Getting to "that" age - peri&menopause....
HoneyBadger302
Posts: 2,085 Member
Maybe it's the circles I run in, but this is a topic I do NOT see discussed enough - it gets glossed over, men and medical professionals ignore or gloss over it (or outright gaslight women), and yet it can have a HUGE impact on our lives! If you're in the US and stuck on regular/private insurance, it's a double whammy with the cost of medical care these days.
So, I've been struggling the past little while - close to a year. I kept attributing it to this, that, or the other thing - stress, finances, etc. There were some legitimate things, but like many, always took to blaming my inability to manage myself rather than there actually being something physically "off."
Well, in a random reddit post someone had mentioned peri and tinnitus being linked - that raised an eyebrow as my tinnitus had been getting horrible, often downright intrusive, but again, I just blamed loud hobbies and age...but that post got me thinking and doing a little more research.
Turns out, every single issue and symptom I've been struggling with the past 12ish months falls in line with peri symptoms. EVERY single one.
Peri often goes un or mis diagnosed due to the fluctuations in hormones and if you're on birth control, it can be even a little more complicated to tell (in my case, I'm on an IUD). It can be expensive to chase this (depending on your health care) since it's all "elective" treatments and hit or miss on getting a diagnosis. Primarily it's diagnosed through symptoms, which doctors VERY frequently ignore, dismiss, or refuse to acknowledge.
Personally I'm giving a supplement routine a go here before sinking money into labs and such (prefer that route, just a personal choice for a variety of reasons). I started just over a week ago.
I want to give it a month before I give any kind of "real" report, but in the past week, my mood has started to stabilize (anecdotal), I'm sleeping better (anecdotal), my body temperature is stabilizing (NOT anecdotal - per FitBit), and the scale is dropping while changing nothing beyond what I've already been doing (not anecdotal).
I'm no expert on the subject - my mother had too much other shitake going on in her life to even notice it (although it was probably a problem, she just never realized it), and I'm the oldest daughter. A couple friends have recently mentioned it, but before that I barely even knew it was a thing - yet I feel like that should have been a big thing for women to be aware of???
Like, I don't feel that old - (mid 40's) - there's a lot of "adult" life still ahead of me, and menopause has this reputation of being a thing for "old" women - like seniors - even though that's not the case, and peri can start as early as one's 30's! Very common for someone my age - in the middle of being a working adult!
I'm still a little shocked at how dismissed these issues are in general...
So, I've been struggling the past little while - close to a year. I kept attributing it to this, that, or the other thing - stress, finances, etc. There were some legitimate things, but like many, always took to blaming my inability to manage myself rather than there actually being something physically "off."
Well, in a random reddit post someone had mentioned peri and tinnitus being linked - that raised an eyebrow as my tinnitus had been getting horrible, often downright intrusive, but again, I just blamed loud hobbies and age...but that post got me thinking and doing a little more research.
Turns out, every single issue and symptom I've been struggling with the past 12ish months falls in line with peri symptoms. EVERY single one.
Peri often goes un or mis diagnosed due to the fluctuations in hormones and if you're on birth control, it can be even a little more complicated to tell (in my case, I'm on an IUD). It can be expensive to chase this (depending on your health care) since it's all "elective" treatments and hit or miss on getting a diagnosis. Primarily it's diagnosed through symptoms, which doctors VERY frequently ignore, dismiss, or refuse to acknowledge.
Personally I'm giving a supplement routine a go here before sinking money into labs and such (prefer that route, just a personal choice for a variety of reasons). I started just over a week ago.
I want to give it a month before I give any kind of "real" report, but in the past week, my mood has started to stabilize (anecdotal), I'm sleeping better (anecdotal), my body temperature is stabilizing (NOT anecdotal - per FitBit), and the scale is dropping while changing nothing beyond what I've already been doing (not anecdotal).
I'm no expert on the subject - my mother had too much other shitake going on in her life to even notice it (although it was probably a problem, she just never realized it), and I'm the oldest daughter. A couple friends have recently mentioned it, but before that I barely even knew it was a thing - yet I feel like that should have been a big thing for women to be aware of???
Like, I don't feel that old - (mid 40's) - there's a lot of "adult" life still ahead of me, and menopause has this reputation of being a thing for "old" women - like seniors - even though that's not the case, and peri can start as early as one's 30's! Very common for someone my age - in the middle of being a working adult!
I'm still a little shocked at how dismissed these issues are in general...
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Replies
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I'm a little too young to weigh in on perimenopause (early 30s), but just chiming in to sympathize about the doctors ignoring symptoms and/or billing things as elective procedures. It is so frustrating!
Which fitbit do you have that measures body temperature? That sounds like a really useful feature!0 -
ScienceofTeaching wrote: »I'm a little too young to weigh in on perimenopause (early 30s), but just chiming in to sympathize about the doctors ignoring symptoms and/or billing things as elective procedures. It is so frustrating!
Which fitbit do you have that measures body temperature? That sounds like a really useful feature!
Just the "Inspire" model I believe. In the app under "Today" just scroll down to "Health Metrics" and you can see Today or Trends (only goes back 90 days max),then click or scroll to each item0 -
Thank you for sharing your story. Frustrated that menopause is not a bigger talking point. Seems to be just one element in a larger pressure for women to remain 'girls' forever. I was not aware of tinnitus being linked to hormone shifts.0
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Oh my goodness! Yes! I've gained 20 lbs in one year - changed NOTHING! I exercise 5-6 days a week, ran a half marathon last fall, and eat relatively healthy. It is SO frustrating. Peri-menopause is the only reason I can think of.
