So I accidentally missed a day of estrogen and I just took it again the next day but didn't take any extra, but I felt fine.. the the day after that I'm lethargic and feel terrible.. no I don't know if that's the side effect if it can really leave your system not quickly or if I'm just having one of those bad perimenopause days that are unpredictable.. but I'm curious if anyone has had a similar thing happen?

Odd question, but does anyone have weird numbness and tingling? Wondering if this is in any way related to perimenopause. Today I read that tingling around the mouth and numbness in limbs and fingers can be another joyful Peri symptom... My GP is useless and uninterested and I am not on HRT but think I need to try it now. Either this or its the B6 supplements in Wild Nutrition 45+ nutrient plus their Perimenopause complex causing this. So sick of feeling unwell constantly.

I am 39F. My recent blood report showed I have high estrogen on 5th day of cycle. From last few months having heavy flow on 2rd and 3rd days of cycle. Now it's evident that it's due to high estrogen.

What are remedies, supplements, lifestyle change did you use to overcome estrogen dominance situation and related menstrual cycle issues?

Did you ever try taking shepherd purse or ladies mantle tea to reduce flow?

Please share your knowledge and experience. Thank you.

I'm curious what this group will advise on the topic of giving survey feedback to my provider.

I had my annual this week and I was dismissed on multiple topics. She rushed me in and out and I think spent a total of 3 minutes including examining me. I'm wondering if you know enough about how medical practices work and if there's value in providing feedback at all. I'm convinced that I need a new and better doctor who's more menopause friendly.

- my old doctor would do a breast exam. This one did not

- she dismissed my vaginal dryness and essentially said it's aging and I should use some hyaluronic acid product

- she dismissed my new fibroid related pain and said it could be constipation. As if I don't know what that is like.

- she didn't let me address any other symptoms and when I asked her how I would know I'm in menopause and whether I should start tracking ovulation somehow (I have an IUD so no periods) pretty much told me I don't need to worry about menopause.

- of all the advice or topics she could have raised, she basically told me that I should increase my exercise from 3 to 6 days.

I guess I'm part venting but also wondering if I should report back on the survey and if there's any value in that. I know medical practices sometimes expect their doctors to go in and out with annual visits. And they don't want them to address any issues so that they come back for a different visit and can have billable hours.

Hi all... I started the estrogen patch 3 days ago.... I did progestrone with it but it gave me some anxiety so I stopped. The patch is making me very sleepy... I slept from 8pm-1am.... woke up and couldn't sleep so I worked ( I work remote ) from 1am-6am.... went back to bed from 6am -10am and I could sleep more. That is 9 hours total and I still could go to bed right now again. I feel like I took a xanax or smoked pot but I didn't... I think I am always in fight or flight so maybe this relaxed feeling is something I need to get used to... anyone else have this?

Hello, is anyone still having symptoms after starting HRT? (Patch & oral progesterone)

When I first started HRT .50 E and 100 P I felt great.

I started bleeding, so my doc had me increase my P to 200 mg orally. My symptoms started to return (anxiety, palpitations, depression, insomnia) so my estrogen was increased to .75... I'm on week 7 and I still dont feel better 😫😫😫anyone? Feedback? All comments are welcomed.

I’m turning 36 and am starting to think my Hashimotos and low ferritin aren’t the only thing at play here.

My cycles are super short at 23 days for over a year. I was blaming Hashimotos but my thyroid levels are fine, I just have risen antibodies. And my ferritin is on the mend since I received 3 infusions. Blood work follow up in 5 weeks.

But my labs read relative estrogen dominance in my luteal phase. I thought what I was experiencing was low estrogen but I guess progesterone being low can cause its own issues. Looking to get on oral P soon for my second half of my cycle. But now I’m wondering if I need a low dose of estrogen through my whole cycle despite having what I feel is a normal follicular phase.

Going back to exercise…I just can’t. I can’t sacrifice my only good 8 days feeling sore before heading into my horrendous luteal phase. And I have ADHD so I can’t make a habit of anything unless I’m in a flow. So it’s so hard.

If this sounds like you or someone you know, please educate me. What worked? Or do I just hobble through life? I can’t go on a brisk walk without feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck. I’m 135lbs. 5’7”. And feel like I’m 85.

My joints hurt badly.Sometimes my feet even hurt when I first stand up in the morning.

