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?

That's the Pharmaceutical Industry. Anti depressants, wli etc all require development then it's about cashing in. They aren't going to be philanthropic. Even better if you can get 2 for 1 eg Mounjaro which went from a Diabetes treatment to a weight loss 'miracle'

My grandmother was born in 1910. She spent almost 2 years in a psychiatric hospital after starting menopause. I remember this being discussed when I was a child in the 70s and also my.mum talking about HRT in the 90s and saying it was so sad granny hadn't been able to have it because she never fully recovered from the anxiety that was caused by it.

Haha great post. Yes it’s been totally made of up and is in fashion now. Well spotted. 🙄

My now dead nan knew about it and she would have been in her 90s by now.

Yes, badly educated. But you could have educated yourself before making this post ridiculing women for experiencing (for some) hell on earth.

I'm glad it's talked about more. I'm 52 and no woman in my family have ever spoken about menopause. Even my own mother seemed reluctant to talk about it. I'm so glad for my daughter's generation and those that follow that we have access to information now and guidance on medication or other things to help with our changing bodies. Some people sail through it and for others it's absolutely horrible. I get the hot sweats and look like I've been marathon running it pours down my face. Lots of other stuff too that's associated with it. Imagine living and not understanding what is happening to your body. It could and has drove some women mad or to worse. Also same with periods. Never ever got spoken about. The day I had my first period I was sent to get my own sanitary wear and I was mortified. Had to deal with agonising pain and flooding and didn't even think to get checked at the doctor's. I spent the first day curled up in agony in the sick bay at school. Every month. Noone thought I should be checked over. I'm so glad women have so much more help although it could be better but it's getting there.

1962 according to Google was first use of word perimenopause.

I think I thought the whole thing was the menopause or "the change".

It's only fairly recently I think that people talked about being "peri".

The symptoms and affects on (some/many) women has always been a thing though and is not new.

I heard of peri menopause at least 13 years ago when being offered hrt to combat the effect early loss of oestrogen could have on my bones and heart. I guess no woman you know had any debilitating symptoms in that stage of life, or if they did they were told it was all in their mind and they didn't talk about it

Well I for one am glad it's talked about more because peri menopause (yes, it is different to menopause, maybe go google and educate yourself), has knocked the stuffing out of me and because my mum is a non-verbal Alzheimer's sufferer I can't ask her how she felt at 52 and now I realise the constant crying, headaches, panic and low mood she was experiencing 30 odd years ago wasn't the fact that she had a brain tumour as she used to tell me but was actually her hormones causing absolute havoc on her body.

I'm also glad most female health issues are being brought to light like endometriosis which I've suffered from for decades but only diagnosed at 50. Hopefully the more these issues are spoken about by the time my 17 year old DD gets to my age life will be a lot easier for her.

@Egglioyou have no idea what mental health issues I have. Actual disability type mental health issues. So twat off with your poor me. Anyone who says my anxiety is a twat too.

I am 64. My understanding is simplistic.
Menopause means menstruation has ceased.
Peri - covers the time either side of that event where women experience symptoms such as hot flushes, irregular periods, sleeplessness , brain fog etc.

I am known this since my 40s. It’s hardly new.

I'd say it became a thing when companies realised they could make money out of it.

It’s marketing / sales
peri menopause has grown in the way xmas, Halloween, mother’s day and valentines has

its great for sales and marketing

My older relatives talk about “the change”. I think it’s fab that I’ve talked openly about it with my 86 year old cousin. We were both raised not to discuss periods so it’s refreshing to be so open now.
I do get frustrated that seemingly every single thing that might be a health concern for me (sleep, aches, sporting performance) is put down to menopause. It might be but it also might be many other things.

Perimenopause has always been around, and as a GP I remember talking to patients about it decades ago. But it used to mean the few years in the run up to the menopause, so for most people it might start around mid 40s, or early 40s in some cases (obviously much earlier for the very small minority of people who experience premature menopause).

But these days I see women in their 20s telling me they think they’re “peri”. Somehow PMS has disappeared - no one thinks their symptoms could be PMS, or just a really crappy busy life, or even a physical health problem. So many people want to attribute every unpleasant symptom they experience to peri menopause. It’s bizarre.

I truly believe that we’re going to see a significant rise in the number of cases of breast cancer in the next few decades, due to the large number of women taking insanely high doses of oestrogen from age 40 onwards. I and my GP friends really worry for the Davina generation.

@gerispringer
Do you know what “peri” means.. ? It means “around”, like a periscope allows one to look around.
Thats it - no great mystery.

As menopause (one year since one’s last period) can only be ascribed to an individual retrospectively…menopause is not a “catch all”, nor would it preclude your judgemental remarks.

The term “perimenopause means “around menopause” ie approaching menopause.
It isn’t “new” or “an excuse” for anything- it might be an EXPLANATION for aches, heavy flooding and/or extremely painful periods, lighter and less frequent periods, mood swings closer to periods that are more severe, fatigue, aches, bloating, unwarranted weight gain and probably dozens of symptoms I have not mentioned.

My mother declared that at 48 I was “too young” to be “in menopause”. Thats what people meant by the actual menopause (and she decided that in her own (crazy) way because she finished periods at 53. I’m still having periods at almost 51 and expect to for quite some time - I know when I had IVF at 41 I had the whatever (FSH or something else I don’t remember now) is someone ten years younger than me. So I expect menopause (could be wrong) in about 8 years. I’m currently in and more or less just starting perimenopause.

I have no idea why you feel compelled to start a thread being crass about a severely debilitating time on most women’s lives.

What are you looking for - approval from men that women are making it all up? (Wrong site then)

I'm 61 now, so out the other side of the menopause. I'd known about perimenopause since round about the time I turned 40 and started wondering when it would start for me.

I realised it actually had when I was 44. Actually, it was reading the menopause section on MN that switched the light on for me when I cottoned on that the symptoms I was having were due to perimenopause.

Anyway, it's nothing new, I've got a book on women's health that was published in the 1980s and mentions perimenopause. It just seems to have become fashionable now, and that's good - the more awareness women have about their bodies, the better.

But isn't that still what perimenopausal means, (the time from once your progesterone starts to drop) , up til menopause ( the 24 hours after you've been 12 months without a period/24 months if aged under 50) then you are post menopausal forever after. People deciding they are perimenopausal when they aren't doesn't change the meaning of the term.
Are you saying body identical oestrogen without a progestin causes breast cancer in someone that otherwise wouldn't have developed it?

@BerryTwister
I really hope you are not a GP! If a woman (not a girl) in her twenties is saying she thinks she is in perimenopause do you give her GRT or do you speak about PMT or carry out any tests?
Otherwise you are behaving dreadfully

Sorry HRT

I have no idea why you feel compelled to start a thread being crass about a severely debilitating time on most women’s lives.

Is it really a severely debilitating time for most women? I don't think so. I think most women have some symptoms, many women have symptoms that interfere with their life and some women have very, very severe debilitating symptoms.

Who said poor me? And I'm not the only one making assumptions here.

Wishing you all the best for the future. I personally don't feel the need to bring others down just because they have different problems to me.

Yes it's just a change of terminology. My mum talks about "the change". She had a hysterectomy though so didn't really have the "peri" stage - or at least, it was heavily truncated as it wasn't a gradual process of hormones dropping.

Mid to late 30s for me, twelve to fifteen years ago.

I don’t know about when it became a thing, but I’m 41 and whenever I speak to any women my age they either think they are in perimenopause or have ADHD! I am one of the only ones who claims neither in the pub 😂 (tho my consultant reckoned I might find the menopause ok cos it might help my stage 4 endo!)