice Nurse attached to your Surgery or perhaps have a discussion with the Practice Manager - some of the Nurses in our Practice are highly skilled now and are able to prescribe without the patient needing to see a GP. Perhaps take details of this Forum to the Practice Manager, explain that you have been helped by the comments/experiences on here and is she aware that the Forum exists?  Depending on her attitude you might then like to mention that you have had a long painful process getting the appropriate treatment for your menopausal symptoms, that whilst you are aware that they can mimic 'more usual' symptoms, you knew it was hormonal and are unhappy that the GP didn't take your worries on board.

Also maybe once the Election is over, write a precise to your local elected Candidate and a copy to the Health Minister? I feel a Meno charabanc visit to No 10 coming on!

[Taz2]

Hi GypsyRose - I too had PND and a really sympathetic doctor who did explore alternative treatments for me. He was keen on hormonal treatment but after discussion with various consultants and a contact at The Royal College of Psychiatrists it was decided that hormonal treatment was definitely not the way forward for PND. I was curious to see if the advice had changed as it's over thirty years since my PND took hold but this is what I've found http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/problemsdisorders/postnataldepression.aspx   It still seems as hormones are not seen to be the answer at least in the beginning.

Taz x

[GypsyRoseLee]

That's interesting Taz.

On Professor Studd's website he talks about how even today psychiatrists are still unconvinced that hormonal related depression/anxiety exists. He believes that HRT can cure PND far better than Ads do, and much more quickly.

[GypsyRoseLee]

I something I am definitely considering CLKD. I m drafting a letter.

[CLKD]

Good on yer!

As for PND - it certainly is hormonal, I 'saw' a lot of it when my Dad was hospitalised.  I also 'saw' it take hold of ladies when I was a secretary  with sad consequences on occasions.

Of course PND is hormonal  ……… in the same way as PMT is hormonal 

[MrsMopp]

That's great news Gypsy Rose.  I can imagine how angry you are to have lost those 2 years though.

I am wondering why some women have their progesterone separately from their oestrogen - I've only just started on the HRT route but my patches have both hormones in the same patch. ( I do have some Oestrogen only patches which I was given in error by my Gp  but today I collected the correct ones so will try one tonight.)

Just wondering what the advantages are of having the two separately.