When did peri menopause become a thing?

[gerispringer]

I’m over 60 so didn’t go through the menopause a million years ago, but I swear peri menopause wasn’t a thing then. Now it seems every woman over 35 is supposedly using it as an excuse for forgetting something, getting a grey hair or loosing their temper. Just when did peri menopause become become a thing?

People are just being more open now about the symptoms. I’m going through it now and can remember older women speaking in hushed tones about “the Change”. It is now more accurately being referred to as peri-menopause.

I think a lot of people just referred to it as the menopause even though that’s the bit after. When I was 45 I had a check up at the doctor and she asked me if I was in perimenopause and I had no idea what she was talking about. Felt a right wally!

It’s been a thing since the first humans on Earth.
Until recent women were ashamed to talk about it. It’s good we can now. I will talk about it as much as I can because why not?

I wonder what you mean by "then". I'm 62 and I can remember when HRT was first being offered and very widely discussed, along with the menopause itself, decades ago - around the mid-eighties? .
I also remember my mother taking HRT and gaining about 6 stone. In those day HRT was handed out very readily. There was loads of publicity about it, and women of a certain age couldn't go near a GP surgery without risking all of their symptoms being ascribed to your hormones, dear.

Then there was a bit of a backlash. There was a lot of publicity about the risks associated with the versions of HRT being offered at the time, and doctors backtracked from handing it out so readily.

To me, the claim that we have only recently been discussing the menopause, and treating its complications, seems a complete fiction. The reality is more cyclical. Improvements in HRT have allowed it to be prescribed more readily. But on top of that the sheer content-hunger of mainstream and internet media, plus the desire of companies to flog menopause-branded products, has led to an absurdly heavy focus on the menopause, and peri-menopause, as if it was the essence of women's existence. Very reactionary.

Ah yes, back in the day it didn't exist, we just got on with it quietly and stoically, silly younger people.

I think I maybe perimenopausal. My skin is changing, periods irregular and my hormones feel all over the place. I don't ever use it as an excuse, nor have I heard any of my friends do this. I am changing my diet, trying to exercise more outdoors and changing my skincare and shampoo.

My mum is 70 and my MIL is 76, I remember them both talking about peri menopause and all the symptoms they were going through 25 years ago. This seems like a goady post from someone that thinks women are making a fuss and should just get on with it. 🙄

@MyThreeWords I'm the same age as you so by 'then' I'm talking about when my mother went through the menopause in the 1970s.

In my experience women of my mother's age would talk about menopause in a kind of hushed, only amongst women of the same age type of way. Certainly it was talked about with the doctor but not generally in society except in a kind of dismissive 'womens' problems' manner.

My mother had pretty miserable physical symptoms of menopause and I don't remember her receiving much help (medical or otherwise) other than 'it's your age dear' from anywhere.

It's more out in the open now. I don't remember supportive tv shows or media articles back then being a thing.

I should add that perhaps I wasn't interested because as a young woman with all ahead of me I thought it was a far of thing happening to 'old' people.

Menopause isn't the the essence of women's existence but it is a key part of it and having it discussed openly. supportively and without shame is progress in my opinion.

Well I remember my mother when she was in her 40's. She was often very grumpy, got diagnosed with depression, Had flooding periods, various aches and pains. Ended up having a hysterectomy and was put in HRT. She then became rather easier!
I also had the joy of knowing my MIl from her late 40"s she was absolutely crazy at times and very very angry! I literally remember her having what can only be described as a massive tantrum outside our university accomodation as DH ( then just a boy down the corridor from me) hadn't packed up his room at the end of term. She was probably justified in being cross, but wow screaming like she did is not the normal response.
I think it's always been a thing just not labelled before.

Just glad it is being discussed more openly now and research seems to be more common around the issues.
I never liked the term 'the change'.....like its some weird mystical event.
Im losing some hormones not turning into a vampire!

I'd love for you to spend a day with 'my anxiety'. You certainly wouldn't be rolling your eyes - you'd applaud me for not running around screaming.

Totally agree with you on all points... except I'm not against turning into a mythical creature as my hormones deplete... I just bought myself this in fact! 😂

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4364837660/wendigo-morning-person-vintage-style?affcss=1&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=uk_location_buyer&utm_content=176013&sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=176013&awc=6091_1767120149_3f7165774c3cbbfb7480573eec1d73cd

Yes of course I had menopausal symptoms, we just called it the menopause without the peri bit tacked on, now it seems to be used all the time. I wasn't being goady, it just wasn't a thing I was aware of maybe I was badly educated on such matters.

I’m definitely in the age range for perimenopause but have had very few “traditional” symptoms.
2 years ago I started experiencing cyclical back pain. Was immobile at times. Had to crawl to the toilet. When I could walk I walked bent over - like a stereotypical “little old lady” eventually GP suggested trying HRT patches. Within HOURS I was pain free and walking upright again.

I often wish that those bent over ladies I see in their 70s, 80s and 90s had the option of HRT when in perimenopause. They’d be so much better off now.

You are not officially in menopause until 12 months have elapsed since your last consecutive period. Hence in peri, you still have periods, but your hormones are depleting and you can still have all manner of other symptoms.

The goady part is the assertion that 'every woman over 35' is using it as an excuse for random symptoms. Kind of diminishes it as a concept for those of us who are really struggling with peri - no matter our age or our symptoms.

It's like when people think that a vulva is the same thing as a vagina, people used to think the perimenopause transition was menopause. Now more people know better they are more accurately naming it.

Women are talking about it more because we don't get taught properly about it so they probably only learned by hearing other women talk. For the most part they are relived to understand what it happening to them they (consciously or unconsciously) want other want to help other women know and understand too.

I've known about it since my early 40s. I'm 66.

Its always been around.

Do you think women a few generations back used to talk about their periods, clotting, flooding, etc?

Such things were unacceptable topics of conversation.

Women feeling able to talk about things that women of previous generations believed were shameful or dirty doesn't mean those things didn't exist. Come on.

Now it seems every woman over 35 is supposedly using it as an excuse for forgetting something, getting a grey hair or loosing their temper

How dare you minimise other womens experiences. I hope you don’t have daughters.

Probably when men realised they could make a load of money from marketing it to us.

Also, there was a whole story line in SATC when Samantha was going through perimenopause and that was in the 90s (wasn’t it?)

It's not new, of course you know that though. It's just you personally didn't experience extreme symptoms.

What makes me angry is not that you didn't experience symptoms but that you choose to sneer at those who do.

The age group you refer to has the highest suicide rate in women. In my own family my grandmother had a breakdown at 47 in the late 60's. My mother became a totally different person in her late 40's. My sister was sectioned at age 49 and spent 2 weeks in a mental hospital. Me? I lost my mind.

I apologise OP. I'm early 40s and going through this perimenopause you speak of. Believe me I wish I wasn't. I have no desire to pretend about all these symptoms I have!!!

I'm glad for you that you don't experience this. No need to be a twat about it though.

My mum is early 70's and went through the menopause in her 40's so over 20 years ago now. I remember first hand how difficult that time was and she's spoken about it since. Perimenopause has always been a thing and if you personally happened to sail through it OP then just be grateful instead of starting mean spirited little threads to belittle other women and their experiences.

My mum went mental in the 90's when she went through it. I remember her losing it over a fork that wasn't washed up.

Women used to be given valium to calm down. Now that's effectively banned I swear we're facing the full force of menopause head on.