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Menopause

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Original poster

What symptom of meno really surprised you?

499 replies

menopausalfart · 13/04/2025 20:52

I've had most symptoms associated with perimenopause, including some really nasty ones.
The symptom that surprised me the most was the memory loss. If I don't do something the moment it enters my brain, it's gone.
I've been taking HRT, vitamins, collagen, and I exercise regularly. This symptom, along with anxiety, has stubbornly persisted.

OP posts:
Anjo2011 · 15/05/2025 20:03

There are a few but the hardest for me is interrupted sleep. Oh to sleep through the night.

godmum56 · 15/05/2025 20:09

for me the silver lining was that i have had a dreadful memory all my life and now I have an excuse!!

baffledpuzzledandconfused · 16/05/2025 21:32

GP has now told me that as I’ve come off progestogen I have to stop oestrogen but I’m scared to. I barely function as it is with the brain fog and anxiety.
I’ve agreed to get the now 6yo Mirena taken out and stop oestrogen too and see how I go.
if I can’t manage then I’ll have to have another mirena at the age of 51.
I have no idea what will happen but it seems I don’t have a choice
I’ve started taking b12 and magnesium, as well as a menopause supplement but I don’t think they are helping.

NooNakedJacuzziness · 17/05/2025 09:01

Has anyone had muscle aches in their chest, neck and shoulders, like the day after you’ve lifted heavy weights (but you haven’t!)? Don’t know if this is meno related or something else.

NoisyBrain · 20/05/2025 01:32

Just posting here now as there’s sod all else to do without disturbing the peacefully sleeping other members of my household. I fucking hate the bastard insomnia the most of all the symptoms I think. I have to be up at 6.30 and I need to be mentally ‘on it’ at work tomorrow (well, today!)
I could actually cry right now.

saltandvinegarchipsticks · 20/05/2025 03:06

YSL · 14/04/2025 05:26

Joint pain everywhere - even in my feet! Hobbling like an old woman. And anxiety on steroids. Horrific.

My feet are fucking terrible and have been like this for months, I have to keep my right foot strapped up in a brace in order to be able to walk or drive. Agonising tendon pain. My knees and elbows not much better.

Also insomnia, as can be proven by the time of this post.

I’m a children’s social worker and I’m not coping right now.

BooseysMom · 20/05/2025 14:55

To those late night posters.. I feel your pain. You are not alone 😊

BooseysMom · 20/05/2025 15:01

Words · 15/05/2025 15:21

It's rubbish isn't it @BooseysMom . Smell and taste are ok. For me it's bright artificial lights, noise, and crowds. A rush hour train ( or indeed any train) or a cafe/ restaurant with background music now completely intolerable.

Yeah it sure is! I have thought of another one.. the sound of people eating at the dinner table has always got on my nerves and now it's intolerable and I have to sit far away from everyone! I remember DM doing the same and I never understood why. Now I have some idea why it was!

YSL · 20/05/2025 16:20

saltandvinegarchipsticks · 20/05/2025 03:06

My feet are fucking terrible and have been like this for months, I have to keep my right foot strapped up in a brace in order to be able to walk or drive. Agonising tendon pain. My knees and elbows not much better.

Also insomnia, as can be proven by the time of this post.

I’m a children’s social worker and I’m not coping right now.

Show quote history

It’s so different to what I thought it wld be. Don’t know how women before us have been doing it - seemingly in silence unless had hot flushes which seem to be the only symptom that could be acceptably expressed. The insomnia is no joke. Even with HRT for me. Sucks to be a woman!

godmum56 · 20/05/2025 22:16

oh yes, the joint pain, the gift that keeps in giving.

mymindispuff · 20/05/2025 22:26

The sense of self unravelling. I feel slightly adrift, not exactly down but as if I am unsure of my place in my own life. I am doing the same things but I am out of phase, nothing feels quite right, my relationships with friends and friends feel off. I don't even know if the above makes any sense. I don't feel like this all the time. It comes and goes.

godmum56 · 20/05/2025 22:26

YSL · 20/05/2025 16:20

It’s so different to what I thought it wld be. Don’t know how women before us have been doing it - seemingly in silence unless had hot flushes which seem to be the only symptom that could be acceptably expressed. The insomnia is no joke. Even with HRT for me. Sucks to be a woman!

Show quote history

I am early 70's so I guess that makes me "a woman before you" and no we didn't suffer in silence. We did have less HRT options. When I was trying HRT there were only two options, one of which was premarin, which I would not countenance. The other one turned me into a violent harridan...seriously I threw stuff....so I went through it cold turkey. Natural fibres, open windows, drinking more water and doing a lot of swearing. I did try giving up sugar and alcohol, luckily neither helped, and I did try every single (legal) complementary option there was and none of them worked either.

