What age do you think you entered perimenopause?

[DefenderOfTheDry]

Just out of curiosity, i suppose, what age do you think you started perimenopause?

I'm late 30's and not particularly looking forward to it.

With hindsight the symptoms probably started around 37/38 with a few hideous flooding periods - my periods had never been that bad and I ended up going to OOH as I was soaking through my clothes despite wearing a tampon, pads and 2 pairs of underwear!

I have PCOS so my periods have always been irregular so I can’t use those as a measure. I ended up back on the Pill and that calmed things for a bit but then I started getting The Rage! Aged 41 I came off the Pill and had a coil fitted.

I’m 43 now and started HRT 2 months ago after 6 months of hideous brain fog, insomnia and aching joints. Since starting the HRT those symptoms have totally disappeared.

I’m glad lots of women find relief by healthy eating, exercise etc. Personally I was the healthiest I’d ever been when I hit perimenopause (healthy weight, eating a healthy vegetarian diet, spin classes three times a week, yoga and weights…) and peri made me so ill I had to stop exercising and am only now just picking it up again at all and still can’t do much more than brisk walking. I’ve put on loads of weight too. And all that’s on a decent whack of HRT, without which I’d have had to resign my job and would basically have retired to bed, I think.

I do agree that the hot flushes get a lot worse if I drink alcohol or eat sugar, but IME it’s very simplistic to say that it’s always possible to control or even significantly mitigate symptoms by a healthy lifestyle.

Probably mid to late 40s, I did have a long spell of periods of mild anxiety and depression, the occasional hot flush etc but I had the mirena coil so no periods anyway. Late 50s now and I guess all done. I still get the odd spell of mild anxiety and occasional minor hot flush but nothing major. No aches and pains or insomnia. Weight gain though.

I started getting symptoms at 44 with changes to my cycle. I'm now about to turn 50. Still in the thick of it but it comes and goes. It's not constant.

I'm 50 and havent started yet.

Looking back I think around 41 or 42. It started with really heavy periods and hot flushes, and when the night sweats started I went on HRT. I don't know if I've had my last period as I have a Mirena. I'm 54 now and recently started on testosterone, which has made a huge difference to the brain fog and to my energy levels.

I'm 46 now, I'm thinking by this age I must be in perimenopause. I have had some changes in periods (length slightly shortened from 28 to 25 days, but has since restarted contraceptive pill so barely get them now) and seasonal hair loss, but these happened during lockdown. So covid and stress could have impacted too. Apart from these, no obvious signs.

41-42 with periods closer together and heavier. But looking back PMT much more severe in late 30s was probably a very early sign too. Hot flashes started a bit later and all the usual stuff brain fog, sleep issues etc. Started hrt age 44 which was excellent for me. Instant relief. Still on on it now at 49 and my bleeds have almost stopped now although took a while.

Coming up to 50 I started to have less frequent periods and the occasional little flurry of hot flushes. I didn't have any of the other unpleasant symptoms that women often develop as their ovaries wind down. Postmenopausal at 53.

I would say around 42/43- thats when I noticed my periods started flooding and I started getting anxiety and insomnia. HRT and giving up alcohol completely helped a lot.

Agree - I was exactly the same. I was extremely fit, heavy weight training for years, alongside kickboxing, running, yoga and tennis. Very healthy diet and good sleep etc. Peri gradually stopped me doing almost everything because for me it caused joint pain. At 42 this comprised a weird shoulder issue (could have been tennis except it wasn’t racket hand) and plantar fasciitis and it’s only in retrospect that I think these were first signs. By 47 I was doing much less exercise because of horrible hip and knee pain. I felt like I had totally lost myself, was getting depressed by it. Then my sleep started being terrible and that’s what got me to the GP for HRT - my joint pains disappeared within a week or two of starting.

44-45. Periods went haywire. But as soon as I took HRT short term it all settled and sailed through menopause. Had no problems at all, many friends were the same, so it’s not always bad.

Same and I agree. I was at my fittest and healthiest ever when I entered it. Nightmare periods meant my iron/ ferritin became so low that I no longer had the energy to exercise, after exercising most days for pretty much my whole adult life.

