My perimenopausal periods are so bad I want a hysterectomy

Why didn’t anyone warn me about perimenopause? Seriously. When I was 11 years old, a district nurse came to school and spoke frankly and in detail to all the girls about menstruation. Basically it was an idea of ​​what we were going to experience.

No one sat me down and talked to me about perimenopause! At no point did anyone say, “You’re about to go through a second puberty.” I did not receive a PowerPoint or even a leaflet on the subject. I’ve been dealing with my period for 31 years, but I was completely unprepared for this.

I had assumed that when the time came, my period would disappear gracefully. Around 50, they would quietly meet up and leave my life in a calm and orderly manner. After all, they arrived in a fairly simple way.

I’ve looked through the NHS online and the only information there tells me that during perimenopause my periods can become ‘irregular’. Well, I’m not talking about “irregular” periods. I need information on “periods like the Battle of the Somme in perimenopause”, but there is very little information available.

I’ve always had bad PMS, but after years of riding the hormonal tides every month, I thought I had it under control. It sucks but I can deal with it. Abdominal cramps, acne, nausea, headaches, and turning into a swamp beast for a few days every month were completely normal. But something started happening in my late 30s. It felt like the wheels were coming out of my stomach. The bleeding became much heavier and the symptoms of PMS increased significantly. It got so bad that at one point I had to take iron supplements because I was becoming anemic every month.

At 39, perimenopause seemed a million miles away and I didn’t understand why my reproductive system had suddenly chosen violence. I had no other perimenopausal symptoms and my cycles were regular, it’s just that they had become apocalyptic events.

I spoke to Dr Louise Newson, a doctor and hormone specialist, about the worsening of PMS as we age and asked her if it was something she often saw in her menopause clinics. “We see this a lot,” Dr. Newson told me. “Many people experience symptoms of PMS or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) during perimenopause. This is due to a change in hormone levels. If women are sensitive to changes in hormone levels, then as these hormones decrease during perimenopause, they get worse and have more symptoms.

I don’t understand why this information isn’t more widely available. I wish I had known this three years ago when I started wrestling.

It wasn’t until I told my mother about it, and she told me that she had gone through early perimenopause, that things started to make more sense. My poor mother had such severe symptoms that she ended up having a full hysterectomy in her mid-40s.

Her periods became so heavy and debilitating that she had to miss work every month, even though she was not told it was menopause. We just told him “these things happen”. “Things” that ultimately ended with a hysterectomy and HRT. That’s funny.

I asked Dr Newson if a hysterectomy, the removal of the uterus, is still a treatment that would be offered for worsening PMS. “It’s true,” she told me. “But I don’t think it should be done. People think that if hormones are causing the problems, then let’s get rid of them. But in reality, if you get rid of hormones, you just don’t have any hormones in the body, which can make people feel worse, and then you run health risks by not having hormones.

My grandmother also experienced these perimenopausal symptoms in her late 30s. It was the 1960s then and no treatment was offered. She was told to leave and have another baby.

I am now 42 years old and every month I am hostage to my uterus, a little terrorist who has hijacked my body and refuses to enter into any sort of meaningful negotiations. PMS used to last a few days, but now it’s a week with another week to come. Headaches that were once an itchy, buzzing pain behind one eye are now so bad they can put me in bed for days, rejecting painkillers as they are. Bombay mix.

Every joint in me hurts, my limbs are so heavy I feel like I’m glued to the ground, and the rage, oh god, the rage. I can swing the hormonal gantlet from murderous rage to miserable depression in the time it takes me to get more chocolate from the kitchen. I’m bleeding so much I half expect the Red Cross to walk into my living room and declare me a humanitarian disaster zone. And then, suddenly, like magic, everything clears up and I feel normal again, at least for a few weeks anyway.

I was pretty sure it was the work of Satan, but it is actually caused by a drop in the hormones progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone. As women age, we produce less of all of this, and it is this imbalance that can cause the characteristic symptoms of perimenopause and menopause, namely hot flashes, trouble sleeping, mood swings. mood and vaginal dryness. It turns out that low hormones can also make you the girl The ring for two weeks per month.

According to the study, only about 10 percent of people seek medical attention for perimenopausal symptoms, and you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m one of them. I went to the GP for the first time after learning my mother had experienced something similar when she was my age. I was told I was too young to experience perimenopause. Probably the only time a woman doesn’t want to hear these words is when she’s trying to convince a doctor that she has a hormonal imbalance. They also explained that they could not prescribe HRT to relieve PMS.

I was given the combined birth control pill, which is often prescribed to women to combat PMS as well as perimenopausal symptoms. The combination pill contains synthetic estrogen and progesterone at levels so high that the body stops producing its own. It can help regulate hormonal fluctuations by maintaining a regular and consistent intake.

The pill stopped me from bleeding every month, but it didn’t stop the PMS symptoms that accompanied it. The mood swings, debilitating headaches, and terrible fatigue are all still present and getting worse.

I asked Dr. Newson why this treatment wasn’t working. She explained: “Synthetic hormones don’t work the same way. Your body may react to it differently. When I asked what treatment she would recommend for someone in my situation, she said she would prescribe HRT. “You have to treat the underlying cause,” she explained. But I can’t access it on the NHS.

I go back to the GP regularly, but as I’m 42 and don’t have any of the usual symptoms of perimenopause beyond the dreaded PMS, they won’t prescribe me HRT. I was offered the Merina Coil, but this also uses synthetic progesterone. I feel like I’m at the end of my hormonal cycle. Do I really need to wait until I’m older or until things get even worse before I can access HRT on the NHS? As I am under 45, I must be diagnosed with “early menopause” to be able to access HRT. But that won’t happen because my periods are regular and the only symptom I have is terrible PMS.

I am far from alone. Last year, UCLA researchers conducted a study of women ages 40 to 55 and found that “nearly all women talked about having unpredictable periods that accompanied perimenopause — including changes in cycle length, period length, and amount of blood flow. »

The research also noted that “many women reported that their PMS symptoms were more intense and lasted much longer than before.” This ranged from anxiety they had never felt before, to uncontrollable mood swings, to generally longer periods of PMS. Yes! It’s me ! Why is this information not displayed on the NHS website? Why did I have to take it out of a scientific journal?

The UCLA team concluded that there is a clear need for “comprehensive menstrual education in schools involving both sexes to enable informed decision-making and better training of healthcare professionals is recommended.” All I can say is amen, and I hope this article can help raise awareness.

However, my awareness of perimenopausal PMS contributed very little to my access to HRT on the NHS. I’m still “too young” and should try the reel first. Even though it hurts me, I’m afraid I’ll have to go private to get the help I need.

I just can’t go on like this.