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.

I'm not talking about what the NHS says.
The NHS is often woefully behind the times especially with menopause.

It's relevant that reaching menopause 6 years or more before the average has consequences.

Medical advice is that menopause before 45 is a risk for osteoporosis and that those women need HRT to at least 51.

The risk doesn't suddenly disappear at 45 - it still means it's greater, compared to women who reach menopause at 50- 55.

I had early menopause at 40, family history of early menopause and had symptoms for about a year before this mainly insomnia and anxiety , had some hot flushes but not too severe

50

About 44

Irregular, heavy periods stated at 44. I’m 48 now and brain fog, feeling warm, rage, palpitations are coming and going. Had a mirena put in which is making me feel a little flat but at least the horrendous flooding has stopped. I’m south East Asian so expect menopause sooner rather than later but with the coil my periods are almost non existent so who knows? Might pursue HRT if symptoms get much worse.

Ive just started HRT. I'm 43 next month.

Most of my similar age friends are starting to experiment it as well.

My horrendous mental health was the biggest trigger for me seeking HRT. I just couldn't go on.

I was 45. Stress due to a bereavement kickstarted it.

I said nothing about risks, I was just talking about 'normal'.
For many women HRT isn't an option, whether it helps with bone density or not, but it's also not anything to do with what I posted about. It's nothing to do with the OP either. The question was is 42 too young to be experiencing peri symptoms and the answer to that is no, whether she goes on to hit menopause at 43 or 53.

For those saying 40s are too early to be perimenopausal- Black and Asian women go through perimenopause 6-8 years sooner than white women.

OP- I highly suspect giving birth to my DC in my late 30s kickstarted mine. I’m 42 now and am experiencing all the symptoms of PM. I’m thinking of taking HRT.

Postmenopausal by 43.
Absolutely hideous and it was such a shock to my system.

I went through menopause at 38/39 so it's completely possible. I was having nighttime sweats, joint pain, terrible anxiety, depression, memory fog, the lot. I hadn't had a period for 18 months at that point and I haven't had one since.
I'm now 47 and have been on HRT since I was 39.

Started HRT at 44. Looking back I think it started around 41. I still have fairly regular periods. But HRT has sorted my horrific premenstrual anxiety and brain fog.

In hindsight around 35 - started with crippling anxiety and panic attacks from nowhere and horrific PMT then PMT mid cycle and progressed… I was 45 before I realised and now on HRT and symptoms gone!!

All kicked off at 55.

I had never heard of peri. My menopause was all done with in my mid forties from memory, and was a walk in the park.

I had endometriosis at 39 and was getting hot flushes when I had what turned out to be bilateral cysts on my ovaries. Also had lower abdominal pain, IBS and heavy periods and bloating. After surgery and being on progesterone only pill for a few years, by the time I was 45 I was having all kinds of unpleasant vaginal/vulva symptoms which I'd guess was peri-menopause/low oestrogen. I went back on the combined pill for a couple of years which dealt with that pretty well, and the endometriosis didn't return. Then I didn't take anything for a year to see if my periods had naturally stopped. The only menopause symptom I had was brain fog and now I'm on combined HRT that is much better as well.

So for me because of other stuff going on, the worst "peri" symptoms for me were in my 30s, but that was due to the endometriosis which seemed to develop after I had the copper coil at 35, and they also suspected I have PCOS. If I'd have just been allowed to go back onto Femodene after having DD2 as I'd wanted to (which I took, prescribed privately at 47 because you can actually take it up to 50 safely though most GPs bump women off it at 35) I might never have had endometriosis at all or noticed any peri menopause symptoms.

I really felt so different from 35 and thought it was just tiredness and stress from having two young children and working. That was certainly a factor but my hormones were all out of kilter as well with the endometriosis and PCOS. It was all much worse than anything I experienced in my 40s, or my 50s so far.

I think I just realised in time at 46/47 - fortunately I was able to get the combined pill privately as my GP wouldn't have given me it, worried about the endometriosis returning. I risked it to try and treat the atrophy. It made a difference almost immediately. The weird thing was the atrophy did not return when I took nothing at all for a time. But with the Femoston conti it's even better still.

My periods started going haywire at about 40/41 - going from 32-34 days to 18-21 😱