I was surprised at shrinkage as part of ageing. External genitalia changed from always being fleshy - into the smooth appearance of a Sindy Doll (seemed amusing to me at the time). I wasn’t expecting the clitoris to shrink and even move position, the uterus also shrinks, I had no idea about that.
Orgasms became more elusive, shorter, and unrewarding.
All of the above has been totally resolved with HRT. (And oral B12 supplements for nerve function).
Like a poster above, I was always pushing men aside and it was me moving furniture and doing the heavy stuff - that’s fallen by the wayside, but the recent addition of Testosterone gel to HRT has improved muscle tone, muscle definition and upper body strength - notably now able to go back to using heavy garden machinery / hedge cutting again.
I started HRT quite late (mid 60’s) which has been interesting. I think my menopause was a very prolonged slow decline and fade, so slow infact that I barely noticed the changes. When I had to temporarily pause the more recent HRT for a short while, that was difficult. It felt as how I would imagine a sudden surgical menopause might be - within 48 hours - extreme anxiety, sleeplessness, unable to relax or settle, total loss of concentration, inability to think and function, sluggish, low mood, difficulty driving, body and muscle changes, loss of strength.
I'm saying that I didn’t properly notice the very slow tailing off of hormones and their effects at actual menopause itself, whereas the sudden stopping of HRT brought into sharp focus just how different I was, and recognition of just how much better I was doing with the addition of hormones.