I’ve officially entered perimenopause phase and I’m utterly confused. It’s not talked about in my country maybe because the older generation just shrug it off but to us later GenXers and early millennials who can’t survive without research, it’s difficult because there is no “official” medical literature about it. There are long lists of symptoms shared by women around the world but no legitimate medical sites can confirm if they are really legit symptoms or not. Even my OB can’t confirm if what I’m experiencing is part of perimenopause or hypothyroidism (which I’m also cursed with) or am I just psychosomatic???
Oh honey! Same here, in the US! I hadn’t heard of perimenopause until a couple years ago! I’m no expert, but I have learned some things that are typical:
If you have ADHD, perimenopause can make it worse.
Anxiety, when you’ve never had it before, is another fun little thing. Like, panic attack level anxiety.
Crazy menstrual activity. Bleeding more than normal. Bleeding for months at a time. Missing periods, for months, only to have them start up again. Think puberty on steroids.
Forgetfulness. It’s so weird. It’s not like you can’t remember things. It’s more that you can’t access that memory bank, when you need it.
Weight gain. You can drink water and gain weight. You can LOOK at food, and gain weight. But not in your normal places.
If you still had fucks before, you will totally run out of them. But not in the peaceful way. (That comes POST menopause). Oh no. You will want to burn the world down. The absolute internal rage you will feel will be frightening. You aren’t losing your mind. It’s just the hormones. It can mostly be controlled. Mostly. But it becomes much harder when combined with the next symptom
Hot flashes. You feel like your body caught fire, from the inside. You can feel it just before it starts. But only just. You will want to climb into your freezer. If you’ve recently run a high fever, that’s very close.
Gas. You will get gas. Breathing will give you gas, right now. Keep anti gas stuff around the house. Trust me.
Dry skin. Really dry patches of skin. Even with acne in other places. It’s even worse than puberty skin, which leads to the weirdest symptom…
Your body hair changes. You may have huge areas of your legs with little to no hair. And then one strip that looks like animal fur, if you don’t remove it daily. Your eyebrows start growing in patchy. So be VERY CAREFUL when grooming them. (Trust me on this one. I looked like I had mange when I tried to use a grooming tool on them). And the brows will start to stick out in different directions (hence the grooming tool). And of body hair isn’t bad enough…
FACIAL HAIR. The hair on your face is going to grow. It may not be dark, but it’s going to be noticeable. Sometimes REALLY noticeable. Combined with the sweating from hot flashes, it can be a real pain. You may feel the need to shave. The good news is, it’s not a daily thing. I only do it maybe once a week. But if you like wearing makeup, you might want to consider it.
Vaginal dryness. It can be as little as just needed some extra help during intimacy to Saharan style dryness. I was just talking about this with someone. I was joking about how I had chafing in places I never expected and was worried that tumble weeds were gonna start popping out.
Vaginal atrophy. Whew boy this is a wild one. I’m going to let you google that one.
Hopefully, this is a good jumping point for you. And if anyone else wants to share some of their experiences with Perimenopause, feel free to comment, reblog, or send in asks. We gotta help each other out and talk about this stuff.
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