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[Pinkjan4288]

I have been peri for 14 months now, I'm 43 and still have periods. Very short cycles( 21 days) now and they last 7 - 9 days but they are very light apart from 2 heavy middle days.
I have vaginal dryness and need to pee lots. The hot flashes are back again but not too bad at the moment.

I really suffer with headaches and migraines (take sumatriptan and amytriptaline for this)

I am under an immense amount of stress at the moment so its hard to know if the worsening headaches are due to hormones or stress.

I also have painful hip bursitis and a pretty much non existent sex drive which I really hate and want it back.

My friend is a GP and she said if I was her patient  she would offer me a mirena coil and oestrogen gel or patches.

Does anyone have any advice. I have also booked a private appointment at a menopause clinic in Dec because I don't have much faith in my Gp. last year she told me to come back once I hadn't had a period for a year!!

blood test done back then showed I was peri.

[CLKD]

Make a list of your symptoms to take along.

Ask for appropriate treatment for dryness, vaginal atrophy mimics urine infection-type symptoms! need to pee, urgency, pain ....... we have several threads on VA here.

Does the medication for the headaches ease symptoms?  Have you had your eyes tested recently?  Some headaches can be caused by problems in the cervical spine.

If your friend has suggested Mirena and patches then maybe ask your GP for this treatment?

Some 'experts' at menopause clinics aren't as clued up as they appear to be so again, take your list with you.  ;-)

[Emma]

There's a checklist on our leaflets page:
https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/downloads.php
this is the pdf:
https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/pdf/VAchecklist.pdf

[Pinkjan4288]

Thank you. yes the medication does help with my headaches but I try not to take amyltriptaline too much because I feel hung over the next day and it does stop me sleeping when I stop taking it

[CLKD]

That drug did nowt for me  ..... other than making me feel hung over - for no reason 

[Misstowers]

Hi pinkjan4288, I'm peri and 42 years old, had the same lack of understanding with my gp, but was refered to the nhs meno clinic.

I'm on sandrena estrogen gel and utrogeston for 12 days per month, but I'm all over the place, mainly depressed, and it's really tough at the minute. I think that's because hrt is adding to my hormonal highs and lows, and making everything more extreme.

Sometimes I question if im any better off, but I'm worried if I stop HRT it could affect my bone density and my symptoms could end up worse, so it's like I'm in a no win situation. I'm going back to the memo clinic to discuss options, maybe even returning to the pill.

So I would ask about how adding additional hormones might affect you when you are still producing your own, and the best way to manage this. You seem to know your cycle well, and it might be that you can use this information to adjust your dosage...? Is the pill an option for you? Some other ladies have suggested that to me on here... I tried that first before hrt but I didn't get my libido back and still had some other symptoms so switched to hrt...but it might be ok for you?
Good luck! X

[Pinkjan4288]

Thank for your replies, I use an app to keep track of my cycle. I need to these days because my memory is shot.
 I cant take the combined pill due to migraines. I used to have the mini pill until 2 years ago. I came off it because I thought I might feel better off of it. less headaches etc

[Misstowers]

I guess you should try something new then as you can always go back to the minipill if hrt doesn't help, and it might improve things for you. I think peri menopause can be really tough because it's so up and down and it's hard to predict your levels from one day to the next. In so far as the constant weeing and dryness, the consultant I saw prescribed an estrogen cream to be used at night vaginally, and I found that helped. So maybe ask about that? It's called Ovestin x

[Pinkjan4288]

thank you MissTowers