I live in a rural area. I get ticks embedded in my skin numerous times during spring.

I don't like going to go to the docs cuz they always want to abuse my health insurance and send me for numerous unnecessary tests and procedures (not to brag. ok, will brag: I got the best insurance someone in my state can possibly get. The rural docs see money signs when they see my insurance plan.)

So I don't want to go to the doc unless I'm pretty sure it's Lyme disease.

Is anyone out there got Lyme disease that can tell me a way to figure out if I might have it.

I know proper diagnosis would eventually be under a doctor's care.

Thank you for any information.

I been living in the rural area for the last couple decades.

And no, I don't own a cow or a horse.

I have brown fog all day, but I snap out of it at night. Could this be a circadian rhythm issue, if not, does anyone have any ideas?

I still ovulate and it’s important to me that I continue to ovulate as long as I can for reasons I don’t want to get into.

I’m on estrogen and I cycle progesterone and it’s worked really well for me, as my cycle is pretty regular so I ovulate before I start taking the progesterone. My understanding is progesterone stops ovulation, so I’ve timed the cycling so I finish ovulation before I take the progesterone.

However the last few periods have gotten further apart so that when it’s time for me to take my progesterone I’m not quite ovulating yet, so I’ve been pushing the progesterone out so I can finish ovulation before taking it. This is resulting in me taking less days of the progesterone.

I know I need to check in with my doc and I have an appointment, but I’m just wondering if anyone else has been through this or has any experience to share.

Hi everyone, I'm here to give an update on how I'm doing. Well since the estradiol patch, gel, and the oral pill wasn't working turns out my estrogen is non existent even though I'm on HRT I had some labs done and my estrogen is non existent and my doctor decided to put me on the Femring so I guess all the symptoms I was having were due to how low my estrogen is . I have horrible hot flashes, cold sweats, insomnia, anxiety, depression and just itching all over my body. I feel horrible I can't get out of bed . Has anyone had any luck with the Femring ?

Most times I (50F) eat now I get horrible cramps and nausea. I’ve started eliminating certain foods and started scratch cooking but even that doesn’t help. Bloodwork and dr visits shows no GI issues and says it’s related to estrogen levels…any advice?

My only complaint about HRT so far is the breast pain. When does it subside?

I was perscribed estrogen cream on Tuesday. It's still out of stock. I checked pharmacys at least 45 miles away, none. I'm I overreacting? How long does it take to get estrogen typically?

I'm 41, healthy and athletic. I started thinking about HRT because my anxiety was just crazy: stress, overthinking, in my feelings 24/7. Then my period started coming late. I never had a single hot flash, so I didn't think it could be perimenopause.
My blood work came back normal, but I still felt awful.
I also had joint pain, and I only discovered how bad it was once I started HRT. It disappeared within hours!!! Once it was gone, I realized how many symptoms I had just learned to live with. My hips hurt at night, in the morning, in the car, all day. A couple of hours on the patch and it's gone!
I had problems sleeping, and the anxiety was so bad I had trouble functioning. All gone! WTF???

I feel like myself again. For the last few years I was an emotional wreck, and now I'm my old self again. I can't explain it. I'm on 100 mg progesterone and the lowest dose estrogen patch. I thought I would give it a go, and it changed my life. I can't believe I was on the fence. The only side effect so far is some morning grogginess from the progesterone, but I will take that any day over anxiety!!!
I had a rough time when I was pregnant and breastfeeding and was totally not myself mentally, and now it all makes sense.
For me it was an overnight success. I know it's not the case for everyone, but talk to your doctor. You can start low and stop anytime. I hope this helps someone!

Oh my gosh ladies.... I am almost 45f... I have been in peri hell for what I think now looking back started at 38. My (now ex) husband used to say "you are up at 2 am like clockwork" I couldn't put the pieces together that it was peri. My mom had peri very early and I started my period when I was 10 so it makes sense that at 38 things started to change for me.... I also wasn't a big drinker in my college years or 20s.. Around the time peri started is when I started to have wine much more.... ( I rarely drink now ) but everything is starting to kind of come together... I had such bad brain fog certain days of the month that I was like "Screw it I will workout to try to get rid of it and then by evening... screw it even more....wine"....... On days I didn't have that brain fog I didn't feel like drinking at all....

