What symptom of meno really surprised you?

[menopausalfart]

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.

cramp in your anus/rectum. It feels like sitting on a javelin. Also more politely and less graphically known as proctalgia. The blurb says it lasts seconds to minutes but I find it can go on for longer...say 15 to 20 minutes.

Someone up thread mentioned javelin arse. I've always had it but infrequently and it passed quickly. Now when it comes on its absolutely eye wateringly painful and I can't do anything but sit on the loo, grip the side of the basin and try to breathe through it. It's a hormone thing. If you don't know what it is Google it. You might find you have it too.

Wow so many of these symptoms I have

restless legs
the itching skin drives me insane so much I hate tight clothes or cheap material on my skin

I spend a fortune on better roll on now

fatigue is real and draining at times.
I’ve spent the last two days with serious low energy and putting it down to a cold I have then bam I came on today only 21 days after I came on last month so it made complete sense and the period pains are horrendous every month now. They keep me awake at night and the pain goes down my legs and around my back it’s horrid

the hot flushes are awful

my brain fog is getting worse by the day

i I forget places,names,and it’s scary how things literally slip my mind and when I’m reminded of it there’s still no recognition in my brain for about five minutes until it clicks.

the driving anxiety is horrendous. I’ve driven for 25 years and I’ve never struggled to park a car as much as I do now it’s awful

I am a busy mum of young adults and older teens and run and work in my own business. I do all my own admin stock ordering paperwork accounts cleaning appointment booking dealing with clients etc and run a house and I’ve recently lowered my hours within my business purely because my brain and my body is really struggling to juggle it all and it’s never been a problem before.

The pmt is also worse and my tolerance for shit had disappeared.

someone in the supermarket was stood so close to me recently in a queue and moaning about the checkout person taking ages (he wasn’t)and I heard them make a comment regarding said staff members ethnicity.

normally I would ignore but seethe inside but I didn’t this day. I told her she was an absolutely rude cow and if I was the checkout staff I would refuse to have her at my till.
her face was a picture and I could see other people in the queue behind her smiling cause they’d obviously had to hear it aswell

i I also had an incident with another driver that cut me up twice on the same small stretch of road towards a shop. We both happened to park near each other and as I got out of the car I asked him if he knew how to drive safely. His face was a picture.
dh and teenage dd meanwhile had already walked off because I was ranting before we parked !!

oh and my Achenbach Syndrome, burst blood vessels in fingers and toes for no reason, reappeared. On researching among other sufferers, it does seem to be associated with peri.

I’m very surprised how it’s affected me and do wonder if any one else shares what I have.
General effects of losing collagen,including prolapse between vagina and rectums. Granted the prolapse was probably instigated by having 3 massive babies but didn’t become a thing until perimenopause. Nurse practitioners who are of the age to have gone through it who make you feel like you’re wasting their time. Cravings for celery. On a positive I’ve always been very hormonal but I feel much more settled.

I've had the restless legs and it was so bad I'd be crying trying to go to sleep but I found something that works,I have a fan on pointed towards my lower legs/feet and have one foot out of the bed it sounds nuts but it's worked for me and the relief has been immense.

No idea why it works I just pray that it always does.

Rather happy to see some Long Menopause sisters here 👋 Mine was 12 years from first hot flush to last period. Whenever I've mentioned this before, I've just got replies from women who were over and done in a couple of years, and even telling me it's not possible!

My really sharp & agile mind never did come back, though I have other health issues now. I understand a lot of women get mentally sharper post-menopause, so I hope that's true for all of you.

The watery discharge is a known effect of low oestrogen ... which can also bring super-thick discharge. In short, no fucker knows what menopause does, which is why discussions like this are so valuable!

My memory is so bad , it’s shocking , lack of motivation, I really hate that , but the worst for me has to be that down & out feeling 😔..
It really sucks, & like you it’s just persistent ..
I think the lack of motivation & feeling down & out go hand in hand though ..
I’m on those hrt patches , estradot , she upped the dose last time I was with her about 3 weeks /month ago , I see zero difference being honest …

The overwhelming tiredness. I haven’t got insomnia. It doesn’t matter if I have a perfect night sleep, I still feel tired, exhausted even

Tinnitus! Tinnibloodytus! 🤯

No UTIs for years, but then they suddenly appear almost monthly 😞. I am yet to try Vagifem (put it off for some reason).

Also, increase Restless Leg Syndrome in legs & arms. Some nights I could just cry. I keep meaning to try magnesium thingy (can’t think of the exact word I want 🤔🤦🏼‍♀️!).

