Experiencing it now? Experienced it previously? Lived with and known intimately someone who has?
I was gonna post this in /c/womenby, but it's not very active, and I'm not solely interested in first-person perspectives anyway. Long-term partners or roommates, close friends, adult children - your experience is also valuable.
What do you know? What was it like? What resources are/were helpful? What did you/they do differently?
My period started getting weird a few months ago, and just on a hunch I looked up symptoms of perimenopause and was shocked. Why didn't anyone tell me all this weird shit was going to happen?!
I'm going into day 9 of a period that has steadily escalated in flow the whole time and wondering at what point I need to seek medical attention. I've definitely bled heavier than this in periods past, so maybe not yet??? But also, I haven't bled this many consecutive days since that whackadoo post-birth period, so I am kinda starting to wonder if this is getting sketchy?? But I found threads on Reddit and Quora of people talking about bleeding to some degree Every Fucking Day for Years.
What the actual fuck?
It seems like it's a total crapshoot whether an OB-GYN has much depth of knowledge about any particular issue, as it is with every specialty, and it's super common to have serious symptoms dismissed because Time is Money and Women Stay Whining or whatever. Also, in keeping with the traditions of my AuDHD people, I don't feel great about going into a medical appointment without a Stack of Evidence.
So! Obviously I've been searching and digging around, but I'm super interested in your information, stories, and perspectives. What is/was it like for you or your loved one? What changed? (or "What didn't change?" if that's a shorter list 😂) What did you/they do about any/all of it?
Jfc. I was about to be like, "And why the fuck doesn't anyone tell us?!?!" and then I remembered how terrible most women's health stuff is and yeah, of course there is no support system for this, let alone proactive education. And why would the older women around me want to ruin my good time? "Oh, it's all fun and boobs now, but someday you'll somehow be simultaneously bloody and dry, your skin will be horrific, your body temperature will never make sense or be homogeneous ever again, and you will be allergic to everything."
I saw some comments saying they made it through 1-8 years of this and have become their No Fucks Crone Life Best Self, and so I'm holding out hope for that. Any delightful little feathers you want to put on that end of the scale will be celebrated, but I will also be very grateful for your thorny, muddy truths. Lay it on me. Please. ❤️
I'm a penis-haver so unfortunately I can only offer limited intel but I remember hearing that one of the reasons you should go to the doctor about it is if you have blood clotting
Do you mean a history of systemic clotting problems or do you mean menstrual clotting?
This sent me down a little bit of a worried rabbit hole yesterday, but it turned out they're only something to be concerned about if they're truly copious (like if it's always more clots than flow) or frequently huge (regularly bigger than a golf ball). I know you probably didn't care to know that, but for anyone reading who started to get worried like I did - it's probably fine.
Also, this post is brought to you by the letter B, for the Brittle Bird Bones that inhabit my body
I broke a couple bones in my hand this past spring during coop construction when I smooshed them between a 4x4 and a concrete floor, and I aggravated that injury today by rolling balls of cookie dough. wtf.
Ikr! I'm taking multivitamins and eating a rainbow etc, but obviously it's time to invest in Old Lady Vitamins
<Joan Rivers voice>"Menopause?? More like Men Won't Pause! More like Men'll Pass!" 🥁
Hot flashes have not been fun! 😂 Ugh, I am a person who hates to be too warm anyway, and I get genuinely nauseous and hostile when I'm overheated.
<folgers tune> 🎶 The best part of menopause
is waking up drenched in sweat 🎶
with an upset belly and omnidirectional, baseless anger 😂🤦
Im not there yet but also doing molecular biology means that the sheer amount of hormones i will take to avoid it will make the trans people here faint in shock.
Tell me more about your molecular biology perspective on this!
From testimony that I've heard from friends and family is that it can be very much a miserable experience with hot flushes and such that can last for years. My mum would get prescribed HRT to combat the symptoms which worked well but they stopped giving that out. I don't know what the medical consensus is for using hormones for menopause these days I guess it depends on the country but worth looking into.
I don't know what the medical consensus is for using hormones for menopause
Former soviet countries would prescribe HRT until recently but I think the trend now is to try and manage it with small doses of both E and T gel.
Management with small doses intended to ease the transition sounds a lot better to me than trying to pretend for the next 30+ years that it isn't happening. Thanks for giving me specifics to search! ❤️
Afaik, all the women in my family did HRT, and I am hesitant about that because it seems like just kicking the can down the road. My 75yo mom is still taking hormones. I am not trying to be on hormones for the next few decades in an effort to delay the inevitable.
answer me that reddit
