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.

we get free prescriptions in Scotland (i think hrt included) no idea how much long term but i think consultations are £250ish just to see a specialist so altgough a lot i’m in a position to make the choice but i’m going to see what new gp says then look into boots etc first. I believe i’m fully perimenopausal (had some symptoms a while but past 6 months they’ve ramped up and increased) even if my old gp didn’t but they weren’t great in general

Yes could be due to serotonin changes when oestrogen declines/swings.

Our GP surgery is shocking, so difficult to get an appointment and never see the same gp twice its always a locum so starting again explaining everything each time you go. I'd love a regular gp you could build up a good relationship with. They also always seem very disinterested and can't wait to get you out of the door. And that's not attending with my own issues but with my elderly parent who has dementia and cancer.
prescriptions can be very expensive in England if you are on a low income and do not qualify for any help.

I started crashing at 46/47 - insomnia, brain fog, flooding. Never had a hot flush but my brain just collapsed - zero concentration, really struggled at work. Got HRT (patches) from my sympathetic GP, but nothing really improved. Then got diagnosed with ADHD (menopause makes symptoms worse and, in my case, unmanageable). Went on ADHD meds and immediately improved. Did those meds with HRT patches for a while, then had breakthrough bleeding after periods had stopped for a year. Investigations suggested estrogen was thickening my womb lining, so the hospital consultant advised me to stop HRT. Stopped it and had no menopause symptoms - I think I was through the worst by then. Now 55 and feel fine - knackered, but fine!

Your doctor is being ridiculous. The average age for progesterone to start dropping is 35?
And aside from that have they never heard of early menopause - not saying that that's your situation, but I was post-menopausal by 38, what would your doctor have said to me?
And if they believe your symptoms aren't due to dropping hormones what is their diagnosis and treatment plan then?

The pill is synthetic whereas HRT oestrogen is topical and body identical and utrogeston is body identical and they are taken separately so no clot or cancer risks. Obviously some women need contraception while in peri so prefer to kill 2 birds with one stone but otherwise most would choose HRT over the pill to treat menopause symptoms

Thanks! That a bit better explains why i’m not on the pill. Gp “disgnosis” was i am
over anxious / neurotic basically and said it was made worse by not sleeping. Patronisingly suggested a “bedtime routine” but added having children would increase my tiredness so i might not be able to do it every night! He then said if my “anxiety” couldn’t settle i should speak to a mental health professional but i’d have to self refer.

my GP sounds like yours & i waited 3 weeks for the appointment. 1 male, 1 female and 2 changing locums and you normally have to take whoever is free when it’s an on the day appointment and usually don’t find out until you get there who you have. I pre booked the female and got the male which made it worse. I waited 2 weeks and rebooked making it clear with the manager i only wanted the female one. Saw female one and she agreed with him. Said i was too young & it was more or less my own fault for not going back on the pill after i had children so suggested the implant which i’m not keen on. She did agree to bloods when pushed but only for thyroid etc not hormonal. Gave me iron tablets (have had them about 4 times in past 10 years) they slightly helped with the feeling of exhaustion but it’s a standard starting dose and 4 months on them they not touching the sides so maybe it was a placebo affect initially.
She offered diet advice (i’m not over weight & she was bigger than me!) & said to exercise (i already go to the gym, weight train etc) she wasn’t much better than him.

i’ve moved gp now as moved house - only one practice near here taking people on & from what i’ve heard it’s not the best so i’m not too hopeful but be middle of July at least before i can get an appointment as i need to allow 4 weeks for the (electronic!) transfer of records and being registered - hence now looking into private options.

i pointed out (when i went back to female gp) that women in their 30s can start symptoms and i was told it was “very unusual” and as i don’t have a family history of it it wouldn’t be that!

No idea what i did with the quote there as i am clearly still asleep! It was in response to @MILLYmo0se posts.

Oh for goodness sake! No one in my family that I'm aware of has had premature ovarian failure like me, my mam was still having periods in her 50s when she had to go on Tamoxifen for breast cancer so instant menopause and my sisters cycle is still regular at 45.
Funny enough, it's was a female gp that totally dismissed me (now POI wasnt my mind at the time, I just mentioned my periods had only returned 12 months after I gave birth and only bi-monthly). 'well you ve had 1 child, no reason you can't have another'..... I wasn't planning another child!
When I later mentioned it to a male locum the response couldn't have been more different, sent for bloods etc

I've tried different doses and regimes. Started on oestrogen 75 and utrogestan 200 for half the month. Pretty standard. In the last year I actually started feeling like estrogen was too high and started cutting my patches in half to test. I think it is slightly less awful but it's still very awful.

Last year I tried going continuous for a couple of months but bled continuously. I may try again.

I also tried taking the progesterone via patches but I felt even worse.

Nothing really seems to help. I feel like my only real hope is that my own hormones will stop fluctuating at some point. I hope to god that it's soon.

The worst symptom by far is mood - I feel like I have very intense PMT, almost all the time. I also have terrible sleep, which is both cause and effect of the terrible mood.

In the last year I've also had an upswing in joint pain and sweats. These wouldn't bother me so much, but they affect my sleep which makes the mood issues even worse.

Never has any perimenopausal symptoms and the actual
menopause was a damp squib as the only discomfort I had was one week where I woke up in the night each night feeling hot when it wasn’t actually that hot.

I took some Menopace that was supposed to help with hot flushes and that was it, I never woke up feeling hot for no reason again.

The menopause isn’t something to be dreaded as the media would have you believe and you only heard the ‘hortor’ stories, many of us have little to no problems at all.

The menopause isn’t something to be dreaded as the media would have you believe and you only heard the ‘horror’ stories, many of us have little to no problems at all.

I wanted to highlight this to add some balance.

Lots of women really struggle with menopause, but lots of women don't.

To give hope to those of you who are struggling. It really does get better once you are out the other side.

Absolutely, about 25% of women have no symptoms bar periods ending. I would caution against telling women it ll all definitly get better post menopause though, no one knows how much better or worse it will get unfortunately And even if you don't feel symptoms osteoporosis is a silent symptom that will only be seen on a dexa scan up til fractures start

My sister (who is 10 years older and ahead of me on the meno journey) has sailed through with relatively mild symptoms, she's also fit and runs regularly. She didn't realise she had osteoporosis until she got cracked ribs one fairground ride. Unlucky, but fortunate that she found out and has been able to treat it before it gets to the broken hip stage.

@theblackradiator NHS HRT costs no note than £19.80 per year.

from NHS website: If you pay for NHS prescribed HRT medicine 3 or more times in 12 months, an HRT PPC could save you money.
Each item on an NHS prescription usually costs £9.90. You can buy an HRT PPC for a one-off payment of £19.80 (the cost of two single items).
The HRT PPC covers an unlimited number of certain HRT medicines for 12 months, regardless of why they are prescribed.

oh right thanks for that info ive no idea on charges. ive been luckily enough to not need any prescriptions for years and tbh when I have been unwell ive not bothered going to gp because of the battle to get an appointment!