To ask for your experiences of perimenopause?

[Youknowitmakessense]

The penny has dropped..
For a few month now I've been experiencing :

• night sweats

• painful cystic acne on my chin ( usually just the odd PMT zit)
• brain "fog"
• teariness and worse than usual PMT
• a shortened cycle ( 24 days instead of my usual 28)

I've just realised it all adds up to the perimenopause. My mum started hers at 30.

I feel pretty low. I'm 39 with one DS (4). Stressy life ( full time job with commute, no family to help nearby, sole earner whilst DH retrains). I'm also awaiting the results of a recent BRCA1 genetic test ( NHS).

I take sertraline already for anxiety, normal BMI, good diet and general other health. But this is making me feel awful.

Anyone have any experience of this? Advice? Suggestions?

Thanks

I've been taking sage supplements for the past year, made a massive difference to the night sweats and hot flushes. They were unbearable before.

I had to take HRT - the hot sweats every 15 minutes (20 minutes through the night) were intolerable and I was struggling with work (which involves speaking to large groups of people). Nothing else worked (I tried everything). My quality of life was suffering and I was rather quickly down the anxiety and depression route.

This is a really useful thread, thank you everyone for sharing their experiences.

I am just wondering if anyone had anxiety disorder(s) prior to becoming peri menopausal and if so how much worse does the anxiety get if it's already almost unbearable at times

I had night sweats, insomnia, brain fog to the stage where I couldn't function and was wandering round like a brain-dead zombie all day. I am now on HRT and for me it has been the best thing since sliced bread! I'd recommend people who are not absolutely committed to going it "au naturelle" to have a look at the Menopause Matters website. Much of the research a decade ago supposedly showing that HRT was incredibly dangerous has in fact been shown to be inaccurate by later studies. There are small enhanced risks for some cancers, and it's worth weighing it up against your family history (just as you would consider blood pressure etc. when making a decision whether or not to use hormonal contraception), but as a "lifestyle choice" the decision to take HRT pales into insignificance compared to say, smoking or being overweight.

I don't know about anxiety, Monday, but my mum's depression and other mental health issues worsened with menopause - one of the reasons I was so open to HRT. Incidentally, there are still GPs out there who suggest treating menopause/perimenopause with antidepressants, but current NICE guidelines are to treat with HRT.

try agnus castus x

NICE guidelines on menopause well worth a read.

I flooded once, like an abattoir, was also incredibly anxious, depressed night sweats. I'm using Qlaira, a form of the pill as HRT, (I'd happily switch to another HRT but this works for me at moment) and GP suggested Agnus castus for bad PMt depressive moods, which works.

HRT, if you aren't in a contraindicated group, just replaces the hormones you are losing, and is important if you are going through early menopause.

Blood tests are pretty useless until you are through and antidepressants aren't suggested for hormonal issues except in certain specific cases.

If you can get through with herbal supplements then great. And lifestyle changes do help.

But I have to say it's brilliant that people talking about peri menopause as I'd never heard of it when all this started when I was 36!

Interestingly, after many many years of erratic periods thanks to mild PCOS I now have scarily regular - but heavy - periods to the point I can set my watch by them

I haven't had any "experiences of the perimenopause" so far (48yo).

So why post?

Going through the same myself but I do have a mirena coil so I've had to judge on symptoms other than bleeding.

I get bouts of insomnia, restless legs, sudden weight gain (felt like a stone overnight), anxiety, brain fog and sometimes I cannot stop crying!

I take menopace which the doctor recommended but only just started so I can't tell you if it's helping yet.

The expoerience given here is so helpful. It is a horrible stage of life. I felt so sorted before this started happening.

I suppose I'm socially defective. I don't easily realise that in threads like this people only want to hear one type of (woe is me it's all awful) narrative about the time leading up to menopause. Any other type of experience shall remain silent & invisible, I guess.

But you have no experience of the perimenopause - presumably because you're not actually going through it - and therefore no experiences, advice or suggestions, which is what the OP asked for.

I assumed lj was placemarking and thinking herself lucky

so far

It will come to you..haha

This thread really interests me. Ive not had a period for 3 months but feel like im going to 'come on.' All the same symptoms as you. Im older at 48. Periods just stopped completely.

I'm a bit confused by your post too lljkk

Are you perimenopausal or not?

Goodness...welcome Iljkk, you obviously have an interest in the subject! This change lark can make some folks a bit snippy. Anyway, as we were saying...has anyone any experience of using Menopace please? Does it help with mood swings?

There are good things and bad things about the menopause. I am out the other side of it now and feel that I have come to a new normal. I put weight on more easily and find it harder to lose it. my knees and bones creak more but my memory has returned somewhat and no more mood swings though I do cry a bit more than I used to nothing like when I was in the full throes of the menopause. no periods is a big plus.

unfortunately its the age that gets forgotten. ask any actress for parts written for 50 somethings. there are quite a lot of negatives but in the end you have to go through it so no point moaning all you can do is try to deal with it. I took evening primrose and a good multivit, still do. I wish I had got fitter and thinner before it as now it is a struggle to get to where I want to be with this.

so my advice to the perimenapausal is keep an eye on your weight, take up a strengthening exercise like pilates and get fitter than you have been and take whatever supplements you need - different ones work for different people.

I recommend Menopace too. And avoiding the red meat & red wine combo, which I've found gives me horrible night sweats.

Re anxiety getting worse. I'm 47 and perimenopausal and my anxiety, which hadn't been a problem since my twenties, started getting worse about 3 years ago. This coincided with me changing job and a couple of years ago starting an incredibly stressful project so I'm not sure if it was just life or a combination of life and perimenopause. The last couple of years have been hell, things I would have previously been able to get through fairly easily suddenly became devastating for me and at it worse i was making myself physically sick. It took me a long time to connect the increased anxiety with the perimenopause and I've found that Menopace, increased vitamin D and doing more exercise have helped.

I am in my late 40s. At the moment I am having quite heavy periods every two weeks but I don't think I'm getting any other symptoms. I don't generally feel that great though (chronic health condition) so I may just not notice on top of everything else.

I presume that you have a family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer, in which case HRT may not be a good idea even if the BRCA1 genetic test (see what the specialist think). The fact that you may be having an early menopause may be a good thing in this respect.

Hopefully your symptoms will get better on their own soon (sorry if that's not very helpul...)

try agnus castus

I've heard this is excellent in regulating your cycle especially if you're trying to conceive however not so good for menopause. I suppose it's an option to try though. You never know until you try.

Phantom periods....all the symptoms, period pain, bloating, mood swings for a week or so but no blood.

I am experiencing all the peri menopausal symptoms with the exception of dryness, in fact I find I'm the opposite (sorry, TMI). Does this mean that I am not peri menopausal - is the dryness an incontrovertible sign?

I really wouldn't try any herbal remedies at the moment. If HRT is possibly contraindicated (depending on the results of BRCA1 genetic test ) they may be too as if they actually work they will probably do so by effecting hormones.

"is the dryness an incontrovertible sign?"

I'm not entirely sure - I first experienced it in the perimenopausal stage (I'm post now) - but I found that it largely stopped when I started taking supplements - Tesco Menopause Multiplus in my case. I've no problems with it now.