Hello, I'm 53 and started getting very irregular periods 3 years ago but no other symptoms. This coincided with leaving my high-stress existence in London and relocating with my partner to the west coast of Scotland, where he grew up, where we have a much better and calmer quality of life. Soon after we moved, my parents in the south of England became dramatically frailer. I also developed quite severe and overwhelming anxiety, as well as low moods and insomnia, despite absolutely loving our new home.
No period now for almost a year. I can't take HRT due to family history of breast cancer.
A year ago I went to see a GP. She said that because I can't take HRT, and I'm already living a healthy active lifestyle, there's nothing more that can be done for me. She said that the symptoms weren't necessarily due to the menopause anyway and could be caused by my huge change of life, and worry about my parents. However she did recommend this website. She also agreed to prescribe antidepressants, but only a month or two at a time and I had to make a new appointment to discuss how I was feeling before she'd prescribe more. Well that didn't last long, I managed to get an appointment the first time I ran out of pills, but the second time I couldn't face the struggle to get an appointment in time and came off them without discussing with the GP.
The other day I was feeling particularly miserable and rang the surgery. The receptionist said she had no appointments and to try again at the end of the week. By the end of the week I was of course feeling slightly better and distracted by other things, so didn't ring.
Well, that's me.
