Perimenopause is the root of all evil?

[Mushroo]

I’ll preface by saying im 30 and have embarrassingly little knowledge of menopause. However, on here perimenopause it blamed for absolutely everything. I’ve seen it being the cause of:
tiredness
not being bothered about work anymore
sore feet
wrinkles
long periods
short periods
no periods
not giving a shit about peoples opinions
not wanting to socialise
not liking men
discovering you are a lesbian
not liking teenagers
not liking loud restaurants
not liking music
listlessness
depression
anxiety
chin hair
grey pubes
gaining weight
losing weight
a tendency to procrastinate
no tolerance for alcohol

Is it really that bad?! On here it seems
to be the answer to every problem / change imaginable!!

(Somewhat lighthearted!)

Sounds about right

You’ve missed a bunch of things:

insomnia
aching joints
itchy skin
dry eyes
bloating
brain fog
menstrual flooding

And, no, it’s not funny. The suicide rate for women at the age of perimenopause / menopause is higher than for any other female life stage, and many women find themselves having to give up work. Yes, you can go to your GP, but many GPs are scandalously ignorant about perimenopause and just fob you off.

The point is, OP, that perimenopause can be the cause of every one of the things that you list. It would be rare for a woman to get them all, but if a person complains of any one of them and is the right age, it is sensible to consider peri as a possible cause, particularly because HRT can sort it out so giving that a whirl could save lots of anxiety about having a different condition. if the HRT doesn’t make a difference then you can look at other possible causes. So while it might seem to you that it is being trotted out as the cause if everything, it’s because it’s the least scary and easiest-rectified cause of all these things.

You’ve missed heart palpitations off that list by the way. That’s what my main symptom was, scared the shit out of me.

You will definitely find that irritability and lack of patience is a symptom, so you might regret starting this thread….

What a strange post. From a woman now where near menopause

Anyway, for all of those desperately worried now, I'm 50 and don't tick many of the (somewhat bizarre) examples op uses. A few of course but then, don't we all, regardless of age?

You forgot sex becoming so painful you can’t actually go through with it and your clitoris having zero sensation so you don’t want to anyway. Yeah it’s a barrel of laughs.

Just had the worst thing happen today (42 btw) stood up and it gushed out, down my leg onto the floor! I was mortified but luckily in jammies. Gave me a shock and not looking forward to what's coming

Wow aren't you lucky. Also, it's not a strange post dear

50 year old here who's MS symptoms were put down to Peri menopause for four years before I was taken seriously by a doctor.

I hope you look more into how peri will effect you in the future and be prepared for it. Unfortunately most women my age were not and have been seriously misdiagnosed with all manner of things or just treated like an Andy pain in the arse by their gp.

Massive not Andy lol

Absolutely!! I work in a male dominated industry and had previously just sucked up banter, it was never bad, and mostly just good fun. I call anyone up on bullshit now though. When I was younger I would worried if I did so, now I'm like 'nah, you deserved that buddy', act like a prick, get treated like one.

You are probably still a long way of peri OP

At 50 I am sort of waiting in fear at all this going to happen to me😔

It has had a lot of media attention recently, which is probably a good thing

But it makes me dread it

Ooh heart palpitations? Good to know. I’m 42 and I thought they might have been since having covid. Couldn’t get in with gp.

I’m wondering- and apologies if I sound ignorant here- but for those ladies who have gone through the menopause and come out the other side, do you feel better than ever?!
My mum has been going through the menopause for what feels like an eternity. Just wondering if after all the years of periods and then perimenopause and then menopause, do us women ever get a break?!

Obviously I can’t know what’s causing yours and would still be sensible to see the GP, but it’s a known symptom- to give you context I have a BUPA menopause plan through work and palpitations was asked about specifically on their standard questionnaire.

As has been said for many years, correlation is NOT causation.

I am so glad that I had a diagnosis of autoimmune disease before this 'women are all just decrepit the moment they get past the point of peak fuckability, being just simple emotional animals at the mercy of their ovaries' bollocks. It would also have been used to explain away the effects of abuse/coercive control, an actual hormonal thing (PCOS) and everything else I have ever needed medical treatment for.

Oh, and disliking teenagers? I never particularly liked them when I was one, either.

@Choosingtochange so sorry that my experience doesn't match yours. It's almost as if I'm a completely different person. Dear.

Playing devils advocate here a bit, but aren’t some of those things just from getting older anyway? My husband definitely suffers from being tired, disliking loud places, can’t be arsed to go out much etc etc & he’s obviously not peri menopausal!

I actually love perimenopause.

aside from a few chin hairs, which you can pluck, and my periods being a bit unpredictable, this age is fantastic.

Yes, I have no fucks left. It’s not because I don’t care or because my emotions are a mess. Quite the opposite. It’s because you reach this place of maturity where you understand the world a bit better and you understand people a bit better. You know what to let go and what actually matters. You can see how silly and petty some things are and how much some small things are actually very significant. It’s just a different life perspective having been on this earth longer.

It’s also the point where you still have plenty of power in the world. You can still be running a family. At work you may be in charge at this stage or at least have power. You get to be the queen of your domain.

I had heart palpitations for a few years and several check ups and ECG which found nothing wrong. Didn't stop me from fearing that I was heading for a heart attack. Now on HRT and they've all stopped.

Ive had horrific bladder issues, vaginal atrophy, vertigo and anxiety. I didn't even realise I had the latter until going on HRT and it stopped!
Honestly, it's not lighthearted for many women!

I think the intolerance comes from the dip in 'caring' hormones. So much of what we think of as 'us', our individual personalities, are driven by hormones!

There's so much more to add to that list!

I’m in the midst of perimenopause and believe me there ain’t nothing fun or lighthearted about this shitfest. At your age I was totally oblivious (and naive) about this part of life. Hopefully, you will be one of the minority who sail through it but if you are one of the unlucky ones then my advice to you is to educate yourself as much as possible now and get on hrt as soon as you can when you hit that time of your life.

How hilarious for you to collate a list of supposedly awful perimenopause symptoms.

You won't find it so fucking funny when it's you ticking them off at age 45 thinking what the fuck has happened to my body and my life.

Youth. It's truly wasted on the young.

It's ridiculous the way everything is blamed on peri/men & then HRT is credited as guaranteed cure-all. Why HRT is not given to men & women of all ages I cannot fathom....