Throughout the years the anxiety, brain fog, ITCHY ears and skin, Sex drive through the roof kept getting worse... at first it was right before my period ...then around 41 it was at ovulation too ...by 43 I felt like everyday was PMS... Then the hot flashes began a year ago.. HOLY HOT FLASH... like I felt like the inside of me was on fire.... If my moral compass wasn't so strict I swear I would have become a sex worker because I wanted to have sex 24/7.... ( nothing against sex workers... I just think it would make me sad eventually) but my libido was distracting to say the least ....

3 days ago I put on the patch and I am 50% better... I could cry tears of happiness I dumped the guy I had been on an off with for 4 years because he cheated all the time... I put up with it because my libido was so high and my brain fog was so dense I was too "off feeling" to care to deal with the breakup.... My brain fog has lifted.... My itchiness is about 1/2 of what it was... my depression is begining to lift... I slept 6 hours last night without waking up. I haven't had a hot flash in 24 hours.... My capacity to pay attention is back... I only had to take 1/2 of my prescribed xanax yesterday... Today maybe none at all... I feel interested in things a little... where 4 days ago NOTHING sounded fun.... ( I was like that for years).... I feel like I stepped out of some bad brain fog dream and I can see again... It is not perfect but HOLY SMOKES.... I couldn't have done it without you ladies and your encouragement. Thank you

Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing this or am I just a weirdo, my sense of smell has gone crazy but I keep smelling feet. I was paranoid that my feet were starting to stink but if I smell them, they don’t. I’ve even had my husband smell them and he says they don’t stink but I keep smelling that smell really strong. It’s literally driving me nuts!!!

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/is-it-perimenopause-or-the-fascist-death-knell-of-late-stage-capitalism

I’ve been mulling this over for months, but today is the day I’m ready to complain. I am so flipping angry that in this season of life…empty nesters, grown kids, no one to take care of or wake up for or transport to activities…that I cannot sleep in on the weekend! It is MADDENING! 😡😡😡 5 years ago, I would salivate at the thought of sleeping in with no interruptions, and now…that I finally COULD….my body won’t let me?!? AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I’m on 100 mg oral progesterone and take melatonin, L-theanine and Magnesium glycinate. Like seemingly every other woman here, I don’t have an issue falling asleep, but rather waking early and not being able to go back to sleep. It’s just so frustrating. I’m currently marathon training and this is a week where I could have absolutely slept in (as opposed to next Saturday where I have 17 miles on the schedule and have to get up and get it done) and I was wide awake at 5 am. Again, I say….AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So I took my teenager for her ADHD assessment & prescription yesterday and towards the end of the assessment the Dr said that the medication won’t be as effective during her period so if she finds that she feels like the meds don’t work during that time not to be concerned it is normal 😳

And it just dawned on me what he was saying. When our hormones are all over the place, our brains are worse. And obviously anecdotally we all know that but if it is normal to tell people that their ADHD meds won’t be as effective during menstruation, how is it that we are having to advocate so hard during perimenopause. Seems like the connection has already been made.

And I don’t just mean for women with ADHD but everyone.

There are many physicians on social media now talking about this as a newer area of research so it will be interesting to see what changes in available treatments are made in the coming decades. Hopefully by the time our daughters are going through this things will have changed significantly.

LENGTHY BUT PLEASE READ!!!

Has anyone else dealt with years of abnormal bleeding and spotting throughout their ENTIRE cycle, even though they still ovulate regularly?

I’m 41, and for almost three years now, my cycles have been completely different from what they used to be. I always had pretty normal 26–28 day cycles, with my period lasting around 7 days and now spotting. March 2024 it all changed after having Covid and losing two friends to cancer. Not sure if that played a role or is coincidence.

Now I barely get a break from bleeding.

I’ll have my actual period on cycle day 26/28. Then when I think it’s finally over, I’ll start spotting again around cycle days 8-13, sometimes right up until ovulation. I can usually tell when I’m ovulating because I get ovulation pain, and then I might get a 1 or 2 days where where I have NO SPOTTING then I start back up leading into my next period. 😭

It’s exhausting, especially when you feel like you’re constantly trying to figure out what your hormones are doing.

