Is it possible to be 43 and NOT be perimenopausal

[Improbablywrong]

I don’t have any symptoms except that I feel more agitation around my period. Always been like that actually but just a little worse, although we do have other stresses.

Not a single other symptom. My periods are regular as clockwork and have not changed in anyway. I had a blood test done recently and all came back normal.

And yet every single friend I have (same age as me) is talking about perimenopause as if it’s 100% definitely that we are all in it and it is to blame for everything. Bad day at work? Perimenopause. Did a big fart? Perimenopause. Itchy armpit? Perimenopause.

I can’t relate and I find it kind of catastrophising very normal things. When the real symptoms come, how will they feel then? When I say oh no, I don’t think it’s perimenopause as I don’t have symptoms, they’ll list all these things that I don’t think are symptoms.

so, is it possible to actually NOT be perimenopausal as soon as you hit 40?

I know the facts. I am not perimenopausal however much everyone wants me to be. However much everyone wants every woman to be.

I can empathise OP. All this stuff about symptoms starting ten years before menopause is a bit annoying and limiting sometimes. Women have been trying for years to stop people blaming our genuine emotions on hormones and now it seems we want this to happen?

When my hair started falling out, everyone said peri. I said in my family menopause late 50s so unlikely.
Then i had blood tests, v low iron and b12. Everyone said peri causing heavy periods.
Then I said I don't have heavy periods, more likely it's because I'm vegan and not been taking supplements.
Then they said peri stops stomach from absorbing vitamins.
WTF can you do

It’s so easy to say - perimenopause instead of addressing what’s really happening.

I'm 42 and I don't think I have any symptoms yet. My periods are horrendous but they have been since I was 12 and got worse with every pregnancy so that's nothing new. I've got less patience with my mil and sil since I turned 40 but I think that's because I realised that I was now too old to be insulted by them anymore and I was no longer going to be bossed around. I don't know when my family members went through the menopause but my granny was still having babies at the age I am now.

My periods stopped when I was 56. I have no idea if or when I was "perimenopausal" but I felt absolutely fine at 43. Just get on with life, OP, and don't go looking for issues that may not be there.

I knew I was perimenopausal when my ADHD meds stopped being effective in clearing the brain fog. Usually, I'd take them and be productive and energised within 15 minutes.

I understand what you're saying OP, but I do think a lot of women experience the start of perimenopause in their 40's. It can be hard to differentiate sometimes. For some, they feel OK, and others it can be debilitating. I wouldn't have known had I not used meds for ADHD. I still have regular periods .

I'm 54 and still having periods. Not as regular as clockwork but not massively spaced-out either. TBH, I'm sick of them and would quite happily just like it to sod off forever.

And the facts - a lot of women know the facts. Which is why every dry mouth/warm day/falling out/too many coffees that day is put down as a symptom and everyone is adamant they have it and so must I - but just not know it.

I think you need better friends and a better husband! My husband wouldn’t dream of saying this and none of my friends have even mentioned perimenopause. We are all early 40s and a few are pregnant/trying for a baby.

This, I completely agree with!

Bang on what Im saying x

I had my second child at 44...

I’m only 36 and people are starting to sling this at me already.

I think the problem is that there are absolutely load of symptoms of peri and menopause and most of them are weird and obscure. You might not even register something as being related.

It's good that women your age are talking about it now. Frankly, it's been ignored and brushed under the carpet and many women suffer in silence and complete ignorance.

It's really the new hot topic for women our age. The swing has gone too far from being completely overlooked to being blamed for absolutely everything.
Agree with this. I'm 45, no symptoms yet. Oldest friend is same age and loads of her friends where she lives, some of them 5 years younger, are paying a private clinic for blood tests and all sorts and different drugs.

Both of us entirely open to HRT if the need arises but baffled by the assumption every woman needs it and that the next few years are guaranteed to be a dreadful time with a huge list of symptoms. Might happen, might not.

I'm not really sure what it is. I'm 52. My periods just stopped a few months ago. Stopped flat. No symptoms of anything before, during or since.
Well, I felt anxious a bit a year ago but I have put that down to family situation which would naturally cause those feelings. That's has gone.
Not everyone has to have symptoms. Don't get sucked in

I’m not sure I’ve ever been it? I had normal periods and no agitations or anything right up until I had a full hysterectomy at age 50. Periods obviously stopped after that but other than the occasional feeling a bit warm when others aren’t I haven’t felt any different. It always makes me feel a bit ignorant but I don’t really know what it’s meant to feel like or if I’ve ever had it.

I'm 52 and no symptoms here.
No idea if anything is stopping period wise as I have a mirena coil fitted so haven't had a period for years anyway.

I didn't get start getting symptoms until about 46, didn't recognise the very, very slow build of worsening hormonal emotional rollercoaster as meno until a good year later. Been on HRT since the beginning of the year at 48.

Absolute rubbish.

I am 43 and not perimenopausal. I would go crazy if people around me were constantly blaming perimenopause for everything.

You might not even register something as being related

Im so tired of hearing this though, however well meaning. I’m very aware of my own body and feelings. How is everyone else so adamant that woman just don’t know what they are feeling, and need telling:

Its a hot topic amongst my female friends too and I’m usually one of the younger ones in early 40s so I just listen, can’t relate, but maybe I will. I feel no different to my 20s.

I don’t have any older blood related female relatives who lived long enough to get to menopause, so to me, menopause seems the better side of the deal.

Exactly. If I had any of the symptoms on the very exhaustive lists, I’d think yes perhaps. But I don’t.

I know what it is and I still don’t have it. It’s very undermining to be told your feelings are being caused by hormones but bless her, she has it and she’s just uneducated on what the symptoms are.

45 and apart from my cycle being all over the place (always has been) no other symptoms. My Gran and my mum didn’t reach menopause until 55ish. I assume i
might be similar.