Perimenopause symptoms please list!

[mandmsmummy]

Hi
I've posted on here about possibly being perimenopausall. Could you list what your very early symptoms were please?
X

[Linskibinski]

Forgot to say I'm 44. SEE! I forget everything!

[snice]

incredibly heavy periods months apart
night waking/needing the loo
hot flushes
cant always think of the word I need when talking
brittle nails
general stiffness in back and legs
very snappy
feel cross a lot of the time

[thornrose]

Loxley my period can go on for 20 days and more! Also they are very heavy but oddly, no pain!

The gaps between periods are getting longer for me. About 6 months now I think. I am 47 though.

[AdoraBell]

The first period I had that differed from the norm was 3 weeks. That happened two years after the spots I mention occurring after the period instead of before.

Only had one of those, some lasting two weeks but mostly now it's a couple of days with longer gaps between.

[LoxleyBarrett]

I really can't cope if this carries on. I'm exhausted and up and down half the night to the toilet. I'm not entirely sure what the doctor can do though.

[FantaSea]

I find that my period is manageable for the first day, then really heavy for days 2 and 3 and then tails off to a light dribble that goes on for at least another week to 10 days. It is really a pain, and I go through loads of sanitary supplies.

[DayLillie]

Linskibinski - if you have Mirena, and are happy with it, you can have it replaced and keep on with it for the duration. You just need oestrogen patches later on, if you have problems. You need never know :D

[AMumInScotland]

Wow, you're really not cheering me up here...

So far, I've had palpitations for a few weeks but they've stopped again for now.
And now I am getting ratty/upset at things even when I know I'm not actually feeling that strongly about them IYSWIM. I can tell it's the hormones.
And getting more wakeful, with more vivid dreams.
Oh, and a couple of bouts of cystitis

Still on the Pill though, so no period symptoms. Since I'm only 47 I don't even want to think about stopping it and having to use other methods for a whole two years, so I'm planning to continue till I pass 50 then think about it

[DayLillie]

I was on the pill until I was 49, when I was suddenly taken off it during a pill check because I have a history of migraines. (I have always had migraines, and they know that, so I am not sure that another year would have made any difference. I was not even getting them...)

Over the previous 4 years, I was getting more withdrawal headaches during the 'off' week (prevented by drinking water regularly), breasts had got smaller in an ok way, skin was better, but drier, and I was having a bigger problem with urge incontinence during the off week.

Since coming off, I tried the pop, which was awful, then periods came back and got closer and closer. I had joint aches and loads of small niggly urogenital problems I am on hrt now which is giving me thrush and makes my joints ache more. And the condoms cause problems too

I so wish I had stayed on the pill for another year.

[mandmsmummy]

Does anyone else get nausea? This week I've had on and off headaches with nausea and face tingling. Been worried it's something awful but trying to persuade myself it's the peri x

[SeagullsAreLikeThat]

That's the problem, a lot of the symptoms could so easily be something else, can be hard not to worry. I made a list of symptoms and went to the GP but didn't tell her I thought it might be perimenopause and she didn't mention it at all, just made an appointment for generic blood tests. I mentioned it at the end so she added the hormone test in but obviously my symptoms hadn't immediately made her think perimenopause.

No nausea for me except for 3 weeks when I went back on the combined pill to try to sort out the erratic periods. 3 weeks was all I could take!

[Wandathewindfairy]

mandm I don't know if things are changing for me yet, for sure, but I have recently started to get very bad headaches when I have my period and nausea. I put it down, at first, to painting the woodwork with not much ventilation! but actually now think it is hormonal.

As well as the fact I am reduced to tears constantly despite actually being really happy, which also reduces me to tears. So much I fact it transpired last night that DH thought I was really unhappy because I keep crying. So I really think that I need to do something about it.

And my periods have gone extremely irregular over the last 6 months.

I was sterilised last year as hormonal contraception really doesn't agree with me, I had an awful time with the Mirena. The other plus, in my view, is that I know what ever is happening to me is not to do with any artificial hormones it is just me.

So either....I am peri menopausal or I am just crazy.

So my big question is does HRT;

• encourage weight gain in a similar way to the pill and the Mirena?
  
• reduce libido as above
  
• regulate periods or can it make you bleed all the time (this is one of the big problems I have with the pill and the Mirena)?
  
• anything else I should know about?
  

Has anyone tried homeopathy?

I shall go back to my rosé now.

[Greengrow]

I am 52 and not a single sign. I sometimes wonder if that is because I eat paleo and only drink water but who knows. Presumably menopause will happen at some stage for me.

[mandmsmummy]

Old bag...do you have to have blood tests at certain times of the month? X

[AdoraBell]

Can anyone tell me if the blood test has to be done at a specific time? Is it dependent on periods?

I'm lucky in that in Chile I can get any test done whenever I want, funds permitting, but I don't know when to do it iyswim.

[alemci]

I never know if and when my period will start which is a pain.

[fidelma]

You should have the blood test on day 3 of your cycle. However they are very unreliable as they ard only a snap shot in time. Some Drs don't bother with the blood test and just treat the symptoms.

[AdoraBell]

Thank you.

Will have a chat with my DR as cycle is currently as long as a piece of string.

[Muskey]

I experienced rage, crawling skin, joint pain, cotton wool head, anxious, palpitations, dizzy spells, feelings of utter dread and periods all over the place. Someone recently mentioned you can get spots as well looking forward to that

[FantaSea]

I have had spots over the last year which has come as rather a surprise. I am nearly 50 but my skin grows spots like I had when I was 15. Horrible isn't it?

[Chuffinghormones]

I seem to have all of the above, i always had vivid dreams when I was a child and as I grew up the became a lot less regular but now they are back, its killing me....I just want a good night sleep.
Also joint pain it comes and goes but is nearly always in left shoulder, elbow and wrist.
I do have brain fog, forgetfulness, anger and I get very teary