r/Perimenopause

Hi. Any of you take hormones?? I am 39 yr old and my dr put me on hormones 5-6 months ago because I started having hot flashes.. the hip, join pain and mood swings I had for years I thought was normal and got better once I started taking hrt. 😊 problem is I keep bleeding monthly and my dr keeps telling me i was not supposed to bleed anymore and that it was not normal. I got an ultrasound and everything was normal but the dr keeps stressing me out wanting to do a biopsy 🫠😒.

So.. I went and got a second opinion and this dr told me she thought I was actually taking too much estrogen, I was taking 2mg oral and 200 mg progesterone. Told me I was still producing estrogen and it was not needed it, to just take progesterone.. but if I wanted to still taking it to cut the dose in half, 1mg estrogen. I did it 2 weeks ago and started having hip pain.. luckily the hot flashes haven’t came back.. problem is.. my boobs have been hurting so bad.. like those days when we are about to have our period.. hip and boobs pain.
Is that normal? Or should I get back to her? Could it be possible that I don’t need estrogen?
Anyone taking just progesterone?

So I restarted a low dose of testosterone (about 5mg a week, or less than 1mg a day.) And my Doctor mentioned that I may notice that I need to increase my Oestrogel dose after starting...because they both use the "same receptors." She said I would notice this once I start. I am only about 6 weeks into using the testosterone and on day 23 of my cycle and have noticed some night sweats and hot flashes coming back. I also feel more intense "period flu" leading up to my bleed. A lot more than I ever usually feel. So yes...I definitely noticed and am going to increase. I read online that it's not the same receptors that estrogen and testosterone use, per se. But that they compete for SHBG. Did any of you notice this when starting testosterone? Is this a common thing? Or have any of you noticed this or been told this by your doctors?

Hello, I’m 44 I was prescribed Intrarosa today to be taken vaginally (only available vaginally in Canada) on top of the estrogen patch and progesterone I already take. I had asked to get some testosterone for my zero libido and low motivation but because my blood platelets are a little higher than normal, she didn’t not want to prescribe me testosterone until we know what is causing the high blood platelets since adding testosterone can increase blood clots risks. That’s what she told me, don’t know if it’s true or not. Anyway I just wanted to know what has Intrarosa done for you that’s been great! I was told it won’t do much for my libido but will help with my energy🤷‍♀️ thanks!

The unending repetition of house work, yard work, laundry, shopping,cooking, cleaning. I don't care anymore, its all so stupid.

Everything needs redoing days later. And for what? ??

I've done no research on this but I'm convinced these standards of house and garden were set at a time when people had servants if not actual slaves, not just a woman at home all day.

But even if I ignore it for today, it will eat away at me every time i look or walk past it. Anxiety, guilt, resentment.

Or I can choose to spend the day out doing something in nature, or something fun. Wrangling the kids and husband where they'll possibly whinge or bicker. I'll spend ages trying to decide where, when, how. We'll drive somewhere and end up spending money we don't have. And we will see some nice nature or do something then go home and feel the same. Whats the point of that??

Or I go by myself and avoid that, then feel lonely or guilty they're not there. Or just bored.

Where's my joy gone? Why has my joy gone?? Whats the point of our bodies doing this to us???

I tried HRT it didn't help with this. I tried Ssris it didn't help. I'm on Adrofemme and BC. I'm 45, and I can feel life slipping away. I feel nothing except dissatisfaction with absolutely everything. But I don't know how to help myself.

I just had to share this bizarre experience, because we all need a laugh. I was cleaning my bathroom today, and I noticed a spider in the corner. Although it occasionally creeps me out, I try to maintain a live-and-let-live relationship with non-venomous spiders inside, so I just bent down to clean around it gently. It was then that I noticed that the spider had incorporated a piece of the stiff plastic backing of my HRT patch into its web and was sitting on it like a little platform! I decided to let it be, knowing that my HRT trash was now apparently helping a gal from another species!

Are you forgetting words? Are you walking into a room to get something and forgetting what? Does the brain fog come and go depending where you are in your cycle or is it constant?

