"It's my hormones."

[Sushirolls]

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Psychiatrist here:
I feel in my outpatient practice I have been seeing an uptick of women theorizing that their mental health symptoms, be it depression, anxiety, "ADD" or whatever, at time of consult, state "it's my hormones."

Are y'all seeing an uptick, too, in this?

 

[anonperson]

Psychiatrist here:
I feel in my outpatient practice I have been seeing an uptick of women theorizing that their mental health symptoms, be it depression, anxiety, "ADD" or whatever, at time of consult, state "it's my hormones."

Are y'all seeing an uptick, too, in this?

I get a steady flow of patients who want their hormones checked. What exactly for, I'm not sure.

When I ask them what specifically or why, I don't get a specific answer.

 

[Sushirolls]

Has the trend been up or down in past 5-10 years or about the same?

 

[anonperson]

Has the trend been up or down in past 5-10 years or about the same?

I think it comes in small waves. Basically depends on what is big on social media like Tik Tok, Instagram etc

I'll have a run of patients ask similar questions etc and when I inquire further it's usually something that was posted online etc that prompted them.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

Psychiatrist here:
I feel in my outpatient practice I have been seeing an uptick of women theorizing that their mental health symptoms, be it depression, anxiety, "ADD" or whatever, at time of consult, state "it's my hormones."

Are y'all seeing an uptick, too, in this?

Rheumatologist here.

Yes. Except that the symptoms are fatigue, malaise, “brain fog”.

If I can’t come up with a rheumatologic reason for these symptoms (usually there isn’t), then the next request is “can you check my hormones”.

 

[sloh]

Rheumatologist here.

Yes. Except that the symptoms are fatigue, malaise, “brain fog”.

If I can’t come up with a rheumatologic reason for these symptoms (usually there isn’t), then the next request is “can you check my hormones”.

Then they go to ID for “chronic Lyme” haha

 

[FrustratedFamDoc]

FM here. My theory: MOST patients who see us day in and day out either don’t feel well, and/or believe they should be feeling than they currently are. From our patients’ perspective, and it is logical, ruling out the ‘easy’ fix that is ‘not their fault’ really hits the spot. Not my fault! See! Damn hormones/vitamin deficiency, now do your job and fix it, doc so I can feel wonderful. The echo chamber groups I belong to on IG have promised this will fix me. Thankfully, most of my patients aren’t really this obtuse.

Fix me. That’s what this is really all about. I still oblige patients with basic hormone levels, sometimes iron and d/b12 levels because there is a remote chance it is playing a role in how they feel, but I typically preface it with there is likely more to the puzzle. Universally it’s almost always stress and the fallout thereof. Circumstances brought on by poor life choices or just plain bad fortune. Eat bad, sleep bad, feel bad. Lousy spouse? Substance abuse? No exercise? Crappy job? Tons of debt? Spirit of unforgiveness? Never satisfied? Anger? Obese? Single parent and kids give you hell? History of Childhood abuse? Chronic pain? Lack of contentment? Depression?

 

[dozitgetchahi]

FM here. My theory: MOST patients who see us day in and day out either don’t feel well, and/or believe they should be feeling than they currently are. From our patients’ perspective, and it is logical, ruling out the ‘easy’ fix that is ‘not their fault’ really hits the spot. Not my fault! See! Damn hormones/vitamin deficiency, now do your job and fix it, doc so I can feel wonderful. The echo chamber groups I belong to on IG have promised this will fix me. Thankfully, most of my patients aren’t really this obtuse.

Fix me. That’s what this is really all about. I still oblige patients with basic hormone levels, sometimes iron and d/b12 levels because there is a remote chance it is playing a role in how they feel, but I typically preface it with there is likely more to the puzzle. Universally it’s almost always stress and the fallout thereof. Circumstances brought on by poor life choices or just plain bad fortune. Eat bad, sleep bad, feel bad. Lousy spouse? Substance abuse? No exercise? Crappy job? Tons of debt? Spirit of unforgiveness? Never satisfied? Anger? Obese? Single parent and kids give you hell? History of Childhood abuse? Chronic pain? Lack of contentment? Depression?

Yes, all of this.

A lot of these types of patients end up in the rheumatology clinic under the guise of “fibromyalgia”. In reality, the vast majority of these patients are over stressed and sleep deprived, and are in lousy life situations. Or they have terrible habits. I’m not a therapist - I sure can’t fix these issues, and frankly as a rheumatologist I don’t want to either. And giving these people duloxetine or gabapentin isn’t going to fix anything.

 

[anonperson]

FM here. My theory: MOST patients who see us day in and day out either don’t feel well, and/or believe they should be feeling than they currently are. From our patients’ perspective, and it is logical, ruling out the ‘easy’ fix that is ‘not their fault’ really hits the spot. Not my fault! See! Damn hormones/vitamin deficiency, now do your job and fix it, doc so I can feel wonderful. The echo chamber groups I belong to on IG have promised this will fix me. Thankfully, most of my patients aren’t really this obtuse.

Fix me. That’s what this is really all about. I still oblige patients with basic hormone levels, sometimes iron and d/b12 levels because there is a remote chance it is playing a role in how they feel, but I typically preface it with there is likely more to the puzzle. Universally it’s almost always stress and the fallout thereof. Circumstances brought on by poor life choices or just plain bad fortune. Eat bad, sleep bad, feel bad. Lousy spouse? Substance abuse? No exercise? Crappy job? Tons of debt? Spirit of unforgiveness? Never satisfied? Anger? Obese? Single parent and kids give you hell? History of Childhood abuse? Chronic pain? Lack of contentment? Depression?

People need to exercise more, eat better food, do less drugs and get some sleep.

That will solve a significant amount of issues.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

People need to exercise more, eat better food, do less drugs and get some sleep.

That will solve a significant amount of issues.

If everyone did that half of us in primary care would be unemployed.