I've been trying to work out how to have a useful conversation with my GP and I keep going round in circles, so I thought I'd ask here. A bit of background. I'm 51, been in menopause for about eighteen months now I think, though nobody has actually confirmed that in any official way. The night sweats are the thing that started all this off. They were bad last year, properly soaking, and I'd be up at two or three in the morning changing my top and lying there wide awake with my heart going. That's improved a bit, or maybe I've just got used to managing it. Fan on, lighter duvet, cotton everything. But what hasn't improved is the anxiety. I've always been someone who worries. I know that about myself. But this is different. It's not worry exactly, it's more like a low hum of dread that sits in my chest most of the day. Sometimes it spikes and I can't really explain why. I'll be in the garden doing something completely ordinary, deadheading or whatever, and suddenly I feel like something terrible is about to happen. It passes. But it keeps coming back. I went to the GP about eighteen months ago and she was kind but the appointment was ten minutes and we talked about sleep and she mentioned antidepressants and I left feeling like I hadn't quite explained what I was actually experiencing. I didn't mention the night sweats properly. I didn't say the word menopause. I don't know why. I think I was embarrassed or I thought she'd just tell me it was normal. I've got another appointment next week. I've been making notes this time, properly, in a notebook. Night sweats, frequency, the anxiety, how it feels different from ordinary worry, the heart stuff at night. What I want to know is: did anyone here actually get their anxiety taken seriously as a menopause symptom? Did you have to push for it? Did your GP connect the dots or did you have to connect them yourself? And if you came in with a list, did that help or did it feel like you were being difficult? I'm not asking anyone to tell me what to do. I just want to know what other people's experiences have been. Going in better informed feels like the only thing I can control right now x