Perimenopause - perimenopause? What's that? I have to confess I had never ever heard of the term. Of course we've all heard of menopause and know what that is - the time in a woman's life when monthly periods finish and she sails happily into old age (ha ha). But perimenopause?
Perimenopause I now know can start up to ten years earlier than menopause and if you're like me it will hit you like a ten ton truck. Of course because I had no knowledge of it at the time I just thought I was falling apart both physically and mentally. The weirdest thing is that doctors don't seem to make the connection between symptoms we present with and perimenopause.
I went to my doctor at about the age of 42 to tell him my periods had become strange - heavier than usual. He promptly sent me off for investigations which resulted in me having to undergo an investigative procedure under general anaesthetic (which revealed precisely zilch as there was nothing wrong with me apart from the normal perimenopause process).
At the same time I had noticed I had started to lose hair - a lot of it. Every day loads of it was coming out in the shower and whenever I brushed. It was scary. Once again, my doctor sent me off to see a specialist who told me it was something called telogen effluvium (the hair doesn't stay on your head as long as normal) - but yet again no connection to perimenopause was made.
Then there was the urticaria - regular attacks of itchy wheals breaking out all over my body. This time I was sent to see an immunologist who felt I may have an allergy to tree pollens. Fortunately one of his colleagues happened to mention thyroid testing and Iow and behold I was found to have an auto-immune thyroid condition. All of this within the space of a couple of years. What on earth was happening to me. It was very stressful.
Next came Rosacea - spots erupting all over my face and very red cheeks that burned. I had NEVER suffered with spots at all, even in my teens, so this in my 40s???? Still no-one was suggesting perimenopause.
Throughout all this time I was feeling anxious and jittery.I was also having random aches and pains in my joints, sometimes I felt that I was aching everywhere. I just put it down to having to try to cope with full time work whilst undergoing all this poor health.
I didn't actually go through menopause until 10 years after all of this started. I wanted to write this because I feel so many women suffer needlessly because they simply aren't aware that even a small change in hormonal status can make HUGE difference to your health.
I hope that by writing this some who read it will feel comforted and will be inspired to go and do their own research on this often bewildering stage of a woman's life called the perimenopause. Oh and by the way, it does pass, but it can take a long time.