This could be it …. Peri Menopause?

[citymama]

Peri-menopause is the period 8-10 years before full menopause, so sure, you are almost certainly in peri! My #1 recommendation to anyone in this stage (or before, or during!) is to get informed and educated because most of us are not well enough informed on the myriad shapes and forms of this stage and transition - start by reading Dr Jen Gunter's Menopause Manifesto, super informative, especially before any talks with GYNs and doctors. I think COVID has thrown women's endocrine systems into further disarray, so for those of us where these two are colliding - post covid and mid-peri-menopause...it's a wild wild ride. I went from minimal peri symptoms to a whole slew of them in the months post covid.

[AnnieW625]

I made it to day 46 and my period showed up yesterday. By far my longest cycle since I have had kids. I am honestly relieved because I have a yearly physical next Friday and a mammogram scheduled for next Wednesday (that I didn’t want to reschedule) and I didn’t want to be forced to take a pregnancy test at either exam knowing there was next to no chance I was pregnant. Should be interesting to see what my doctor recommends. So glad I am not the only one in this boat.


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[georgiegirl]

I made it to day 46 and my period showed up yesterday. By far my longest cycle since I have had kids. I am honestly relieved because I have a yearly physical next Friday and a mammogram scheduled for next Wednesday (that I didn’t want to reschedule) and I didn’t want to be forced to take a pregnancy test at either exam knowing there was next to no chance I was pregnant. Should be interesting to see what my doctor recommends. So glad I am not the only one in this boat.


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Glad it finally showed up. My cycles have been irregular the past year, ranging between 21 and 45 days. Lately it’s been in the 30s. (I turn 49 in a couple months).

[citymama]

Please read this excellent article in today's NYT!

Women Have been Misled about Menopause

[sariana]

Please read this excellent article in today's NYT!

Women Have been Misled about Menopause

Paywalled.

[georgiegirl]

Paywalled.

Basically: lots of women have bothersome menopause symptoms that impact their quality of life. doctors don’t know how to manage menopause and women feel like they just have to suck it up. Hormone therapy can help women in their 40s and 50s and lesson those symptoms (so long as you aren’t high risk).

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmp1514242


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[DualvansMommy]

Basically: lots of women have bothersome menopause symptoms that impact their quality of life. doctors don’t know how to manage menopause and women feel like they just have to suck it up. Hormone therapy can help women in their 40s and 50s and lesson those symptoms (so long as you aren’t high risk).

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmp1514242


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Right, and also that if it were in reverse with men experiencing all that, it would be classified as a health crisis.

I don’t buy that doctors don’t know how to manage it. It just isn’t in *their* and medical community interest to do so, it’s so dismal.


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[georgiegirl]

Right, and also that if it were in reverse with men experiencing all that, it would be classified as a health crisis.

I don’t buy that doctors don’t know how to manage it. It just isn’t in *their* and medical community interest to do so, it’s so dismal.


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Yes, they aren’t interested in figuring out how to manage it. Who cares about middle aged women????

[mommytoalyssa]

I saw a functional medicine MD about 8 years ago when I was 42 because I was experiencing anxiety in a way I never had before. It felt like a bucket of anxiety was being poured over my body at random times (not based on a distressing situation but out of the blue) and it was very distressing. The doctor did blood work and checked my hormones (blood draw for hormone levels is always between the 19th-21st day of my cycle). She determined I was progesterone deficient and prescribed a compounded cream to apply to my breasts every cycle from day 15 until I start my period. The results were life changing. No more days of very difficult PMS and a huge reduction in the anxiety I was experiencing. I'm now almost 51 and am still going to the doctor at least twice a year to have my hormone levels checked. I'm still using the Progesterone cream and the dose is tweaked based on my bloodwork. I haven't had any hot flashes or other peri menopause symptoms yet except my cycles have been moving closer to 22 days--down from almost 28 my whole life. But then this month was 26 days. I think progesterone supplementation has helped my moods to be so much more stable than they would have been without. So important when one is raising teenagers! And helped me to be a better spouse--my husband was so perplexed by my previous PMS struggles each month and he, unfortunately, bore the brunt of my anger and frustration. Just my experience but I hope it is helpful to someone. I think there is a lot that can be done and it makes me sad to watch my friends struggle through this transition.

[MSWR0319]

I saw a functional medicine MD about 8 years ago when I was 42 because I was experiencing anxiety in a way I never had before. It felt like a bucket of anxiety was being poured over my body at random times (not based on a distressing situation but out of the blue) and it was very distressing. The doctor did blood work and checked my hormones (blood draw for hormone levels is always between the 19th-21st day of my cycle). She determined I was progesterone deficient and prescribed a compounded cream to apply to my breasts every cycle from day 15 until I start my period. The results were life changing. No more days of very difficult PMS and a huge reduction in the anxiety I was experiencing. I'm now almost 51 and am still going to the doctor at least twice a year to have my hormone levels checked. I'm still using the Progesterone cream and the dose is tweaked based on my bloodwork. I haven't had any hot flashes or other peri menopause symptoms yet except my cycles have been moving closer to 22 days--down from almost 28 my whole life. But then this month was 26 days. I think progesterone supplementation has helped my moods to be so much more stable than they would have been without. So important when one is raising teenagers! And helped me to be a better spouse--my husband was so perplexed by my previous PMS struggles each month and he, unfortunately, bore the brunt of my anger and frustration. Just my experience but I hope it is helpful to someone. I think there is a lot that can be done and it makes me sad to watch my friends struggle through this transition.

Thank you for sharing! I'm almost 42, but have been experiencing this for the last two or three years. I've been tracking how I feel and it's always either right before my period or right after. I went to the CNM that delivered my first because she was always so good about things then, but this time told me to just tell my family to ignore me during those bad moods. Um, not gonna work. It's clearly hormone related, and I've got a teen and a 10.5 year old who's starting to act like a teen. I need to be stable!