I dont know if what I am experiencing is just brain fog or something more. I do have the above but also not being able to focus or follow or retain information in conversations. For example my husband has rehearsals for a music performance tomorrow. I asked him no less than 4 times today what time the rehearsal was. The first 3 times I zoned out or got distracted. The forth time I was so embarrassed that I knew I had to retain the info. Before I started HRT, I went to make rice with dinner and put dog food in the pan instead. I have also been known to put leftovers on towel drawers and other places that are not the refrigerator.

My executive functioning is gone. Decisions such as picking out something to wear or making a meal plan for the week can feel very heavy and difficult somedays. I am overstimulated easily. If I go to the grocery store and say, Target I must go home after and decompress for hours before doing anything else outside of the house. I haven't been able to work in two years and I want to. I just think I would be doing any company a disservice while I am still dealing with this.

I am 44 . I am already on HRT. I started at .05mg estrogen to .075 a few months ago. The increase has helped somewhat. I am no longer storing leftover food in places it doesn't belong but my brain still feels so cloudy, almost like my brain is drunk all the time. It'ss scary. I feel like I have dementia. Is this normal?

Combed through a few other posts on this topic and realized much of the conversation was about libido. However, I wanted to hear more stories pertaining to energy increase instead.

My fatigue and energy levels have been so debilitating for years now and I have tried literally everything in attempt to return to my old self. It's gotten so bad that I haven't been able to work a full time job. And I don't have a spouse or anyone who can pay my bills for me so I have to figure this out asap or else...

Last year a little over a year ago, my perimeno doc made it sound like she was open to prescribing testosterone for perimenopause but at my appt a couple days ago, she expressed way more skepticism about it then I was expecting. She even stated that she now believes that women's testosterone levels simply don't change/fall during menopause...that they don't change until much later, like 60s or later. I'm 48.

Apparently she had just went to a conference that shared some data or study or something about testosterone in women... and I don't know if it's solely due to this event she went to, or if there were other factors, but its crazy to see how much her opinion seemed to change in just one yrs' time.

Nevertheless, I was adamant. We talked around it for a bit but I didn't hesitate to point out there isn't even enough research, period, on the subject, and she didn't disagree.

After that, she ordered a blood panel and agreed that if my T was low enough, we could give it a try.

Within hours of that convo, I got a prescription, and I've started this new journey today.

As such, I'd like to hear other ppl's experiences and how it impacted their energy and brain fog, either positively or negatively.

Please share your stories, if you have them. TIA!

Edit to add: Looked for a flair option for fatigue/low energy but there wasn't one. Suggestion to mods to add? Or adjust the brain fog one to include fatigue?

Why is everything suddenly soo soo loud? T.v is loud. Any kinda background music in scene make my ears hurt.

I've turned down the car radio . Went for karaoke and I hates how loud it was and now shall keep noise cancelation earplugs

Oh I went to see Avengers encore and I thought my eardrums were gonna blow up. Its like I can feel the sound waves hitting my eardrums. Mid 40s.

Is this a shared vow or am I finally a special medical miracle? Its frwaking annoying because its starting to be annoying to tell my partner to stop screaming.

Has anyone been diagnosed with sleep Apnea once they started transitioning to Perimenopause?

While I’m glad a (very) few medical professionals have made the connection between hormones and itchy ears in perimenopause, it also has got me really mad that it’s so widely unknown/unaccepted as a possibility across the medical community.
 
I’ve never had any ear problems but 1.5 years ago, my ears started itching like crazy and haven’t stopped since. It’s so bad that I’ve been treated for multiple infections, and have developed frequent weeping from the skin. I’ve seen over 8 ENTs and dermatologists (whom most are “one trick ponies”), and none (including my gynecologist) will admit the possibility of hormones having anything to do with it.
 
As if I just developed this unknown mysterious condition out of nowhere. There’s no doubt in my mind this is hormonally driven because the itching becomes more intense in luteal when estrogen drops. None of these doctors knows what the hell to do and they refer me back and forth to each other so they don’t have to help me. They give up on me after they try the same meds that the other doctors already tried and failed, rather than being a real doctor and trying to get to the bottom of it. The medical system has failed me on a personal level, while they’ve failed all women in this time of life.
 
