Ah where do I begin?
My mother was going through it - at the hardest point in fact - when I was getting ready to get married and my brother's hormones had peaked and he was a drunk, teenage bastard. Sooo she was miserable and terrible to be around at times. I did find it funny when a week before my wedding, just after she'd gotten a big hotflash, a couple of Jehovah's Witness women showed up at our door. I actually felt sorry for those ladies that one time. lol
My mother ended up going through 10 years of perimenopause before it finally all calmed down. She started at 35.
As for myself, here I am at 35. I've only had 3 periods in the last year even though I've been on the pill and in the past have always gotten my period when I go through the placebos. I've had hot flashes, moodswings, insomnia, many more migranes and dry skin (as well as very dry other areas). I've started taking some menopause vitamins and some medications from my Dr to help stabilize things. Only irritations are the migranes the occasional hot flashes and the dry 'areas' now. The Dr did tell me that he could give me a Depo shot to help get rid of the hot flashes and migranes if things continue to get worse. I have another appt with him in 3 months and we'll see. He said that Depo would not slow down the process or alter it any way other than to help with the 'symptoms' of perimenopause. I would loose the irregular periods completely, loose the hormonal migranes (hopefully), and it would help with the hot flashes and dryness as well. I'm seriously considering it but plan to do more research before I go through with it.
So, in theory I wouldn't be on daily HRT, and I have the possibility of going through at least the beginnings of menopause without a lot of headache (literally). I'm leaning toward getting the shot because I've had 5 migranes in one month here. It's a pain in the neck.
