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[bombsh3ll]

I'm sorry you're suffering like this and at a young age too.

Thyroid issues are not my area, however regarding the question of whether any of this is related to possible perimenopause or low ovarian hormones can only really be answered by a therapeutic trial of hormone replacement.

I would recommend really having a good holistic evaluation by someone like Dr Louise Newson or the late Professor Studd's clinic in London.

You have already spent a lot on private tests, and had low estradiol and testosterone however I am not convinced of the accuracy of urine tests and would really only go by blood levels.

I have to say that your presentation doesn't scream ovarian failure and FSH/LH are reasonable, however you have nothing to lose apart from the expense and potential disappointment if hormone treatment doesn't improve things for you.

However, it is possible that at least some symptoms may improve, and if it doesn't help at all at least you can rule that out as an issue.

Another option which can be more accessible for younger women with concerns about premature ovarian insufficiency is a combined contraceptive pill, particularly if taken continuously, as this would more than make up for any estrogen deficiency, however with migraines and episodes of high blood pressure this may not be suitable, and as there are concerns about low testosterone too this may not be the best option as it can further lower androgens - although this may not be clinically significant if they are barely detectable anyway.

Again I am so sorry about the unkindness and dismissive attitude you have received from the "caring" professions. I encountered similar after becoming disabled due to a brain injury at the age of 34. There is an extremely high cultural tolerance of women's suffering within healthcare that I would love to see changed.

Please don't give up trying to seek answers and feel better, you deserve it. And don't accept any psychiatric labels that you feel are inappropriate - when we lose aspects of our physical health and quality of life it is a normal human response to feel sadness, grief and fear. These are not clinical diagnoses but entirely reasonable responses to trauma.

[CLKD]

2 Me 'over the water' would be Northern Ireland 

If your mood swings were cyclical it's unlikely 2B bipolar/manic depression!  Dr Kath Dalton did a lot of Research in the 1960s/70s/80s regarding women who would have huge rages at certain 'times of the month' due to hormonal upheavals.  She represtend some in Court who had committed murder - nothing to do with bipolar at all!

The National Association for Premenstrual Syndrome [NAPS] gave me advice to eat every 3 hours, 24/7.  MayB making note of everything that you eat/drink for 3-5 days/nights - took a while to get into a routine but since 1998 I have kept more or less to eating little and often. Or anxiety surges dramatically affected me.  The idea is to spread my diet through 24 hours and not add anttihng to it.

Dad was prescribed Lithium which meant that he required monthly blood tests - sometimes he wouldn't take the meds [according to Mum*] or go for the blood tests but it certainly helped him.  *long story short

I suspect that your symptoms may well be thyroid related, which as with many hormones, can become affected during peri.  An over-active thyroid will mimic manic depression and an under-active thyroid will cause slowness, sleepiness .........

Personally I think an appt to a dedicated menopause clinic should be a consideration and to an endocrinologist for the thyroid. 

[KillerQueen]

CLKD - hey i am in the UK, unfortunately there isn't, where i live it's a combined surgery area so there's 5 surgeries combined the next one is over the water as they say, so due to post code can't switch.

Sorry to hear about your dad with Bipolar, it really is a horrible illness. They say because I have mood fluctuations but it's more cyclical, and because I get bursts of energy (decorating ect) and have suffered with depression and anxiety on and off - but also the fact they left me with low folate, b12, iron, ferritin i guess hasn't helped.

They offered me lithium, quetipine, and I think it was called lomotragine? I had my lithium levels tested..and they were actually above normal, and one consultant said if it was bipolar it wouldn't be above, so that threw a spanner in the works.
I'm just really worried about the low testosterone and if my estrogen is low now.

Hi Dizzy, so sorry to hear you are going through this. I was (incorrectly) diagnosed with bipolar 2 after a breakdown at Uni aged 34 - for similar reasons as you describe. I think now it was a combo of side effects from various hormonal contraception and undiagnosed ADHD (got my diagnosis Jan 23, it is commonly mistaken for both Bipolar and BPD in AFAB people due to hormonal fluctuations causing energy and mood spikes and dips, along with a dollop of emotional dysregulation it can look similar). Was put on all the meds you mention and then some. The thing that saved me and really made things clear was stopping hormonal BC, and slowly coming off everything bar Lamotrigine. It eventually became obvious that I didn't have bipolar at all. Peri symptoms started 2019 with night sweats, horrid anxiety but didn't manage to get HRT til Jan 24, despite repeatedly trying. Currently fighting to feel better on HRT, with similar issues to you symptom wise including the low vits and iron. I had shingles last August which is when things really fell off a cliff. My dad has hypothyroidism and though my function is 'NHS Normal', I am having a full blood panel in a month or so which will hopefully tell me more. I have spent a horrifying amount of money on something that they should be capable of managing within the nhs, but my gp is terrified of what she loves to call 'the maximum licensed dose' and refused to increase me above 75 patch/3 pumps of gel.  I have been to two specialists who just didn't seem to hear what a big impact this has had on my life - I am basically a 44 year old hermit with what feels like a 90 year olds body and very little brain and am hanging on by a thread, to my job and to my sense of self. I do not absorb well at all from patches (110 pmol/L on a 75 evorel). Gel was a better at almost 300 on 4 pumps but I had to split that amount/pm and because of pets and anxiety, as well as difficulty keeping a routine it just wasn't working for me. With Newson Clinic now, with a Doctor who has ADHD herself, and finally feeling heard. Waiting for blood results now to see how 2 x 75 patches are absorbing.

Can't offer any advice other than keep going - it is grim that we are being failed in this way but we do have an advantage that previous generations haven't, and that is freedom of information and access to each other.

KillerQueen x