I'm 39 and have been struggling with insomnia, chronic anxiety, brain fog, hot flushes overnight for the past year or so. I'm on the pill and too scared to go to the GP as I'm fairly certain they'd laugh me out of the place. It's horrible, I feel like I don't recognise myself anymore!

I’m 47 and not noticed anything yet.

Surgical menopause age 41. Now 42.

No need to worry about or dread menopause.
Even though it’s good that the menopause is being spoken about so much I personally think it is causing too much worry to women our age as tho it’s going to be something terrible.

About 40 I think for me. I had a baby not long before (who was a bad sleeper) and it was a perfect storm of mad hormones. Think I went a little crazy for a while, was having some quite dark thoughts. At 42 I went onto HRT and that helped loads. A few years on and I don't ever want to come off HRT and not sure I could hold down my stressful job without it, my sleep and anxiety are much better on it.

was told I was in peri at 38 by my doc. My mum was through the menopause by 44 so I was always expecting it to be early. Started HRT at 44 as symptoms became unmanageable, particularly mood, flushes, brain fog and horrific imposter syndrome! still on HRT now at 48 but haven’t have a period for over a year so assuming I’m all done!

I was diagnosed with endometriosis and adenomyosis last year at the age of 50 after decades of gynae issues.

How have you been getting on with the HRT? I tried it and it made my pain worse (I do also suffer from a failed uterine ablation). The gynaes have now advised me to avoid hrt especially as my mum has been diagnosed with breast cancer this year.

In hindsight, at 42. Periods were still regular but my hair suddenly became very thin, I plonked on a load of weight around my middle (despite literally no changes to diet and exercise regime) and the rage??? Christ it was epic and I alternated between that and being ridiculously tearful (tv adverts would make me cry 🤦‍♀️) I finally twigged at around 44 when my periods became erratic and that is still ongoing. It’s a ballache because I can miss a month but then have 2 in a month. But now I’ve worked out what’s going on, I manage the symptoms via exercise (I massively reduced cardio and switched to heavy lifting, game changer for me and has shifted the stubborn weight around my middle) reduced alcohol (boring but necessary) prioritised sleep and take the Elle Sera supplement. That seems to be keeping things stable for now but if it gets worse, I’ll be looking into HRT.

All the information I've gleaned from reading around the subject Via Stacy Sims is that many women simply can't exercise in the same way as they did as they near 40s. I know I couldn't.

I've personally found her tips really useful, especially fuelling for exercise. I have to eat more carbs now I've more muscle mass, and especially before and after work outs. And the next day. When I don't I quickly get brain fogged fatigued. Also in the run up to a period (which are very random thanks to tamoxifen.)

The general messages I feel for women are less carbs and fasting for weight loss; apparently this works for men but not for women due to biology. Especially not for active women.

She's an expert in REDs (relative energy deficiency in sport) and has applied similar principles that are known for younger female athletes to menopausal active women. With REDs, women's periods stop. Which means healthy levels of female hormones are not available. It used to be seen as normal for female athletes; now it's not. Athletes are taught to train around their cycles and fuel correctly to avoid this.

Entering perimenopause means fertility is all over the place. Progesterone drops first, oestrogen is a roller coaster. Stress and lack of sleep builds belly fat and gives fatigue. HIIT and long periods of zone 2 cardio apparently can add to stress. Sims advocates for strength training and SIT, which is very short bursts of hard effort and periods of rest in between. And polymetrics (which is also SIT.) it's not easy and I've found I have had to build up extremely slowly.

I'm all for hrt for those who can take it; I didn't actually find it the magic bullet as I wasn't doing the other things alongside it that I now know are so helpful.

Basically @UtterlyButterly2048, reducing the cardio and upping the strength training helped to reduce cortisol, which is what Sims talks about in her books.

Looking back probably 44. I didn't really notice it properly until I was 46, that's when my symptoms really kicked in. At 44 though I started to get periods of feeling totally overwhelmed and not being able to stop crying.

I was 44, if I remember correctly. That's when my very regular cycle started to change.

Re exercise I absolutely couldn't exercise ise in the same way but didn't realise it. I was doing far too much Cardio ( which had always worked in the past)

I ended up.putti g on 2 stone whilst still slogging away in the gym. But I didn't even know what perimenopause was at the time!