Dismissed as Just Perimenopause

Summary

Carolyn came to Med Matrix after low energy and not feeling great kept being written off as perimenopause, which she did not want to accept. Her primary care doctor agreed to check her hormone levels, but only at her next physical, which was not until late August or early September, and she did not want to wait. She also carried a long-standing thyroid issue that had sat at the high end of normal for years, with nothing beyond a single TSH draw since she was pregnant. At her first Med Matrix evaluation the thyroid work she had asked for was done, and she now sees Dr. Sasha Rose, ND, feels a bit better and feels positive about what comes next.

Before Med Matrix

• Low energy and not feeling great
• Told the feeling was just perimenopause and that it was okay
• Asked her primary care doctor in December to check her hormone levels and was told it would happen at her next physical, in late August or early September
• Long-standing thyroid issue; her TSH sat right at the high end of normal for as long as she can remember
• No one had paid attention to her thyroid levels since she was pregnant, at least 10 years earlier
• Asked about additional thyroid levels beyond TSH but did not know what to name, and was told the result was close enough to normal
• Major anxiety, which makes new in-person situations hard
• On prescriptions from another provider, including one she felt was raising her heart rate
• Went in half expecting the rug to be pulled out from under her

Results

• Feeling a bit better overall
• The thyroid work she had specifically requested elsewhere and been ignored on was done at her first evaluation
• Felt validated instead of dismissed
• Her InBody broke down a weight gain she found disheartening, showing that most of it (about 4 and a half pounds of 6) was muscle
• Left her first in-person visit comfortable, without her anxiety escalating through the visit
• Feels part of building her own plan rather than handed a cookie cutter one
• Feels very positive about her health future and no longer expects the rug to be pulled out
• Confident going into an upcoming hysterectomy that her hormone levels will be looked after afterwards

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