Dr Mukherjee, menopause and ME

Yesterday was a long day.  I travelled all the way to The Royal Salford Hospital in Manchester (4 and a half hours each way!) to see Dr Annice Mukherjee.  This Dr had been brought to my attention by my Perrin Therapist who had heard her speak at this years Perrin Conference.  Dr Mukherjee is an endocrinologist who has a special interest in ME and as I have been having lots of menopausal symptoms recently I thought she might be a good person to speak to.  As I sat in the waiting room I wondered whether the trip was going to be worthwhile.  I know there is no cure that this doctor (or any) can offer, but I do realise that looking at all the pieces of this M.E. jigsaw is a useful exercise and seeking out information from those in the know is adding more pieces and this is what I was hoping to gain from my visit.

We talked through the history of my case and generally about how it had progressed and what current treatments/supplements I am using and just built up a big picture of the situation.  Apparently, it is very common for menopausal symptoms to hit  women with ME and throw the managing of ME symptoms off balance and further effect their energy levels.  So, she has recommended a supplement called Promensil Red Clover, which contains naturally occurring plant oestrogen's.  This will hopefully ease off the peri-menopausal symptoms and in turn even out my ME again.  Her second recommendation was to take some iodine.  Iodine helps to boost the thyroid and will hopefully bring my TSH levels down - she has seen this in other women in my situation, so that would be good.  The third recommendation was to pull back a bit on Dr Myhills supplements and move to only taking daily recommended doses rather than the rather high levels of some of them I am taking at present. I feel they have done well in helping to build me up over the previous 3 years, but now I'm going to let some of them go.

Before I left they took lots of blood in order to do some thorough testing.  I get the impression Dr Mukherjee will leave no stone unturned.  She was very generous with her time and very informative and I did feel that the long trip had been very worthwhile.

Dr Mukherjee has a website www.fatiguewise.co.uk 

I particularly liked her clear, caring and research led style.  Yesterday reminded me how important it is for us all to take responsibility for our own well being as much as possible and seeking out those who might be able to help is a part of that.  We are lucky that we have an NHS where, if you have a referral,  you can request to see any doctor based anywhere in the country (as I understand it) and I am lucky enough to have a GP who was willing to refer me.

GP visit

On Thursday morning I went to see my GP who I haven't seen for a while.  I told him that I was feeling things had been sliding backwards since the summer and asked if he would refer me to see Dr Annice Mukherjee an endocrinologist at the Salford Royal hospital who I had heard had a special interest in women with ME and their hormones.  My GP was very kind and told me of his concerns about sending me off on a wild goose chase and how it is easy to constantly be chasing "specialists", but I explained that feeling that I am proactively doing something towards my recovery is the only way that I can deal with this situation mentally.  What is the alternative???  To do nothing???  He seemed to appreciate this standpoint.
He did make a referral for me for which I am grateful.
On Thursday afternoon, I went to see a homoeopath to have some food intolerance allergy testing done.  She concluded that I had strong reactions to Tea and coffee and mild reactions to wheat flour, gluten and watercress!  I haven't had a cup of tea or coffee for four years now, so eliminating them will not be and has not been a problem.
The build up to Christmas has been pretty full on, but finally today, I feel pretty on top of it.  After a rush of children's activities and Christmas socials we now have a quiet weekend and I am ready for it.  I need to conserve my energy for a family festive trip out on Monday.

Ignore me, i'll get over it.

It's been almost a month since my previous post.  That's not because there hasn't been anything happening, but more because I'm just not quite sure what to say.  Things are still very up and down and probably more down than up at the moment.  I just don't know what to think.
I've had various appointments in that month and felt varyingly better for a short while afterwards, but generally things are a little upside down.
I've spoken to my gastro doctor about the things on my blood tests that DR Myhill thinks were significant and he just wants me to have them repeated before I see him next to see if the particular readings are still high.
I've had an almost constant cold sore either on my mouth or in my nose and my fair share of mouth ulcers.  It just adds to that general run down feeling.
I've also been told this month that I have posterior blephoritis, the meibomiam glands on my eyelids aren't working properly.  I guess having sore eyes hasn't helped my general feeling of wellbeing.  I have started treating it and it is improving.  
I've cancelled the blood test I was due to have to reanalyse my mitochondrial status, I don't really want to know.  The original idea was to give myself a boost by seeing how much I had improved since first being tested three years ago - it's going to have to wait.
I've also been having lots of hot flushes and have only had two proper periods this year (and two very feeble attempts!), which makes me think there is definitely something hormonal going on.  I am peri-menopausal and I think this is effecting my ME symptoms.  With this in mind I have an appointment with my GP next week to ask if he will refer me to see Dr Annice Mukherjee a consultant endocrinologist in Salford Hospital who has a special interest in ME and hormones. She was the guest speaker at the Perrin conference recently.  It's a long way to travel, but I just want to see someone who I feel  knows more about my condition than I do! 

The above probably sounds pretty down beat and moany, but I need to document how I am right now as it's easy to forget.   It's all just a huge inconvenience that's getting to me a bit at the moment, but hopefully in 3 months time I'll be able to read back and see how much things have improved and take some pleasure from that - I feel unsure about typing that even as I put it, I'm not sure I believe it, which just goes to further illustrate my current state of mind.

Ahead of me  - a rush of activity for the Christmas period, most days with something to do or somewhere to go.  It's going to take careful management.