I partly just need to vent but also want to see if there might be anyone else on this planet who is dealing with a life-consuming level of ear itching with additional symptoms?

American ladies battling with docs re iron levels: the ASH has set new guidelines for the diagnosis of iron deficiency as of September 2026. For adults and menstruating individuals, the threshold for iron deficiency is now below 30. See article link for more info.

https://www.hematology.org/newsroom/press-releases/2026/ash-sets-new-standards-for-diagnosing-iron-deficiency

Irritability is driving me over the edge! I HATE feeling this way and the last thing I want to do is hurt the feelings of someone I love when they haven't done anything. It feels like I have really bad PMS all the time. I just need some support from people who get it.

Has anyone reached the point where they just don’t recognize themselves in the mirror and are at the point of chopping off all their hair?!?!

I’m there right now! I have wavy hair under my shoulders/close to the top of my bra strap and am just finding it dry not holding the curl pattern and am seriously thinking of doing something drastic!! 😂😭😂😭😂😂

I am mid 40s, thoroughly perimenopausal, and feeling done.

I am exhausted down to my bones. I cannot take HRT because of my heart and I don't have it in me to keep up the battle anymore. Last night my mom who I have been LC with shut the final door in our relationship, and I feel so alone. I have never felt this weak and this vulnerable before. I have lurked in this sub for a while and have seen such strong women feel toppled by going through this, and my heart aches for those of us who have had to have that strength whether we wanted to or not, only to have it stripped away anyhow.

What does one do when the fight doesn't seem worth it anymore? It was difficult enough before the hormonal bedeviling, before things in the world seeming irrevocably bleak. What do you wonderful women do to keep trudging through?

My GP gave me a script for HRT (progesterone and the gel), but didn’t really elaborate on dosing. From reading this sub and Instagram reels, I’ve discovered that my progesterone dose should/could (?) minim my cycle? Unsure what to do. Do I follow their dosing of one per day or do I cycle it?

My insta reels are also showing Telehealth options (Australia). I would be grateful if any Aussie ladies can share their experiences with any of these options. I’m contemplating using one of these clinics rather than my GP as per my questions above, I’m concerned that my GP may not be across this as well as she could be.

I have been grateful to find a community of people in my shoes who articulate what I feel so alone in and remind me that I am emphatically not alone in feeling overwhelmed, overstimulated, easily irritated and feeling a lack of control over managing these feelings.

My anxiety went into overdrive when I started my estrogen patch and I’ve stopped and while things are better I want to know: what are things that have actually worked to help you manage the mood and emotional side of things when sleep is not guaranteed, and life is chaotic.

Hoping for tips that me and others can benefit from that are must dos that may not fix the problems but manage them better.

So... i just lost my cool with a regular customer who has been a thorn in my side for a couple of years. Always nit picking, being condescending and complaining about things that are not my fault,calling me incompetent to colleagues and generally just being a twat.

We usually communicate by email but today he came in and had a go at me to my face and then ...the rage appeared.

It was physical, i felt a rising heat burning at my feet up my whole body and when it got to my head it felt like it was going to burst from pressure.

I've NEVER felt anything like it.

It felt like it must've looked cartoonish, with my body turning red and steam coming out my ears. It was so visceral, it actually scared me.

Thankfully i didn't say or do anything very bad, I stalked after him and said I'd had enough of him always having a go at me. He just mumbled something and walked off, maybe i looked terrifying..

I almost burst into tears but thankfully didn't. My heart was racing though and I still feel too hot.

Part of me is thankful that i can still feel strongly - anhedonia and all that has been my standard for 2 years now,but yikes i don't ever want to feel that again.

So yeah I have been on everol sequi for 2 months and apart from the need for some more lube than usual.. omg I feel like everything is well more tuned in.

I’m an afab non binary person who has been with my partner for 15 years and it’s like everything now talks to each other.. I’m 39 so I’m early to peri but no one else to talk too about it as my partner sailed through it!

I just went for my labs and at the consult she said I have really low T and Progesterone but that my estrogen was in the solid middle range and gave me an RX for the testosterone cream as well as oral progesterone.
A lot of the posts I am reading include both estrogen and T and progesterone, is anyone else on just 2?

All opinions and experiences welcome!