to ask you how the menopause happened for you?

[user1490123259]

45, last three periods have only been half as heavy as the previous 30 years....

Can I start celebrating and throwing my sanpro away?? STop counting days on the calendar when planning holidays? take out the £8 a month out of my shopping budget???

Is it going to be a blessed release or a path of thorns??

What should I worry about or be prepared for?

Me too Elphame. Used to run 35-40 miles a week. After peri menopause kicked in, I struggled to even walk some days. It badly affected my nerves, causing pain, tingling and numbness so running became impossible. It's so frustrating, isnt it? I just cant believe hormones can have such an impact on your body!

I'm 49 & I don't think anything has happened.
I sometimes forget words & make stupid mistakes... I always did.
I stopped being able to multitask... about 12 yrs ago.
My heart goes funny.... if I drink too much caffeine. My whole family is sensitive to caffeine too.
I get too hot in bed.. I always did.
I sleep badly... only annoyingly badly since I had children (17 yrs ago).
I got a bad back & loads of health problems... in my 20s but flare up sometimes. Back and aches pretty good right now.
Anxiety: I think maybe I was a very anxious teenager but didn't know it.
I am in the middle of the biggest fitness freak episode of my life, my PBs may be improving.
Maybe due to the 10 F+V a day challenge, I seem to have unexpectedly lost weight lately.
Growing up I used to get bad dizzy spells, that was decades ago.

Maybe i'm a mutant alien :).

I've had increasingly heavy periods since mid to late 40s. Regular until a couple of years ago when they suddenly started coming every 2 weeks and lasting 2 weeks each. It was hell. Got prescribed Norethisterone and all settled down.

Haven't had a period since November but the months leading up to that I've had either nothing or 10 days worth. Some months have had 2 periods only a week apart and then nothing for 3 or 4 months.

Suffering hot flashes, brain fog, extreme weight gain, and as someone else said waking up with aching jaws where I've been grinding my teeth all night.

Tell you what is wonderful though; no breast changes. None of the cyclical soreness I've had my entire adult life.

Terribly angry
Terribly weepy
Hot flushes
Impressive acne the like of which I've not had for 35+ years
Occasional spotting but weeks of what feels like the worst PMT ever with such painful breasts it hurts to lie down on my front at all
Dry mouth
No sex drive for months then go a bit mad for a couple of days then back to nothing again (that keeps dp on his toes!)
Never sleep a night through
Raging indigestion on an exact pattern up to and away from the PMT symptoms then it goes away until the next cycle shares in Gaviscon
Tired
Unable to put sentences together
Killed the kettle by putting it on the stove instead of the saucepan in my other hand/find milk in the cupboard and teabags in the fridge
Other than that it's all going swimmingly.
I am 53, started periods at 10 and feel like I have seriously had enough of the whole bollocking bollocks.

Missed one or two periods at 49 and had some terrific night sweats.
Nothing much for another year or so.

Then a few changes including thrush, cystitis and periods got more irregular.

Now have had two periods in the last year, get night sweats, occasional hot flushes during the day.
Sometimes feel as if I'm building up to a period-the sore boobs, the tension, tiredness and then some symptoms I would associate with a period like having much more energy, pooing more often and being randy.
Interesting to hear that aching more is a common symptom as I do.

Some chubbiness but that just could be being idle and wine...
No period for over a year, absolutely the best thing that ever happened to me, no more agony after decades of agonising periods. I have loved my menopause.

Oh Yes - the aching. Left that out. Grim.

Sorry you are suffering too Rufus27

I never expected anything like this - I am seriously considering risking the HRT as my quality of life at the moment is so poor.

A couple of years of really heavy periods, followed by about 6 months light periods., Then a couple of months with no period, very light period an that was that. Only had the odd hot flush too, but they're triggered by red wine

Oh and I get phantom period pains occasionally, with no bleeding. Anyone else?

I have ME (chronic fatigue syndrome). It triggered when I went on the pill for IVF so 10 years on my hormones aren't balanced even now. So I'm not in for an easy ride. Right now I'm perimenopausal. I have much heavier periods with a circa 24 day cycle and spot for several days before. All in all with the spotting, I'm bleeding for almost 50% of the time. I have heightened PMT. I take high quality liquid calcium, copper and vit D3 (with k2). These are recommended for menopause - calcium needs D3 and sufficient copper levels for absorption (I have read taking a cheap supplement calcium alone can cause the body to leach calcium from the bones and increase risk of osteoperosis). D3 uptake from the sun declines with age and lowered estrogen levels can leave us deficient. I also take B vits. Once the weather improves, I'm back on low carb high fat diet. It helps. A lot. And someone, who is on LCHF, eats no added sugar and very little fruit said she barely had any menopausal symptoms.

Missed a depo jab, had a period.

Now having 'periods' about every 3-6 months but really light bleed, onlylast a couple of days, no pain, no vomiting, I think I have had one hot flush.

I'm 50.

I'm hoping that as I had such crap periods when I started that it's just going to tail off and that's what seems to be happening.

Those of you that have had periods just stop and very little symptoms, do you do lots of exserise?

Nope, I have arthritis in virtually every joint so can't exercise.

I had a surgical menopause at 49 (9 yrs ago) but in the 8-10 yrs preceding that had increasingly heavy periods - altho at times I had gaps of up to 4 or 5 mths gap between, the were v. heavy & long lasting when I got them; huge mood swings & I had started to have some hot flushes. Surgical menopause with removal of both ovaries so immediate/full menopause & started taking HRT almost straight away. Have now stopped them about 18 mths ago because of increased other risks (breast cancer, heart disease) but have just started getting recurring UTI's & dreadful vaginal dryness (hasnt been issue before at all, maybe because of HRT & residual effects) - so am now taking estrogen type pessaries for a bit. Joys of!! Plus agree with the mid life spread & weight gain - have struggled most of my life with extra pounds, but much harder to lose weight since my hysterectomy etc

mehimthem If you are on oestrogen only hrt, after a hysterectomy, there is no increased risk of breast cancer.

This is something that came out of the womens health initiative study - there was no increase for the oestrogen only group; indeed it showed a small decrease. The increase in risk was only for women on the combined hrt of equine oestrogen and artificial progestogen and it is this that hit the headlines in 2002. It has since turned out that there was a lot wrong with the design of the study and the statistics used so even this is exaggerated. For women on combined hrt, the increase in risk of breast cancer rises in line with women who have not reached menopause and decreases to the same level as those who have reached menopause once hrt is ceased.

Regular periods up until 50 then they stopped overnight just like that.
No other symptoms at all, I'm 56 now.
I must be incredibly lucky.

Haven't yet read all the way through but thank feck people have mentioned memory. I hadn't even considered that part. I am prob just starting it......few months in and have palpitations night sweats etc but my memory is shocking at times......also the rage!

I'm 52, regular as clockwork still (that's 40 years and counting). I'm not sure what's worse though (I have awful periods), sort of dreading the menopause!!

Guys, you know there is a whole MN message board dedicated
to Menopause?

Just saying ...

I had loss of pubic hair, leg hair and underarm hair. My head hair is still thick. I did mourn the loss of my periods as it was an indication I was no longer fertile. I had problems with no periods throughout my 20s due to a tumour on my pituitary gland (it was small and I was probably born with it), but menopause is just a phase in life to me though I really wasn't expecting the loss of hair in me nethers.

A time to celebrate and move on. Most men see a decrease in how their members stand to attention at this age. It's nature's way of saying that having wee ones isn't a good idea.