Is This Perimenopause? | The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans LLC

0

My body has been doing some strange things lately, and I’ve begun to wonder if I’m entering the perimenopause zone.

  • I am gaining weight.
  • I want to eat all the salty things, all day long.
  • TMI alert: My period has shortened from an ever constant 28 days for the past 25 years to 21-25 days.  And this last go ’round was only two weeks.  This sucks as much as you think it might.
  • My hormones are all over the place. I am angry. I am impatient. I cry. I am happy. I am sentimental.  I cry.  You name it- I am IT. I am a HOT MESS.
  • Speaking of hot, I am hot.  No hot flashes but I just feel warm all the time, especially when I get out of bed in the morning. I have to crank the AC down for about 30 minutes and then I am fine.  Yes, I know it’s Summer but this has been going on for a few months.  What’s up with that?
  • I feel tired all of the time. That’s not true, but I just feel like I have less energy and tonight at bedtime, my middle child quipped at me: Mom, you are ALWAYS tired.

I turned 43 years old in May.

Am I already starting menopause?

Hold on…..let me check Dr. Google.

This is what WebMD had to say about Perimenopause.

Women in perimenopause have at least some these symptoms:

  • Hot flashes
  • Breast tenderness
  • Worse premenstrual syndrome
  • Lower sex drive
  • Fatigue
  • Irregular periods
  • Vaginal dryness; discomfort during sex
  • Urine leakage when coughing or sneezing
  • Urinary urgency (an urgent need to urinate more frequently)
  • Mood swings
  • Trouble sleeping

Apparently, it is definitely in the realm of possibilities that I have begun menopause, also known as peri-menopause.  Of course, I am not going to solely rely on Dr. Google and WebMD.  I will be placing a call to my woman doctor to set up an appointment as soon as I can.  I am overdue in that department- yay for for pap smears and mammograms (related: sarcasm).  Before anyone beats me up on being behind on this all important yearly appointment, I am right on time for my mammogram (have one every year since turning 40) and I only skipped last year on the pap smear front.  See- not *too* bad.

I love being a woman but sometimes being a woman can suck it.

You can take that all the way to the bank.

Speak to me, all ye women oF menopaus-ing age.  Go ahead, diagnose me over the internet.  Have I started the *change*?  What else do I have to look forward to?

As in any difficult situation I encounter, I ask myself, is this any worse or harder than giving birth twice naturally, with no drugs?

Nah.  I can handle it although my husband might not be able to handle my mood swings.

Soldier on, fierce women.

(Visited 1,235 times, 1 visits today)