'Menopause isn't really that bad'...said no woman ever.
For those who are approaching or experiencing 'the change' (think reverse puberty), a time where hormone levels decline either through the aging process or by medical/surgical means.
Menopause and Perimenopause (the transitional time before Menopause) are unique to every person, and while there's no one-size fits all, we support each other on this roller coaster ride of wacked out hormones, absurd mood swings and random sweaty hot flashes.
Be kind. Be respectful. We are all in this together!
RULES
1. All genders can post
We are all here to learn about menopause and how to help anyone experiencing menopause, so be supportive and respectful.
2. Don't be a bully, creep, jerk or troll
This means no personal attacks, no misogyny, no misandry, ageism, racism, or otherwise hateful or disrespectful commentary.
3. Read the Wiki (wiki will be included shortly) and use the search tool before posting a new question
4. No selling products or services
You can recommend products/methods that work for you, but soliciting clients or patients is not allowed. No advertising or self-promotions, including using this sub to drive traffic elsewhere.
5. Research surveys/studies are allowed ONLY after contacting the mods with details of the survey (purpose of survey, academic associations, how will the data be used, privacy/confidentiality policy)
Mods will determine whether to approve the post or not. Those choosing to participate in surveys, must do so at their own risk.
6. No posting lab results
We are not a substitute for medical advice. Questions about your lab results should be directed to your medical professional. Hormonal tests are not an accurate diagnosing tool for perimenopause.
7. Selfie posts are only allowed in the Weekly Stickied Off-Topic thread.
You asked for it! :D
I. Am. Miserable. It's been a few weeks of physical and mental hell. Hormone fluctuations still show up out of nowhere, 2.5 years into menopause. They mess with my digestion, which messes with my antidepressant, which triggers an HSV2 flare-up... my poor husband. He's stuck with a bloated, exhausted, wiry-haired, whiny mess of a wife. I'm clinging by my fingertips because I promised him I would.
I hear ya...digestion, gut issues (should I risk a cup of coffee today?), monitoring foods, figuring out when to take what medication and then how to counteract the side effects of that. Some days it feels like trying to juggle balls, when I can barely hold onto one. Keep hanging on @getitoffmychestpleas....
I'm glad to be here! I started getting hot flashes a few weeks ago. I thought I was going to get through peri without experiencing them. No such luck.
Before peri, do you remember thinking..."what's the big deal about hot flashes?" Like so what, you get hot for a few minutes, how bad could that be?? Some poor folk get them every hour and lasting for 10 mins or more!
Oh yeah, absolutely. A few weeks ago I was at a conference, standing in a line with my colleagues, dripping with sweat and feeling just way too hot. It lasted so long. T'was not fun.
That sounds awful. I am so sorry, don't think I have this yet but I'm sure I will find out. How long into peri before you started getting this out of curiousity?
I actually have no real way to gauge how long I've been in peri! I have a mirena so I stopped getting my period a really long time ago. It's only going by other symptoms that I figured out I was in peri. I'm 49, and I think I've been in peri for at least a year.
Yup symptoms...that's all you can go by. Even then if you keep the mirena, you won't really know if you've reached post-meno either because symptoms can carry on after that too.
There's really no rhyme or reason with hot flashes. Mine didn't start until I became post-meno!
I'll just have to wait and see I guess. Maybe I will move back to Canada if it gets too much. Lol. Moved away to leave the cold winters. 🥶
I don't get hot flashes. I get a whole hot morning, every morning. It's Winter here and I generally walk my cat around 10am. I rarely wear a jumper/jacket. We go for our second walk in the afternoon (bengal life) and I'm rugged up appropriately. It's wild.
Same (ok, similar). If I take too long in the shower (and sometimes even if I don’t), I have to sit naked in front of a fan for an hour. Lately I take a Bluetooth speaker into the shower with me because music helps me avoid spacing out and taking too long in there.
(Although even when I manage to avoid the post-shower overheating, I still can get a hot flash when my morning Teams call has stressful content. Luckily WFH + virtual background means nobody can see my handheld electric fan.)
Heck yeah!!
I'm doing okay (fingers crossed and hoping I'm not jinxing myself lol) but this is the little calm before the cosmically horrific emotional storm that usually drops on me at various times. I have been freezing the last few days and that's so unlike me. Usually I'm randomly burning up and I need to sit in front of the fan for a bit to get back to warm. This new freezing feeling is not welcome. I want happy medium! The brain fog has been awful this past week though. I try not to be hard on myself over it and I'm learning to show myself grace. But when you really need to pluck something from your memory concerning a task you were going to do, and the only thing that comes up is fog and a "hello, this is brain fog here to sabotage your memory retrieval. Have a random thought about your age right now!" It's rough lol.
It's so important not to be hard on ourselves, we are our worst critics in everything. Trying to pluck something from memory is always worse when there's someone standing there, waiting for you to say it. Then I get frustrated, not about finding the words, but about what they might think.
What you said is so true! I have been trying to teach myself not to be hard on myself. The world will be hard on me at times; I need to be caring and guiding to myself. That tends to help. I really understand and relate to the feeling of frustration because someone is waiting on what we're supposed to remember. When I'm in that position, I end up saying I can't remember pretty quickly while my inner thoughts are about everything except the Thing I'm trying to remember lol.
Content warning: creepy crawlies
I had an Incident. Saturday afternoon I went for a hike with two of my friends. One of them insisted I let her spray me with tick repellent. After I got home I sat around for a couple of hours, ate dinner, relaxed, then discovered I had a tick attached to my calf in spite of the spray. I should have showered and taken off my hiking clothes as soon as I got home. I found another adult tick, unattached, while showering and then found a couple of pinpoint sized ones over the course of the next few hours because I sure as hell wasn't sleeping. Besides I had to get the clothes in the dryer. But for some reason even though I've found ticks on me before, this one set off a full-body whole-life panic attack that is still ongoing. I'm crying at everything. Everyone is irritating me. And I just feel itchy and crawly all the time. I've examined crevices of my body I haven't looked at in years. I shaved places I haven't shaved in years. I've made my husband do several full body exams...he didn't seem to mind somehow.
Apologies if I've now contaminated you with the creepies.
I'm glad you got them all...little buggers. Crying jags are a weird thing, one little issue could cause a few tears, and then it's open flood gates the rest of the day. I don't know if it's some weird phenomenon or if there's some scientific evidence for it, but once I start crying, the tears easily come hours later (for no reason). Even if I'm laughing!
How do we follow a board here…? 😬 I’m looking for the right thing to click and not guess I’m just not finding it…
Anyone have other helpful tips for using this platform while we are at it? I’m all eyes 👀 and ready to learn.