{"id":46989,"date":"2014-03-24T00:30:07","date_gmt":"2014-03-24T07:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/?p=46989"},"modified":"2016-05-31T15:13:05","modified_gmt":"2016-05-31T22:13:05","slug":"perimenopause-symptoms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/perimenopause-symptoms\/","title":{"rendered":"Womens&#8217; Health: I&#8217;m a 35-Year-Old Mess Thanks to Perimenopause Symptoms!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I don&#8217;t usually write about women&#8217;s (or my) health but this was something I thought others could benefit from.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-47120\" alt=\"Stressed woman - possibly perimenopause symptoms #health\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/woman-stress-01.jpg\" width=\"650\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/woman-stress-01.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/woman-stress-01-292x117.jpg 292w, https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/woman-stress-01-585x234.jpg 585w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It has been so weird lately. My moods are all over the place with me crying during dog food commercials and choking up while explaining The Voice &#8216;battle rounds&#8217; to my daughter. Pathetic, right? Then, there are the hot flashes. I&#8217;ll suddenly break into a sweat several times a day, regardless of where I am or what I&#8217;m doing. I&#8217;ve also had a hard time sleeping, headaches, weight gain, memory loss, etc. It basically seemed like I was going crazy and was constantly having PMS. I even hit several &#8216;breaking points&#8217; over the past few weeks due to all the changes.<\/p>\n<p>I was telling my mom about this and jokingly said that I must be going through menopause. Then, she dropped the bomb:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;You know, there is something like a pre-menopause you can get in your 30&#8217;s . . .&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What?! Are you serious?! I hurriedly hopped online to see if this was so. Yet again my mom was right.<\/p>\n<h3>35 Perimenopause Symptoms<\/h3>\n<p>So, between getting your first period (premenopause) and getting your last one (menopause), there&#8217;s a stage called perimenopause.\u00a0<span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">According to <\/span><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.webmd.com\/menopause\/guide\/guide-perimenopause\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">WebMD<\/a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">, perimenopause is when &#8220;when the ovaries gradually begin to produce less estrogen&#8221;. While this typically hits later in life, women, like me, are special enough to experience it in their 30s.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theperimenopauseblog.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Perimeopause Blog<\/a>\u00a0(yes, there&#8217;s actually an entire blog about it), there are about 35 symptoms associated with perimenopause . . . and I&#8217;m dealing with about 26 of them:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-47111\" alt=\"Hot flashes - Menopause \/ perimenopause woman in front of fan #perimenopause\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hot-flash-perimenopause-01.jpeg\" width=\"468\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hot-flash-perimenopause-01.jpeg 468w, https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hot-flash-perimenopause-01-292x210.jpeg 292w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hot flashes, flushes,\u00a0night sweats\u00a0and\/or cold flashes, clammy feeling<\/li>\n<li>Irregular heart beat<\/li>\n<li>Irritability<\/li>\n<li>Mood swings, sudden tears<\/li>\n<li>Trouble sleeping through the night (with or without night sweats)<\/li>\n<li>Irregular periods; shorter, lighter periods; heavier periods, flooding; phantom periods, shorter cycles, longer cycles<\/li>\n<li>Loss of libido<\/li>\n<li>Dry vagina<\/li>\n<li>Crashing fatigue<\/li>\n<li>Anxiety, feeling ill at ease<\/li>\n<li>Feelings of dread, apprehension, doom<\/li>\n<li>Difficulty concentrating, disorientation, mental confusion<\/li>\n<li>Disturbing memory lapses<\/li>\n<li>Incontinence, especially upon sneezing, laughing; urge incontinence<\/li>\n<li>Itchy, crawly skin<\/li>\n<li>Aching, sore joints, muscles and tendons<\/li>\n<li>Increased tension in muscles<\/li>\n<li>Breast tenderness<\/li>\n<li>Headache change: increase or decrease<\/li>\n<li>Gastrointestinal distress, indigestion, flatulence, gas pain, nausea<\/li>\n<li>Sudden bouts of bloat<\/li>\n<li>Depression<\/li>\n<li>Exacerbation of existing conditions<\/li>\n<li>Increase in allergies<\/li>\n<li>Weight gain<\/li>\n<li>Hair loss or thinning, head, pubic, or whole body; increase in facial hair<\/li>\n<li>Dizziness, vertigo, light-headedness, episodes of loss of balance<\/li>\n<li>Changes in body odor<\/li>\n<li>Electric shock sensation under the skin and in the head<\/li>\n<li>Tingling in the extremities<\/li>\n<li>Gum problems, increased bleeding<\/li>\n<li>Burning tongue, burning roof of mouth, bad taste in mouth, change in breath odor<\/li>\n<li>Osteoporosis (after several years)<\/li>\n<li>Changes in fingernails: softer, crack or break easier<\/li>\n<li>Tinnitus: ringing in ears, bells, \u2018whooshing,\u2019 buzzing etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">I just turned 35 years old a few months ago! That&#8217;s just wrong! (What is it with perimenopause and the number 35?) I&#8217;m doomed to decades of this awful perimenopause, and who know how many years of menopause after that. It&#8217;s all downhill from here, huh?<\/span> <span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">And, while I&#8217;m heading toward the end of my cycle, my daughter is just starting hers.\u00a0<\/span>Ugh &#8211; why, oh why, is it so tough being female?!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-47108\" alt=\"Lady going crazy from perimenopause hot flashes #menopause\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/crazy-lady-01.jpeg\" width=\"240\" height=\"210\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Now What?<\/h3>\n<p>Now that I know what I have been experiencing, there&#8217;s a lot to be done. First off, I&#8217;ll need to go to the doctor to see if this self-diagnosis is right and if the falling estrogen levels are affecting anything else. It&#8217;s also important I do better at improving my diet and exercising every day.<\/p>\n<p>So far, the following sources look promising on suggestions on how to lessen, or at least cope, with this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theperimenopauseblog.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Perimeopause Blog<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.suzannesomers.com\/pages\/i-m-too-young-for-this\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">I&#8217;m Too Young For This! by Suzanne Somers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.34-menopause-symptoms.com\/perimenopause.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">34 Menopause Symptoms &#8211; Perimenopause<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Have you experienced any of these yet? Do you have any suggestions for me?<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I don&#8217;t usually write about women&#8217;s (or my) health but this was something I thought others could benefit from. It has&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":47111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[151],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Help! Turning 35 to Experience the 35 Perimenopause Symptoms #Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First-hand experience of 28 of the 35 perimenopause symptoms. 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