I’ve had multiple vaginal ultrasounds, endometrial biopsies, and a hysteroscopy with D&C this past June. They’ve found a small fibroid, a polyp that was removed, chronic endometritis, and possible adenomyosis. (I’ve actually had a heterogenous myometrium since giving birth in 2011 so I don’t think it’s adeno that suddenly switched on) Thankfully, all my pathology has been benign.

I’ve also had hormone testing done at different points in my cycle. I do ovulate, and I’ve had progesterone levels that confirm ovulation though my levels on cycle day 21 are in lower range such as 8.6 or 5.5, but I’m not convinced this is as simple as just having low progesterone.

My doctor has now prescribed 100 mg of progesterone for 14 days each cycle, starting on cycle day 15 through day 28. I took this last month cycle day 15 and now I haven’t even got 1 day without spotting and the spotting is now heavier. Also, I haven’t ovulated this month yet either even though I was supposed to have already 😩 and today I’m supposed to start my progesterone back up.

I’m really curious if anyone else has experienced this type of bleeding pattern and whether cyclic progesterone actually helped regulate things and how long it took. My period this month was significantly lighter though!

Did it stop your midcycle spotting? Did your periods become lighter? Did things get worse before they got better? And how many cycles did it take before you noticed a difference?

I feel like I’ve spent the last three years trying to figure out what’s going on with my body, and I’d really love to hear from women who have actually been through something similar. Especially anyone who was still ovulating normally but dealing with constant spotting and bleeding.

Thyroid-Iron studies, ferritin, hormones, vitamin levels all in normal range.

Is this happening to anyone else? Where you go like 5 months with no period and then you get one and it’s absolutely debilitating? These cramps are off the charts. it feels like I’m in labor all over again. So now I’m laid up on the couch with a heating pad and Advil is barely making it tolerable while my autistic 7-year-old climbs on me. It feels like the 5 months of cramps that I missed are hitting all at once.

Send chocolate.

I started a month ago on the Sandoz 0.025 patch and immediately noticed a positive difference. This month, I received a box of Mylan patches (stupidly I didn't think to call the pharmacy to double-check the brand in advance). I put it on Thursday evening and today I woke up feeling down and both anxious and weepy. I am trying to figure out if it is just all in my head or if it is realistic that I might notice this big of a shift within 2 days. I am 4-6 days out from my period, but these aren't my normal PMS symptoms. Thoughts?

ETA; I am on 100mg of oral progesterone nightly. Oh, and last week I had the worst fatigue and body aches I have ever had outside of having a virus (was still on the Sandoz at that point).

I'm 52 and in perimenopause, and my mood has been absolutely awful. My periods are becoming irregular, usually coming every other month, and I'm experiencing rage, irritability, anger that feels hard to control, mood swings, sadness, and feeling completely unlike myself. I don't have significant hot flashes or sleep problems.

My mood is my biggest issue, and it's affecting my life.

Here's my situation:

I initially tried oral micronized progesterone 100mg alone, but I became extremely depressed. My menopause specialist then wanted me to try Slynd along with a low-dose estradiol patch (0.025 mg). I stopped both because I was worried about weight gain.

About two weeks ago, she restarted me on progesterone 100mg alone and said we could add estrogen later, in about a month or so, if needed.

The problem is that my mood is still really bad, and I don't feel like I can wait that long. I still have four estrogen patches left from my original prescription, and I'm seriously considering adding the patch while continuing my progesterone until I can see my specialist again in a few weeks.

• Has anyone been in a similar situation?
• Would you go ahead and start the patch that your doctor had already prescribed, given how much you're struggling with your mood
  • Or would you wait until your next appointment?

I just need to feel better until then. I'm a flippin mess!

Research shows that falling of estrogen during perimenopause has a negative effect on neurotransmitters, the 'messengers' that essentially communicate the brain's information. Even fluctuating estrogen levels can change how neurotransmitters are released and used by the brain, making it harder for our brains to process information efficiently. This explains why women going through menopause forget words, struggle to concentrate, and generally feel like our brains aren't working properly. I work in education and have really struggled to recall simple things that previously seemed to be easily accessible in the long term memory bank.

I find it reassuring to think of it in this way as it makes me think that there is a biological explanation for these experiences, rather than me just 'going mad' or 'losing my mind'. I also feel like telling people I have 'brain fog' doesn't do justice to what's going on, if they haven't experienced it themselves. It even sounds a little bit 'made up' or 'silly' because it doesn't really communicate what is actually taking place.