What age did you enter perimenopause?

[GreenLunchBox]

Just that really. Im 44 and feel fine at the moment. I didn't really know anything about the condition before and assumed at around 50 periods start to go a bit haywire, you might experience a few hot flushes then your periods hopefully stop (ha!). But now I know peri can go on for years, so can I please ask when did you enter it?

@WhereAreWeNow

Explain how you're feeling and let him know that you're seeking help and you want to change things and I'm sure he'll understand *@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango*. I would definitely tell the GP about night sweats, tearfulness and rage/irritability. They're all peri symptoms.

Thank you

@Northernsoullover

I'm 49. I've noticed my periods changing over the last two years. Still regular just heavier. I called my GP for HRT and found her remarkably helpful and was given HRT immediately. I didn't start it straight away. I guess I was in denial. Anyway this month 14 days after my last period what do I get? Another fucking full on period. I'm now on day 3 of my HRT. I feel weepy and short tempered too which I'm putting down to my fluctuating hormones. It wouldn't be the HRT so soon. My libido fucked off a year ago. I'm not actually bothered if it comes back.

Oh I wonder if you are me! I am also 49. I noticed my periods getting heavier when I was about 41 - mainly at night, I started needing to get up once (or twice) a night to change my protection which I hadn't needed to before. But my periods have remained regular except one time when I didn't have one for three months and the odd time (like now, when it has come again 10 days after the last period ended, grr).

I get hormonal headaches but they have lessened in recent months.

My periods also seemed to get slightly lighter earlier this year and I thought that was a good thing but now I am wondering if it was a side effect of the AZ covid vaccine and they are back to normal. At least they are only heavy for a day or two.

I've not noticed brain fog though I sometimes find it hard to recall a word I want and end up having to talk around it. For example I might want the word "recycle" and have to say something like "make old bottles into new ones".

I have thought I wouldn't get HRT on the basis that if it ain't broke don't fix it. But if I am going to start getting periods every 10 days...makes getting a smear test difficult!

@SunnyDay23

I’m 45 and unlike others my periods are getting longer, not shorter. I get 3 or so days of fairly heavy bleeding followed by stop start spotting for another week - they used to be exactly 5 days. Is this normal?

I get this too although mine were always 7/8 days long - now they can go on for nearly two weeks although it's minor spotting for a few days either side.

About 47 I think, hard to say as it kind of crept up on me!

47 here, started hrt 2 months ago.
Probably started a year before that which I put down to covid times and as I’m on mini pill with no periods was hard to gauge.
Had “the rage” all time, moods all over the place.Hot flushes in day and through night.Always needing loo in night too and appalling sleep.Dry skin, dry hair and loosing hair.
The aching joints and exhaustion too.

Thankfully slowly improving but the 2nd set of patches get me very Pmt like.

I feel like I’ve found a miracle cure for the aching joints though… 1000mg dose a day ( in two tablets ) of Green lipped mussel.
I had had my elderly dog on a veterinary version of this for his arthritis and he was like a new dog.So done some research and humans can take too.
Within 2 days the aching stopped completely!
If anyone wants to know brand etc I’ve tried pm me.
I take this alongside d-mannose to ward off urinary issues and vitamin d, magnesium( to balance and activate /covert the vit d) iron every other day.
Finally starting to feel bit more like old me.although I guess I’m now a walking supplement bottle

I lost some hair when I was about 43, then nothing really until 49. And at 50 I really knew, the rage is frightening !

Late thirties

However I have a friend who is 52 and not experienced any symptoms, still has periods (her mother didn't hit menopause until older than usual)

So it varies for every woman... But from my friendship group it seems to be from early 40s onwards for most

Worst symptoms are anxiety , irritability, low mood

It's hard to know as the symptoms are vague and can be variable, plus women view them differently. Some women ignore them as long as they are not affecting life too much where others want HRT at the first signs

I was 54! I then started with horrendously heavy periods, flooding, which lasted for 3 weeks at a time. I was under the hospital for 5 years, had scans, blood tests, various tablets, biopsies of my uterus (very painful). My periods stopped 3 years ago, at the age of 59 1/2.

