So don't be shy list your meno symptoms.....

[VivLevi]

Not just the well documented meno symptoms but the little things happening to you that you can only attribute to the peri/menopause years
So starting with the obvious....
Chronic early morning wakening up
The hot flushes
Bleeding gums
Hair thinning
What feel like period pains but no period ever appears
Aching back
Aching shoulders
Headaches that would rival any hangover
Constipation then loose stools the back to constipation
Dry mouth
Weird burning crawling sensations on skin
Really dry skin plus the odd crop of spots
Anxiety around stuff that would never normally bother you
Weight gain despite eating healthier than previously
Low tolerance to alcohol
Chin hair
Forgetting names and words mid sentence or using the wrong word
Despite being blonde sprouting some really thick black hair around my hairline.
Anything else?

With HRT
Ankle pain like you wouldn't believe
Dry straw like hair
Peeing a lot
Memory loss, I find my substitute words funny as hell
Weight the same but damn I can't lose any
Odd dry patches of skin
A zero fucks given attitude to anyone

Anyone wearing maternity pads to bed to cope with overnight?

Anyone else have separate bedrooms to snoring partners?

The anxiety is a bit of a downer really. Lo and behold anyone who parks on the yellow lines across my driveway!!!

I have found jogging has helped hugely, but the combo of anxiety and insomnia is constant.

The monster inside of me that threatens to let loose out of my mouth at least a few times every day!

The brief but horrible feeling of impending doom that comes just before a hot flush is by far the worst thing I get. Like a massive wave of extreme anxiety.

Two years since I had a period now and no sign of this symptom disappearing. Yay.

All of the above.....plus I have developed an extremely sensitive nose so am now super sensitive to dust, perfume, certain drinks etc., I sneeze dozens of time a day. Due to the lining of my nose thinning apparently. Lovely.

My eyebrows have gone to shit
I’m growing a beard
Extreme exhaustion

pulsating tinnitus?

Or dr thinks maybe that is a result of my jogging and getting better blood circulation. It is really annoying and has been known to add to the insomnia.

Hot flushes (sorted by HRT)
Eating less but weighing more
Can't tolerate much alcohol
But am actually enjoying the irritability and increased stroppiness, I used to put up with things because I was too nice and polite to say anything, now I almost look forward to taking things back and making complaints about poor service etc - it's quite empowering!

I'm 45 nearly and suddenly very hot all the time .. bloody nightmare ! I've gained a stone in the last 6 months which is rubbish and mostly around my tummy which wasn't there before ! 😞

Yes weight gain around tummy, yes the flushes & feeling of dread just prior to them, I'll raise your beard with full beard & moustache combo! Disrupted sleep - and when I do get off, the weirdest most vivid disturbing dreams! Yes to separate rooms tho it's me who has started snoring (see weight gain!!) and dry as a bone both ends!!

I was fine until 54. Then bang.

Night sweats.
Weight gain.
Feeling down.
Memory gaps (especially forgetting words).
Joint and muscle aches and pains especially legs.
Frozen shoulder.
Itching.

HRT has helped (but my hair has gone wavy). I’m on my last patch though as can’t get them and starting tablets tomorrow.

Very painful breasts
Itchy dry skin on my body

I can cope with the physical symptoms but I'm getting quite fed up of the homicidal rage, interspersed with days when I can't stop crying. It's worse than being pregnant!

At least with being pregnant:
Only 9 months (let’s ignore the horrors of childbirth😂)
You get a lovely, squishy baby at the end

The menopause is just fucking horse shit.

Yes, all symptoms mentioned above. However, sadly, only recognised them for what they were with hindsight!

What is it with the shoulder pain? A lot of us seem to have it. Is it because we're carrying yet another bloody burden?

Oh and the waking up at 03:40 every flipping morning !!!

Joint pain in many joints of body.
Anxiety- if there's a molehill out there I'll make a mountain out of it.
Memory loss. Was watching the news the other day and they were talking about Thomas cook, went to talk to someone about it afterwards and had forgotten the name, said the er holiday company.
Weeing a lot .
Rage at times.

Top tip for the insomnia sufferers, the travel sickness/ anti histamine tablet Phenergan is licensed for occasional use as a sleep aid, I took one last night and slept nine hours! It doesn't always prevent waking for me but it seems to make me fall back to sleep much faster. You have to take it fairly early in the evening or you can feel groggy in the morning. I tend to use it to catch up if I've had a particularly bad run of waking. It's available over the counter.
I also nicked a couple of DHs low dose amitryptaline ( prescribed for nerve pain but actually an anti depressant) slept like a log but had very weird dreams, I'm not advocating using others prescription meds by the way, I now that's v naughty but it can be prescribed for insomnia, I may actually seek my own prescription if things don't improve.
For those who have dried up, I use Estriol cream, others use Vagifem, it's topical so doesn't carry the risks of systemic HRT, I am much more comfortable " down below", my urinary tract was beginning to get problematic but it's trouble free at the moment.

