Perimenopause moans #2

[Hold my beans]

Not to dismiss our fore-mothers' struggles but I wonder if symptoms and time frame of menopause has changed over the last few generations. Like with girls starting their periods years earlier now, is something happening to female hormones and our reproduction systems in general?

Bit deep there

 

[Ifyoucantbeatemjoinem]

Off to find the original thread as I've just seen this!

Just saying hi

 

[petitspois]

Totally recognise all these feelings of just feeling old ...in my head I'm still 18 and then I look in the mirror or my knees crack when I move and its just so depressing at times.

When i had my first HRT review the doc said she had a lady still on HRT at 90 something because it made her feel fab and she didn't want to come off it!!!

I do have bad news though - I have discovered that exercise does in fact make you feel better I've been doing a bit each day for three weeks and i'm sleeping better, coping better with stress and have more energy - ffs why can't donuts do that to you!!

At our age we need to be doing strength training and I've nearly done this four week beginners programme on youtube. I think its aimed at seniors but its great for beginners and for anyone who needs to go easy to start with. oh and if you want dumbells asda had some very reasonably priced one on their website - three weeks in and i can feel a muscle in my arm!

I agree with all of this. I've read a few books on menopause now and it became clear that I have to try to think of it as a reverse puberty. It's natural and normal but totally shit.

There are also harsh truths - we just can't get away with things we used to. I really think how we respond to menopause sets us up for how we age and how healthy our last twenty years will be.

My knees make their own soundtrack when I walk up the stairs these days and it takes me about a minute of walking to stop feeling as stiff as a board.

 

[Falkor]

I'm 2 weeks into HRT now and I feel SO much better. The only side effect has been headaches, I had one constantly for the first four days, but only two shorter ones this weeks, so I'm hoping that's an adjustment thing and will go away soon. Mr F says he's noticed a big difference in me too.

How long can you stay on this? I presume you have to stop taking it at some point.

 

[Louby@21]

It’s hard to explain it’s not just about clothes/style. It’s more the feeling.

Im not really that interested in latest fashion/clothes/styles to be buying style analysis etc. I’ve always known what suits me and what i’m comfy in. I’m a mostly secondhand/vinted girl but careful what i buy. My shape hasn’t changed it’s how i feel. Probably not the easiest of explanations

 

[petitspois]

I resorted to Wegovy in May and it's life changing. I've gone up 4 sizes in the last 6 years and am down 2 so far. Appetite is cut significantly and, most importantly, food noise just goes. Not the place to discuss and derail here I know, sorry, but there's a thread on it for anyone interested.

 

[didisaythatoutloudoops]

Please try and not worry about this. Pre cancerous means if it’s left without treatment for a long time , it could possibly develop into cancerous cells. Saying that, it still doesn’t mean you’ll get cancer. Great thing is they’ve flagged it and you’re on their system to be treated now. You will probably have to have a more detailed exam of your cervix - a colposcopy and they might worse case scenario have cells lazered off - can’t remember what the term is. But it’s a very very common thing for women. Smear results
range from CIN 1 (very mild) to CIN3. I would highly doubt this would require a hysterectomy.
Please do one thing. Stop panicking. It’s pre cancerous cells and the good news is that they haven’t said it’s developed into cancer. Loads
of women, myself included have had abnormal pre cancerous cells.
Get your GP or hospital to talk to you and try ease your worries.
🩷🩷🩷🩷

Thank you so much, I really cannot put into words how much I appreciate this.

 

[griftalo]

My thoughts today…am I having a breakdown or is it the peri menopause…. Can not stop crying and my anxiety is off the charts. It feels like raging PMT

Solidarity. Everything makes me cry lately but I have been having a breakdown. Be as kind as you can to yourself, eat some protein, take some vitamin d and try and break it down, what can you change now that will make a difference? If nothing, fuck it and try and dump it in a mental box.

 

[IndominusRex]

It’s my face for me. I look in the mirror and just see my mum instead of me.

 

[Falkor]

Can you just call and make an appointment with someone else? This is appalling.

I live in a very remote part of the Highlands, it's the only surgery within 25 miles. The saving grace is that it's being run by locums as the GP retired 3 years earlier than NHS Highland was expecting and they couldn't get anyone else to take the contract on full-time as it's only got 3 years to run before, supposedly, a new facility for the whole area is ready. So if I don't get a result, I could go back in a few months and it'll be someone different.

If the worst comes to the worst, I'll book myself a private appointment with these people, who come very highly recommended from a friend. But it shouldn't be this hard.

Newson Clinic

Rated Outstanding by CQC, Newson Clinic provides unbiased, evidence-based information to support women’s hormonal health and overall wellbeing.

www.newsonhealth.co.uk

 

[AlwaysSummer]

I put on a startling amount of weight on HRT- around 8kg in one year and previously always maintained the same healthy weight for over 20 years. It may be anecdotal but I found it added to a very unattractive bloat around my middle, boobs grew by 2 cup sizes and generally felt heavy and slow. Weight gain does come up as one of the common side effects from HRT whatever anyone says. Personally the negative side effects massively outweighed the positives. HRT seemed to help with mood and sleep at the start but after months and couple of tweaks about strengths and forms (went from pills to patches) slept became just as bad as previously and my anxiety was through the roof. Had weird side effects in the progesterone phase of skin itching and UTI-like symptoms, very emotional too. Periods were horrendous.

