Could it be peri?

[Maverickess]

I have a Drs appt booked for some symptoms I'm experiencing but I'm looking for some real life experience of peri or maybe alternative answers.

I'm 43 and over the last 2 years my periods have got noticeably shorter and lighter, from 2-3 days of heavy flow, then 2 med and 2 light (5-7 in total) to 1 day med flow and then 1-2 light flow, it has happened gradually not suddenly. I'm still regular like clockwork. I have always had emotional symptoms around PMT etc, and these are the same, but suddenly mid cycle I'll get tearful or ragey for no apparent reason, and it vanishes as fast as it comes.

It's this, alongside some other symptoms, that is making me think peri, but, I'm not sure if this is normal as you get older (but not peri related) and I'm still a bit young? I hear about women my age having babies with relatively few issues.

My other symptoms are loss of libido, I do still have it but no where near the level I did, I'm single so it's not affecting a relationship, but I've noticed just a lack of interest in men in general 😂 as in I can see someone is attractive, or I think they're nice but I just can't be bothered? I'm not sure if that's just me accepting I'm single though and realising I'm happy with it!

I'm also struggling with sleep, knackered all the time but also can't settle and having bouts of insomnia.
My brain appears to have gone into limp mode and things I know I should be able to understand are beyond me and I have to have it explained like I'm an idiot and then feel like said idiot because actually it's quite simple! And my memory is shocking, not like "Oh shit I forgot that!" But actually stuff is just gone, or it never went in in the first place! Words disappear too - I get halfway through a sentence and just stop because I have gone blank, I just stare mutely until it comes back or mutter 'er, erm... ' a lot.

Physically I'm aching all over, and my whole body just seems stiff and like I'm walking through treacle some days, I can't push through it. And I'm getting headaches that recede with pain relief but don't go, and lurk for days at a time.

I work shifts in a fast pace environment so I get I'm going to feel it more than when I were 23, or even 33, but I feel like I should be able to push through more - we all get tired and achy but I have always been able to push through it to some degree and I just can't now.

It's starting to impact my job, and I'm going to have some concequences if I don't get this under control - it appears as though I'm not concentrating and being careless - I do care about my job and I don't want to be like that, but I don't seem to be able to improve.

I am about 2 stone overweight and have been making a real effort to lose diet wise as I figure that is part of the problem, I've upped exercise too because I'd like to be fitter, but I end up more knackered and achy - like you do when you first start increasing exercise - but it's not getting better 6 months in, I'm no fitter and I've lost around a stone and now stalled. I seem to have lost my physical resilience if that makes sense.

I think I should probably mention that I have a history of depression, although not needed treatment for about 10 years now, and although the above could be explained with depression - it feels different to when I was depressed, I am in a good place (it's always been struggling to deal with the downs of life that have brought it on) I don't have half the issues I used to be, and until about 6 months ago was the happiest I've ever been!

Any one relate or experienced this and have any advice I'd be grateful!

Loads of those jump out at me as peri symptoms that I suffered.
I existed like that from a similar age. It was only when I had a hysterectomy and started HRT and things improved that I realised I had been suffering peri.

The poor sleep, the tiredness (try high strength magnesium) the brain fog and memory issues, the joint pain, depression and anxiety, mistakes at work etc etc…. Although it’s worth noting that I also felt all those things when I developed a thyroid issue in my 20’s and again when I had low b12 & low vitamin D in my 30’s.

It’s definitely worth a chat to the Dr &, if blood tests rule out any underlying causes, it would be worth requesting HRT. I heard a phone in on Radio 2 the other day and one poor caller was saying she had gone to speak to the Dr about peri and they had simply offered her antidepressants. The radio Dr was very sympathetic, many Drs are not as they seemingly don’t do an awful lot of training on menopause!

I've heard some good podcasts on the perimenopause by Dr Chatterjee (the one this week is on this subject) and also James Smith is an advocate of women's health and fitness and covers menopause in some of his podcasts.
Testosterone falls when going through the menopause which can cause lack of libido.
Hope you start feeling a bit better soon x

Thanks to both of you, much appreciated.

@Blindedbythenighttimelights I'm worried I'll just get fobbed off with anti depressants, I have had this before and it just makes you look more depressed if you argue your case 🤦 but even people with current depression get physically ill too.
Thanks for the magnesium tip, I'll get some and see if it makes a difference.

I just need me back again really, I feel robbed, I spent a fair amount of my teens and twenties depressed, came into my own in my mid 30's really, got my self sorted out, I dealt with some issues like deaths in the family, an injury that took a while to recover, working through covid etc and although it was challenging, I dealt with it and was actually happy with life, right up until about 6 months ago when it all started slipping away but without the feelings of doom and hopelessness I get when I'm depressed. It sounds odd when I say I hope there's something on the bloods or peri is diagnosed because at least I'll have an answer and things to try to sort it out! An explanation for how I'm feeling physically.