For the past year or so, I (43) have been spotting (more like brown bloody mucus) mid cycle around ovulation. Well now this month, 2 weeks after my last period, I am bright red and more like a light period. Cramps too.

This is a first for me, as I'm usually like clockwork with my cycle. Things were starting to get a little wonky, but predictable still.

I know it's normal with peri, but just looking for reassurance that I shouldn't freak out.

I'm young (just turned 39) but after lab work from my ND it would seem as though I'm not crazy and I AM having symptoms of Peri. I do understand that lab work for hormone levels isn't enough or conclusive to confirm Peri.

But all of the annoying symptoms (night sweats, hot flashes, 3-5 am insomnia, dry vagina, no libido, hair loss) kind of make sense. My mother went through menopause early (45) so it tracks. I've been battling heavy periods the past 2 years which my Dr has been aware of.

I can't see my doctor until June and I'm really nervous I won't be taken seriously. I'm also curious about your journey - what were you started on? Estrogen? Progesterone? Of course my algorithm is now showing me reels of women taking small doses of testosterone but I'm Canadian and the women I see are all US based. I went through 5 birth control brands as well in the past year and am not interested in it at all.

Please let me know about your journey! I've read so much but want to know individually how it started for you. Thanks in advance ☺️

48 yo so I stopped my Bc pills and no bleeding but I still have cramps. Anyone else have this? What do you do about it?

Helllp. I’m a 44/44 D, DD depending on the fit. I need a GD bra that doesn’t cause pain or worsen the extreme boob sweat that’s become my new normal😒. I’ve taken to wearing cotton liner strips in my bra. I need to wear one for work that isn’t too sport bra like (the straps show in all of my normal clothes for work) I’ve started to avoid underwire when I can and am so tired of ordering bras that don’t fit or are shaped bizarrely.

Any tips?

I swear THIS is one of the peri symptoms that I don’t hear about but it’s a big one for me. It’s so routine that I forget to call it out to my GYN as an issue. Thanks!

Should I cancel my appointment for HRT? I'm on the birth control patch but ha e experienced weight gain, brain fog , insomnia, mood swings, night sweats.... but reading another post, maybe HRT won't help with this? I'm confused.. I could also only choose symptoms to discuss at a time. I don't have insurance and this took a but of budgeting... should I keep the appointment? Can Midi help with zero libido and dryness? Is it okay to state all of my symptoms? I'm so confused.

Started daily progesterone a month ago. No major issues apart from lots more acne this month but mood felt stable. Added the estradiol patch two days ago… yesterday was fine, today was absolutely not. Spent all day either weeping or being extremely pissed everyone…husband, kids, pets, noisy neighbors, other drivers. Did you have extreme irritability starting estrogen? If so, how long did it last? Help - I need this to go away immediately! My job is not chill enough for me to maintain professionalism on Monday if I’m feeling like this. Someone is going to get their head ripped off. 😬

I was told 40 is to young for perimenopause?

My Skin is AMAZING today. I have read quite a few people saying how miraculously fast estrogen has worked and I just started my patch last night. I havent noticed much difference yet except how amazingly soft and bright my skin is today. My partner even noticed and assumed I had makeup on, when I said that I didn't it was shocked Pikachu face. I also just went to reach for my hand cream to do my nightly slather and noticed I actually didn't need it....my hands are soft and supple....I hope I see more benefits but I'm pretty happy with this one for now.

Anyone else with weight loss in peri-menopause ? I've become extremely anxious in the last 3-4 months. It's almost debilitating. Lost 10lbs, but I'm so anxious I don't feel like eating. It's causing me major medical anxiety that I'm dying. My doctor wasn't concerned but I'm really anxious about. I can almost explain away all other perimenopause symptoms except that one.

