Women of a certain age...

[smogie]

I would definitely join I’m 59 and thought it was all behind me but unfortunately not

[Darwin73]

Well this is a good idea for a thread; thanks for starting it Carnation. I haven’t had a period in over a year, but still get ‘period pains’ as if I’m about to come on. Also still feel there’s lots of hormones circulating around. Anyone else?

[Carnation]

Darwin, yes! You can still get the emotional and physical feelings at that time of the month even though you don't get the physical period. The tummy bloating, the irritability, feeling tearful. It's not a case of just stopping because there is hormone adjustment and your body has been used to a monthly cycle.

[Carnation]

Smogie, apparently you can get menopausal symptoms for many years after you have stopped your periods.
Everyone is different but up to 20 years is not unheard of.

[Carnation]

Catkins, the emotional ride can be as confusing to us as it is to others.
One minute you may be irritated for no particular reason. It might be a case of snapping with your o/h, maybe even over something years ago or something simple like not putting something. The next minute you could be tearful, then it's all back to normal and everyone's wondering what it is all about.

[Carnation]

Alpacagirl, sleep was a big change for me.
I used to sleep right through the night. Now I wake up in the early hours of the morning, maybe 2am,3am 4am,sometimes all three. It's weird.

[Carnation]

Sel123, that under the breast pain I've had several times over a ten year period. It doesn't come on if I'm lifting or doing a hard task, it might just be a simple movement and I think "what's all that about?" Then I found out it was menopausal related. Although it wouldn't hurt to get it checked out with a GP for peace of mind. I've only just found out that it is listed as a menopausal symptom. I thought I'd pulled a muscle, it's that painful.

[Carnation]

Erin, it is confusing if someone has been diagnosed with anxiety and you have menopausal to go through at the same time. Which one is which? That's why I wanted to start this thread because maybe some of those anxiety symptoms are actually us women going through the change.

[BlueIris]

I'm definitely finding it harder to keep a lid on my anxiety this past year or so.

[Carnation]

Then it could well be menopause in the mix BlueIris.
I've been studying this for sometime and I sort of had a light bulb moment. And it's so easy to blame everything on anxiety. I was amazed to learn the parallels between menopause and anxiety.