To ask about your perimenopause symptoms

[Midlifelights]

I am 47 and likely in perimenopause - I feel pretty shit for about 3/4 of the month these days to be honest.

My latest symptom seems to be feeling extra shit on the last day of my period- headache, feeling sick, very emotional, anxious, heart palps, only wanting beige food. It used to be that by now I was starting to feel better but no. Is it linked to rising hormones again? Anyone else get this?

Then I feel super shit around ovulation- same sort of thing. Then have a sunny week, then it’s pms & back to feeling shit again.

Aibu to ask if anyone else gets this joyful combination of hormone horror? It’s driving me nuts- I have had the pointless ‘there’s nothing wrong with you’ blood tests several times at the GP and been dismissed as anxious several times too 🙄

My peri symptoms:

Feeling down most of the time.
On a VERY short fuse most of the time.
Prone to burst into tears at the slightest minor frustration.
Tense and anxious most of the time.
Bloating and wind.
Frequency and urgency of urination.
Drenching night sweats.
Occasional hot flushes but they didn't bother me.

HRT has made a massive difference. I'm 3 months in.

@Spodge how old are you if you don’t mind me asking? Should I ask for HRT at 47?

Worse thing for me is never knowing when my period will start. Currently every 2 weeks then not for a few weeks. Its completely random at present. Also finding myself getting irritable and teary at nothing

and I'm 44

I'm 40 and in peri. Mum was 39, older sister 40. I have sore boobs ALL the time. Periods are light and every 3 weeks now. Very very bad PMT (never used to have it at all). Hot flashes. It's horrible. Sympathy to all.

I have the same rollercoaster, sometimes mid month I feel sick for days as my body is trying to ovulate...ugh

I have the mirena which I think has taken away some of my symptoms and obviously no periods but headaches, heart racing (especially in evening?) palpitations, weight gain. Fun!

HRT patches transformed my life when I felt like this, I didn’t feel sick but was also exhausted after suffering from insomnia for the first time ever. GPs should not be just dismissing what can be debilitating symptoms of perimenopause. If you need help don’t be fobbed off by your GP, try and see another within the practice if you can.

I'm 48 and started HRT last week, so too early to report back but I did lots of research and concluded that there wasn't a good reason not to have it. My symptoms are mostly mood related and I'm fed up of feeling fed up for the majority of the time!

NICE guidelines state that GPs shouldn't need to diagnose using blood tests after age 45, they can just do it based on your symptoms. Luckily my GP was on the ball and prescribed as soon as I'd had BMI and blood pressure checks.

They shouldn’t dismiss your anxiety - that can be a symptom. I read somewhere that specialists have counted over 60 symptoms of menopause.

I’ve been on HRT since I was 45 - my (now retired) lovely GP prescribed it as a “pre-emotive strike”. I wrote down every single thing that was bothering me - anxiety, depression, nausea, joint pain, brain fog, missing periods, light periods, itchy skin. I’d suggest you do the same - perimenopause isn’t, despite what some GPs think, just about hot sweats.

Really, really fucking anxious

I was exactly like you at 47. Had a mirena and HRT patches and a year on, I'm like a new woman.

Don't be fobbed off by a blood test - it's not accurate for diagnosing peri. GP should go on symptoms - show them the NICE guidelines.

49. Luckily no symptoms apart from irregular periods, sometimes like clockwork and sometimes just skipped. They’re over pretty quickly too.

Good job I have no symptoms as can’t take HRT due to breast cancer in family.

Yep to all this. Sore boobs, horrendous mood swings, irritability, tearfulness, anxiety, misery... Hot sweats where I turn bright red all over. Hair thinning drastically, terrible spots including in my hair. Night sweats. Chest pains. Forgetfulness. Periods every three weeks. Or seven, depending on what mood my ovaries are in today.

I've got femoston hrt, which seems to help a lot, although my hair hasn't improved. I had to move to patches for a bit when I couldn't get the femoston, but I fucking hated them.

My (male) gp listened and said to ignore the blood test which said I was normal, and that clearly I was perimenopausal and of course he would prescribe something because it sounded awful and I shouldn't have to put up with that shit.

Thank you for this thread. And sorry you are suffering.

I’ve just started peri.

Worst symptom is an internal vibrating sensation.
Tiredness
Body aching
irritable
Anxiety
Forgetful

Irregular periods.
Shivery, cold symptoms for 48h before period. That's the worst bit.
Really heavy periods. I've been used to bleeding about one Mooncup's worth per day previously, but the last few months I'm bleeding out, emptying my cup every hour for the first two days because it is overflowing. Leaking all over the place, I've never known anything like it.

@Midlifelights - I'm 51. A lot of this had been going on for years, probably since about your age, but it all crept on insidiously and I did not associate any of it with peri. Not even the drenching night sweats, because I didn't realise they were a symptom.

Crippling, crazed anxiety.
Exhaustion.
I went back on the combined pill and now feel great most of the time. Start feeling horrid again towards the end of the seven day break, which I only do every six weeks.
@Confusedismyname yes to the vibrating feeling!! Is that perimenopause? I thought it was weird heart flutters or something, it freaked me out for ages!

Internal vibration??

@Confusedismyname oh god I get that vibrating feeling too- it’s totally bizarre

@YouWereGr8InLittleMenstruators and yes I get the shivery flu like thing at ovulation - felt really dizzy & unwell for 24 hours this month & was then fine up to a few days before my period

Mid 50s
Some night sweats a few years ago.
Tearful day before bleeding starts sometimes, and really need sugar.
Palpitations for about a year.
Periods got lighter and further apart a year or so ago, but starting thyroxine brought them back with increased vigour.
Am I the oldest bleeder in the country yet? Feels like it.