Perimenopausal early symptoms

 

So I keep getting asked what were your first signs other than irrational thoughts and sweating?

 My first inclination that something was completely different was when I went from a 28-day cycle to a 24-day cycle. Sometimes even in 18-day cycle where I would get two periods in one month. For some reason it didn't even cross my mind to talk to other women about this it's just something I thought was happening and didn't think twice of it. 

 These irregular cycles began getting really hard though because I would have a double cycle I lose so much blood become anemic and then have to repeat that cycle in just a matter of two and a half weeks.

 I would go to the same mid-cycle pain I would go through the same cramping at the end of the month towards my cycle and I would go through the depression hormonal shifts and issues that came along with a regular cycle only sometimes dealing with it twice in one month. 

Unfortunately I have a mother who has mentality much like most men. That hormones for something to joke about and that it's funny to say that somebody's acting crazy because they're going through their cycle so my mother was not someone I could confide in.

She also had a hysterectomy very young and eliminated a lot of the problems like going through the stages of the perimenopause in menopause so I knew she couldn't possibly understand the emotional roller coaster and health concerns I was facing.

We live in a very privileged world where people don't understand those that are uninsured.

 Some mother's perhaps because have been raising a child for 21 years and then you're thrown into a workplace or a situation where you're going back to college in your 40s. This all affects your health. Statistically I have no idea how many women live without insurance but I know personally it has been extremely hard as a woman to go through life for the last decade without being insured. This must change. 

  There needs to be earlier intervention about folic acid in young women because it accounts for so many neural tube defects just being iron deficient or not being able to absorb folate. I truly believe that if we took the steps earlier in life to ensure a healthy reproductive system in women, that they would be less cancers, less women going into perimenopause in their early thirties and forties, and a basic understanding of what it's like for women to go through so much trauma with their bodies in just a matter of 10 to 20 years. 

 Of course the sweating was my very first clue but that sweating happened during the day it's not at night at first. I was told that night sweats were a clear indication of perimenopause but I was having them in the morning and going out and about during my day I would get clammy and cold and sweat profusely. These were not panic attacks which is what I thought they were and these were definitely signs of perimenopause. I have unfortunately been dealing with this since I was 39 years old and I am 46 today. 

My period is now like clockwork where it comes every 24 days, that is 40 sooner than it was my entire life because I was very much like clockwork at 28 days up until the age of 39.  That should have been my first clue that this is what was happening to me. Now at 46 I have cycles that can go on from 30 to 33 days and sometimes longer and sometimes really short circles so erotic so I know that for me I'm coming to an end of this time with Perimenopausal symptoms and moving into actual menopause. 

There are days I just want to cry because it's like giving up your youth. There are some days I do cry and I don't even know why. Memories flood me things that sometimes can become overwhelming like not good memories. I believe all of these happen during this time in our life because we spend so much time reflecting on the beginning of our youth and the end of our youth. It is one of the most challenging things I have ever in my life had to go through and I have gone through an awful lot.

At first, you may notice that your period arrives slightly earlier each cycle. And maybe extremely heavy if you're ovulating or it could be not as heavy if you are not ovulating that month. 

As you approach perimenopause, your hormone levels begin to change. For some people, one of the earliest signs of perimenopause is noticing a shorter cycle longer cycle or irregular cycles.

 

This can often be discounted for years. Luckily there are women out there like me who are adamant about spreading awareness and letting you know that you're not alone and that you're not crazy. He seems so much if you have no one to talk to or that no one will understand but I promise you from an extra turn into it there are women out there going through the same thing you are.  

Hang in there.