Perimeno What???

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Category

perimenopause

Date

19/08/2019

Length

10 min read

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This is a personal blog about how I experience the sudden and fairly unexpected truth of my own aging process after experiencing unknown symptoms and discovering the term perimenopause. Perimeno what??? PERIMENOPAUSE!!!

(Warning: stop reading if you are not into details…)

A new phase in life…

It started a few months ago, or that is when I started to clearly notice some changes. I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly changed, but I felt different, less joyful (I am normally a positive type of girl). More mood swings (I can be a moody bitch but this moody? Really?). Painful ovulations and bloating (hello belly…?). PMS (like never before, feeling completely awful and realizing my period is about to start in a few days). On some days very tired (I had no idea what being tired meant until now) but without melatonin NO sleep. And crazy painful boobs (ouch!).

My menstrual cycles seem to be increasingly unpredictable. They were always

27/28 days with (heavy) periods that lasted no longer than 5 days. Last month I thought it was time to ovulate (day 14), felt a terrible stomach pain and suddenly had to run to the nearest store to buy sanitary napkins. My period started and lasted for 4 days. The month before that, 3 days late on my period, I am never-ever-ever-ever late, so I thought for a brief moment that I was pregnant, which would have been a miracle on its own. That period lasted for 8 long horrible days (very heavy with lots of blood clots).

Lorum ipsum

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer nec odio. Praesent libero. Sed cursus ante dapibus diam. Sed nisi. Nulla quis sem at nibh elementum imperdiet.

“But these new, unknown physical and mental changes worry me, life as it was is about to change and there are more and more days that I don’t feel 37 but older.”

Proof of aging

When I look in the mirror, I see a woman instead of the girl I used to be. I look a bit older

than I feel because on most days I feel 37. I turned 44 last month and that is exactly what my reflexion in the mirror tells me that I am. But these new, unknown physical and mental changes worry me, life as it was is about to change and there are more and more days that I don’t feel 37 but older. Almost every symptom I search is answered by Google with a link to the term perimenopause, a term I never heard before. The menopause, yes of course, I am familiar with that term, the menopause is when you stop having your period which goes together with a few hot flashes when you are in your 50s. Right?

But apparantly there is a potentially very long phase before the menopause, a phase called perimenopause, with a troublesome and unsexy 34 common symptoms list…

1.  Hot Flashes

2.  Irregular Periods

3.  Fatigue

4.  Memory Lapses

5.  Night Sweats

6.  Loss of Libido

7.  Vaginal Dryness

8.  Mood Swings

9.  Panic Disorder

10. Urinary Tract Infection

11. Bloating

12. Hair Loss or Thinning or Dry

13. Sleep Disorders

14. Dizziness

15. Weight Gain

16. Incontinence

17. Headaches

18. Burning Tongue

19. Digestive Problems

20. Muscle Tension

21. Allergies

22. Brittle Nails

23. Body Odor Change

24. Itchy Skin

25. Osteoporosis

26. Tingling Extremities

27. Insomnia

28. Difficulty Concentrating

29. Irregular Heartbeat

30. Anxiety

31. Depression

32. Breast Pain

33. Joint Pain

34. Electric Shock Sensation

When I first counted my symptoms (16 to start with…) I felt totally cheated by life: “Are you serious? I feel like this because of that?” After 30 years of painful periods (endometriosis), a new phase of hormonal drama? Just when I thought that it was all getting a bit easier, it turns out that is not the case. And why no one warned me that this was coming?

The facts

Perimenopause starts for the average woman around the age of 45 and lasts up until menopause. The average length of perimenopause is 4 years, for some women it lasts only a few months, but for some it can continue for 10 years! Perimenopause ends when a woman has gone 12 months without having her period, after that you are in the menopause (and, sit tight, then there is postmenopause…).

I had no idea! Did you?

“But these new, unknown physical and mental changes worry me, life as it was is about to change and there are more and more days that I don’t feel 37 but older.”

Proof of aging

When I look in the mirror, I see a woman instead of the girl I used to be. I look a bit older

than I feel because on most days I feel 37. I turned 44 last month and that is exactly what my reflexion in the mirror tells me that I am. But these new, unknown physical and mental changes worry me, life as it was is about to change and there are more and more days that I don’t feel 37 but older. Almost every symptom I search is answered by Google with a link to the term perimenopause, a term I never heard before. The menopause, yes of course, I am familiar with that term, the menopause is when you stop having your period which goes together with a few hot flashes when you are in your 50s. Right?

But apparantly there is a potentially very long phase before the menopause, a phase called perimenopause, with a troublesome and unsexy 34 common symptoms list…

1.  Hot Flashes

2.  Irregular Periods

3.  Fatigue

4.  Memory Lapses

5.  Night Sweats

6.  Loss of Libido

7.  Vaginal Dryness

8.  Mood Swings

9.  Panic Disorder

10. Urinary Tract Infection

11. Bloating

12. Hair Loss or Thinning or Dry

13. Sleep Disorders

14. Dizziness

15. Weight Gain

16. Incontinence

17. Headaches

18. Burning Tongue

19. Digestive Problems

20. Muscle Tension

21. Allergies

22. Brittle Nails

23. Body Odor Change

24. Itchy Skin

25. Osteoporosis

26. Tingling Extremities

27. Insomnia

28. Difficulty Concentrating

29. Irregular Heartbeat

30. Anxiety

31. Depression

32. Breast Pain

33. Joint Pain

34. Electric Shock Sensation

When I first counted my symptoms (16 to start with…) I felt totally cheated by life: “Are you serious? I feel like this because of that?” After 30 years of painful periods (endometriosis), a new phase of hormonal drama? Just when I thought that it was all getting a bit easier, it turns out that is not the case. And why no one warned me that this was coming?

