Is it just me or is menopause not discussed as much as it used to be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like perimenopause issues are discussed much more.

I'm in a weird place at age 54. Most of my friends started experiencing perimenopause symptoms in their early to mid-40s and discussed them. I felt the same as always and had cycles like clockworks. Now, many of my friends are completely done and I am just starting with the symptoms, missing a period here and there. Am I going to still have periods when I'm 60?

Same. Only 56. All my friends are done. I have not yet skipped even one period. So weird and so ready to be finished!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Menopause was really being discussed for the first time in the 80’s as a non-taboo subject. That’s why it was discussed more. Also, hormone replacement therapy was big business.

This.

[Anonymous]

There is a show that made the rounds not too long ago called Menopause: The Musical. It was so-so but I enjoyed seeing a whole show about making it through menopause.

I'm in my 60s but pretty athletic and strong so I got a weird pleasure out of looking around and seeing that it was a theater full of aging women like me and if I needed to fight someone I could probably beat everyone there. I know, that's a really weird thought (It's not like I go looking for fights) but it did make me laugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK let's talk about it here...

Why the heck didn't someone tell me that tingling extremities can be a symptom of menopause. I got an MRI for it, and they found nothing. Then it hit me that this started happening right around 50, and so I googled it.

And the vertigo.

Seems like hotflashes and mood swings are taked about as it related to menopause but not the more obscure symptoms.

Anyone else?

I've been to my PCP twice this past fall because of vertigo. They shrugged, can't see anything, there's nothing they can do. They never once mentioned hormones as a possibility. I read about vertigo possibly being a perimenopause symptom here on DCUM. Then, I realized the vertigo had a rhythm to it timed to my cycle. Fricking duh. I'm 46. Finally I'm going to the GYN.

Asshats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like perimenopause issues are discussed much more.

I'm in a weird place at age 54. Most of my friends started experiencing perimenopause symptoms in their early to mid-40s and discussed them. I felt the same as always and had cycles like clockworks. Now, many of my friends are completely done and I am just starting with the symptoms, missing a period here and there. Am I going to still have periods when I'm 60?

Did you start your first period later than most? My mother was 16, and didn’t start menopause until about your age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK let's talk about it here...

Why the heck didn't someone tell me that tingling extremities can be a symptom of menopause. I got an MRI for it, and they found nothing. Then it hit me that this started happening right around 50, and so I googled it.

And the vertigo.

Seems like hotflashes and mood swings are taked about as it related to menopause but not the more obscure symptoms.

Anyone else?

Me! My feet were tingling yesterday and I was like wtf is this?!?! I'm glad I saw your post. I've also experienced cold flashes, in addition to hot flashes. No one told me about that and each time it's happened, I thought I have the flu/'rona/ a fever, etc. Nope, hormones!

That happened to me the other night! I wasn’t shaking, but I had goose pimples and couldn’t get warm, no matter how bundled up
I was. A few hours later I was fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK let's talk about it here...

Why the heck didn't someone tell me that tingling extremities can be a symptom of menopause. I got an MRI for it, and they found nothing. Then it hit me that this started happening right around 50, and so I googled it.

And the vertigo.

Seems like hotflashes and mood swings are taked about as it related to menopause but not the more obscure symptoms.

Anyone else?

I've been to my PCP twice this past fall because of vertigo. They shrugged, can't see anything, there's nothing they can do. They never once mentioned hormones as a possibility. I read about vertigo possibly being a perimenopause symptom here on DCUM. Then, I realized the vertigo had a rhythm to it timed to my cycle. Fricking duh. I'm 46. Finally I'm going to the GYN.

Asshats.

Asshats indeed. We need women's healthcare to catch up.

Your PCP went halfway, basically, acknowledging it was related to your uterus by diagnosing your ailment as hysterical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like perimenopause issues are discussed much more.

I'm in a weird place at age 54. Most of my friends started experiencing perimenopause symptoms in their early to mid-40s and discussed them. I felt the same as always and had cycles like clockworks. Now, many of my friends are completely done and I am just starting with the symptoms, missing a period here and there. Am I going to still have periods when I'm 60?

Did you start your first period later than most? My mother was 16, and didn’t start menopause until about your age.

I thought it was the opposite: the larger the egg reserve, the sooner it starts and later it ends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK let's talk about it here...

Why the heck didn't someone tell me that tingling extremities can be a symptom of menopause. I got an MRI for it, and they found nothing. Then it hit me that this started happening right around 50, and so I googled it.

And the vertigo.

Seems like hotflashes and mood swings are taked about as it related to menopause but not the more obscure symptoms.

Anyone else?

I’ve totally got the tingling and the vertigo! Had no idea it could be perimenopause related!

[Anonymous]

Omg! The tingling extremities and internal shaking. I thought I was dying or had MS. Had MRIs and painful nerve conduction tests. They found nothing. In desperation I found an online forum that I don’t think exists anymore where I corresponded with other women who had the same symptom.
Glad that year (age 51) is in the rear view mirror.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to The Club, ladies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Omg! The tingling extremities and internal shaking. I thought I was dying or had MS. Had MRIs and painful nerve conduction tests. They found nothing. In desperation I found an online forum that I don’t think exists anymore where I corresponded with other women who had the same symptom.
Glad that year (age 51) is in the rear view mirror.

You had internal shaking? Like your whole body was vibrating? I’ve had that a few times lately and was like WTF???? And I’m 51 as it happens.

And to another PP, yes, I get both cold and hot flashes. Totally wonky temperature regulation.

First I had acne after never having had it, even as a teen. That preceded my period getting wonky. Then I’d feel like my heart was pounding when I’d lay down to sleep at night. Then the hot flashes started. Then both hot and cold. I was taking my temperature all the time. But worst of all is that I think it has ramped up my anxiety. That’s just so awesome in the middle of a pandemic.

Sometimes I feel like I’m falling apart.

[Anonymous]

51 year old here--people talking about these symptoms makes me realize how much (especially in COVID time) how we practice medicine is really not about wellness and how very common symptoms just aren't talked about by doctors, because unless there's something really seriously wrong with you, they don't really pay attention to it .I had subclinical hypothyroidism for YEARS and because my symptoms weren't text book I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I guess if you can't convince people to fix it with an expensive drug (HRT), industry isn't interested in talking about it either.

We need a perimenopause hotline or something--just a nurse to say, yes, that insane random itching, those crushing headaches that can go on for days, the sudden anger when you just want to rip your teenager's head off--just totally normal.