I wish I was in menopause! I am still in the perimenopausal part. I am 50 and still having periods, though they are about 3 to 4 months apart now.
Menopause is when you haven't had any bleeding for 12 months straight. Perimenopause is before that, when your ovaries start to stop making hormones. I just wanted to clairfy that.
In peri, you can have all kinds of symptoms like depression, irregular periods, crashing fatigue, loss of libido, mood swings, difficulty concentrating, itchy-crawly skin, and the list goes on.
I, myself have just learned to live with it all and learned that this is a life process that with each new 'symtom' I can adjust. I did HRT at the start of my symptoms, because I was bleeding for weeks at a time, but now I take nothing. Sometimes, it seems unbearable, but I am now starting to come out the other side of all of this. My journey has been 11 years long.
I think that we women need to learn all we can about this part of our lives, so that it doesn't smack us in the face. Knowledge is the key to keeping ourselves happy and healthy.
Wishing you all the best!