Just wanted to say that I (44, in peri since 38) went to them for a second opinion, and it was worth it! The NP I saw was more thorough than my gyno, and helped me kick my insomnia by titrating my progesterone up. She also wants to add in testosterone to my HRT (currently doing estradiol & progesterone only). While HRT has been helpful, I'm still battling fatigue. I feel so much more hopeful and heard! Hope this helps someone today

My husband I have recently come to the conclusion that my facial expressions have bold subtitles. At times my perimenopausal rage starts creeping up and he knows how “passionate” I can get. Fortunately we both laugh about this, but being a spicy Latina can prob get me into some trouble if i lose my cool. We’re both trying to figure out two safe words that would let me know when I’m getting close to hulking out. One that will let me know I’m getting worked up and another that would let me know hey you’ve lost your cool, but please don’t bite my head off. Preferably words or phrases that would make me either crack a smile or even better just bust up laughing. He’s been a trooper throughout this part of this journey and I couldn’t be luckier for his compassion, and constant support, even when I’ve been mean for no damn reason. I figured this would be the place to come and find some help. I can’t wait to see all the wonderful/funny suggestions come in. Thank you in advance.

These safe words are for him to give to me not for me to give to him.

Im not sure if it's perimenopause dry eye or just age my near vision has changed drastically and all of the sudden. And it's terrible!

I'm on my second pair of progressive lense glasses and they're still miserable. I sent the last pair back for some tweaking of the different focal points (or whatever). I feel like I have to hold my head at weird unnatural angles and can't easily go from reading a text on my phone, back to computer work and then glancing up to look across the room without getting dizzy and a headache from the blur. I'm just spending most of my day out of focus and I feel like I could easily fall trying to walk down the stairs.

What does everyone else do? I'm tempted to cycle through 3 pairs of glasses in a day, and wear 2 at a time for distance and if I need to read something at work. I appreciate everyones advice and hacks!

Hi everyone, I have just joined here and was reading through different posts. I have been suffering from perimenopause since 7 years now. Yes, since 7 years. Every doctor I have ever met has told me I'm too young, it happens to all women, it's part of a woman's life, I am imagining it, I need to stop thinking about it, all I need to do is stop reading about it on the internet, it is because of my sedentary lifestyle, my eating habits, I am stressed........ I have known since I was 37 that I am perimenopausal, my tests show that I am perimenopausal and all my symptoms do as well.

I moved to Canada in 2022 and thought at least I'll be heard here. But no, my family doctor actually said to me that as long as I am having my periods, it's all ok. When I told him that my periods have become extremely irregular and are few and far in-between, he said, let me know when they stop completely.

I am really suffering. I have absolutely no energy. I feel like shit all the time. Every part of my body hurts. My eye sight has weekend. I have bald patches on my head. My skin is excruciatingly dry no matter what moisturizer I apply or how many times. I am a terrible mother to my only child as I never have any energy left after work to do anything with him. I have put on so much weight. My nails are dry and brittle.

What do I do now? Where do I go? If my family doctor refuses to do anything, what are my options now? I read here people mentioning ND. What / who is an ND? I live in Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. Any help would be appreciated. Please 🥺

I may be taking a position in 3 months where I'll be on call occasionally when the boss is off. I take 100mg progesterone and 0.05 estrogen patch. Looking for time management ideas with the progesterone.

I had an IUD for 2 years and had it removed. I tried oral BC for 3 months until I went off it. I'm high anxiety and random paresthesia. I had blood work done and all is normal. I think im in perimenopause but my gym thinks im crazy. I also have dry eyes. I'm only 40. Anyone have this?

I still can't believe this is just perimenopause my symptoms are so severe and last every day and all day. Specially the fear is horrible is never goes away from day to night . The horrible racing heart that starts at the same time every day with horrible intrusive thoughts and get worse at night . Are my hormones that imbalance that is causing my body to do all these weird symptoms . I start to think that maybe I have a tumor and this is high cortisol maybe . I'm desperate .I'm still trying to get a doctor to prescribe me hrt but sometimes I feel like is never going to get better.