Did you have any success with the supplement you tried? I tried one last month, but it made my autoimmune arthritis flare up (which had previously been dormant for almost a year) so I had to stop taking it. Which one did you take?1 -
brightwife wrote: »Oh my goodness! Yes! I've gained 20 lbs in one year - changed NOTHING! I exercise 5-6 days a week, ran a half marathon last fall, and eat relatively healthy. It is SO frustrating. Peri-menopause is the only reason I can think of.
Did you have any success with the supplement you tried? I tried one last month, but it made my autoimmune arthritis flare up (which had previously been dormant for almost a year) so I had to stop taking it. Which one did you take?
Yes, overall it has worked really, really well. I still have some days here and there where the bloat is outrageous, but for the most part things are a lot better than they were. The other symptoms improved a TON.
I'm taking the Dr. KellyAnn Peri&ME, and then Olly Lovin' Libido. Libido is a slight improvement, but still no where near my historical norm.
The rage, the "won't go away" bloat, the ADHD, the tinnitus, all seem to have calmed their titties and I'm feeling pretty normal in those regards (other than the random days of bad bloat - like today lol).1 -
Thank you for sharing your story. No other women ever talked to me about going through menopause. I had my last period in December. I was trying to lose weight at the time and the weight stopped going down. Of course in my depression I turned to eating more and have now gained weight.
I decided to go to the gynae to confirm that I was going through menopause. It turned out not to be menopause but the pituitary gland near my brain is producing to much prolactin.
I am now on expensive medication. Weigh more then I have in a long time. Still no sign of my period.
I'm started this week trying to get back into diet mode and exercising a bit.
Have you been to see a gynae? Just wondering.0 -
I literally just made my first doctor's appointment in ages because I think I'm in peri from the symptoms I've been reading about and the stagnation in my weightless and even some weight gain even though I exercise all the time and eat decently on the regular.
I can't believe I'm excited to ask for blood tests and whatnot, haha.1 -
I'd like to share my gyne believed in natural medicine & even sold vitamins & such at his practice. He takes saliva tests to see where you are hormone wise & it gets sent out of state to a lab & prescribes a natural hormone cream according to the results. A pharmacy in town mixes it up . He says it's good for you & I used it for years & felt great. Maybe look into that?0
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Have you been to see a gynae? Just wondering.
No (my IUD is due to be replaced this fall, so I'll go then), BUT, an overall update on things in the past month:
My mood and such was doing good, but a couple other symptoms, which had previously been masked by the mood/ADHD/etc were brought to the forefront, and have yet to see improvements on the supplement.
Primarily, fatigue and sleep pattern issues. All my old ways of teaching my body to sleep when it needs to, instead of when it wants to, was failing miserably, and I don't function on no sleep. Even with a good night's sleep, I have been struggling with just a general fatigue.
Libido still non-existent, the very slight improvement never manifested to more than that.
Weight still bad, although I'm not doing everything I could, in large part due to the fatigue and sleep issues.
My insurance sucks, and I've read far too many horror stories on doctors dismissing this, so I went to an online provider to look into HRT.
With doc approval, I'm continuing with the supplement as well since that has worked so well for my mood/ADHD.
Got my HRT and today is day 5. No amazing changes yet, but I have a feeling it will take a little time. I do feel like when I'm sleeping I'm sleeping a bit better, but it's a bit early to tell. Really hoping to kick this fatigue and get back to a society approved sleep pattern, because that is killing my ability/motivation to do the things I know I should be doing. Good news is no negative side effects at this point either, so at least there's that.0 -
Providing a bit of an update. Currently on my 3rd week of HRT, so still early to tell how things are going, but so far:
Sleep: continues to improve/get more normal. I've started waking up before my alarm most days, even on "early" mornings. Some getting tired in the afternoon, but usually worse on days I don't get as much sleep, so it makes sense. Feels more like "normal" tiredness rather than the straight fatigue I've been dealing with the past year. Overall sleep seems better - even skipping my sleep aid here the past several nights. Hopeful I'll be feeling up to my AM workouts again!
Moods: remaining stable
Skin: had a couple acne pop up, skin is a bit more oily, but also looks more glowing and the fine lines seem to be filled out a lot more. Overall an improvement IMO.
Weight: no major differences one way or the other, although the past 3-5 days my appetite has really leveled out, which is a HUGE improvement. Fingers crossed it sticks.
MIND: This one I wasn't expecting, but the past 5-7 days, I feel like I'm getting my "wit" back. I wasn't really ever noticing "brain fog" but I was feeling - dumber? Like I couldn't just think on my feet like I used to, couldn't think of the word or the comeback in the moment. I chalked it up to a bunch of things, but not this, but suddenly sometime in the last 5-7 days I've found the word just pops right out, the witty comeback just pops right out of my mouth, and I'm not struggling to come up with the "sassy" response like I have been for ages here lately!
I have also gotten a thyroid test just to check that as it does run in the family, waiting on results sometime in the next week, but overall, the changes on HRT haven't been huge, but I'm starting to really notice some differences this week.
Granted, not uncommon to have improvements then need to adjust things after awhile, so staying the course for noe!0 -
I am 54 and perimenapausal. I had my mirena coul removed a couple of months ago, and symptoms have just piled up on me! The hardest being my tendons being weaker all of a sudden. I'm like an old woman walking down the stairs in the morning, and my knees ache when I go for a walk. 🙁
I'm trying to get HRT, but I keep being referred for more tests, the next one being March 2025!! 😩1
