To think perimenopause is an overused buzzword?

[Furning]

My friends and I are mid to late 30s. A lot of them are now claiming they’re perimenopausal, and if I mention I’m hot, or I've forgot something, or cant concentrate, they rush to tell me it’ll be perimenopause.

If they are struggling to lose weight, or forget what they’re saying, or anything at all negative happens, it’s because they’re perimenopausal.

I know some women might be in their 30s, but surely not most? Why is everyone suddenly obsessed with it?

I don't think things have changed,
just the language. I remember women talking about "going through the change" in the 80s and 90s. We just use the correct terminology now. Maybe people do talk about it at a younger age, but the average age of menarche is now lower, so it works make sense that menopause happens earlier too.
I've been having symptoms for years, it's exhausting and dragging on and on. Night sweats that disgust me, cycles that last anything from 16 days - 3 months, hot flashes, lost words.

But yeah, perhaps we should go back to either but mentioning it, or speaking in hushed euphemisms.

For six weeks off she would need a fit note, so she's not claiming anything, a doctor has given their medical opinion.

And just because you think you know everything, doesnt mean you do. So maybe sometimes it actually is!

If female fertility begins to decline around 30, and drops sharply off a cliff around 35, what's the difficulty in accepting that symptoms of declining hormones happen at the same time as the hormones themselves declining?

Or is it that because the NHS website says it's not until you open the cards on your 45th birthday you're experiencing symptons of perimenopause.

Maybe sometimes. Not everytime without fail

<cackles>

Lets hope this post didn’t come back to bite you in your own hot sweaty peri arse in the a few years time OP

Good news it doesn't.

bbc:Women's fertility is more complicated than you might have heard

The original 35 cut off date seem to have come from 18 century french parish records and assumes women wouldn't be trying to avoid pg at that age. Though as article says there also some 1970s work round amniocentesis and age 35 which is also now very out of date.

While is very individualistic most ferltity drops are round 40 - and rapid thereafter.

So you are a decade to early - as likely are most of OP freinds with perimenpause with one or two possible exceptions.

I think sometimes people just wont listen no matter how many people tell them. Its genuinely a waste of energy talking to people like that so I usually dont bother and shouldn't have wasted energy this time. I will know better for future.

I dont think anyone at all has said otherwise! I dont think one person on this thread has said every time at all so I dont understand your point.

Your response was literally to my post using the word sometimes, so its bizarre you even responded saying that.

I had an Oestrogen level of 54pmol/l with regular periods, i did have hot flushes and night sweats though. My Oestrogen was so low that endocrinologist had to rule out other causes. But in the end it was JUST perimenopause.

You can definitely have regular periods and very low oestrogen!

But not everyone experiences it the same way! That’s obvious, surely!

But the OP says her friends use peri for virtually every symptom. When in reality it might be appropriate in 10% of times

Exactly. Sometimes. Not every time. We agree.

How hard can this possibly be to understand?

The facts are: average age of menopause is 51. That means some women will be younger than that and some women will be older. Perimenopause can kick in for the 7-10 years before that. So it’s not unreasonable for someone who is destined to go through the menopause at 47 having symptoms in her late 30s.

Isn’t it a good thing that we finally have this knowledge and we are talking about it?

Hot flushes are apparently the final stage of perimenopause. I had a private consultation with a very knowledgeable menopause doctor and she talked me through the 3 stages of perimenopause. Unfortunately I only got help right at the end at the age of 48 after suffering for years. I didn’t sleep for 5 years!!! A bit of progesterone would have (and did) sort that out immediately.

Just educate yourself and be supportive of your friends. They may be perimenopausal they may not be. But let’s not go back 10 years..

I agree op, it’s the latest must have 😂. But look around, it’s a money maker for business so I’m not surprised more businesses and influencers are jumping on the bandwagon. It’s become trendy now but I cringe witnessing the way the word is thrown around these days, takes away from those that are genuinely affected. With the majority of women having children in their 30s, I feel it’s not helping them to be made feel time is running out because they might be perimenopausal. Most aren’t!! There’s only a very small percentage of women affected by peri in their 30s.

But 80% of women ARE 'genuinely' effected by symptoms of perimenopause. I'm very firmly at the severe end of the symptoms range, but i can still empathise with women juggling work, kids and mild to moderate symptoms, they are allowed to talk/ whinge about it too.

30s is a huge range. Early 30s - probably not. Late 30s- perfectly reasonable that some women are entering the first stage (and there are three) of perimenopause. That first stage doesn’t include the hot flushes- they tend to be the last stage and many women don’t get them but they do get other symptoms.

I agree with you, I know many women are severely affected. It has become a buzzword though with younger women. I don’t believe they are ALL in peri!

thats fair, I just don’t think as many 30s women are affected as keep blaming everything on it.

Your information is outdated

Because now women in their 30s will just be written off as mad except now there’s a scientific reason why they’re crazy and mad and weak and unreliable called ‘perimenopause’! Hurrah!

I don't think that assumption is backed up by anyone's experiences with doctors though. No-one is rushing to diagnose perimenopause. GPs barely get any menopause training for it to be high on their list of obvious answers. In many cases the opposite is true and women with a long list of classic symptoms are being told that they aren't in peri yet.
No-one wants to see people misdiagnosed because depression, PCOS etc was assumed to be peri but the opposite is just as true and peri being dismissed as something else is just as problematic.

Women are still having to fight for HRT at all ages and there’s so much misinformation out there that numbers on HRT dropped hugely after the flawed Women’s Health Initiative study and haven’t recovered.

Many doctors don’t have a clue. They do about an hour of training on the menopause- shocking!

i personally should have gone on HRT many years before i finally got it.

Education and knowledge here is key. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing that women in their late 30s are aware that perimenopause is something that can happen from that age onwards.

Women are given antidepressants, sleeping pills, they are having to give up their jobs, they are getting divorced… we need more awareness of the impact of dwindling hormones not less.

This isn’t about spending money on supplements but seeking medical help when symptoms start to have an impact on your life.