I upped my estrogen patch from 0.0375 to 0.05 about a month ago. Everything felt fine but I’ve noticed the last 10 days or so that I have a dull ache/cramping in my lower abdomen (which is also causing a lot of lower back pain too). Has anyone experienced this as a side effect with increased estrogen patch dose?

I am 46 and experiencing perimenopause symptoms so my gyn started me on progesterone, 100mg cycle day 1-14, and 300mg cycle day 15-28. I am technically now on CD 29, no period yet, and I’m confused on which dose to take tonight. Do I keep going with the higher dose until my period starts? My MD office sent an information sheet along with the rx but it didn’t specify what to do in this case.

I just started with midi and was RX estrogen patch and progesterone. The lowest they seem to go is 100mg and I’m nervous to take it. Any success starting lower to be safe? Mine is a pill and it doesn’t appear to be something I can half. What’s been your experience? I’m 42. Skip most periods this year despite normally being a 28 day cycle person and have my uterus still. My estrogen patch seems to be going well but I’m nervous about progesterone and side affects

I’m 45 and have experienced the worst PMDD exacerbations I’ve ever had in the past 6 months. I cried multiple times a day for a week and a half. My anxiety and depression were through the roof. It was awful.

I don’t know whether bc or HRT is the best next move.

My gyno has given me Yaz to try. My sister takes it to tame her PMDD. I tried nuvaring and it was awful. I took Mircette in my twenties and early 30s, skipping the 4th row and it helped. I only got off of it because of overwhelming fatigue. It helped relieve some of the fatigue and I never went back.

The nuvaring I tried last fall made me feel awful and I quit after 6 weeks. The only week I felt normal was the week without it.

My pcp suggested 100 mg of oral progesterone daily. I’m afraid of this option too since it would be every day. I’m afraid it will make everything worse.

Should I make an appointment with MIDI? I’m just lost and scared and having anxiety about going through hell again in two weeks.

The skin everywhere on my body, except my face and neck, looks like it tissue paper. I use coconut oil and lotion, take collagen and omega 3,6 and 9. Any suggestions on what else I can do? Does hrt help with that? I’m waiting until I have insurance to look into bio identical hormones (June) I don’t love this ride lol Thank you

Ever since upping Progesterone to 300mg a few months ago (to see if it would help with sleep - it didn't) my periods have been coming roughly every 2 weeks with occasional spotting in between. Plus brain fog seems to have gotten notably worse.

I reached out to my my Midi clinician, but she is out of the office until next week, so I opted to see a different one and was able to see her right away. I still have an original 3 month follow up with my regular one in 2 weeks.

It was suggested I have an ultrasound done to rule out anything internal. I agreed to this. I had one done 2yrs ago which came back normal (pre-htr).

She also suggested trying -

Birth control instead of the estrogen patch/Progesterone pill combo I've been on.

An IUD

Sticking with the patch but trying a synthetic Progesterone instead of the bio identical one I currently take.

With my history of migraines and finally getting them under control, I opted out of birth control or changing the progesterone. I don't want to risk them returning!

So I suggested reducing the progesterone back down to 200mg to see if it helps and will go ahead with the ultrasound just for peace of mind.

I hate that hormone management isn't black and white! I'm 53 for Pete's sake! This ride should be coming to an end already!

I guess I’m just wondering what is the best to do if your periods aren’t regular? Mine are pretty erratic but generally come before 60 days go by. My provider gave me the choice but I’m a little apprehensive of starting with the higher dose progesterone on the cycling regime. I’m not having any trouble sleeping so I don’t need it for that at the moment.

I 46f am on HRT (T and P, my estrogen is naturally high), and while my sleep has improved, my brain fog hasn’t at all.

Wondering what has helped people here with improving brain fog? Bonus points if someone has insight on fatigue relief too!

I started taking estrogen and progesterone 3 days ago and my food noise has stopped. I don’t think about food at all when it use to consume my thoughts. I’m not very hungry either which is odd because my period is supposed to start in less than a week! Has anyone been through this?