Hi - I've just joined after watching Davina the other night. I dug out a letter I had sent to a doctor in 2014 after suffering for 8 years with extreme symptoms of what I now believe was menopause. During this period it was never suggested to me by any medical professional (and I saw many of them) that these could be menopausal symptoms. I completed lost my personality amongst other things and regrettably I never got 'myself' back. I wonder knowing what I know now whether it's too late to try HRT. I wrote to a doctor in complete desperation all those years ago and some of what I said in that letter is:
I don’t know where to start and I don’t know if you will be able to help me in any way but I am absolutely desperate and so I must take the chance that you will listen to me. I found your details on the internet and hope you will understand why I am writing to you completely out of the blue.
I am a 51 year old women and until the age of 30 had been extremely healthy and very fit. Since then my health has been very poor without a definitive diagnosis.
Over the past ten years or so – but particularly in the last five years – I have gone from being an intelligent, confident, out-going person to someone who can hardly string a sentence together and who avoids social contact as much as possible. I am not the person I was and I just want to get ‘ME’ back.
My main symptoms are:
Memory loss
Lack of attention/unable to concentrate
Fatigue/drowsiness
Inability to learn new things
Loss of intellect
Loss of personality
Loss of self confidence
Reduced capacity for work
Loss of coordination
Indecision/confusion
Insomnia
Numbness and tingling – particularly hands, feet and lips
Diarrhoea/constipation
Pressure in Chest
Dizziness
Ringing in Ears
Tremors – head, hands, eye lids, tongue
Cold hands/feet
Leg cramps/pain
Muscle weakness
Weight loss
Joint Pain
Muscle spasms
Difficulty in focusing/double vision
Hypothyroidism
Fungal infection
