Apparently Vitamin B12 and Magnesium are good for brain health... I started taking Magnesium a few months ago (to aid sleep) and I definitely feel sharper/less forgetfull 👍 But then again that could just be due to sleeping better! 🤣 Either way.. Magnesium might be helpful x
I am definitely post menopausal, but your piece catapulted me right back into that perimenopausal phase of my life—where nothing seems real but also feels terrifying. A symptom I experienced—one that was completely new and brought me intense anxiety—was frequent and urgent urination. It disrupted my sleep and prompted me to change some of my daily routines. And it scared me by making me feel out of control of my body. Luckily that seemed to pass as I settled into true menopause. On another note: Kudos to your husband for “understanding the assignment.”
It's so scary when we have these unexplained body changes, but there's also a certain comfort in knowing this, too, is a transition that will pass. And re my husband, I've talked about perimenopause so much the last few months, he was ready for it 😂.
At the moment, I am in the brain fog stage as well, and low motivation.
Currently taking bio-identical progesterone cream at its strongest mg. Next step up is oral P. No estrogen yet for me. I notice my estrogen swings high some months and low estrogen is more common once periods start skipping altogether.
In fact last month my boobs hurt so bad I got back on DIM/CDG, a supplement I stopped taking and within days no breast pain and still no breast pain.
You are right, we have to be our own experts in us and our own advocates.
In good news, my tennis elbow (random peri symptom) just cleared up. Not completely, but enough to be able to write lists again! Lol
Brain fog and couldn't write a list. Not a good combo. Lol
What helps me the most is having a dear friend in the thick of it too, and together we lament and then laugh at the unraveling. What else can we do? 😆
So glad you got some relief from other challenges and sorry to hear the brain fog hasn't lifted.
We're almost exactly the same age, I'm definitely struggling with *a lot* of perimenopause symptoms, too (Too complicated to go into here, but HRT isn't an option for me).
Thanks for sharing openly about all of this and for not making it seem like HRT is a miracle cure for all the things.
Definitely not a cure for everything and not right for all women. I know there's this sort of extreme faction of midlife women who are pushing hormones as the cure for everything, but there are many women who just can't take them. And it should be a choice, not a requirement.
What I find extremely frustrating is that we're told a menopause test is impossible because of how much hormones fluctuate at any given time. OK, if that's the case, why can't we measure the fluctuations and use that as a marker? (I asked Dr. Jen on her substack and she didn't reply.) Akin to an A1C test for diabetes, versus a glucose spot check.
I wonder that too. It's like we need a monitoring system where we see our averages each day and then track them over time. I use Clue to monitor my cycles and they average together they last 6 months of cycles to show the length of cycle, number of days, etc., so it would be a more robust version of that.
Yes, but I need a blood test version. I had my uterus removed (due to adenomyosis/endometriosis) but I have my ovaries. So, I have no period or cramps to clue me, but I still have the hormones. Fun!
This very morning, after waking up anxious after a dream, I realised that I haven’t been waking up anxious *as standard* since starting HRT. Hadn’t even realised.
Welcome to the club. All the best women are here.
I wish I could double like this! Totally made my day when I saw it pop up, but for some reason (hmmm 🤔), I'm just now getting back to it.
Apparently Vitamin B12 and Magnesium are good for brain health... I started taking Magnesium a few months ago (to aid sleep) and I definitely feel sharper/less forgetfull 👍 But then again that could just be due to sleeping better! 🤣 Either way.. Magnesium might be helpful x
Thank you for the suggestion. I knew it was good for sleep, but I didn't know about brain function!
I am definitely post menopausal, but your piece catapulted me right back into that perimenopausal phase of my life—where nothing seems real but also feels terrifying. A symptom I experienced—one that was completely new and brought me intense anxiety—was frequent and urgent urination. It disrupted my sleep and prompted me to change some of my daily routines. And it scared me by making me feel out of control of my body. Luckily that seemed to pass as I settled into true menopause. On another note: Kudos to your husband for “understanding the assignment.”
It's so scary when we have these unexplained body changes, but there's also a certain comfort in knowing this, too, is a transition that will pass. And re my husband, I've talked about perimenopause so much the last few months, he was ready for it 😂.
Oof. Yes girl, yes. You probably know my story as I wrote a guest post about it on Flucking Flourishing.
https://open.substack.com/pub/fluckingflourishing/p/untethered-and-unapologetic-midlife?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=18pm6g
At the moment, I am in the brain fog stage as well, and low motivation.
Currently taking bio-identical progesterone cream at its strongest mg. Next step up is oral P. No estrogen yet for me. I notice my estrogen swings high some months and low estrogen is more common once periods start skipping altogether.
In fact last month my boobs hurt so bad I got back on DIM/CDG, a supplement I stopped taking and within days no breast pain and still no breast pain.
You are right, we have to be our own experts in us and our own advocates.
In good news, my tennis elbow (random peri symptom) just cleared up. Not completely, but enough to be able to write lists again! Lol
Brain fog and couldn't write a list. Not a good combo. Lol
What helps me the most is having a dear friend in the thick of it too, and together we lament and then laugh at the unraveling. What else can we do? 😆
Thanks for sharing that link! I take so much comfort in all of the women here who've shared similar stories. We really are a tribe here on Substack.
Im 45 and I went into peri changes at 40. Please God let this be over with before 50. It's like the longest pregnancy ever!
🤞
So glad you got some relief from other challenges and sorry to hear the brain fog hasn't lifted.
We're almost exactly the same age, I'm definitely struggling with *a lot* of perimenopause symptoms, too (Too complicated to go into here, but HRT isn't an option for me).
Thanks for sharing openly about all of this and for not making it seem like HRT is a miracle cure for all the things.
Definitely not a cure for everything and not right for all women. I know there's this sort of extreme faction of midlife women who are pushing hormones as the cure for everything, but there are many women who just can't take them. And it should be a choice, not a requirement.
What I find extremely frustrating is that we're told a menopause test is impossible because of how much hormones fluctuate at any given time. OK, if that's the case, why can't we measure the fluctuations and use that as a marker? (I asked Dr. Jen on her substack and she didn't reply.) Akin to an A1C test for diabetes, versus a glucose spot check.
I wonder that too. It's like we need a monitoring system where we see our averages each day and then track them over time. I use Clue to monitor my cycles and they average together they last 6 months of cycles to show the length of cycle, number of days, etc., so it would be a more robust version of that.
Yes, but I need a blood test version. I had my uterus removed (due to adenomyosis/endometriosis) but I have my ovaries. So, I have no period or cramps to clue me, but I still have the hormones. Fun!
Oh, that makes sense. We can dream. Maybe 10 years from now ...
This very morning, after waking up anxious after a dream, I realised that I haven’t been waking up anxious *as standard* since starting HRT. Hadn’t even realised.