11 Comments

An excellent article thank you. A recent visit to my male gynae, I mentioned the aches and pains I am experiencing and questioned whether they were signs of peri menopause and he replied that he got them too and was certainly not in menopause!! It was a good reminder of aging-pause. I believe so much work needs to be done in women's health (exclusive of men) but sometimes a few reminders that our experiences are across the board would be so helpful too.

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Yes it’s hard to disentangle the two except for hot flashes. And most often hormones can rev things up that may already be an issue. Thanks Frances!

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Oct 22Liked by Maryann Jacobsen

Great post! It feels to me like the big disconnect is between all the possible symptoms related to peri and menopause and the timing. Most women have no clue they can start as early as they do. If I had known then what I know now, I would have been looking out for symptoms, testing sooner and treating them much earlier.

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I think this is a watch out because the symptoms could have other reasons which is why looking elsewhere first makes sense. Especially for women still cycling. For instance, I thought my anxiety and palpitation were from peri but I was iron deficient. So just need to look holistically at it. Thanks for the comment?

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Well done! It's amazing that you brought up the nervous system because it's such a fundamental aspect of our functioning yet little discussed. Personally, I used to take my nervous system for granted until I understood more about it and was impacted by the changes you mentioned. Midlife is more than menopause and menopause is more than the cessation of periods.

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Well said. Thank you!!

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Thank you for the detailed information! When I go to my ON she doesn’t mention anything, even though I think I’m in perimenopause.

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I meant GYN

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They rarely do unfortunately.

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We are overlooked! There's a dearth of information about women from ages 50-65. It's incredible how little there is to go on.

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Yep. Thanks Liz!

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