Monday1954

Whitedove, join the club. I was around 43 when I began having the night sweats. They were infrequent at first then they became more habitual. The only change in my period seemded to be that they came more often, instead of my usual 32 to 34 day cycle they started being 24 to 28 days and the bleeding was quite intense at times. For example, if we were going out I would put in a new tampax and by the time we got where we were going, it would be leaking, had to start wearing a pad also.

The anxiety, well.........I had always considered myself to be pretty calm and laid back.........until perimenopause. My children were making me a nervous wreck, you shouldn't have to have teenagers while going through this, seems like it would be much later. The old body can only stand so much stress. At first I chalked the feeling of dread and anxiety up to worry about my children. My heart would pound and sometimes I felt like I was going to have a heart attack, I also became depressed around this time.
My mood.........boy was I mean, like having the worst pms ever, it seemed to me that I was always having pms.

I never complained to my doctor about all of the above symptoms, thought they were the result of stress. The only thing I brought up was maybe I needed some anti-depressants. Tried Celexa, didn't do the trick. When I was 46 (49) now, I finally told the doctor about my night sweats, etc. She did a test and told me my FSH was elevated and I could try Prempro and that I wouldn't have any more periods after being on it for about 3 months. What a god send for me!!! HRT is not for everyone but, my periods stopped (a blessing, they had become a real pain in the rear), the night sweats stopped and I stopped feeling so depressed and anxious all the time. Now I feel much better, when I was your age I didn't really know much about perimenopause, I just thought that somewhere around 50 (average age for menopause) my periods would stop and I would have hot flashes, no big deal. Don't we all wish it were that easy. I started educating myself and I was a classic case of perimenopause (when I heard it could last for up to 10 years, I felt another anxiety attack coming on).

Welcome to the club and talk to your doctor.