I am quite young for menopause but after 12 months without periods went to see my GP and was fobbed off with a chat with a practice nurse who essentially told me to read up on the internet and go back if I wanted HRT! No discussion about symptoms etc so reading this makes me feel much more normal- thank you.

Mine are:
-Always hot (like a pp, I had previously been constantly cold) and sometimes unbearably hot

• Crazy frizzy hair. Mine has always been neither straight or curly and a bit mad but in recent years I thought I had cracked keeping it sensible with straighteners. Now it is OK for about 5 minutes then insane again. The combination of this and the hot flushes makes me understand why in my mum's generation 'ladies of a certain age' seemed to all have short hair.
• Insane eyebrows to match the insane hair. Plucking/waxing doesn't help- the hairs are in an OK position but just really long. It feels weird trimming my eyebrow hair. I used to go to a salon to have them shaped but am too embarrassed to go now.
• Skin tags
• Occasionally very heavy feeling legs. Sometimes without warning it feels like a huge effort to keep my legs moving- even on a short walk that I usually do without any real effort.
• I fluctuate between a total inability to give a fuck what anyone else thinks of me and crippling self doubt where I worry that no one likes me and if I ever lost DH I would definitely die alone (without even having the comfort of cats due to allergies).
• Temporary inability to remember basic words. The DC think this is funny. It can be when we're at home but try being taken seriously in a work meeting when you can't find a key word.

I am also getting less and less able to cope with the noise of DH eating (and his eating habits in general). I assumed this was just because we have more time together now due to changes in work patterns but reading this it seems a common theme. Or is it perhaps that when men get older they lose the ability to eat like a normal human? (Although the DC's eating noises were annoying me last night so may be my grumpyness)

Ladies thank you for sharing these insights, I thought I was going mad with my angry outbursts and rage at silly things and being rather stroppy, and being very annoyed when people did not reply to messages/texts whatever immediately!

Skin tags, more and more.
Wake up at least 3 times at night with scary mad dreams
Needing the loo, as soon as I come through the front door even if I did not want to go 2 seconds before
Hot/cold all night cannot find a happy medium
Where on earth has this belly come from?
Go upstairs into a room, them come back down with nothing in my had than cannot remember why I went up there in the first place.
Forgetting words, and feeling like a fool and try and point at the item I am trying to remember the name of.
Cannot follow story lines of films as I drift off......
Pain in my elbows, what all that about
Hairs in places that hairs have never been before

Oh so needed to join this discussion. Think I am at the point of periods disappearing now and with it is a whole load of new symptoms that have caught me out.

I can be sitting and relaxing when I suddenly get this awful feeling come over me which feels physical and like I go all shaky inside and then I get a hot flush with it. No warning but makes me feel a bit weird and weak after. Can get this day and night.
Add to this palpitations, weight gain, nausea, spotting, and feeling like i don't feel like myself at the moment, oh and the anxiety can be awful at times too. What fun going through the change brings. NOT.

Just be aware that the perimenopause and menopause can both mask and mimic heart issues.

I was dismissed as peri-menopausal (palpitations, hot flushes, heavy legs, shoulder pain - if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...) but I was still having regular periods.

After about 6 months of these symptoms (thinking wooohooo- soon no more periods!!) I had a heart attack. I was 52.

Hot flushes with regular periods is a possible sign of heart problems as well as a possible symptom of perimenopause. So please get checked out...

Had my heart issues dealt with with medication - and now no more hot fushes... no more palpitations... no more heavy legs... no more shoulder pain... now 56 and still having effing periods though...

As most of the above, the rage (oh the rage), the chin hair, jelly belly, itchiness, sweats (that's all stopped with a wool duvet, a life saver), feeling like I was going to have a period and then not etc etc etc.

But the worse symptom ever for me was excruciating anxiety. It got so bad on a few occasions i could not leave the house. It went on for about a year before I put two and two together. It stopped instantly I went onto HRT. I openly tell anyone who will listen now in case they are suffering the same.

Oh! yes and skin tags, saw someone else mention those.. I got loads round my neck but they can be removed by a qualified beautician - I got mine removed and feel so much nicer about myself for it.