So when does peri start?

[Newsenmum]

Ive heard so much conflicting information and now Im not sure what I think!

Im 36! Is this a thing now? What should I be doing?

It can be debilitating for some women.

Same here

I'm 48 and I've had some mild symptoms for a couple of years.
There is some awareness raising going on about how it can start young, but there is no need to DO anything or worry about it until you get symptoms e.g. your periods become irregular.

My friend was like this, she couldn’t do anything without crying, everything was really irritating her, she was cancelling weekend plans and not coping at work. It was her DM who recognised some of the symptoms that helped her.

I have no idea, because I don't think I experienced it at all (or not noticeably). Be aware, OP, that people's experiences are very different - some are like me, others may have more issues. If you feel unwell or have difficult symptoms, by all means see your GP. Otherwise, just crack on and forget about it.

I was 46. Your 30's would be considered early.

"Average age for peri to START is 47.5!"

Hmm. That would make me an early starter and I really didn't think so. Which stage of peri is that because it can be quite different when you still have a lot of oestrogen and your periods come more often than when they become less often and you get hot flushes, etc.

I agree that most women don't have it in their 30, but at 45-46?

Different for everyone - first symptoms started in about 2022/2023 if I join up the dots, but it wasn't until last year that they really ramped up and it was clear what was happening. I've been on HRT for a year at the end of this month and I will also be 47 at the end of this month.

I knew my hormones had changed last year at 39. My 28 day cycle became erratic, coming between 10 and 21 days. It used to last 48 hours and be light and I had no pmt leading up to it. It's now 7 days, heavy, and from when I ovulate my boobs are tender and the week prior to it starting I'm irritable and emotional. Have also started getting hot flushes at night and waking drenched in sweat, brain fog, loss of libido and insomnia.

My mum had the menopause at 44 and gran was 47 and my period started couple of years before there's did. Hopefully only a few more years and itl stop.

Is it the case that it's "over diagnosed" or is it just that we know more about it and now and are able to help more women? Peri is about more than just your periods drying up.

OP I was diagnosed by my doctor last year (39) and it explained a lot for me- the brain fog was the worst, I was suddenly unable to perform very simple work tasks that I'd done easily for years and honestly felt like I was going insane.

I often think back to my mum when she was in her mid-30s, how she'd fly off the handle at little things, get easily offended, be disproportionately annoyed if she forgot something at the shops. We as a family all thought she was being OTT, now at that age myself I realise she was probably peri and didn't have a name or a diagnosis for it.

Personally I'm glad people are talking about it more and more. "Average age for peri to START is 47.5!"- surely this is based on data of diagnosis, and historically we just didn't diagnose it? The average age will go down.

"Is it the case that it's "over diagnosed" or is it just that we know more about it and now and are able to help more women?"

I don't think many women in their 30s are getting diagnosed with peri, are they?
Some kind of self-diagnosis maybe, the issue being that the symptoms are very general ones that you can get at any age, apart from the most well-known ones like hot flushes.

I remember seeing a long list of all the possible side-effects of the Pill. I had half of them without ever having taken it! They were just common complaints.

46 and only symptom is periods are all over the place but I'm rubbish at tracking them so that's mainly a feeling rather than actual data. I think I had 4 all last year but have had 3 this year already.

No aversion to HRT if I find I need it but nothing to treat as yet.

For me it started around 48 with mild symptoms but still had regular periods. Ramped up at 50. I'm just about to turn 52 and I haven't had a period for 10mths.

It's rare, but not impossible to be peri at 36. I am 36 too and I am (private fertility clinic, private gynae and NHS menopause clinic have all agreed)

If you are having symptoms don't assume it is peri, when it could be something else. If it is however, it is imperative to go on HRT, for brain/heart/bone health, which is not the case for people in peri at a more normal age.

Do people think that menopause starts with you not getting your period one month then whammo thats it, you've gone through menopause?

Its a process. Just like puberty. You don't wake up one morning with tits, a a full bush and a 28 day cycle.

It starts well before you stop having periods and why shouldnt women talk about it with other women who've been through it and know what an utter ballache the whole thing is?

The reason it never used to be "a thing" is that women's 'issues' were dirty shameful secrets never to be spoken of. Not that it didn't exist.

Well fuck that. When you spend years having the window wide open in winter and a fan pointed at your sweaty face while you sit on a towel cos you're flooding through a tampon and an st then you've earned the right to moan about it!

I turned 40 last year, and I’ve been worrying I’ve been “seeing” symptoms of peri that aren’t actually there.
my periods are ok-ish - the odd bloodbath but still every month and fairly regular.

However, given I have spent the past week and weekend desperately trying not to constantly cry, anxiety through the roof. Zero interest in seeing anyone, leaving the house I am def thinking it’s peri related as it feels like it’s come out of the blue!

I know a lady in her 80’s who’d never heard of peri and had so many issues she retired in her 50’s and said it was definitely the menopause but back then peri wasn’t talked about it known and she wished it was

I was 44 when my symptoms started. Nothing physical, just a gradual feeling of being less and less happy, for no reason I could think of. My self-confidence started to diminish, then came the insomnia and heightened anxiety, brain fog, rage. HRT has been a life-saver but even so, it’s been shit. I’m now 51 and feeling like myself again for the first time in years.

I've just listened to a brilliant podcast by Emma Barnett called ‘Ready to Talk - Perimenopause is a Thief’. It’s on BBC Sounds. It’s the most honest description of perimenopause I’ve ever heard, not irritating presenters banging on about lifting weights and eating protein, but two women (Emma Barnett and Kate Thornton) talking honestly about how difficult it’s been for them. I highly recommend it - perhaps especially for the ‘I sailed through it, don’t know what all the fuss is about’ commenters. It’s lovely that some women don’t suffer but sometimes those sorts of replies feel very dismissive of those of us who do/have.

That’s the official statistical average, I didn’t pull it out of my arse 😂

38 for me, start was hot flushes at night, heavy periods, rage and sheer exhaustion, low to none libido been on HRT since last summer.

You poor thing, you had your ovaries out so went into it full blown, did they give hrt straight away?

From reading on here and talking to friends, the stats seem right. 45/46/47
Which makes sense as many women can still get pregnant easily early 40s

She said partial hysterectomy so ovaries kept, no?

"the stats seem right. 45/46/47"

That would give an average age of 46, not 47.5.

How do we know that average is correct? I have the same question about the quoted average of 50 or 51 (depending on the country) for average age of menopause.
Also, it depends what stage of peri as I said.