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[Arya Underfoot]

Hello, I'm new here and am so relieved to find a place to talk about menopause. I don't know where to start so I'll try and give you a little background first.

Before peri, I had severe PMS with heavy painful periods and a side of anxiety and depression. I'd done a lot of research on hormones to relieve my PMS but knew nothing of perimenopause. I was previously oestrogen dominant but around 38 my GP told me my oestrogen was low. My periods had also gotten heavier, more painful and irregular. I was sent to a Gyn, who completely disregarded my low hormones, was convinced I had endometriosis (despite previously being checked for this), ultrasound was clear - no endometriosis, so he offered me a hysterectomy but wanted to keep my ovaries - I wanted them gone, I was sick of the hormonal stress but went along with it. I'll never trust a male Gyn again. Thankfully my GP is female and put me on HRT straight away. Then I got injured and could no longer work, the peri symptoms just kept getting worse, until I suffered a major mental break down around the age of 42 and things haven't really improved since then (I'm now 45). I think my testosterone levels dropped about 2 years ago (no libido, reduction in unwanted facial hair).

I find the HRT helps but it's not enough. I take bio-identical hormones.
Last year I started taking some supplements as well, they help with some things, but again it's not enough.
I started making progress when I saw a menopause psychologist - I'd had an argument with my previous psychologist about the existence of hormonal rage, she said if it was a thing it would be in the media - the worst thing she could have said, that's a huge part of the problem, the media aren't talking about it! I find it so much easier talking to someone who believes my symptoms and has techniques specific to menopause.

One of the biggest obstacles I'm struggling with is the menopausal dementia. I did find a good memory supplement but it is frequently out of stock, so it's back to feeling confused, constantly forgetting things, fatigued. It's hard to manage all the added stress when you can't remember all the techniques you've learned. So frustrating!

I'm very isolated where I am, I have no close friends besides my husband, so I'm hoping I've found a safe place here to talk about our symptoms and help each other out. I feel like I've experienced every symptom of menopause, I hear Post Menopause is easier, just hope I get there soon, need to escape this darkness.

[sheila99]

Am I right that you have your ovaries but no uterus? Can you tell us what hrt you're on and what dose? Are you on testosterone? If not you may find it helps.

[Arya Underfoot]

Yep, no uterus but my ovaries are in tact, makes it hard to know when I'm having cycle, I get my FSH levels checked once a year.

I currently take 100mg prometrium and 3 pumps of oestrogel. I also take vagifem twice a week. I'm a bit reluctant to ask about taking testosterone because I'm worried about the side effects, does anyone have any experiences?

[SarahT]

Good.morning  Arya
Welcome. You are quite right this forum is a safe place to ask any question of advice, all given by women who are experiencing similar symptoms and worries. Unfortunately many in the medical profession are not very knowledgeable about perimenopause and menopause, there's a lot of catching up to do. And women are also still learning ( the hard way in some cases) about the symptoms and regimes to help us best.
If you have browse around this forum you will see that there is a huge range of ages as to when symptoms hit, both young like yourself, or older like me. I am 57 and peri only really hit me about 3 years ago.

Brain fog, can be quite a common and distressing symptom. Although I am on a different regime to you, estradot patches and mirena coil,  this week I begun testosterone too. My libido had gone down badly, like you I lost a lot of body hair, Mainly arms, let's and horribly, my eyebrows ( may have been worse by thyroid problems) I started testosterone mainly to help a rubbish libido and lack of sexual response but hope I that It may help with clearer thinking and energy levels.
My gp was a bit reluctant at first to prescribe, but sent me a link for possible side affects. But that is true of many medications all should be used carefully of course. Women should take a lower dose of testosterone then men,  as a gp should know and prescribe accordingly.  Do take a look around at previous posts, as women have written of their own experiences using testosterone. I was a bit nervous but did a bit of research and need to try.

You are in a very helpful and supportive place on here. Ask anything x

[Arya Underfoot]

Thank you for your advice SarahT, I think I will ask my GP about testosterone when I see her next. In the meantime, like you suggested, I'll do some more research.

[Taz2]

Hi Arya. Some good advice already for you on here.  I'm just wondering why you are using a progesterone if you have no uterus to protect? Sorry if I've missed something. It was progesterone which gave me pms type symptoms and low mood.

Taz x 

[Arya Underfoot]

My GP tells me I don't need progesterone since I have no uterus but I feel much worse when I don't take it. It may be all in my head, when I was oestrogen dominant in my twenties and thirties I used to take progesterone cream, which gave me so much relief, I found prometrium even better but I struggle to see what good the oestrogen is doing for me, because I still have so many symptoms (I think the only symptom I don't have is UTIs). The vagifem is the only oestrogen I take that does anything, maybe the oestrogel just doesn't work for me, I'll be seeing my GP in a few weeks to discuss some new options.

[Minnie Mouse]

Hello, also new here and now realise how important it is to reach out.
Speaking for myself, it's easy to get quite isolated from other women, and then feel surrounded by people (husbands, GPs) who just don't get how debilitating all this is.
I think the reticence with testosterone comes from ignorance. They're more ahead on this in Australia, they have a much more advanced debate on it you can google.
The amounts prescribed to women are so small that a lot of the side effect concerns are probably exaggerated.
I tried testosterone (Androfeme) a while back, partly because my energy/libido had disappeared, but stopped after 2-3 months, it didn't seem to help.
I might retry at some point, it may need longer to kick in?

[Arya Underfoot]

Hi Minnie Mouse.
Thanks for reaching out and sharing your experience, it's nice to have some understanding.
I recently tried reducing my Estrogel to 1 pump and that was a big mistake, my brain fog actually got worse, more depressed and then the VA symptoms started and I immediately applied an extra pump. It only reduced the dose for a couple of days but I'm still struggling to get back to where I was, which wasn't a very good place.
I'm seeing my GP tomorrow and will ask about the testosterone, from all I've read on here very small doses can be beneficial. I'm also considering an alternative to Estrogel, maybe give Sandrena another go if I can't find anything. It's just the anxiety and panic attacks are so much worse on a higher dose of Estrogel, not sure if a different form of oestrogen will give me less anxiety.