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[debbyx]

Hi Everyone

I spoke to my  new GP yesterday as my menopause symptoms are getting worse  and I am struggling each day.  I am 62 and it’s only in the last year that I started getting symptoms aches and pains acid reflux bad anxiety brain fog tearful not sleeping the list goes on.  I wake up each day and think what symptom will I be dealing with today my last period was 5 years ago and I thought I was lucky that I had no real issues  untill a year ago . 
Any way he said to me that at 62 he would have thought that these were not menopause symptoms as I should have been through this by now. He thinks I have anxiety and depression and offered me anti depressants  which has really confused me ! Then he said he would check with me in a month and if the anti depressants were not working we could then try HRT !!!

Surely at 62 you would still be getting post menopause symptoms.


Can any one advise

[Dotty]

You are right….you definitely can still be getting symptoms at 62.

[Penguin]

I thought it was the other way around, they are meant to offer hrt first and only then add in an antidepressant if hrt doesn't work. Can you get a second opinion? This GP seems misinformed and pretty much all your symptoms sound meno to me.

[CLKD]

Correct Penguin.  Seems like another GP with not a flipping clue about hormonal upheaval!

debbyx - is there a Nurse Practitioner at your surgery?  She may well have more knowledge about HRT requirements.  HRT according to NICE must be offered first unless there is a long-term history of depression and/or anxiety.

Let us know how you get on.

Wouldn't many wish that they 'were through all that now'?

[sheila99]

You need to see a gp who isn't as ignorant as this one. Menopause is for life and symptoms can be too. ADs are not an appropriate treatment for oestrogen deficiency.

[Shorty Pants]

Hi @Debbyx,
As other people have already mentioned, this GP is way out of line to offer you antidepressants as a first option.  If you haven't had any of these symptoms until the last 12 months, I would agree that it may not be menopause, but he should be ordering some blood tests to get to the bottom of this before offering any treatment.  There are any number of causes for the symptoms you've described, not least simple vitamin and nutritional deficiencies such as Vits D, B12 and also iron.
I'd personally be asking for investigations first, but I know how hard this can be arguing against them when you're feeling far from your best.  Can you take someone else to your appointment as support?

[Ayesha]

My menopause symptoms started after 65, I thought I had sailed through it but it was the beginning of some hellish symptoms with the tip of the iceberg being  Vaginal Atrophy (GSM).

Sometimes I want to give up with the lack of knowledge coming from the medical profession, its hard work!

[sheila99]

The ovaries still produce some oestrogen after meno and before they die completely. It's quite possible to be symptom free during meno then experience symptoms a few years later as your oestrogen supply packs up.

[suzysunday]

It never ends really.  I'm 66 and have a lot of hot flushes, I have VA and feel a mess most of the time!

[orrla]

How can it end if our bodies are less of all hormones they had before meno??

My HRT was cut by half in 2018, at 63, and I am in and out of my Surgery ever since. All new issues are irreversible..

What was the point in cutting them?

Go bacK and demand HRT!

[aj1971]

It seems to me that you are dealing with two things here: first, the GP's lack of knowledge about menopause/HRT, and, second, the magic number of '60' being a cut-off for menopause treatment.

If your last period was 5 years ago, you would have been 57 - so later than average to menopause. Some specialists talk of a 'ten year window' for starting HRT after last period. You are well within that. I would be speaking to a more informed GP or seeing a specialist (privately if necessary).

Guidance says HRT first, AD second.

[bombsh3ll]

I think it's sometimes a bit more nuanced than that and the dude can be forgiven for not leaping to prescribe HRT for the symptoms described, presenting for the first time in a lady in her 60s.

HOWEVER it is also not unreasonable to want to try HRT - you were a late finisher at 57 and the guidelines are on your side re initiating before 60 OR 10 years of menopause.

Maybe ask if there's a GP with an interest in women's health that you can see, and slant the discussion towards any more stereotypical menopause symptoms eg hot flushes, night sweats rather than leading with mood symptoms which rightly or wrongly are more likely to result in a prescription for psychoactive medication.