So who would knows about perimenopause and menopause then .. and how come we aren't taught / don't discuss in advance

[Twiglett]

OK I'm 40 so possibly in reach of the perimenopause which I understand can start 10 years before the menopause

I've had a bug that is also giving me hot sweats, I've also been raging more than normal

I've ordered a book that has been recommended to me but I know nothing

(much as I knew nothing about my cycle 'til I read Toni Weschler's book)

Take heart! I was sahm for 12 years and just occasionally helped out at friends' businesses.

Then 2 years ago I got a part time job at my local council. They're great and appreciate my skills whilst being reasonably understanding of my failure to learn how to master the intricasies of the computer systems!

Just as long as you can use Word and send e-mails (which obviously you can if you're on here!) there's bound to be something out there for you!

The Public Sector is great for returners - very family friendly. The only problem is that the money isn't fantastic, but at least it's way more than other jobs that fit in with families, such as Classroom Assistants or working in supermarkets.

Nearly all my work experience has been in the public sector! I think I'll need to ease myself back in by doing some form of voluntary work first.

Oops! Can't spell today, either... intricacies

Ah... well there you are, Mercy, you'll be laughing! I did all the usual things like run the PTA, set up a local Residents' association, help with the local Scout Group etc, which was all for my own selfish reasons. I hadn't got as far as working out that it was going to help me get a job afterwards!

Don't know why I hadn't noticed this thread.

I am past the menopause. It was a skoosh... a few night sweats but I HAVE NEVER HAD A HOT FLUSH IN MY LIFE. [smug emoticon]. They are obviously not compulsory.

Of the list of 34 symptoms, I am not sleeping so well these days (but have a lot on my mind at present), my nails are more brittle and I do have dizzy spells, as did my mother, I remember. I do have low blood pressure, tho, which could account for that. So all in all, nothing to complain about.

One word of warning...my pelvic floor is now trailing along the floor! What was a slight sagging of the vaginal wall after Dcs were born (and which disappeared with time)has reappeared as a cystocele and a prolapse. Apparently lack of hormones affects collagen/ligaments. My GP informed me my elastics have gone!

I am well on the other side now

I had an early menopause and I have been menopausal for 4 or 5 years now. I never really had any significant symptoms other than Tachycardia (racing of the heart), which was my bodies version of a hot flush I think.

I used HRT for the first year or so, but really really hated it - it made me feel like I wasn't myself at all and I got horrendous spots! The GP tried to convince me that it would make my skin better (thicker - LOL) if I kept taking them but if that was the extent of the good they were doing me then I couldn't see the point of shoving hormones into a body that clearly had no use of them any more!

It isn;t always all doom and gloom, although I think there is a huge range of possible outcomes and I think that is what unnerves people most - the unpredictability of it all!

Good grief I've had a good number of those symoptoms all my life (except the irregular or phantom periods).

If anything most of them are a lot better recently (less crying and mood swings etc)and I'm definitley perimenopausal (age 42) as I've had about 4 periods in 2 years.

That is after 30 years of periods that were regular as clockwork and I never missed even one.

So for me the perimenopause stage is no really any different to what I remember of my 20's and 30's.

Ah actually there is one symptom that is worse - the memory loss and forgetting the word for things.

That is really annoying but I just assumed that was age rather than the menopause specifically. Having said that, I noticed the memory loss, vagueness etc for the first time in pregnancy (had ds at 40) so maybe it is hormonal.

OK, I'm 33 and I have 26 of those symptoms of perimenopause. Including the night sweats and funny periods. Can that be right? My mum went through "official" menopause in her mid 40's which is pretty early isn't it?

Well I've just received my (second hand) copy of Gail Sheehy's 'The Silent Passage' which I'm looking forward to reading. It says on the back that it's 'updated for the UK edition including interviews with Fay Weldon, Kate O'Mara, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Antonia Fraser, Eve Pollard, Edwina Currie and others' - so we're in illustrious company.

Happy New Year ladies/girls !!

I haven't found any of the sypmtoms to be constant, just occasional

I have been "going through" the meonpause for about the last 2 - 3 years, the thing is you're probably most of the way through by the time you recognise that's what's going on

My first syptom was irregular periods when previously had been like clockwork and I am still having them approx every 3 months

I guess one day they will stop completely - who knows when (my mothers did at 55, I'm 51)

I don't get any of the bad moods, in fact pmt symptoms have practically disapperaed and feel calmer than when I had regular peiods

Oh thanks Soapox and Cam v reassuring

To anyone who is interested in reading more about the Menopause, can I recommend a website?
www.menopausematters.co.uk
Run by a Scottish Community Gynaecologist who specialises in the menopause.
I use it as a resource but it is primarily set up for women to access themselves.
And just to clarify-menopause is a restrospective diagnosis.

Yes, it is, necessarily.

But its a process and women are generally aware that they are moving towards it

yeahbut, you are very young to be experiencing the (peri)menopause. You really should see your GP.

Premature menopause normally requires medication (to alleviate symptoms and to delay the further process iirc)

I saw this and thought of you all on this thread...of course I am far too young at 38 to have any interest in the subject.

Oh god emsiewill, that made me cry. My daughter will be 14 as I turn 51.

And my son will be 20 and may have left home.

i've had nigth sweats on and off for 20 years..some of the symptoms are also typical of hormonal imbalance..or maybe just being a woman I've also had a hot water bottle most of the year for most of my life lol

my period has just gone awol..so i'm either pregnant or menopausal

Oooh, sorry, didn't mean to upset you...

My dd's will be 23 and 21 when I turn 51...so dh will probably have me all to himself....

My mum died when she was 52, and her sister had breast cancer before she was 50, and I think had an artificial menopause, so I have no idea what is in store for me - my mum's mum is still alive (aged 93), but would find any question about the menopause very unseemly.

that's such a beautiful article.

Oh no worries emsiewill. I think I probably need to just stop thinking about this. After all it could be 10 yrs before it happens (or it could be soon, I realise this)

Www - left home at 20 - you're hopeful aren't you? My neighbour's ds2 has just moved out - he's 32!

That's a fab article - I like the line 'a significant life, significantly lived'. [showing wrinkles]

OK, I haven't been anywhere near this thread before; I'm only 45 next month, so it obviously contains very little that would be of any interest to me.

I'm here partly because the lovely WWW told me that someone here has had uterine ablation, and I'm meant to be having one done in a couple of weeks. Fortyplus (for it is she who has had the ablation) - can I pick your brains about it please?

And I guess as I'm here I might as well make myself comfortable, because denial isn't helping anything

Hello WWB - I'm a 63er too.