For the last couple of months, I've noticed small changes in various elements of my health that make me wonder if I'm perimenopause - the symptoms are so varied though that I don't know if I'm on just coming to this conclusion because I've hit that age bracket.
I'm 42 1/2 - periods are regularish although tend to come early most months - usually 2-3 days early although this month it was about 3-4 days. Periods generally short thankfully.
Other things I've noticed are -
Night sweats - nothing extreme but I've never sweated at night before, aching joints after exercise.
Brain fog - my youngest is 4 so i assumed it was just the continuation of baby brain but it's worse, fatigue regardless of how much I sleep - I would got to bed every night at 8pm if I could.
Weight gain/failure to lose weight despite eating well and exercising regularly, overheating when exercising and spikes in heart rate. Also bloating.
Being able to hear my head pounding in my ears frequently, especially when I go to bed.
A feeling of hopelessness/uselessness - i.e. I'm a fat, grumpy failure, a bad mum, bad at my job etc. Also an inability to care too much about things.
I don't have hot flushes or itchy skin but I know everyone is different.
So what do I do now? I rarely go to the doctor and don't want to waste anyone's time but is that the next step? Or should I only go to them if I'm really struggling? Despite the long list I'm still generally able to go about my life albeit more tired than usual.
Or are there things I can do myself to try and mitigate the symptoms?