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'm 38 and have been having symptoms for a couple of years, but it's only recently I even knew perimenopause was a thing!

My periods used to be very regular, and although a bit painful they weren't too heavy. Now they are very irregular, and can be very heavy and painful, or painful but not too heavy.

I get the night sweats, and over a week of pmt, my anxiety is a lot worse just before my period, and I get more and more pmt symptoms.

I've always been quite an emotional person but I cry so easily.

And the brain fog, and tiredness!

Perimenopause just isn't really talked about is it? When I mentioned heavy periods to the doctors they said it wasn't heavy enough for investigations.

I think I'm starting with hot flushes too.

Similar to pps really. I started the perimenopause several years ago - I only found out because I had gone to the dr with anxiety and palpitations. Turns out they were symptoms of the peri.

I get night sweats - not terribly hot (coldness is one of my new, fresh hells) but drenched in sweat. Horrendous flooding - I dread getting up some mornings, because I know the bed will look like a shark attack has occurred. Ginormous spots - but one or two at a time that are red and very painful. Hot flushes. Crushingly tired, but as a pp said, bright as a button after a catnap.

As Sirchenjin said, interestingly, after years of PCOS hell with period lengths and dates, I am now a strangely regular 28 days with a 5 day bleed.

Get a hand held fan for your handbag. Saved me many a time from my face exploding when I get a hot flush.

There is a menopause board on MN which has lots of really good posts and links, so would be worth having a read there.

I'm 56 now (how the bloody hell did that happen?! and I'm through the other side.

I noticed I was perimenopausal from around the age of 48 - first symptoms were my periods becoming very irregular. At one point I was convinced I was pregnant - which worried DH as he'd had the snip a few years earlier! And then the hot flushes started. Tolerable during the day, if irritating, but hugely annoying and disruptive during the night, as they woke me up. Lack of sleep over weeks and weeks isn't good.

Things that worked for me:

• Boots Menolieve
• keeping the bedroom cooler
• cutting down on carbs; I'm a long-term low carber anyway, but I noticed that the hot flushes were infinitely worse when my carbs were higher, especially when I'd been drinking a lot of alcohol (I made this link when I was on holiday so drinking a lot more than normal!)
• cutting down on caffeine

I wasn't prepared to countenance HRT because my mum died from advanced breast cancer, and she had been on HRT. (There will be lots of people who come along shortly to post that the risks of HRT are minimal now, but for me this just wasn't a risk I was prepared to take)

Ultimately, although all those things definitely helped me, I suspect I may just have been lucky. In the way that I always had very easy periods, rarely had period pains, and had two very easy labours.

I wasn't prepared to countenance HRT because my mum died from advanced breast cancer, and she had been on HRT. (There will be lots of people who come along shortly to post that the risks of HRT are minimal now, but for me this just wasn't a risk I was prepared to take)

Boots Menolieve is black cohosh isn't it? If you didn't want to risk HRT take another drug that effects hormones?

I meant to say "If you didn't want to risk HRT why take another drug that effects hormones?

Me too. My hips ache and I'm dog tired most of the time. I also 'flood' and get really bad pains. Sex life still going strong though.

45 years old, been peri-menopausal for about 4 or 5 years. Irregular periods, PMT for longer than usual, chin hairs (why???), tearful and libido has dropped off a cliff edge. I think the symptoms are easing slightly over the last 6 months or so though.

I have a toddler (DD is 2.8) & I'm not sure if the tiredness is due to the toddler stage, or if it's peri-menopause related. Ditto brain fuzz. How nice to be going through both things at once

I'm almost 48. Periods can be spot on 28 days or three months apart or anything inbetween. Mostly light as usual, but occasionally tampon+pad needed and frequent changes. I'm a primary teacher and doing a Masters so the last thing I need is brain fog, hopefully that has stayed away so far. No issues with libido or dryness yet. My DSis is 50 and being treated for triple negative breast cancer so I'm a bit cautious about HRT or any medication. I use Feroglobin, take multivits, run 3x week for an hour or so and I don't drink. I do suffer from chin acne that can be quite sore and unsightly. No hot flushes or night sweats but I do sometimes get restless and wonder if that's related.

Wow, The Fleece of Despair link is really good.

I've been in a hormonal limbo for about 5 years (currently am 46) - most of the physical symptoms I can cope with, but the emotional turmoil (particularly the difficulty understanding what is the point of me) is becoming intolerable. So I have an appt with the GP on Tuesday to ask for HRT (otherwise I risk slitting my wrists in a fit of despair).

