To ask you to share your unexpected menopause symptoms

[GraceMarks]

I've been perimenopausal for about a year now, and I thought I was pretty well-read about what it would involve. But some of the things I've experienced have come as a particularly unpleasant surprise and I was wondering if others had found the same! Perhaps if we share some of the things we've been through it will help other women to be prepared when they reach that time in their lives too.

So, aside from the usual hot flushes and night sweats and irregular periods, I've had:

Ovulation flu! I don't have a better term for it really, but every time I ovulate now, I get weird flu-like symptoms such as aching muscles, swollen neck glands, and suddenly feeling cold and tired all the time. It took me a while to make the connection with the time of the month, and I thought I was just getting a bit of a cold, but it only ever lasts for a couple of days and then goes away completely.

The fatigue. Even after getting what seems to be enough sleep.

Weirdly, the lower back pain I've suffered with for more than a decade has more or less gone, but now I get joint pain in my knees and elbows instead. It's much worse a couple of days before a period.

Anyone else had any symptoms they didn't expect, and did they go away once you were completely through the menopause?

Well, thanks donajimena me and my short, wet, smelly fanny are running away from this thread now😂

I'm two days into HRT, and suddenly miraculously I have some oomph to do stuff . Admittedly the stuff I'm doing is reading MN, but based on the previous few months, what I've done in the past couple of days should have meant that today I was totally wiped out, and struggling to get out of bed. Instead I bounced out of bed before the alarm, and got on with the dishwasher, the laundry, the tidying up of everyone else crap, that kind of thing. And without swearing or "hmph"ing . Can HRT work that quickly?

I saw an improvement very fast yes. It took about 2 weeks for my symptoms to go completely.

My periods have gone from being fairly irregular (anything between a day and ten days late) to being spot on! Actually the last one was a day early! It’s terribly weird and rather brilliant to finally have a clue about when my period is about to arrive.

Night sweats getting worse, also occasionally feel really anxious and have to deep-breathe to calm down.

Also fucking chin hairs which grow from nothing to massive-eye-lash-size in the space of half a hour

Creases on my jawline and puffy eyes 😣

I’m new to this thread, I’m having the same symptoms for the last few months, really Keen to know if your symptoms have eased? I’m finding them debilitating, severe anxiety, muscle twitching, internal shakes/tremors, palpitations and muscle weakness, fatigue etc etc. I’ve been checked by neurologist but can’t find anything from scans.

Brain fog

Spots

Heightened sex drive but not when I am ovulating I guess I am in the last chance salon of getting pregnant (still have regular periods and ovulation which has for years been more painful for me sore boobs etc)

Touch wood, I’ve been lucky.
I’m a notoriously cold person but I get hot at night.
Vulval dryness, itchiness, soreness is awful.
I get restless ankles.

Oh thank God it's not just me!! I feel like I'm a hot mess, falling apart at the seams!!

Aching every bloody where - knees, ankles & lower back the worst.
Hot, sweaty & shiny ALL the time.
Heart palpitations.
Puffy feet.
Sore boobs.

Don't take anything at the minute - any recommendations??

My most unexpected menopause symptom is not having any symptoms, other than brief hot flushes, and not even any sweating, at that!

Oops, didn't realise this was practically a zombie thread Looks like I'm getting an easy ride of it, having read more of the thread. Soz

No periods, but I still get cyclical constipation and big cystic zits.

Somewhere inside me is the remnants of my ovaries, still pulsing out hormones and once a month, thinking1

"Yep! Still got it!"

Curly hair 😐

Morning sickness.

Some days I am barely able to function until about 11 am, which is no good when I have to leave for work at 7.

I've had all these things.
The GP just told me to go to bed earlier

I've been through a couple of name changes since I started this thread, but I was interested to read my OP again and think about how much of it still applies! The ovulation flu seems to have abated, but in its place I have ovulation irritability and premenstrual weepiness. I burst into tears today because of the thread about the snake that was starved to death . I have snakes myself and couldn't get the thought of it out of my head.

My periods are now closer together (about 23 days at the moment), last for only a couple of days, but are incredibly heavy. I didn't really understand what people meant by flooding before, but I certainly do now.

I still get palpitations and feel hot all the time. Breast pain has recently joined the party. On the plus side, I haven't had javelin arse for a while!

Yesterday 11:47 gingerbiscuits

Oh thank God it's not just me!! I feel like I'm a hot mess, falling apart at the seams!!

Aching every bloody where - knees, ankles & lower back the worst.
Hot, sweaty & shiny ALL the time.
Heart palpitations.
Puffy feet.
Sore boobs.

Don't take anything at the minute - any recommendations? @gingerbiscuits have you thought about hrt ?

Also does anyone get the shaky wobbly weak feelings and severe fatigue?

This is a strange one, I have used the same hair colour on my hair for years adjusting the mix slightly as I got bits of grey. Last year that same colour turned my hair blue not bright blue but a grey/blue. Thought at first it could be a dodgy colour but no it wasn’t. I had to change to a completely different colour. I can only put it down to the peri menopause changing something in my hair. 🤷‍♀️ 😂

Can I join in? My periods stopped about 4-5 years ago. For the last couple of years I have been getting so many weird symptoms.

The black facial hairs - I have little interest in my appearance, but even I draw the line at a beard.

I thought I had escaped without hot flushes, but I seem to be getting them now. Start at the feet and work their way up.
My temperature control is completely bolloxed up. Anything about 18 degrees and I am stuffed.
Aches and pains.
Anxiety/health anxiety beyond belief. The feeling of doom. The feeling of going crazy.
Pins and needles
Numbness on tongue and lips (burning tongue)
Dizziness and Nausea

Have been to the GP today who is going to do a load of blood tests to rule out Thyroid etc.

Situation not helped by having Rheumatoid and Fibromyalgia, and completely stuffed joints because of congenital malformations. So a lot of these symptoms could be due to those.

Reading that others are having these symptoms is very reassuring.

I’m 36 and have a lot if these symptoms!

Farting
Aching joints

So much of this is sadly familiar, although I have been loads better on my patches. Really struggling at the mo as the patches aren’t available & I’ve switched to oestrogen gel with progesterone tablets. Had the most horrendous neck pains over the last few days which today made me feel really sick & sleepy. I feel paranoid. And I feel really on edge, as if there’s something wrong but I can’t remember what. That’s another thing, my bloody memory! It was always so good. Haven’t done the deed for months as last time we tried it was too painful. I was prescribed a lubricant called, amusingly, YES! 😂🤣😂

The list is endless, morning sickness which means I throw up every time I brush my teeth, worst period pains ever and no period, heart palpitations, anxiety, scared of driving, acne, joint pain and omg the fucking itching. I nit check all the time but there's nothing and don't get me started on going bald. 😭😭😭

I felt like a blood factory when I got my period.

Ooooh yes tinitis and I think I smell. Like really smell. Asked my husband if he could smell me. He said no with raised eyebrows and a "what fresh kind of hell is this" kind of face. Also either horny or fuck off.