So im thinking im peri-menopausal...Help & advice appreciated.

[GRUMPYnCONFUSED]

Im 42 have felt foul for ages:

Horribly grumpy all the time...except for when I would usually have PMT then I feel human

Migranes have re-started - last time I suffered regularly was at puberty

Re- distribution of body hair....Ladygarden seems to be sparser (autumnal), chin working on a George Michael goatee unless regularly tended

Horribly forgetful...lots of leaving things on the hob & forgetting about them!

Zero libido (I often now hate hubby with the passion I hated my parents in my teens)

Good job I previewed this as I put "forgetful" in twice (sigh)

How long is it going to take to feel human or am I destined to turn into a psycho menopausal woman before it gets better?
So I finally, with much prompting from hubby, went to see the doc & have been told to try a "high dose" vitamin B for 3 months...she said "process of elimination" is the best way to find out whats going to work. Whats a high dose? Will it make me feel more human?

Will changing my diet help at all...I seem to remember the book people had a "dealing with your menopause with diet" book

I asked my gp about this recently(am 43). She suggested a blood test as hormone levels will tell whether you are actually perimenopausal or not. Treatment can then be organised but could be thyroid or anything else not menopause. I haven't plucked up courage to get the test yet but good luck

Try Berocca - it's a Vitamin B complex (plus other vits). Comes in either tablets or soluble, flavoured ones.

My GP also suggested eating more soy - but you can also get soy supplements.

There is a great book- Your change, your choice, by Michael Dooley and Srah Stacey.

It's not just about diet, it is also about exercise, reducing stress, being fulfilled, and adding in either herbs or conventional meds.

BTW you are very young to be menopausal at 42- if you are, you should see a gynae and consider having your hormone levels checked, and also see if HRT is appropriate- average age of meno in UK is 51-ish- and although the run up to it canlast afew years, you are still pretty young for these symtpoms- they may not be hormone related at all.

Hi Grumpy - we could be twins. I've been like this for three years - I'm 46.

Blood tests don't show I'm peri-menopausal but apparently that doesn't mean much (helpful, huh).

I had a scan because my periods went haywire (every three months then every two/three weeks). They found an ovarian cyst and I'm having that plus the ovary removed next month.

Did find that Evening Primrose Oil still helped but nothing has repaired the libido!

Good luck

Can I join the tired and confused club? 44 and apparantly peri-wotsit not that that means much as BD says.

Never suffered much with PMT previously, now have the inner turmoil of a serial killer some days. But no period. Well for ages. The O M G the period from hell arrives and wont stop.

Forgetful. Yes.. I have to write things down in triplicate. My grasp of simple let alone complex things is pathetic.

I seem to have turned into a confused dithery old woman overnight

Pass the gin and radio4. I'm not joking either, I love R4 (and gin)

43 here, and had parital hyster 3 years ago (still have ovaries) felling like all of you, weight piling on too!

Forgot to say (see???! forgetful) not having a hair problem. And no grey yet (hooray) but, but my previously well behaved skin is having a total nervous break out down.

I don't even know what to put on it cos everything is aimed at teenagers. Aaargh!!

Am going to become BodenDroopy instead of BodenGroupie - could still do bikinis a year ago, now people would run away screaming . Why does it happen just as the DDs reach their peak of gorgeousness?

Ah yes that's interesting re dd's.

They look so dewy and young and lovely. It's all so effortless. Anything they put on - even without thought and care - looks fab. Even when you think 'that'll look crazy' - it does, but in that young artless way that looks so unaffected and right.

Does anyone catch sight of a vaguely familiar middle aged woman when you're out, and then realise with a shock that it's you!?

I seem to get that expression my mum wears too. That's not bad per se - but I'm looking like my mother; serious and grown up. But I'm not! Or am I??

what howtotellmum said makes sense I listened to a programme recently about the menopause I they did say that a lot of the symptoms seem to be in the 'self fulfilling prophecy' camp that usually when 'the change' happens there are other big changes going on in a woman's life which could easily account for it

shame really was counting on hormone driven crazy behaviour

Yes, yes and yes - to a love of Radio4 and gin, to forgetting everything and to being a she-banshee witch from hell with no libido. It's not fun.

I went through a patch of 2 periods a month (fibroids ruled out) and now seem to have settled to every 3 weeks - for some lucky winners, periods speed up before they slow down.

I didn't know about Vit B - will try it.

TsarChasm - I was really worried a few years ago when we uploaded holiday photos and the same middle-aged woman was stalking my girls in every one - until I realised it was me . Wonder when my brain will catch up with my body. DD2 nearly made me cry today. She was standing there in her weeny shorts,amazing long legs and her beautiful long blonde hair and I said how gorgeous she looked. She replied, "well I must have got it from somewhere, Mum!". She's now my favourite child . She didn't even ask me for money afterwards!

Radio 4 love - always been there, but the Archers has got too modern now!

Try not to be jealous of your DDS ladies- mine's gorgeous too! Don't compare yourself with a teenager- compare yourself with other women of your own age! we all look better !