To be over having to give up EVERYTHING due to perimenopause

[Edenspirits]

• Can’t tolerate alcohol anymore- even a couple of drinks give me a massive hangover
  
• Bread makes me massively bloated and I have to really watch what I eat as I get piled really easily 🙄
  
• Chocolate gives me a headache
  
• Tea gives me a massive headache
  
• have to watch everything I eat as the slightest deviation and I put on half a stone by barely looking
  
• the slightest deviation to my routine and I don’t sleep 😴
  

I feel like I barely recognise my own body!

Sigh- it’s SO dull!
Aibu to be really really really over perimenopause! Waiting for HRT from the doc and ready hope it helps!

[Legoandbarefeet]

Excuse my stupidness but how do you know if your peri menopausal? I’ve had a mirena coil in for the last 7 years (should have come out 2 years ago but the gp couldn’t remove it, nor could the specialist I was referred to then covid happened so it’s still floating around somewhere) but haven’t had a period since. I’m constantly exhausted (b12 deficient and have injections every few months) wake up at least twice a night to pee (4 sodding times last night), anxious as anything not sure if I’m burnt out or a early menopause (40 years old) 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Legoandbarefeet]

Oh and I’m also a right miserable cow most the time

[ArabellaScott]

I’ve never sworn so much in my life!

I have had quite a bit of practise up til now, but yes.

[gulliblestravels]

What about the limp, thinning, oily hair with the scalp showing through...that used to be thick, curly and strong, and only needed washing once a week?

[glitterelf]

@Legoandbarefeet my coils the same but 8yrs for me and I know I'm peri have been for at least four years. Night sweats, migraines, total brain fog and the rage I feel I'm constantly apologising to DH and the kids cause I know I'm horrible to be around. I'm 42 and Drs just dismissed me

[Squidlydoo]

I thought I was perimopausal. Turned out I had an under active thyroid and now have a gluten and dairy free diet, cut back on sugar and alcohol and having to massively calorie control to lose weight. I’m about to run 40 and it’s shit!

[MattDillonsEyebrows]

I’ve just bought my first pack of Menopace today. 45 and my periods are still fairly regular 26-30 days, but the pre-menstrual time always starts from day 21 and is horrendous! A good week of sobbing, short temper, bloatedness, craving (and succumbing to cos I’m lardy) sugar and the exhaustion is like nothing I’ve ever had before.
I’m also not sure when to visit the doctor, so o thought I’d try over the counter stuff first.
Any recommendations would be ace.

[Wilkolampshade]

@ArabellaScott I think I probably love you, or actually AM you. (Can relate, as DD2 says.....)
Had I found you rolling around in the dark with your poor grazed knees I would have parcelled you off to a clean room in a seaside B&B, crisp cotton sheets, window ajar letting in a little fresh air, overlooking a starry sea, tucked you in and tiptoed out leaving the seagulls to wake you in the morning.

[SunglassesSeventy]

Anyone else got random other body stuff going wrong? Last year I had loads of problems with a minor nerve impingement in my neck, this year it's sciatica.

Not sure if my issues are just caused by me sitting at a computer too much of my life, or whether hormones have increased my vulnerability to these things.

Other than that my main symptoms are tearfulness, rages, feeling depressed and/or doomy and anxious. What fun!

[mistermagpie]

Oh my god. I've just turned 41 and feel perfectly fine... or do I?!? I don't know...

Anyway I'm terrified now!

[TacoSunday]

Yes to fat in never-before places. Fat ankles, fat knees etc. If I squodge any bit of my body, I see horribly wrinkled cellulity skin. So depressing.

[ArabellaScott]

That sounds absolutely bloody lovely, Wilko! Almost worth the dog/hovercraft(I forget the actual word, did I mention brainfog?)/ankle snafu. Thank you!

[junipertree2]

@Thecazelets

Similar for me. In my 50s and was denied HRT when I asked for it a few weeks ago; apparently I am 'not menopausal enough' as still have regular periods and am not depressed. Mood swings, palpitations, breast pain, rage, insomnia, weight gain, fatigue, joint pain, bloating and feelings of constant dread not bad enough apparently.

Do you have hot flushes?

Drs are meant to prescribe HRT if you wish on the basis of vasomotor symptoms and joint pain (look up the NICE guidelines).

Your GP sounds godawful, ask for a second opinion.

[notacooldad]

I've just started the menopause by the looks of things!!
I'm 56 and had my last period in February.
I am so bloody hot and itchy!
So far, not so good😩

[CoRhona]

My elderly mum was saying to me today "when you get old, your body gets stiff and it's more difficult to move" and I was thinking 'yes, I'm there already'

[OhDear2200]

Oh my goodness I didn’t realise that the peri could lead to food intolerances!

I don’t drink coffee much but occasionally a big treat for myself is a really nice coffee from a good cafe. But the last three times I have had them I’ve had to lie down afterwards, I’ve felt like shit.

Also the anxiety! It’s like a switch on and off. I experience it as paranoia, I fucking hate myself and believe I’m rubbish.

Sometimes I feel like a shell of my former self.

Thinking of asking for HRT!

Oh and my periods are all over the sodding place.

[EffYouSeeKaye]

Oh Lord all that - and the anxiety. Awful. So rubbish.

Trying to think of positives about this stage of life to combat the grimness. Must be careful not to pull a muscle from thinking too hard 🤦‍♀️

[Chewbecca]

The pesky oestrogen has an awful lot to answer for.

Hopefully you’ll get HRT soon and it sorts you out, it’s made a bug difference to me.

[Summerhillsquare]

Oh yes, I used to like a drink, and have more or less given up. I mentioned this to the GP when he diagnosed me, and he gently commented that that was one of the more beneficial symptoms!

[Cowbells]

It honestly does get better. I have a close group of friends all of whom are at least 5 years older than me. I watched them all put on weight and lose energy then lose weight and regain energy a few years later. I remember my mother doing the same - early fifties she was chubby and tired and lost. By late fifties she was skinny and focused and powerful. And it's happening to me. I have way more energy in meno than I did in peri. And I'm 15 pound lighter already without dieting. I never took HRT (though sort of regret that.)

[justasking111]

Thrush anyone I keep caneston in all the time. Cystitis symptoms which now and again develop into full blown cystitis. Two breast infections in the last year

[Movinghouseatlast]

It is shit.

I am.going to ask for HRT

[IDidntFloatUpTheLaganInABubble]

@gulliblestravels I have exactly the same issue with my hair, the front was becoming see through, it was really upsetting me.
I started taking a collagen supplements about 3 months ago and have definitely noticed an improvement in my hair so will continue with it.

[Mykittensmittens]

48

Waking up at 4am, 5am, 6am every bloody night and it was like a light switch. Prior I could have slept till 8am every day and had to be dragged out of bed. One day like that then the next it’s changed. Now I am wide awake at all sorts of intervals every single bloody night.

Podgy

Hot

Periods are from hell. Previously 3-4 days tolerable is now 6-7 days of nasty heavy hell. Changing 3 times a night (hey ho, am awake anyway ) and all getting a bit random by a few days just to make holiday planning and enjoyable life really tricky. 4 nights in a tent anyone? Thought not.

[LouLou789]

Yes, it’s awful, and HRT should help. Hope so! I can’t have HRT due to breast cancer, which put me into early menopause, sickeningly followed by The Real McCoy. I’ve adapted and am ok, but if this happened to blokes there would be properly funded research into it. Whereas we are supposed to draw a discreet veil. Thank heavens celeb women are now getting to this stage (eg Davina) and raising the issue 👍