Perimenopause and Menopause

The Menopause is when a woman’s periods stop due to lower hormone levels. This usually happens between the ages of 45 and 55. It can sometimes happen earlier naturally, or for reasons such as surgery to remove the ovaries (oophorectomy) or the uterus (hysterectomy), cancer treatments like chemotherapy, or a genetic reason. Sometimes the reason is unknown.

Symptoms usually start months or years before a woman’s periods stop, this is called the perimenopause.

Menopause and perimenopause can cause symptoms like anxiety, mood swings, brain fog, hot flushes and irregular periods. These symptoms can start years before periods stop and carry on afterwards.

These symptoms can have a huge impact on a person’s life, including relationships and work.

Mental health symptoms

Common mental health symptoms of menopause and perimenopause include:

  • changes to your mood, like low mood, anxiety, mood swings and low self-esteem
  • problems with memory or concentration (brain fog)

Physical symptoms

Common physical symptoms of menopause and perimenopause include:

  • hot flushes, when you have sudden feelings of hot or cold in your face, neck and chest which can make you dizzy
  • difficulty sleeping, which may be a result of night sweats and make you feel tired and irritable during the day
  • palpitations, when your heartbeats suddenly become more noticeable
  • headaches and migraines that are worse than usual
  • muscle aches and joint pains
  • changed body shape and weight gain
  • skin changes including dry and itchy skin
  • reduced sex drive
  • vaginal dryness and pain, itching or discomfort during sex
  • recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs)

There are things that can be done to help with these symptoms. There are also medicines available that can replace the missing hormones and help relieve the symptoms. For more information on the menopause, please press the link below

If you feel you are having any of these symptoms, please book an appointment with one of our GPs to discuss. You can also fill out the following questionnaire to bring with you to your appointment

Treatment for menopause and perimenopause

The main medicine treatment for menopause and perimenopause symptoms is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which replaces the hormones that are at low levels.

There are other treatments if you cannot, or choose not to, have HRT.

Please find a comparison of lifestyle risk factors versus Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) treatment below.

For more information on the Testosterone Treatment, please visit the link below.

Food, Nutrients and Bone Health

Please see the link below for more information on food and nutrients and bone health:

Park Lane Surgery presented a Perimenopause and Menopause debate and discussion evening, hosted by Dr Parkes on Thursday 8th June 2023 which proved to be a huge success.

If you would like to see the slides from this discussion, please see the link below

NHS Hormone Replacement Therapy Prescription Prepayment Certificate (HRT PPC)

The Department of Health and Social Care have announced that they are introducing the HRT PPC to reduce the cost of HRT prescriptions.

This service will be available as of 1st April 2023.

For more information on this service, please go to the NHSBSA website.