To ask: at what age did your peri/menopause symptoms peak?

[PeriPeriQ]

Asking here for a larger sample.

Those of you who are now post-menopausal:
At what age were your symptoms at their worst? Or did they never peak, and just kept worsening forever...

I'm praying that they improve at some point, but I also just want to know the truth.

47 now. This is hell.

Forcing myself to say thanks to all the posters saying their symptoms peaked in their 50s because I did ask people to be honest but omg surely this can't carry on getting worse for five or even ten more years. How does anyone survive? 😩

Mortified too. It's a long road ahead.

I've started early. Began around 35/36 - now late 30s and feel like my 12yr old hormonal new to menarche self 🫩. Sooo hormonal and irrational 😬 + night sweats, abdominal weight gain (I'm pear shaped) zero sex drive. Dryness. Periods that are either flooding or barely there. Awful PMT (not had it this bad since teenage years ) you're telling me I've got 15 years of this ? 😱

@PeriPeriQ Can I ask what your symptoms currently are op? are you having the hot flushes yet?
Many symptoms have come as a huge, unexpected shock to me. whenever I remember menopause being spoken about years ago only hot flushes and heavier periods were mentioned. No one ever spoken about the many other symptoms such as clitoral and vaginal atrophy, which can be really distressing. Even achey joints, anxiety brain fog, bleeding gums were never spoken about until recent years.

Anyone who's having trouble getting an appointment with their GP, go to Boots or Superdrug online doctor.

Boots and superdrug online doctor prescriptions will be unaffordable for many.

Between the ages of 47 and 50.
Hot flushes, but they weren't too bad, and really bad hormonal headaches.

My periods stopped at 50 and the headaches went away.

No HRT

At 66 my hair has thinned a lot and arthritis is beginning to make an appearance and I am a size larger than I have been for most of my adult life.

I think I got off very lightly.

Well yes but many of our symptoms peaked in our 50's because they also started and finished in our 50's.
I never had a symptom until that missed period at 54 then 3 months later 6 months worth of hot flushes and it was all over.

I'm 39 and you've just described me!

All just in the past year and the bloating & weight gain, bloody hell.
I said to my sisters (both late 40s) I must be peri menopausal... they laughed and said maybe peri peri 😅

I have a friend, also 39, who feels the same.
I think it's just the start of things to come.

I understand that, it's not a long-term sustainable option. But when it came down to keeping my job (and not having a breakdown) and getting the medication I needed, it was a bloody relief to find there was a way to get hrt quickly. It good to be aware of our options.

My GPs wait for an appointment is currently 4 weeks or more. There's also women out there being told they don't need hrt when they clearly do. I paid £50 to get 3 months worth, it was worth every penny of my beer money (which I can't drink rn anyway) to get it.

yes long wait for appointments at my GP surgery too. ive been twice and been fobbed off and offered no help other than antidepressants for the anxiety. They no longer do bloody tests at my GP for peri as its not reliable as hormone levels are up & down anyway. ive felt really fobbed off and like the attitude is to just get on with it.
I really wish each GP surgery had a menopause specialist who was understanding, sympathetic and would take us seriously.

the first I was aware if being menopausal was at 46 (8 years ago) when my periods stopped. They hadn’t changed at all I just had one in the April and never had another. The symptoms largely hot flushes, night sweats and anxiety were manageable until last summer when they ramped up massively and I started HRT. The hot flushes and night sweats are 90% better but the anxiety is still very high!

perimenopause can start mid to late 30s so you could be. Consultant at hospital said it’s more common than you think and we’re led to believe it’s always older. I have twins so potentially release 2 eggs as well so with that and starting my periods young she said that could be why and they are meant to go on symptoms not age.

most people i know started symptoms being 43 and 48 but some of them didn’t start their periods until 15.

I'm 53, and have mild versions of most of the symptoms listed by pp.

I've been on HRT since 48, and imagine it's capped me out?

My periods have started to flood which is a pain.

But I wouldn't describe menopause as anything apart from a mild irritant.

Thats like mine and fobbed off more so because i’m “young” but it’s meant to be based on symptoms. I have looked and will privately if i get no where because i’m not doing 5 more years of this, potentially getting worse just to be “considered” for hrt - not everyone has that option though & i think it’s shocking in this day and age that there is such a bad attitude towards women and peri menopause symptoms.

I’m 52. Started HRT at 49, and I don’t know if it’s really helped, but I am too scared to stop it now.

I feel like I am falling apart a lot of the time. I have the coil and gel so don’t have a period often. I have gone up a dress size - from a 10 to a 12 - and my shape has shifted so I now have a tummy which I never did before. My anxiety is wild, I have very low tolerance for everything, but the HRT did definitely stop the night sweats and thank god I never got to daytime flushes.

I am 45 in two weeks my symptoms have worsened despite being in hrt for a year. Absolutely knackered vaginal atrophy uti symptoms crippling anxiety. Crap sleep. Hirmonal headaches. Irritating bleeds. Trembling and shaking. I also just have a healthy tsh level for thyroid which I am sure isn't helping but gp says in normal range. Low folate ferritin.

Its utter crap and I can't wait for to it bloody end.

No one talks about GSM or vsginal atrophy and how debilitating and mental destroying it is. Its sheer gell.

I am jealous of women that sail through I really am.

I'm 47 and started to get symptoms at 43. Tremors, extreme fatigue, brain fog, no libido, the whole shebang but the absolute worst symptom was anxiety. Completely debilitating. Went on HRT aged 45 and while it's definitely helped I'm certainly not feeling in any way "great". I notice new symptoms all the time and that's while being on an already high dose of HRT. I don't want to think what I'd be like without it.

What about taking the contraceptive pill instead? Mini pill gives you progesterone, combined gives you oestrogen as well, which is what you would get in HRT. I ask as I'm 43 and started taking the pill because of what I thought were really severe pms symptoms that had developed after my second child (depression, anxiety, rage, weeping and fatigue) and the pill stopped it all. I'm now on the hormonal coil for the same reason, and the doctor said there would be no way of knowing if you had gone into perimenopause while it's in or while taking the pill, as you don't get regular periods if at all, and you wouldn't get the symptoms. Seems to me HRT and hormonal birth control do similar things, and anyone can get birth control for free.

45-48 (thought I was going mad) then got HRT.

I'm the person people hate but my periods stopped at 41 and I've never had any more issues.

Oh I did go to my GP and they gave me a blood test and said it was the menopause.

Doctor offered the implant (don’t want it) and then the pill but when i was on it years ago my periods were all over the place as where my moods & i gained loads of weight. Ended up coming off it when i got married and have had no desire / need to go back on it. It is an option i’ve looked at but if i’m messing about with hormones i’d rather have proper hrt. My friend went private at 46 after being on hrt via her gp for a year and getting no where. Seems she was given a generic dose & just had a nicer, more “tailored” experience. Doesn’t mean i would but it’d def swaying me towards paying now - not that we should have to feel thats the only option!

What doses are you taking?

how much is an NHS prescription for hrt likely to be if we pay for our prescriptions. I think its around £10 per item now isn't it but how often do hrt scripts last? is it monthly?
maybe worth weighing up the costs difference and private may not actually be much more expensive.

Peaked for me at 52 ish. Started at 48 I think. Nearly done a year without a period after 2 weeks on 2 weeks off for years and I fell so much better. Horrendous anxiety has ended and finally I feel like myself again. I've not had HRT - just gone with it and I think got through! I must have been really anemic due to blood loss for a good part but it was mostly in lockdown when it started so I put up with it.