PauliesWalnuts · 20/05/2025 22:27

The utter rage. As a placid calm person I’ve never really lost my temper. But tonight on the cycle commute home a horrible man in the traffic queue shouted out his car window that I was a “f fat c*. Everybody heard. It took every ounce of self control not to batter the windscreen of his crappy old entry level Alfa Romeo with my bike. The only reason I didn’t was because I’d look like John Cleese in that film where he loses it in the middle of the street. Clockwise maybe?

godmum56 · 20/05/2025 22:28

mymindispuff · 20/05/2025 22:26

The sense of self unravelling. I feel slightly adrift, not exactly down but as if I am unsure of my place in my own life. I am doing the same things but I am out of phase, nothing feels quite right, my relationships with friends and friends feel off. I don't even know if the above makes any sense. I don't feel like this all the time. It comes and goes.

oh yes that resonates. A friend of mine put it as "I want "me" back"

Mugsandplates · 21/05/2025 15:26

NooNakedJacuzziness · 17/05/2025 09:01

Has anyone had muscle aches in their chest, neck and shoulders, like the day after you’ve lifted heavy weights (but you haven’t!)? Don’t know if this is meno related or something else.

I have had this recently…also wondered if it was peri related…

NooNakedJacuzziness · 21/05/2025 16:28

@Mugsandplates- I’m necking ibuprofen like sweets!

Fayrazzled · 24/05/2025 18:30

Mugsandplates · 21/05/2025 15:26

I have had this recently…also wondered if it was peri related…

Show quote history

I've got this is my chest! It's been going on for 4 weeks and having been to the doctors I am going for a chest X-ray even though she doesn't think I have an infection. More to rule it out than anything else.

Bananacase · 26/05/2025 13:45

Name changed for this obviously. I am currently being pleasantly surprised by a perimenopausal sex surge, which is rather nice after the preceding perimenopausal completely MIA libido. My husband is delighted, but also ducking out of sight of me if he has jobs he needs to do. I had no idea this was a thing, but apparently it is. I’m kind of hoping it lasts a while, but it’s also very distracting, and I’m a bit worn out! It’s doing a great job of taking my mind off the achy joints, dry eyes, insomnia, etc.

trainedopossum · 27/05/2025 13:07

mymindispuff · 20/05/2025 22:26

The sense of self unravelling. I feel slightly adrift, not exactly down but as if I am unsure of my place in my own life. I am doing the same things but I am out of phase, nothing feels quite right, my relationships with friends and friends feel off. I don't even know if the above makes any sense. I don't feel like this all the time. It comes and goes.

I’m calling it existential dread 🤷🏻‍♀️
I feel vulnerable to the ebb and flow of life and a bit paranoid and misunderstood. It’s like adolescence all over again.
Thinking about asking for a referral but it feels pointless (ha that’ll be the existential dread)

dynamiccactus · 27/05/2025 16:48

PauliesWalnuts · 20/05/2025 22:27

The utter rage. As a placid calm person I’ve never really lost my temper. But tonight on the cycle commute home a horrible man in the traffic queue shouted out his car window that I was a “f fat c*. Everybody heard. It took every ounce of self control not to batter the windscreen of his crappy old entry level Alfa Romeo with my bike. The only reason I didn’t was because I’d look like John Cleese in that film where he loses it in the middle of the street. Clockwise maybe?

I think you were allowed to feel the rage over that!

Cotton55 · 27/05/2025 17:07

marshmallowfinder · 13/04/2025 22:23

Intense itchy vulva and vaginal dryness.😭

I don't have vaginally dryness at all but have all of a sudden got an intense itchy vulva! It started a couple of weeks ago, mainly at night. Wouldn't really notice it during the day. Then the other evening, it was so itchy I had to scratch it through my jeans. Now there's a red rash for the last 3 days. Have been putting canesten on it and it's much less itchy but still red 😟

PremiumD · 27/05/2025 18:19

Apologies if this has already been mentioned but, er, crotch and upper thigh sweating. If I stand up after sitting down for half an hour, not necessarily even feeling warm, it will turn out that I’ve sweated so much between my legs that it feels as though I’ve wet myself. So that’s fun.

trainedopossum · 27/05/2025 21:08

The physio I’m seeing for tennis elbow said she sees a correlation between periods finishing and tendon issues, apparently it often kicks off within a few years of the menopause.

Despite the lighthearted name 🎾 my elbow is very fucking painful!

godmum56 · 27/05/2025 21:39

Cotton55 · 27/05/2025 17:07

I don't have vaginally dryness at all but have all of a sudden got an intense itchy vulva! It started a couple of weeks ago, mainly at night. Wouldn't really notice it during the day. Then the other evening, it was so itchy I had to scratch it through my jeans. Now there's a red rash for the last 3 days. Have been putting canesten on it and it's much less itchy but still red 😟

Show quote history

Gina sorted my vulval itch but I am not on any other HRT. i still do get the odd flare and use OTC 1% steroid bite and sting cream thinly. I probably shouldn't but what the heck

Theeyeballsinthesky · 27/05/2025 21:46

Cotton55 · 27/05/2025 17:07

I don't have vaginally dryness at all but have all of a sudden got an intense itchy vulva! It started a couple of weeks ago, mainly at night. Wouldn't really notice it during the day. Then the other evening, it was so itchy I had to scratch it through my jeans. Now there's a red rash for the last 3 days. Have been putting canesten on it and it's much less itchy but still red 😟

Show quote history

I think the phrase vaginal dryness really needs to be eradicated because it makes women think they will be literally dry and it doesn’t

I have vaginal atrophy and at no point was I “dry” to the touch but I was incredibly itchy, oh god the itching! Managed now with vaginal estrogen but not without a lot of trial and error