Well, Kate, your uncle must have been cool indeed!
I had a doctor tell me the same thing once about terrible symptoms which I now know were peri-menopause and that hormones at that time would have helped! He did a test on me, told me I was not menopausal, and sent me on my way!
Not much help, huh?
I later found a female doctor, of course, who told me about HRT and that it was safer for younger women to take in perimenopause to make things easier. I took it for a long time and it eased everything up! She was able to help me navigate peri-menopause very well. I'm still in it but I started so young that now I am without a period for some months and find the HRT is not as helpful.
If you still have problems, the hormones are something to consider.
As to the doctor, if we all that so much "in our heads," they would burst! Male doctors say that, as he said to you, of that "my wife had that and ____________, most of the time his wife went ahead and suffered too because he didn't think it was anything.
I have a long and dramatic story that resulted in a lawsuit where I won 5 figures from a doctor that said it was "in my head," more or less...it's not safe to believe that.
dancer.
Good luck!