What were your early signs of menopause/early menopause

[Rubyshoes12]

Can you please let me know your early signs of starting the menopause

All of my body would hurt after doing something as simple as housework. Feeling exhausted every day at lunchtime.
Rage.
Waking at 2-3am regularly and not being able to get back to sleep for 2-3 hours. Hands would freeze in claws stiff.
Feeling out of control for two or three days a month before my period. Struggling to get up off the floor. Forgetting words and getting brain fog.
HRT has helped the pain greatly. The rest is not as severe except for my silent reflux.

Looking back the very first symptom was a lack of joy and enjoyment- I stopped watching the TV shows that I I'd always liked because I found them "too happy". So I was miserable and brittle. Not like me at all. Then came the night sweats. Also I didn't feel rage like some women, I was a crier. I went on HRT and felt immediately better.
It was about 10 years ago when I started feeling miserable. I had a couple of years of incrementalally feeling worse and have been on HRT for about 8 years. Periods just stopped this year.

Extremely heavy periods (having had light ones all my life)
Complete exhaustion
Broken sleep
Forgetting words for things

For me, it was periods being all over the place, and being unable to conceive. We had one dc and had been trying for another. My periods never went back to normal after the first one, and in the end they discovered I was peri in my late 30's whilst undergoing investigations for infertility. So that was that.

Weight gain especially round the middle.
Sweat smells different and I don’t like it
Short cycles - 22-25 days
Night sweats
Doubting my abilities constantly
No time for anyone’s shit

The fibro-adenomas that I’d had for decades vanished.

My light, regular as clockwork, two-day periods turned into incredibly heavy five to seven day, regular as clockwork hell on earth for a while, before becoming irregular, ten day hell on earth.

Sheer unadulterated rage (I sometimes wonder how I’m still married), evil night sweats and chronic insomnia, and I forgot all my nouns, and couldn’t remember people’s names for the life of me.

I still have the insomnia and the names problem 20 years on.

I keep wondering if I'm in it and whether I need to start hrt. I never really have time to go to a dr (teacher) so I don't want the faff of having to go back and forth to get it right.

I ache in the morning.
I have glorious, invigorating rage.
Skin is very dry.
Not sure if I've gone off sex, or been with an older dh too long. Not sure if hrt will make him less middle aged man.
I'm a bit prolapsy.
Slim, but my waist-hip ratio is decreasing. It's weird, my stomach is flat, but I'm losing my curves. My bum is flatter, in spite of weights etc.

I don't feel like any of it is bad enough for hrt. I'm scared of vaginal atrophy, but I don't want to whacking gooey shit up my chuff every day. I'd just like to take a pill and have that fix everything. Like the pill did.

This

I went into early menopause (caused by a medical treatment) and the first things I noticed were:

> Hot and cold sweats.
> Periods got erratic/ out of cycle and then just stopped.
> Huge mood swings, one day feeling fine and the next waking up and feeling irrationally and horrifically miserable.
> Fatigue.
> Rage over literally the smallest things.
> Dry mouth.
> Dry eyes.
> Unusual visual disturbances (black shadows in vision).
> Cognitive issues/ brain fog/ concentration issues/ forgetfulness.
> Crying and not knowing why whether happy or sad.
> Sensory overwhelm e.g. Sounds/ light/ touch that never happened pre-menopause.
> Changes in skin, mine became more oily.

The beauty of it all is that once I started HRT patches, I quickly evened out and everything became less extreme. Not symptom free but manageable and no worse than average menstrual fluctuations. It was WILD before that though!

Also, once I levelled out I developed the ability to not care about things or people who are not worth my time. Every cloud has a silver lining!

If you’re suspecting perimenopause or menopause is happening, talk to your GP and keep a diary of your cycle and symptoms (however big or small). Doctors like cold hard facts and symptom tracking and it can make it easier for any referrals or interventions. Hope that helps OP.

You have the options, it's worth exploring. All mine was done by phone, no blood tests as GP said it's pointless as it doesn't tend to show anything up.

I have pessary oestrogen which is basically a tablet - nothing gooey! - twice a week or so (or when I remember....). I use another oestrogen gel on my arms, but I have various reasons I can't use the tablets sadly.

