Menopause Catch-Up

As you know from my previous chats, the menopause is hard! I don’t remember puberty being this hard!

Anyway, here we are in the middle of a pandemic and my HRT supply is getting low. I called the doctor’s surgery to be told to call back when I was down to my last 3 weeks, but with the performance I had the last time I needed more. So I called earlier.

I am sure you are aware that we can’t just go to the doctors anymore, so I made an appointment for a telephone call. I explained to the doctor the reason of the call and she said “what’s the plan?” Plan? “what plan?” I say, “I didn’t know I had a plan in place!”

Her answer was how long was I going to stay on HRT. I don’t know, I’m not well versed in the menopause! I must have a doctor on the phone who doesn’t agree with HRT as her plan is that I need to come off it! Whoa, hold on tiger, you didn’t see me before your colleague prescribed it! How can she want me to come off it when I have only now been on it for 2 years. It has transformed me. I back to being me. My life is now normal. No hot flushes, no chest pains, no sleepless nights, no mood swings and no more tears.

The doctor reluctantly agrees to give me a prescription for another 6 months. After asking me my weight she then goes on to tell me I am over-weight! I actually weigh less now than I did two years ago! If I don’t address my weight then I will find myself on high blood pressure tablets!! According to her, everyone will be on high blood pressure tablets by the time they are 80. Well, I don’t recall any member of my family talking blood pressure tablets. Then she goes on about needing my current blood pressure reading, which obviously she can’t have because I can’t go to the surgery! Now then, this leaves me wondering why the doctor takes time to write up notes when they don’t obviously read them.  If you look at my notes you will see that all my life I have had a very healthy blood pressure reading!

A 5-minute call with the doctor has left me stressed.

I couldn’t shake the call off, so, what do I do? Well I joined slimming world after visiting the wardrobe of ‘don’t open, nothing in here fits’, saying to myself if you don’t lose weight then you need to give all these clothes to charity! The other thing I did was miss taking a tablet. Well by missing one, nothing seemed to happen. Then, I decide to take it another step and decide that on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I would not take HRT. After a couple of weeks of doing this I was thinking ‘well things don’t seem so bad!’ 

Four weeks later all hell breaks loose! Being saved from redundancy is what started it off. Well, surely that would make a normal person happy? Oh no, not me! Yes, I am happy to have a job, but I was told I didn’t have a job and was not eligible for the role on offer, so being given the job has knocked me for six. I just couldn’t get over it! It keeps going around and around in my head. As far as I was concerned I was being sent to another store and now that is not happening. But that wasn’t dealt with well, and that is bothering me! 

Six weeks after starting my withdrawal from HRT I now know it was the wrong thing to do so, after being ordered by my husband (chuckles), I make an appointment with the doctor but ask not to talk to the doctor I originally spoke with. My mental state is all over the place, but I have to wait a week to talk to the doctor.  After 5 days of waiting I start taking my HRT on the days I was missing. I know this is the problem so why am I waiting to talk to the doctor? I am a strong woman and someone who gives themselves a slap and tells themselves to get a grip. I do not need to waste the doctors time. 

I have logged this journey so that next time the doctor says “what’s the plan?” I can answer with my experience.

Take care.

In a happier place.

Tracy x