Rage
Being argumentative ,then paranoid that I've pissed people off.
Strange dreams
Felling lack of self control
Finding it hard to put a sentence together sometimes.

Try magnesium supplements for restless legs! Completely solved the problem for me x

Crippling anxiety. Never had any issues with it before, coped well with life's ups and downs.

Had a hysterectomy and within 18 months was a total mess. Uncontrollable bouts of crying. Awake at 3am with sense of total doom and panic. Health anxiety. Panic attacks. Tiny things like a leak above a window sent me into such a tailspin of overthinking and obsessing about them in a way I had never done before. I regularly thought about killing myself. It was absolute hell.

And it was a hell which was prolonged by two utterly hopeless GPs who when I burst into tears in front of them saying I just couldn't cope reached for the prescription pad and prescribed Prozac and Sertraline, despite it being there in black and white that I was 49 and post-hysterectomy.

Within a few days of starting on estrogen patches I felt much more stable and sane. This is why I am so worried about the shortage of Estradot. I can't go back to that very dark place.

Around the same here and still getting some symptoms almost 30 years later. When Gina became available through online pharmacies, I tried that and it was brilliant for vaginal dryness and the itching. HRT was not as efficacious or with as many options when i tried it. One I wouldn't take (premarin) and the other turned me into a raging harridan so I did it cold turkey.

Smelly armpits (never had that before )
Migraines that incapacitated me for 15-24 hours, though thankfully much rarer now I’m on HRT.

Total fatigue and lack of motivation

Thin hair on head, wiry hairs on chin

I’m ‘only’ ten years in and still reasonably regular. Have had enough now.

The ‘can’t be arsed’ attitude has always been there, but it’s really prominent now. Along with the ‘giving no fucks’ and the brain fog. If I’ve still got a job this time next year, it’ll be a menopause miracle. I’m finding myself forgetting the words for things and replacing it with the wrong word. I called scaffolding ‘shortbread’ a couple of days ago. I knew it wasn’t the right word but couldn’t think of it. And I forgot how to spell five. And the itching! My God, I wake up some mornings looking like I’ve gone ten rounds with Freddie Kruegger.

The only one I was really surprised about is the sudden obsession with babies and the feeling of absolute bliss and contentment if I get to have a cuddle with a baby and they wrap their tiny little hand round my finger. That was brand new and came as a bit of a shock.

Smelling even after a shower. Had to use a special soap.

Before HRT/anti-Ds:

Heart palpitations
Crippling anxiety, thinking I was about to die
Internal tremors - a sensation like I'd swallowed a vibrating mobile phone
Sudden leg/body jerks, like electric shocks
Restless legs
Dizziness, lightheadedness, often to the point of fainting

All of the above improved after going on HRT and sertraline. However, I still have:

Itchy, dry skin
Dry eyes
Frizzy hair like a cloud of pubes on top but still straight underneath
Thinning hair, especially around temples
Intermittent tinnitus
Inability to retain anything in my brain for longer than an hour
Taking longer to grasp complex concepts at work
TOTAL lack of motivation/get up and go - this is one of the worst side effects for me. The effort it takes for me to just get up and do the thing that needs doing is insane.

I also gained over two stone in the 2 years after going on HRT (but have lost it again now with the help of GLP1s)

I think I read that there are 32 symptoms of perimenopause / menopause… I think I have all 32 of them and then some!! Puberty was a walk in the park compared to this!

Itchy ears!! Really daft, but I have been shoving ‘ear calm’ and stuff down my ears for ages until a Dr at a female health clinic talked me through HRT last week - and this was on the questionnaire. Turns out its related to my very very dry skin (the other surprising symptom that means skin literally just rubs off in the shower and on my towels) because the skin in my inner ears is also dry. I am praying the HRT/Estrogen fixes it because it drives me insane!!

My inhospitable vagina sucking the very life out of my poor urethra causing numerous UTIs and bleeding when peeing, so much so that I was investigated under 2 week wait and had to have bladder scan to confirm everything was ok - which it was.
Thank god for Estriol 1mg cream 🙏 and everything returned to near normality.

Unable to sleep.
Narrowing urethra. (gosh it is a thing)
Some sort of fukbroid.
Loss of pubic hair.
Battle with weight; lose one week, put on next.
Miss-see words.

According to the Daily Mail there are around fifty. But I definitely don’t remember seeing things out the corner of your eye (I have that, to the point I didn’t know whether to call in Rentakill or Rentaghost) or leaking vaginas, so I’d be willing to bet there is double that number.

Weak bladder, hot flushes and forgetting words and things I need to do. I have to put everything into my diary otherwise I'd never remember anything but forgetting words is embarrassing.