The facts

Perimenopause starts for the average woman around the age of 45 and lasts up until menopause. The average length of perimenopause is 4 years, for some women it lasts only a few months, but for some it can continue for 10 years! Perimenopause ends when a woman has gone 12 months without having her period, after that you are in the menopause (and, sit tight, then there is postmenopause…).

I had no idea! Did you?

Proof of aging

When I look in the mirror, I see a woman instead of the girl I used to be. I look a bit older

than I feel because on most days I feel 37. I turned 44 last month and that is exactly what my reflexion in the mirror tells me that I am. But these new, unknown physical and mental changes worry me, life as it was is about to change and there are more and more days that I don’t feel 37 but older. Almost every symptom I search is answered by Google with a link to the term perimenopause, a term I never heard before. The menopause, yes of course, I am familiar with that term, the menopause is when you stop having your period which goes together with a few hot flashes when you are in your 50s. Right?

But apparantly there is a potentially very long phase before the menopause, a phase called perimenopause, with a troublesome and unsexy 34 common symptoms list…

1.  Hot Flashes

2.  Irregular Periods

3.  Fatigue

4.  Memory Lapses

5.  Night Sweats

6.  Loss of Libido

7.  Vaginal Dryness

8.  Mood Swings

9.  Panic Disorder

10. Urinary Tract Infection

11. Bloating

12. Hair Loss or Thinning or Dry

13. Sleep Disorders

14. Dizziness

15. Weight Gain

16. Incontinence

17. Headaches

18. Burning Tongue

19. Digestive Problems

20. Muscle Tension

21. Allergies

22. Brittle Nails

23. Body Odor Change

24. Itchy Skin

25. Osteoporosis

26. Tingling Extremities

27. Insomnia

28. Difficulty Concentrating

29. Irregular Heartbeat

30. Anxiety

31. Depression

32. Breast Pain

33. Joint Pain

34. Electric Shock Sensation

When I first counted my symptoms (16 to start with…) I felt totally cheated by life: “Are you serious? I feel like this because of that?” After 30 years of painful periods (endometriosis), a new phase of hormonal drama? Just when I thought that it was all getting a bit easier, it turns out that is not the case. And why no one warned me that this was coming?

The facts

Perimenopause starts for the average woman around the age of 45 and lasts up until menopause. The average length of perimenopause is 4 years, for some women it lasts only a few months, but for some it can continue for 10 years! Perimenopause ends when a woman has gone 12 months without having her period, after that you are in the menopause (and, sit tight, then there is postmenopause…).

I had no idea! Did you?

“But these new, unknown physical and mental changes worry me, life as it was is about to change and there are more and more days that I don’t feel 37 but older.”

Proof of aging

When I look in the mirror, I see a woman instead of the girl I used to be. I look a bit older

than I feel because on most days I feel 37. I turned 44 last month and that is exactly what my reflexion in the mirror tells me that I am. But these new, unknown physical and mental changes worry me, life as it was is about to change and there are more and more days that I don’t feel 37 but older. Almost every symptom I search is answered by Google with a link to the term perimenopause, a term I never heard before. The menopause, yes of course, I am familiar with that term, the menopause is when you stop having your period which goes together with a few hot flashes when you are in your 50s. Right?

But apparantly there is a potentially very long phase before the menopause, a phase called perimenopause, with a troublesome and unsexy 34 common symptoms list…

1.  Hot Flashes

2.  Irregular Periods

3.  Fatigue

4.  Memory Lapses

5.  Night Sweats

6.  Loss of Libido

7.  Vaginal Dryness

8.  Mood Swings

9.  Panic Disorder

10. Urinary Tract Infection

11. Bloating

12. Hair Loss or Thinning or Dry

13. Sleep Disorders

14. Dizziness

15. Weight Gain

16. Incontinence

17. Headaches

18. Burning Tongue

19. Digestive Problems

20. Muscle Tension

21. Allergies

22. Brittle Nails

23. Body Odor Change

24. Itchy Skin

25. Osteoporosis

26. Tingling Extremities

27. Insomnia

28. Difficulty Concentrating

29. Irregular Heartbeat

30. Anxiety

31. Depression

32. Breast Pain

33. Joint Pain

34. Electric Shock Sensation

When I first counted my symptoms (16 to start with…) I felt totally cheated by life: “Are you serious? I feel like this because of that?” After 30 years of painful periods (endometriosis), a new phase of hormonal drama? Just when I thought that it was all getting a bit easier, it turns out that is not the case. And why no one warned me that this was coming?

The facts

Perimenopause starts for the average woman around the age of 45 and lasts up until menopause. The average length of perimenopause is 4 years, for some women it lasts only a few months, but for some it can continue for 10 years! Perimenopause ends when a woman has gone 12 months without having her period, after that you are in the menopause (and, sit tight, then there is postmenopause…).

I had no idea! Did you?