I am 49, and have been going through perimenopause for several years now as far as I can recall.

Short cycles usually, averaging around 21 days but variable. Often very heavy flooding with the return of the kind of cramps I used to get in my adolescence. Brain fog too, with my once reliable memory now having all but disappeared. No hot flushes or night sweats yet, but I am only sleeping in fairly short bursts.

No doubt more delights might await me. I guess I won't know until they happen.

I do sometimes think men have the better deal, as do most men I have ever known.

I'm 46. On the contraceptive injection so no periods (due to a health condition I'm not allowed to even risk getting pregnant). However the last few months the night sweats have started and I also sweat like a proverbial in my fanjo. Anxiety I've always suffered from. My hair has started to thin but that could also be a side effect of a medication I'm on (Clexane).
The joys, huh??

Marynary - because my GP recommended it, (having talked to her about my situation) and because it was a very short term thing.

Marynary - because my GP recommended it, (having talked to her about my situation) and because it was a very short term thing.

I think that was a wise recommendation considering that you didn't want to take HRT because of a family history of cancer.
I certainly don't think OP should take it before getting the results of a BRCA1 genetic test.

I mean to say "I don't think that was a wise recommendation".

I'm 47 and have been going through peri-menopause for about a year, I think it is. I can't be certain because I've never had regular periods and also it took me a while to cotton on to what might be causing the various symptoms

Despite my natural cynicism I've found that high dose oil of evening primrose has helped with the extremely painful breasts (two/three weeks out of every month) but I'm not sure whether it might have contributed to the very attractive rash of red spots marching across my face. I'm going to play Russian Roulette and come off them for a while to see if that improves the spots, whilst risking the sore boobs.

TMI alert-no dryness here. Quite the bloody opposite, in fact. Faintly embarrassing.

Are you a doctor Marynary?

I'm off to the docs on Tuesday too. After my pill check up I asked the nurse about my symptoms and she said I should get some blood tests done. I don't get periods for some reason with the pill I'm on but am having night sweats, anxiety, tiredness, brain fog and severe irrationality. My DH tells me constantly to stop, repeat what I just said and see if it sounds normal. 99% of the time I am being totally stupid and just have to laugh ... I am managing on about 5hrs sleep a night and becoming a zombie. I'm so glad I've read these posts as I feel like it's not just me and I'm not losing the plot. Roll on Tuesday!!!!

BIWI I'm a pharmacist.

48yo here and fuck knows what's going on with my periods TBH!

Is there a vague pattern as to what happens with you periods as you go through the perimenopause to menopause?

I mean, mine were regular as clockwork and not too bad. Then I had occasional periods from hell (heavy and painful), some shorter cycles than usual in between longer cycles than usual and now I've had nothing for about 9-10 weeks but regularly feel as if it's imminent (grouchy, irritable, that niggling sensation or crampy feeling in your stomach/pelvis.

Also have no inner thermostat so regularly overheat, occasional night sweats, inability to concentrate, brain fog, tiredness....

I am 50. I have a mirena coli, but it has been in for over 6 years. I have had a 28 day cycle for ever.

I think I am starting the peri. This month I have very painful spots on my chin, not usual for me. I am also on day 34 now, not happened since my last pregnancy. I did ask DH if he thought I was pregnant, he looked horrified. Guess I am on my way now.

Oh, started forgetting things too.

No period since last March, I am 48. I get night sweats and get that hot flush feeling over my neck, worst mid morning.

Hardly any hot flushes
Shocking itching inside my ear canals occasionally, especially the left. My sister had this as well
Bleeding without a break for a few months though very light, was investigated
Joints aching a bit
My osteopath told me that many women have joint aches during peri menopause and that it settles down after actual menopause.

Glad I have found this thread. I have been wondering about the menopause too. I am 42. My mum started hers in her 40s but it went on for about ten years - hope it isn't the same for me.

My periods are all over the place. Normally 24-26 between the start of one and the start of the next one. Recently I was over a week late. Then about 10 days later bled twice in the afternoon then stopped, the next day a full on period for 4-5 days.

Night sweats and feeling too hot but wouldn't describe as hot flushes.
Itching - I want to rip my skin off.
Dryness
PMT - feels like constantly.

I'm keeping track and will go to docs soon.