From perimenopause anxiety to chronic cough, Dr Jeff answers your health questions

DR JEFF FOSTER is The Sun on Sunday’s resident doctor and is here to help YOU.

Dr Jeff, 43, splits his time between working as a GP in Leamington Spa, Warks, and running his clinic, H3 Health, which is the first of its kind in the UK to look at hormonal issues for both men and women.

See  and email at drjeff@the-sun.co.uk.

Q: I’VE just turned 50 and have been on the pill Yasmin for the past couple of years to deal with perimenopause anxiety.

Now I’ve reached this age my GP says he can’t give me anything else for anxiety apart from antidepressants or HRT. I’m not keen on either.

I have no other symptoms at all. Can you offer an alternative solution such as the herbal route?

My GP has prescribed me Elleste Duet – is this similar to the pill? I’m very confused.

Gemma Akehurst, Ashton-Under-Lyme

A: Perimenopause can last up to ten years before “true” menopause occurs so women often start to get symptoms in their early 40s.

People think of menopause as a stopping of periods, but there are so many other symptoms including psychological ones such as: brain fog, anxiety, loss of libido, changes in personality and feeling out of sorts.

It’s easy to confuse this with a mental health problem.

You should speak to a menopause specialist who can explain a wide range of options to you.

Elleste Duet is just one type of treatment and there are many others.

Don’t go down the route of herbal treatments as they’re unlikely to benefit you fully, they’re less regulated than medicines and could have additional side-effects.

Q: I’M a fit and healthy 80- year-old man but four years ago I started coughing as if I had something in my throat and however much I cough it won’t clear.

I had two very quick endoscopies which found nothing and four years later.

I’m continuously coughing and swallowing to try and clear something. What should I do?

Alexander Youngson, Scarborough

A: A colleague of mine who is a respiratory consultant recently told me that the most common presentation they see in clinic is chronic cough, and for a significant number of those patients, they never find a cause.

Having had a camera looking down the back of your throat, doesn’t rule out all the causes of cough.

There are many causes for this common condition and they can be “bottom-up” or “top-down.”

A “bottom-up” explanation could be due to stomach acid washing up and irritating your throat. 

When we look at “top-down” this can be due to post-nasal drip and mucus trickling down your throat. 

The cough could also be coming from your chest, so it’s important to have lung causes ruled out. Definitely see your GP again and ask them to take this further.