"Late onset menopause"

I have long standing COPD, underlying hypothyroidism and arthritis, recently joined by late onset Asthma for which I'm prescribed a selection of drugs and inhalers. My conditions are largely well managed. However, for many many months, possibly years, I had experienced repeated and increasingly debilitating sweats and fatigue, persistent weight gain, brain fog, loss of interest and generally feeling well below par.  Several blood tests to identify the cause proved unsuccessful. We'd even tried changing my thyroid replacement dosage and adding iron tablets, to no avail. The sweats kept on coming, several times a day, occasionally at night, to the extent that my specs would steam up and hair would be dripping wet. Constant fatigue, fuzzy head and lack of energy meant I'd dropped out of my twice weekly exercise classes, so essential in managing my arthritis and lung conditions. I'd even begun to avoid walking, shopping where I could park outside and many other small changes as I just had no energy. 

In desperation I contacted the surgery yet again, feeling like a broken record, but thankfully the very supportive GP Dr Dunn essentially said that's enough, something's going on and we need to get to the bottom of it so I want you to have a CT scan and thorough review, the best way is a referral to the Rapid Cancer Diagnosis Service.

After the initial shock at the word cancer, this quickly proved transformative. The lovely senior specialist nurse Lorna telephoned and reassured me that this was mainly to eliminate any form of cancer and, in the process, hopefully find out what was causing the problems. She took a full medical and social history and within a matter of days I received an X-ray followed by a neck to pelvis CT scan. This confirmed a pre-existing ovarian cyst as unchanged, and thankfully no cancer or other obvious problems. However, an extended chat with ACNS Katie suggested late onset menopause. Astonished that in my 70s, some 32 years after a hysterectomy had prompted my initial menopause, this is a recognised condition. Apparently evidence increasingly suggests that some ladies post-70 can develop menopausal symptoms as debilitating as ever.

I was then urgently referred to the hospital's menopause clinic (which I didn't even know existed!) and a telephone consultation with Consultant Gynaecologist Dr Monaghan. He agreed with the initial diagnosis and recommended a 6-month trial of Everel 25 patches.

Two weeks in and I'm already feeling better: the sweats have reduced in frequency and severity, my head is a little less foggy and I have a little more energy. The full impact may well take weeks or even months but I am already convinced that there is some improvement.

I cannot thank the four key health professionals enough for taking the initiative and time to listen, and to thoroughly consider all options. The speed and kindly manner with which the RCDS swung into action was incredible and immensely reassuring. Dr Dunn, Lorna, Katie and Dr Monaghan have, in a matter of a month, ruled out many things and identified what we hope will prove to be the root cause of my health problems, and a review appointment arranged in 6 months time. If this is indeed successful it is nothing short of life-changing, only possible due to the dedicated RCDS unit and its highly trained staff.