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?

Doesn't stop the biological processes existing. But you and your symptoms didn't exist in the eyes of marketing until your disposable income made you worth seeing. And although the medical term is more accurate, it's been co-opted because it means they can hook in women who haven't even started experiencing medically significant symptoms yet.

That's what the 'becoming a thing' relates to. It wasn't of interest to media and marketing until your bank balance was.

Women are better educated and informed ( clearly unlike you).

You can't blame people for being uneducated if it was never part of their education.

The first post is an example of things people say on a keyboard that they would never be so awful to say in real life.

Surely you don’t think I meant education at school!
We are responsible for informing and advocating for ourselves regarding women’s health throughout our lives.

Or ‘my mental health’ 🙄

If you haven't experienced something it's easy to be skeptical about it. I am 65 and I've known about perimenopause since I was 40ish, although I didn't get any symptoms, not like many people do. I think the difference is that people didn't talk about it.
As a matter of interest, I used to work with a woman who swore that PMT didn't exist. The strange thing was that one week a month she was a nightmare to work with- foul tempered and snappy.

Some very smug posts on this thread.
Isn’t mumsnet about women supporting women?

Menopause is when your periods stop for a year. Peri menopause is the run up to that. What you’re calling menopausal symptoms are the peri menopause unless the only symptom you’re thinking of is no period for a year.
You’ve been really dismissive of women’s struggles and seem to be implying we use it as an excuse for anything. Really disappointing from another woman.

Are you for real?

Well if you want us to assume you're not being goady & are asking a "genuine" question, it comes from the latin, with peri meaning 'around'.

Whereas menopause is just one day in the entire lifetime of any woman (or maybe 2 if you're 'lucky' enough to experience a period again after 12+ months without).

As properly funded medical research is beginning to demystify more effectively over the last 20 years or so, "peri" menopause usually starts to kick in around 10 years before menopause day for most women.

And the relative ratios of hormones fluctuating so wildly over those 10+ years as well as falling levels compared to the regular menstrual years results in a whole laundry list of actual physiological differences occurring. Some of which can be wildly debilitating.

So 'peri'menopause more widely as a thing is simply a more medically accurate description of when most women will experience symptoms (10 years vs 1 day).

Delighted to hear it was no drama for you OP.

But the other 1 billion+ peri & post-menopausal women on the planet are likely to benefit from knowing the full likely symptom list, how this MAY affect them, and what the medical & lifestyle approaches which are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM THE APPROPRIATE MEDICAL TREATMENT OF MEN THE SAME AGE are, which may help them the most as they live through this significant life transition.

HTH?

It was being regularly discussed by groups of women affected in the mid 1980s, so certainly not new, but obviously we are now saturated (no pun intended!) due to media, especially the internet.

I don’t see this as a bad thing. A lot of people are still surprisingly uninformed and it prevents them seeking support even if they need it.

I don't remember my mother ever mentioning it. Or going through it. Mind you, I moved out when I was 22 yrs old. She would have been 52 yrs old then. She was always very bitchy.. So maybe that was a symptom 🙄

I'm glad that I can read about it on the Internet. Educate myself as my peri (periods became irregular) started late 30s I presume and I am 50 now. I found the doctors as much use as a chocolate teapot! When trying to get HRT to protect my heart and bones, help with moods and sleep issues. I never suffered hot flushes thankfully.

Can't disagree that there are plenty of marketeers trying to cash in now.

Nevertheless, the fact the one person, or one person's Mum, didn't notice meaningful symptoms on their journey towards menopause day or afterwards absolutely doesn't mean that many women don't experience many symptoms as a result of changing hormone levels.

That would be about as ridiculous as saying 'well I was able to conceive naturally, so every woman must be able to conceive naturally' - and fortunately those days are well behind us.

If your family is blessed with genes & hormone levels that mean perimenopause & post-menopause are a walk in the park, great! But perhaps you could also educate yourself a little further about the full, long, medically researched & real, list of symptoms whuch can affect SOME women.

This one isn't bad menopause.joinvoy.com/blog/menopause-symptoms-list

I think girls should be educated about it at school. We were barely educated about periods (1960s).

As I posted above I had a hysterectomy at 45 and was on HRT straight away for a good 10 years before tailing it off slowly. I didn’t really experience the symptoms people talk about whether they call it menopause or perimenopause and I've only heard the latter in the last few years.

I thought people just called it all menopause and bundled it into one

it’s all peri - after very last period it’s menopause

My favourite thing about being in perimenopause is that I don't give a shit about how long it's been defined for or about judgemental mumsnetters. I'm living the dream

I would hazard a guess it was when we felt, hotter than usual, more miserable than usual, itchy skin and ears, joint pain and other unexplained aches and pains, a feeling of random heaviness and not being able to think in a straight line, feeling unnoticed, then crying to doctors and valium and jellies. Then or with random periods.

Then....

And maybe the random men going missing never to be seen again.

You said that much more politely than I had intended too. Boomers!!

Exactly 💯

This. Until fairly recently, the menopause was used to describe the few years in the run up to periods stopping altogether, now that time is (correctly) called peri

This. I'm 67 and only heard of peri-menopause recently. It was all just called menopause when I went through it.

I do worry though that so many symptoms are hung on peri that some conditions might be missed.

As to risk of breast cancer, however high or low that risk is I think women should make an informed decision. I dismissed the idea of HRT because of breast cancer risk and got breast cancer anyway. Had I known about the protective effect on bones I might have made a different choice. I now have osteoporosis.

Does pms get worse during perimenopause?
In the last year or so I've started getting irrationally angry the week before my period starts.
The month I didn't get angry I found out I was pregnant.
But other than that, I can't say I feel any different than how I've always been.
I'll be 40 next year.
Hope I don't get anymore symptoms lol
That one is enough

Well I’m 68 now. Went through menopause early 50s but looking back, was definitely peri from about 43 onwards. Mood swings, insomnia, aching joints - it wasn’t widely discussed or acknowledged at the time. Even had x ray to address aching joints & no medics suggested peri.