45

36 bloods showed peri having gone to the go with anxiety, depression, brain fog and not coping at work - senior position and previously very capable.
This was followed by night sweats, poor sleep, itching, weight gain and joint pain.
38 when bloods confirmed menopause and HRT began.

I’m 36 and pretty sure I’m peri menopausal

My periods started to became erratic at 43, but now at 46 there has been quite an alarming acceleration of symptoms. Weight gain (was overweight already), hair loss, hot flushes, brain fog, aching joints so bad that I feel like how I thought it would feel like to be in your late 70s!

Went to see the GP but no HRT yet, he mentioned the increased risk of breast cancer, and we’re also exploring possible meds for depression / ADD.
Throw in the effects of the pandemic and a family bereavement and it’s hard to separate everything out.

Late 30s, with hindsight. Got a mirena f5un manageable periods at 40, oestrogen patches for dizziness and crushing exhaustion at 43. The patches are an absolute game changer, I was on my knees.

At almost 42 I feel things are suddenly changing, particularly when I’m due to have a period. Joint pain (particularly wrists), night sweats, mood swings. Unsure whether this is because my mirena is due to be changed in the next 6 months or just a decline in oestrogen.

I’m 46 and have (quite literally) just put my first ever hrt patch on.I am weirdly excited

I've just turned 50. Periods still regular as clockwork. They've been heavier over the past few years, but I suspect I have endometriosis. My sleep is a bit rubbish at times, but I've had no other signs of perimenopause so far. Seems I'm a bit late!

39, sure I have been in peri for around a year. Spoke to GP last week, listed symptoms and he said, "No, you still have periods so not menopause." So I said no, not menopause but perimenopause - he said this is just a concept, not a real thing. He suggested I'm 'just down' due to pandemic, suggested I get hobby such as 'baking or sewing.'

I am genuinely livid (that'll be the peri rage!). Wait to speak to female GP was 6 weeks. Wish I'd waited. Feel helpless now as well as all the other junk.

I’m 49

Periods are still text book regular. I wish they’d just piss off I’ve so had enough.

No end in sight here other than maybe last 6 months for the 2-3 nights before my period I’m
Clammy.

And maybe it’s a bit heavier days 1-3

Other than that same old. Properly had enough of the nuisance but as my DM has had cancer with a hormone factor they’ve advised me to leave it to nature as much as I can.’

Spoke to GP last week, listed symptoms and he said, "No, you still have periods so not menopause." So I said no, not menopause but perimenopause - he said this is just a concept, not a real thing. He suggested I'm 'just down' due to pandemic, suggested I get hobby such as 'baking or sewing.'

OMG what an ignorant, condescending twerp! How did you not punch him in the nose?!

My cycle got much shorter (3.5 weeks) and periods lighter and stop/start from about 42. Mild anxiety, mood change and mild brain fog from about 44. Am 46 now and all of my friends of same age are experiencing peri like me. Its not about hot flushes and end of periods at all, so much more complex.

@lazylinguist My gp still not seeing anyone face to face so was over phone. So no nose punching. Wanted to punch phone though!

44

I'm 42 and had night sweats for about 3 years getting progressively worse, and having flushes during the day, periods shorter with less physical symptoms like cramps and lighter, but, the headaches, joint and muscle aches and the fatigue before I do have a period are awful, I also get much worse indigestion too. But mainly it's the bone crushing tiredness and brain fog that goes with that, and switching from feeling cold to the bone to sweating buckets without moving or a change in the environment.
Told I'm too young for menopause, but as I have a history of mental illness did get offered some anti depressants, I'm not depressed, I know how that feels, this is different.

Late 30's. I was being investigated for infertility at the time.