As part of our series of Menopause Stories, Jane has produced a series of blog entries on her menopause journey. This is the second group of entries, talking about getting a diagnosis.
Dear Ω
Maybe, just maybe a bit of a breakthrough and a bit of an idea of what’s going on. I’ve kept talking about fogginess and fuzziness and not being able to remember stuff and I thought it was COVID or something like that. But actually, today I had what I think was a hot flush. I don’t know. I mean, I’ve never had one before, so I don’t know if it definitely was, but it felt like my skin on my face and my scalp was burning. It didn’t last very long, maybe only a few seconds but I do wonder if I’ve finally identified what this might be.
Maybe it is hormones.
I guess it could be. The fogginess, the forgetfulness, hot sweats at night and now a hot flash. Maybe it is, maybe it’s menopause. I guess the Dr did say when they did the embolisation to treat the fibroids that it might trigger menopause in rare cases.
Why didn’t I think of that before?
I guess I should see somebody, as I really can’t keep feeling the way I do now.
Me
Dear Ω
I tried to get an appointment with the doctor. And it’s weeks to wait. When I said what it was about it wasn’t urgent. So it’s weeks to wait. But I feel like my mind is falling apart and I just don’t know how to keep things straight and not get to the point where I need to take time off.
I can’t think. It takes me at least twice as long to do everything that I want to get done. I have to leave myself time in case I need to cry. I have to leave myself time in case I need more time to think because I can’t concentrate. I have to leave time to get things right. And I don’t have that time to just waste.
Me
Dear Ω
So, the health insurance from work includes a private GP, I forgot about that. They can’t do anything about treatment but when I started to describe how I was feeling, it was all pretty obvious to the private GP as part of that insurance that it probably is perimenopause. Because they can’t do anything about treatment, I’ve decided to just book myself an appointment with a private gynaecologist. I can get an appointment within a few days. It’s going to cost me a couple of 100 quid but at the very least I think that I’ll get a decent answer as to whether it is menopause. I don’t know whether they’ll do anything, I guess maybe prescribe HRT. I really hope they do. Because right now I don’t really know what else I can do without getting some kind of help.
Me
Dear Ω
So I saw the gynaecologist today and guess what? Turns out I was probably right. It probably is perimenopause. He was fairly sure that everything I’m feeling; the moods, the sadness, the crying, the fogginess, the forgetfulness, the hot flush, which I’ve had a couple more of now, and the night sweats; he’s pretty sure that it is perimenopause.
It’s early onset, but not by much. He was really reassuring and was really happy to put me on HRT. I’ve already got the Mirena coil. So that gives me the progesterone bit. So all I need is the oestrogen and he’s prescribed the gel.
Apparently, it might take up to three months to really kick in, but I should see some improvements over the next couple of weeks. But yeah, proper, kind of levelling out of everything and feeling better. Might take a good three months. Sigh. That’s not the speedy improvement I hoped for, but I guess it’s better than nothing. Because it’ll be pretty rubbish if I stayed at this level, so I have to try.
On the bright side, the prescription this time was private, so I had to pay for that. But he’s transferring it all to my GP so it should all be fairly straightforward from here on in and then will be able to just get a regular NHS prescription, which is covered by my normal subscription card.
The other thing he said was that the oestrogen gel can lead to an increase in fibroids again. The coil should help mitigate that, but the good news is, I get to have a baseline ultrasound now and then repeat ultrasounds to check as to whether the oestrogen gel is causing fibroids. So that is a slight bonus.
Me