To ask if anyone has found menopause just fine?

[ChristmasGutPunch]

Another day another article about how I can expect my brain to fall out my ear any day now. "I forgot how to do my job!" and so forth. I'm sanguine about ageing (saggy jaw aside) but I really don't want to become wrong in the head so young. Please can you reassure me it's ok for some women??

I've had this too but now they are really light. I wish they'd always been like they are now ;) I had about ten years of having to sleep on a towel.

No physical symptoms at all here, and my weight is absolutely fine too (I work out a lot - it's important for bones, mobility etc) and I'm mid 50s.

My anxiety levels did increase though and I did lose confidence over some things - I haven't driven for a while but that's mostly because I have bad eye sight and can't see at night well.

I thought I was coping fine, but went to the gyn recently and she said that despite being in my 50s she doesn't think I'm anywhere near the menopause yet, so I guess I'm still to find out!

My sister. Bitch. (light hearted, honest!)

It was totally fine.
Hadn't had many periods for years (other reasons) but they started again regularly at 48 and carried on regularly until 56. Then stopped. That's it - all good.
No HRT, no medication of any kind, no over the counter products
Not seen a GP for 20+ years - no need.
As I constantly say, everyone is different, but you don't have to buy into the narrative that menopause has to be difficult or traumatic for all. If you feel OK (and you probably will), then don't medicalise something that is a completely normal part of life. Just enjoy being free of periods!

No problems/symptoms at all apart from the odd achy joint here and there.

It's not the same for everyone and the recent hoo haa over things in the news recently are massively overstated by the experiences of myself and every single woman I know.

I would have agreed until very recently but at 52 the joint pains , hot flushes and exhaustion have suddenly hit me like a brick - I’m post menopause officially as no period for over 18 months and thought it was easy til now

My periods stopped. That was it. Literally nothing else happened to me.

I’ve post meno.

I have had no memory/mental issues whatsoever.

Physically, it’s destroying me! So many conditions have menopause as an aggravating factor. If you Google such a condition, there will be pages and pages saying that it’s common in menopausal women etc - but often an NHS page on the condition won’t even mention menopause. There is far more to it than the headline symptoms. Ostrogen is all over the body so when it reduces, it fucks a lot of stuff up.

The only problem I had were huge flooding periods for about a year. Never having ever had a heavy period in my life it was a bit of a shock. Controlled with HRT as they stopped just after my 51st birthday I was fine.Stopped HRT as gave me migraines. I thought hot flushes were quite funny but we were living in the Middle East with constant air conditioning at the time so that probably minimised them. Had no other problems at all.

My mum sailed through it. Never had any problems, never needed HRT. She genuinely can't understand what all the fuss is about.
I'm perimenopausal and definitely have symptoms but so far they've been manageable.

Sailed through it!

I was chatting with my older sister the other day and mentioned my struggle with menopause symptoms,
I said: You know, the usual ..
She said : Nope, I’ve just sailed through it.
Not only me but even my DH who heard our conversation nearly fall down the chair.
When my sister was around my age she regularly was in bed with severe headaches at 9 pm.
She was complaining to me that when she’s even a tiny bit emotional her face and décolleté became bright red. She was dreading serious work meetings or public speaking for this reason.
She was always in vest and shorts at home commenting how other people were always cold (me) when it’s so warm.
And the emotions…. The emotions were running so high!!! She was very difficult to talk to. She was arguing with her partner a lot. We all felt like walking on eggshells around her. Fair enough, she wasn’t crying like me but she was shouting.
Yes, she hasn’t got problems with periods until the very end and she hasn’t got hair loss like me but was she sailing through ? Far from it.

She attributed all of these to other stresses which were there all right: she was promoted and started very intense high profile job around that time and was moving house. The new house was fixer upper so there were a lot of work around it as well. However she had loving supportive partner, was in good health, got very high salary, her son was out of uni with a good job, our parents were still in good health too and were helping her practically and financially. So the burden wasn’t really so huge.
Now she’s got the same job (which is even more stressful it’s just different stresses) she’s got health problems herself and our parents as well, our Dad had cancer etc etc However she is now much more calm, reasonable and understanding person and doesn’t argue with her partner anymore. She is 5 years into menopause.

So my advice when someone says that they’ve sailed through - ask their loved ones who were around. They might have a different story to tell 🙂

I'm 3 years post and absolutely fine. I do have some symptoms though (not as good sleep as before, IBS symptoms worse, achy joints)

No HRT.

I had a friend who would tilt her head at my symptoms - say she was fine and ask if I'd tried herbal supplements.

I had incredible anxiety, night sweats where I'd wake up thinking I was in a swimming pool, The Rage, nearly killed my husband a few times, flooding, insomnia, headaches....HRT really helped.

I was quietly pleased when a couple of years later she turned up to ask me how the hell you get HRT.

Anyway, some women are fine, some are not.

I’m 55 and had no symptoms other than insomnia which I had anyway.

My younger sister is having a miserable time. Mum was fine.

Make of that what you will.

My best friend didn’t even notice, me I’m a wreck.

My periods became a real nuisance during perimenopause, irregular and sometimes heavy, sometimes not. I had a few hot flushes, but they weren't extreme. I got off pretty lightly. My memory is way worse than it was, but that may be partly due to lack of stimulation - for the past seven years I had no job and was home as my mother's carer. (That or what I call retirement village brain - move into one and your brain turns to sludge!)

Absolutely fine for me. A few aches and pains, a few hot flushes (which I loved, kept me warm throughout a winter), and my periods stopped.

It really was a doddle and I am very thankful.

I'm on HRT, have been for many years and I'm completely fine. My main symptom was anxiety and that's sorted now other than for normal life stuff, which is not down to menopause. I sleep well and my temper is only as uneven as it ever was, not any worse. I thoroughly recommend it!

My mum thought she 'sailed through it' until my sister and I hit it. Now, she's not so sure.

Most women I know are suffering in some way to some extent. Personally, I wish to God I could hit fast forward to when it's over.

I'm also glad there's so much 'hoohah' about the subject right now, because when my own daughters reach that stage of life things might just be that bit easier for them.

Mine was ok. Peri was a bit tricky, depressed and started having migraines but that could also have been my situation at the time. I think might have had 1 hot flush. Didn’t have HRT, as I didn’t want more hormones - had 2 lots of IUI, and 3lots of IVF in the past, all unsuccessful. I think my comparatively easy menopause was the Universe’s way of compensating me for for having a reproductive system that didn’t work in the way I’d hoped.

Whatever the reason, it was fine.

I am one of the lucky ones. I had my last period around age 44 but from age 42 they were very irregular and spread out. The only symptoms I had were slight tetchiness and loss of libido. I did take hrt for about 6 months to try and improve the libido but generally speaking I really did not suffer at all. My sister on the other hand is going through hell. She's struggling with brain fog, mood swings, depression and her doctor can't seem to get her hrt to work effectively. Both she and my mum have/had terrible hot flushes and night sweats. My mum who is 80 still takes hrt because when she stops her hot flushes return. I feel very fortunate for the menopause I've had.

Like someone up thread I had a Mirena coil and honestly didn't notice that I was through menopause - the very occasional warm flush but that's it.

I've been absolutely fine but if I fuck up at work at any point I'll probably blame menopausal brain fog though. Definitely not as mentally speedy as I once was but its a minor thing.