Is it possible to be 43 and NOT be perimenopausal

Oh, and just to add, it's a very complicated field and doctors know absolutely fuck all about it. Women are having to do their own research and find their own treatments. That's why everyone's talking about it.

I have painful periods - always have. And anxiety - always have. When I was a teen I was told it is puberty (up until I was mid-20s). Later, I was told it was PMS. 40 now, and for the last couple of years it has been - probably perimenopause. This is despite regular as clockwork periods!

Well because, as I say, the symptoms are weird and obscure. You might think you're fine and just have frozen shoulder for instance.

I get you're annoyed but it's a positive thing that women are more aware, and yes, it's a hot topic because you're in the age group where symptoms start to manifest. Count yourself extremely lucky you're not experiencing anything.

I went to several doctors during my peri phase and was offered anti-depressants and asked 'Is everything ok at home?" which frankly, is absolutely shocking treatment.

Due to a chronic condition I've had many menopause symptomatic since I was in my late teens; joint aches, insomnia, hot flushes, night sweats, itchy, crawly or dry skin, exhaustion and fatigue, headaches or migraines, feeling anxious, difficulty concentrating, brain fog, forgetfulness. Not sure how I'd notice menopause on top of how awful my body feels currently.

Sorry, OP - but you say you know what it is, but you agreed with the post about regular periods, which means you actually might not.

I am not invested in whether you are/aren't in peri. I truly don't care and absolutely agree with you that it's likely used to fob women off. But it's also missed when women don't know what the symptoms are, and you are one of those women who don't know.

You can have regular periods and be peri.
You can have a baby and be peri.
You are fertile until the day your periods stop, so why people think one cancels the other out is extraordinary.

I am not trying to be argumentative, I just feel strongly about misinformation regarding peri/menopause. If you aren't affected that's great, many are and it's important we keep information correct.

Being fertile does not mean you aren't perimenopausal.

My mum is 58 and only in the last year has started showing symptoms!

Every woman is different.

Plus lots of women have children in their early 40's.

Wrong, sorry. I am peri-menopausal and have been for more than three years but my periods are still absolutely bang-on every 28 days.

FWIW OP I do agree that it's boring when EVERYTHING is put down to this one thing.

I'm just saying that however annoying it is for you, I experienced the flip side where GPs just kept telling me I was depressed when I was actually peri. So I think I'm just hypersensitive to misinformation like "regular periods means not peri" or "I got pregnant at 45 so obviously not peri" which are just rubbish.

I also don't have friends saying it about everything so I can imagine that would be dull. x

That is the point I was trying to make - the list of symptoms is very, very long. Those ‘perimenopause’ symptoms could very easily be something else. Potentially something serious.

I struggle a bit with this. I’ve been suffering with symptoms for 3-4 years. I remember reading an article listing fifty odd symptoms associated with the menopause and I had thirty nine of them. Hot flushes, brain fog, the lot. But I’m still regular. Occasionally I’ll be a week late, maybe once every six months or so, but they don’t seem to be going anywhere. My mum finished at 45 and I’m knocking on for fifty now, so really keen for the symptoms to clear off. There doesn’t seem much point going to the dr as I can’t have hrt, but I’m very much looking forward to my brain working properly again.

That's awesome, but is also nothing to do with being peri or not. You are fertile as long as you are having periods. I wish women understood this more!

45 and apart from my cycle being all over the place (always has been) no other symptoms. My Gran and my mum didn’t reach menopause until 55ish. I assume i
might be similar.

Its a hot topic amongst my female friends too and I’m usually one of the younger ones in early 40s so I just listen, can’t relate, but maybe I will. I feel no different to my 20s.

I don’t have any older blood related female relatives who lived long enough to get to menopause, so to me, menopause seems the better side of the deal.

I am 43 and not perimenopausal. I would go crazy if people around me were constantly blaming perimenopause for everything.

Absolute rubbish.

I didn't get start getting symptoms until about 46, didn't recognise the very, very slow build of worsening hormonal emotional rollercoaster as meno until a good year later. Been on HRT since the beginning of the year at 48.

I'm 52 and no symptoms here.
No idea if anything is stopping period wise as I have a mirena coil fitted so haven't had a period for years anyway.

I’m not sure I’ve ever been it? I had normal periods and no agitations or anything right up until I had a full hysterectomy at age 50. Periods obviously stopped after that but other than the occasional feeling a bit warm when others aren’t I haven’t felt any different. It always makes me feel a bit ignorant but I don’t really know what it’s meant to feel like or if I’ve ever had it.

I'm not really sure what it is. I'm 52. My periods just stopped a few months ago. Stopped flat. No symptoms of anything before, during or since.
Well, I felt anxious a bit a year ago but I have put that down to family situation which would naturally cause those feelings. That's has gone.
Not everyone has to have symptoms. Don't get sucked in

It's really the new hot topic for women our age. The swing has gone too far from being completely overlooked to being blamed for absolutely everything.
Agree with this. I'm 45, no symptoms yet. Oldest friend is same age and loads of her friends where she lives, some of them 5 years younger, are paying a private clinic for blood tests and all sorts and different drugs.

Both of us entirely open to HRT if the need arises but baffled by the assumption every woman needs it and that the next few years are guaranteed to be a dreadful time with a huge list of symptoms. Might happen, might not.

I think the problem is that there are absolutely load of symptoms of peri and menopause and most of them are weird and obscure. You might not even register something as being related.

It's good that women your age are talking about it now. Frankly, it's been ignored and brushed under the carpet and many women suffer in silence and complete ignorance.

I’m only 36 and people are starting to sling this at me already.