New to this forum and finding it an invaluable source of information.
My menopause situation is probably a bit different from most. Only ever had 3 periods in my whole life, had every test under the sun, all came back normal. Blood tests at 20 put me in post-menopausal hormonal range.
In my 20s I was prescribed various brands of the pill, all of which made me feel atrocious. I attempted suicide 3 times. I was overweight and miserable, and refused point blank to take the pill because of this.
I'm now 34 and I think I'm paying the price for that decision. I feel that no consultant I spoke to 10-15 years ago listened to the side affects I was experiencing. I try not to get angry about it now.
My ovaries have pretty much disappeared, my uterus has slumped forward. Sex has always been painful. 3 years ago I had the start of vaginal atrophy, but was scared to treat it with hormones, of any kind. In the last 2-3 years I'd get heart palpitations randomly that would last up to half an hour. Had been working part-time as my concentration and memory just began to suck! The above I could cope with, and the fact I can't have children.
Tomorrow, I'm meant to be joining my friends and running the Dublin Marathon for the first time. Instead, I'm staying with my parents, lying in bed feeling like I have to pee. Badly. All the time. This started, to a much lesser extent, at the end of May.
I am seeing a fab gynae in Dublin now, who said I should always have been started on a low dose of hormones and had it gradually increased. Instead, my body was always suddenly flooded with hormones in the form of the pill. Awful. I have been on the 37.5mcg estradot patch and 100mg urogestan for 6 weeks now, with a view to increasing in 2 weeks time. I have not wanted to chuck myself off a bridge! 2 weeks ago I also started using Vagifem daily, and ovestin cream daily externally. My urethra hurts when I press it. I had horrible itching which has improved. Also had terrible bladder pressure feeling when lying on my side - this went within 4-5 days of using Vagifem.
But, I still have bad urinary urgency and a pain/ache feeling in my bladder. If anyone presses my belly over my bladder, I feel a horrid even stronger urge to pee. I can't wear tight clothing because of this.
I am really praying that the hormones kick in soon and take care of these symptoms too, it's pure misery!
I wrote an article back in June for an Irish website about menopause and dating, here's the link in case anyone is interested:
http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/infertility-dating-2804286-Jun2016/I plan on writing another article about all the symptoms of menopause. No woman should suffer this in silence, particularly if there's treatment available to manage the symptoms and give back quality of life that we all deserve!