I do appreciate that HRT is god-sent for some but not everyone seems to respond well to it.

 

[Louby@21]

My anxiety wakes me up with my heart racing.
I over think and worry about everything
I imagine scenarios that might or could happen…. negative mostly
I can’t sleep or i wake up a few hours later and instantly feel anxious.
It makes me irritable and snappy.( hormones prob)
i can have ‘attacks’ where it physically gets me so like heart racing, hot, nausea, etc.

I never was like this before the pandemic. i work in a hospital so thought it was that. But now i think it may have been early peri. It’s not all the time but it’s a constant int he background now in my life. I don’t take anything but sometimes Kalms. It does get worse with sleep and insomnia.

So like i’ve said before on this thread. i’m a big believer of helping myself and my body so i find exercise really help me, cardio. i do spin and i walk. i also do yoga which probably helps it’s too. I eat a healthy diet and have regular bedtimes etc to try and help. Not perfect btw! Wouldn’t oppose HRT if things get worse.
---

I felt constantly worried. Still do to a degree. For example as I walk down the stairs I think OMG what if I fell and broke my hip? Every news story I think god imagine if that happened to my children, I couldn’t cope. To a worse degree than previously. I also felt panicky having to do presentations at work which didn’t bother me before.

I also felt very low whereas normally I am a cheerful optimist.

HRT definitely helped a lot with the mood. I stopped feeling low, and the anxiety got much better.

This is me! always seem to think of the worst that can happen. was never that person before. What if my dad falls over, what if that car crashes into us, what if i get i’ll before the holiday……

 

[ScrambledEggs]

Super confident driver of 30 years and I now I feel like I'm losing it. I've have no patience & would rather avoid going out than driving.

 

[Hold my beans]

The anxiety is shit, everything is heightened. I now have a foot ball sized knot in my stomach at times compared to the usual tennis ball

I find myself worrying if I'm not worrying

 

[griftalo]

It is hard,you’re right about starting to feel old. I haven’t managed to go through most of the “important” life milestones, wedding, buying a house, etc ( it feeling much of an adult) so that combined with the fact people have always put my age at 10-15 years younger than I am, it’s a shock to be finding moving hard in new ways and an older face starting to look back in the mirror!
Clothes wise, my body has got thicker in the middle when I never had a waist to start with ( I had someone thinking I was pregnant again ) and my legs are bigger, my go to was always distract away from tummy with legs, and that isn’t working so much, I’m trying to buy more timeless classic/basics, which I’ve always loved as it makes financial sense but now it’s mainly that as I can’t fit in my more interesting pieces anymore. If I have to look basic, I’m gonna be the best quality basic I can manage. I’m hovering between utilitarian work wear/gorpcore/im a middle aged psychiatrist (I’m not).
I can’t imagine slipping into Seasalt in my seventies. It’s perfectly nice, just not me. I might be one of those ladies who wears a basic but fabulous cut black dress with some outrageous jewelry instead

 

[didisaythatoutloudoops]

So I found out today, following my heavy post-menopause bleeding investigations, that I have pre-cancerous cells in my uterus. I'm too at-risk for a hysterectomy due to other medical reasons, so they've implanted a coil, are going to do a CT scan in January and biopsies every 3 months.

I have to say I am just completely freaking out. Has anyone had similar?

 

[Northern northener]

I'm always always tired. Could happily sleep my life away. Cycle now either 18 days or 42 days. Heavy bleeding to the point of not wanting to leave the house. My immune system is slow, everything takes a long time to heal. I seem to get hot cheeks every evening and need a fan on me. Just feel a bit crap for a lot of the the time. I'm 51.5 so hopefully nearly there

 

[dillychopgirl]

I’m defo more clumsy! I’m lucky symptoms are manageable in the most and i’m probs only in early peri really. Just the subtle stuff that you start to guess and notice.

Davina isn’t in a typical job, she has more money to access the best trainers, nutritionists possibly private medical and that’s how she had access to testosterone as part of her own HRT. She also has more time and recently gifted holidays on her insta

Im not critiquing her btw but while it’s easy to compare i doubt our lives look like hers!

Yip 100 percent this, if we all had Davinas money and not the everyday stresses of money worries on top of everything else I’m sure all our peri/menopause journeys would be a walk in the park

 

[Lazarus]

i made an online referral to my GP surgery last week after realising how many peri symptoms i have. this morning i got a text from the surgery (at 9am) saying they've booked me in at 11:15am
Do they just think nobody works or can make appointments on a day they didn't expect it, and at 2hrs notice? I've now had to re-jig things at work for this. i'm SO pissed off.
Anyway, hoping they give me something and hoping it helps.
ETA: i put shower gel on my toothbrush this morning and plant food into my washing machine, so any help i can get will be grabbed with two hands.

 

[Ifyoucantbeatemjoinem]

Is there any bloody body parts not effected. Even my eyes are either bone dry or I look like I have been crying for days. Pfft

Exactly this. Jesus wept, who decided to give women such a hard time.