How old were you when you entered peri menopause?

[Chefpig]

I'm having all the symptoms and anxiety and depression is immense. Hard to cope with really. Im 42. Everyone is telling me it's too early in my life to enter peri menopause. Is it though? My body is telling me otherwise.

Around 34, all done and dusted at 40.

I didn’t notice anything until I was about 54.

With hindsight and knowledge, 45. At 50 I'm now in meno and have been for over a year.

42 is not too early.

It probably is true, but you just haven’t noticed. I only noticed perimenopause at 54 but went through menopause at 56. So it felt reasonably quick.

About 45. I was flooded with hormones and acted like a teenager for a couple of years 😳

Periods were random spacing and often heavy when they arrived. Dry eyes and full on brain fog by 50.

Tried HRT but it made me gain weight.

I started HRT at 43/44 and hadn’t had a period for about 2 years before that. GP said it was early (though consistent with family history) so did some blood tests to confirm.

39, now turning 41 and on HRT and testosterone

Are you sure you aren't depressed? HRT for depression annoys me as much as anti depressants for menopause.
I had HRT at 45 for night sweats, temperature regulation and nighttime anxiety (Id wake at 3am every night in a blind panic for no reason) and had erratic periods.

38. Periods went rogue, dry eyes, dry mouth, aching joints, hot and cold flushes, furious temper (although I’ve always been a bit cross!) HRT put everything right, have a zen sense of calm/not caring. Joint pain stopped after a couple of weeks, dry eyes still there but much improved. Periods stopped despite the HRT at about 43ish.

44 and it hit me like a bus. Took about a year to access HRT which has been an absolute game changer for me.

Started having unmanageable symptoms at 41, although may have had some strange goings on before that (frozen shoulder, itchy ears, flooding).

Im 41 and have been in peri menopause for about a year now. Initial went to the drs about a 9/12 months ago because I hadn't had a period in 3 months and definitely was NOT pregnant.
The Dr prescribed HRT but I don't seem to have any symptoms except for no period and extremely exhausted constantly to the point ive almost had to quit my job. I cant think straight im that fatigued.

36 - runs early in our family. I had a hysterectomy but kept ovaries but I’m convinced that didn’t help

I think about 40, and I was fully into menopause by 50.

Phew! 😁

Forgot to say - vaginal dryness, thrush and feeling like a was about to get cystitis all the time. Don't ignore any urogenital symptoms
OP. Even if you don't get HRT, if anything's changing down there, get topical oestrogen in the form of pessaries and/ir topical cream,. Atrophy crept up on me slowly then very fast and it is not nice, but can be prevented and reversed if it's treated in time. And if you do get systemic HRT, it wasn't enough for me to sort out the atrophy

About 38 although it was flooding at 40 that got me googling and I finally clicked with what was going on. I'd thought to then that all the fun symptoms were after menopause, not in the run up.
At about 43 I was told I was definitely 'too young for that' by a GP, when I mentioned a lot of classic peri symptoms so I quietly rolled my eyes. I rolled them louder when I hit menopause at 45, very much as I thought I would based on what was happening and when my mum did.
42 definitely isn't too early. The normal range for menopause starts at 45 - that could put you two years off your last period if you were st you younger end of normal. Very much in the zone.

Can I just add that the up to date thinking on age is that 45 is now considered young. Yes,it's within the 'normal' range but only just.

Compared with the average age of 51, it's 6 years earlier.

I know some women whose periods stopped at 46/47.One has severe osteoporosis and the other has some bone loss.

Ironically, neither of them had any peri or meno symptoms so didn't use HRT at the time.

If your periods stop when you are under 50 it's worth paying for a private DEXA scan at some point when you get to 50-ish (around £200 but it only needs doing every 3 years.) It will show if you are at risk from bone loss.

1 in 2 women develop osteoporosis and age of menopause is a key factor.

There's no clear definition, is there?
Menopause is no periods for a year.
Peri is not so clear and there are different stages. I'm not at the hot flushes stage, but I got heavier periods (and fibroids) and worse PMT a around 46. Cycle's got more unpredictable since then, but oestrogen levels still OK so I guess I'm not in the later stage of hot flushes and all the other symptoms.

43

The Covid vaccination caused heavy periods in me too and it's a recognised side effect, but if it was just that, you're expected to go back to normal after a while.

43

Per the NHS it's the young end of normal - and not early or premature - but it's within the normal range. Just like 55 is the old end or normal and is 4 years away from the average. That's how ranges work!

"I think they aren’t practicing wholistic medicine, but going down a checklist, of treat for A, then if that doesn’t work, treat for B. "

This is how NHS GP services work for everything, but I'm surprised they go for HRT first because I've had doctors tell me online that they are supposed to prescribe anti-depressions first even if the course is hormonal.

Perimenopause means with symptoms though, doesn't it? So if you haven't felt it, were you in it?