How do I know if I'm peri menopausal

[Boredsillyathome]

I think I've probably started the peri menopause. I'm 45 and for a while had anxiety mainly in the morning, issues with my weight as in impossible to loose it, memory has been awful and more recently mood swings feeling so irrationally upset about stuff! I'm on the pill and haven't had a period for years, so I don't know if I'm still having periods or not. How can I find out if I'm peri?

You will have more symptoms possibly, like flushes and sweats as well as mood swings and weight gain.

You will only know about periods if you stop taking the pill.

@JinglingHellsBells I’ve definitely gained weight and not been able to loose it like I used to, I get hot but wouldn’t say it was hot flushes. Would it make sense to go the doctor?

What do you hope to achieve by seeing a doctor?

They can't prove anything unless you stop the pill , blood tests aren't used now anyway for women over 45 and also on hormonal contraception.

The only reason to see a dr is if you want to swap your pill for hrt.

I don't know really just some advice really as this is all new to me, I didn't know if the doctor would be able to tell me if I had started it or not.

You’re a similar age to when I started mine. The gp wasn’t really interested. Said there were blood tests but not much point as it made no odds to anything. I could go on the mini pill, coil or I could consider hrt if I was having symptoms that were debilitating. I could not have the combined pill due to my age and being overweight.

I went for private acupuncture instead which regulated my periods and made them lighter. I felt a lot better after that. My purse was lighter at £50 a session but it was well worth it as I felt much better than I had. She treats all my Peri and non peri symptoms from forgetfulness to Tinnitus.

I’d suggest you are peri first sure and that if you don’t have any serious issues that’s great.

I was very emotional and my GP referred to a counsellor within the surgery, who was very helpful. It was only for 6 months then it passed. I had no other symptoms peri or post menopause, my sisters on th either hand had hot flushes for a number of years.
I was lucky.

I am 45 and had anxiety, bad headaches, ridiculously heavy periods . My GP did a hormone test but said they are very unreliable, it came back normal but she stressed that this was often the case. We discussed HRT but as I did not have hot flushes or sweats she thought the mini pill would be a good option to control the heavy bleeding. It works for some But not everyone. I am lucky, the first three months my periods became very light,such a relief! Then they stopped for 10 months and then I had a light period about two months ago and nothing since. I still have anxiety and mood swings as the mini pill won’t help those but the heavy periods were debilitating so really glad to have sorted them for the time being. We discussed HRT as the next step further down the line but but yet.

Anxiety is horrible I wake up with it and gradually goes by mid morning, I've started taking calms which really helps. Like I said I'm on the pill Cerazette as I previously had painful period so really no idea where I am with them. Don't know if this is menopause related but I can't drink as much as I used to makes me so ill the next day especially wine - maybe that's an age thing!

I'm nearly 51 and last year I asked my GP during a visit about something else if I was likely to be going through the menopause. She said it was quite likely but there wasn't anything to be concerned about. Since then I have stopped reading about symptoms because I don't think I have any (apart from a few pounds weight gain, but I have been eating more). But I do suffer from psychosomatic symptoms of most things so I would probably start feeling them pretty quickly. I've never been on the Pill, have regular periods which are heavier than they used to be. That's it really.