I think I'm waiting for the big ones to hit; my mum seemed to have a terrible menopause that we all heard about in great detail, for most of my teens, but I've nothing like what she she had.

Mood swings with extreme anger at certain points in the month, and getting unreasonably emotional, very unlike me as I've always been calm and reasonable. Then periods became closer together and heavier. Also itching, particularly on my breasts.

Itching all over. Skin felt so dry and sore.
Light periods for months.
Emotionally very unstable, which was unusual for me as I’m usually very chilled.
Realised that I hadn’t had a period for three months. After years of irregular periods and flushes that kept me awake all night, it just ended. Was 50. Been fine since, no hrt, so I think I was lucky.

RAGE

Bad aching
Flatness/lack of joy
Itching all over
Hair thinning

This was while still having normal periods

I am seeing a gynecologist on Thursday regarding probable early perimenopause (am mid 30s).

My periods are erratic with a lot of spotting in the run up. Had some very short cycles recently.
Vaginal dryness
Bloating
Tender breasts
Awful silent reflux
Exercise completely taking it out of me for hours
Stabby pains in pelvic area
Reduced appetite

Chin hair
Rage
Dry, flakey skin that no skincare regime could sort
More rage
Anxiety about things I’d usually be chilled about
Even more rage
Sweats, flushes, insomnia
RAGE

I think pretty much all of my symptoms have been mentioned by other posters.

I can highly recommend downloading the Balance App by Dr Louise Newson. Lots of great information and also details of many symptoms that you wouldn’t expect to be related to menopause. You can also record your symptoms and cycle to take to your GP if you need evidence of changes etc.
I found it so useful in keeping track of my periods when they became irregular, and my other symptoms.

Vertigo
Dry vag

Horrendous migraines
very irregular periods but very heavy when they came

Hot flushes

For perimenopause -
Body odour
Extreme heat and sweats/hot flushes all the time
Dry mouth
No sex drive/thought of sex revolted me
Couldn't sleep, some nights I would get 45 minutes across the entire night (and never all at once)
Extreme brain fog to the extent I worried I had early onset dementia
Sky high cortisol levels
Weight gain - almost 40lbs in eight months, a third of which went on after I took up spinning and HIIT (caused by cortisol levels and lack of sleep)
Vaginal atrophy (something I only realised when I went for a smear/to get my IUD changed)
Loads more stuff. In fact, pretty much everything on the list of symptoms of perimenopause. There was one exception. My periods remained regular until the day they just stopped.

HRT was miraculous although it was a battle to get it and in the end, went to see a private specialist.

Menopause, well, that was when I hadn't had a period for two entire calendar years. Am now five and a half years post-menopause.

Anyway OP, everyone has their own experience of this. It's so unique to the individual. Some have no issues, others have every single thing. Perimenopause can last a few months of an entire decade. There is no way of guessing how it is going to effect you. All I can suggest is that you make sure you're using contraception because surprise menopause babies are a definite thing because some assume a few skipped periods means they have reached menopause. They haven't. If you're over 50, it's an entire calendar years with menses, and if you're under 50s, it is two whole years.

I'm starting to get lots of these, and knew some of them were peri but hadn't made the link with others. Forgetting simple words to the point where I've wondered about dementia, although it was already a thing for me due to adhd. I've had terrible low moods and migraines at the start of each period, achy joints, anxiety (including at night), and horrendous palpitations. I'm looking forward to not wanting to waste my time on people who aren't worth it though - that sounds wonderful!

Waking up at 1/2am and unable to go back to sleep.
Rage
Brain fog (not helped by insomnia)
Crime scene periods
Hot flushes
Night sweats

@Boeufsurletoit Given declining levels are the cause of perimenopause and menopause, it's not a surprise that so many have issues with anxiety, low mood, migraines, depression and all other manner of mental health, even not feeling like themselves during this time. I know for me, HRT was the best mood stabiliser I had ever taken.

It's always worth getting heart palpitations checked out just in case but for most women, it's absolutely a perimenopause thing, sadly. Ditto achy joints.