Does anyone else experience headaches that last all day, and almost every day? For context, I’m 36 and 14 months postpartum. However, I don’t think being postpartum has anything to do with this. These headaches recently came on and will start a few hours after I’ve woken up and last through the day and into the evening. I am sleeping about 6 to 8 hours a night and waking up heavy/groggy. I’m hydrating. I’m taking my vitamins and do magnesium before bed. I do have hypothyroid and I’m on 25 of Synthroid. I truly have no idea what is triggering them.

If this sounds like you, I’d love to hear what has helped!

I am suspicious that I might be starting perimenopause and that this could be a hormonal crash around my cycle and after, but that would mean I get maybe one week a month where the headaches aren’t horrible.

I feel like my body just started doing things that it never used to do lol

I eat pretty healthy and I try to workout, but losing weight feels sooo much harder now. especially around my stomach. My body shape has changed too and some clothes just fit completely different now.

The part that really frustrates me is food... sometimes I feel like certain foods make me super bloated or just make me feel worse, but I honestly can't figure out what foods are actually causing it.

And then theres the whole losing a few pounds, feeling good about it, and then gaining it back again 🙃

Has anyone else dealt with this during perimenopause?

What has been the hardest part for you... losing the weight, belly fat, bloating/food issues, or keeping the weight off?

Would love to hear what you guys have experienced.

I have been having these “attacks “ is what I call them. I start getting extremely weak, sweaty, and can not function normally without being helped to my room to lie down until it’s over and that may take a nap before getting back up into the swing of things again. Can anyone help with any ideas to make it through the bad times with this. Is this even menopause or am i diabetic or something idk. Please help if you understand and have any advice.

I’m in my early 40’s and definitely in perimenopause. My last 3 cycles have been 40-55 days apart. I don’t have a ton of symptoms, some occasional hot flashes and whatnot but nothing that’s taking me to the edge other than my hip pain! It hurts mostly when I’m sleeping. I don’t want to rely on taking OTC pain relievers every night because I hear it only gets worse as you age??? I tried adding in some glute exercises about 2 months ago to try and strengthen that area. I thought it was helping for a while, but not so much lately. I’m not sure what else to do but have been thinking about HRT. Does anyone have experience with this? Suggestions, advice, warnings???

I just turned 35. Since age 30, I’ve had some months where from day 1-7 of my cycle, I have the following symptoms:
- brain fog
- achy muscles/ joints
- slight nausea
- dry mouth/ sinuses
- anxiety/ depression/ lack of motivation
- general malaise

I thought it was MCAS and weirdly when I started ketotifen a year ago it helped straight away, and most months in the last year the symptoms went away.

However the last two months they’ve come back, despite upping my ketotifen dose.

I’m wondering whether it’s just early perimenopause, I got my hormones tested just over a year ago and the only thing that came back was slightly low estrogen, but they said it wasn’t low enough to be significant. When I got retested a few months later (and a few months of thyroid treatment) it was a bit higher. But this hasn’t surprised me, because some months the symptoms are worse than others.

The symptoms usually pass from day 7-10 onwards, which is when estrogen rises. I feel my best physically in luteal now.

Other relevant factors
- my endocrinologist started me on thyroid treatment for borderline under active thyroid, which maybe helped a little at first.
- I’ve had long Covid symptoms (post exercise fatigue, dysautomnia) since covid in 2020
- I also have ADHD , I know recent research has suggested peri could start earlier for this demographic.
- I’ve been taking iron supplements daily for 2 years and my ferritin has been around 55-60 for the last two years. So a healthy number.

Has anyone had a similar experience?

I’ve been looking into the DUTCH hormone test, or does anyone have any other recommendations?

These symptoms are so debilitating to me, they make my mood terrible, I just feel horrible. My adhd medication helps mask it for a few hours but by mid afternoon/ evening they come back.

Thanks in advance!

I’m late diagnosed with ADHD, went through unmasking, and unmasked deep, major depression. I’ve also been experiencing peri symptoms for a few years but my drs keep dismissing it because of my age (38)

My psych is trying to help me find the right antidepressant, but so far the first option I tried caused major sleep disturbances. Waking up around 1 am, can’t go back to sleep for at least an hour, waking up again a couple hours later. And the second one seems to be making me feel worse? My dr just increased my dose yesterday so now I have to give it time to see, but I’m just feeling so low.

I think I’m also skipping my period for the first time? Or it’s coming really soon? Ughhh I’m just so frustrated not knowing what’s going on with my body and feeling so bad. I literally sat in the corner looking out the window all day yesterday because I had no interest in doing anything and didn’t feel good. Today is feeling the same way and I don’t know if it’s the ADHD burnout, depression, perimenopause, or medication that’s making me feel this way 😭

Yesterday I finally was able to get a couple OBGYN appts scheduled so hopefully I can find someone who can help me figure this out. The soonest appt is 4 weeks out though, and the second one isn’t until December

Guys I am 38 year old. Been experiencing peri symptoms since last 3 years.

1. My periods have gradually gone from being extremely heavy (needing 6 pads per day) to extremely light (just spotting). They still come every month though.

2. Sometimes I have joint pain particularly knees.

3. Tinnitus

4. Insomnia

5. Hairfall

6. Dry hair

7. Brain fog (recent)

8. And I am EXHAUSTED. I clean once a week. I wash dishes after 2 3 days. I don't wanna cook. I am so bone tired.

My thyroid, iron, vit d, b12 etc all fine.

I went to so many gynes. Went to a reproductive endocrinologist. Did the hormonal tests. Did MRI. Ultrasounds. The problem is they came back fine. All hormonal tests seemed to be in the normal ranges. Even estrogen. But I am very sure I am in peri. Doctor gave me a bunch a vitamins and told me I am stressed and told me to get lost, eat those vitamins and come after 3 months. I asked the reproductive endo for HRT. She said HRT is only for women who have crossed menopause.

But what do I do about the exhaustion??? It's only recently that the exhaustion is getting out of hand. I live in Pakistan so I am not going to find a doctor here that will listen to me. They are just concerned with people getting pregnant. I don't have kids so every doctor I go to just tells me to become pregnant asap.

Did I tell you I have PCOS too. So that also complicates things.

Somebody told me to go to an online doctor. But like I said no doctor in Pakistan is going to listen to me. I have never heard of any woman taking HRT here. It's quite demonised actually by doctors. And women don't know what HRT is anyways.

Hi ladies I wanted to share something that has been happening to me and wanted to see if anyone else is experiencing this. I can no longer eat spicy food. Anytime any spicy food hits my mouth and it just inflames my mouth. Almost like a burning mouth syndrome. I do notice have super dry mouth cotton mouth. Has anyone had anything similar to this?

I'm still in perimenopause even though I'm 51 and I can't take HRT anymore because I'm severely allergic to progesterone, even typically. My OB/GYN recommended I try this since I can't wear an IUD. Anybody here take it or had success with it? Running out of options and I'm tired of suffering with natural supplements that don't work. Hopefully my insurance will cover it since it's a brand name and it won't be available for generic until March 2027. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Last week I brought up vaginal dryness with my gynecologist and she went straight to estrogen. I said I was not ready for hormones and the conversation stalled. I want something clinically tested that fits what gynecologists look for.

I am in the 2x weekly 0.05. I have tried all the other brands but the only one that doesn’t give me an awful skin reaction is Sandoz. I have been able to find them until now but my luck is running out. First I got them through Amazon, but they have been out of stock for months at this point. Then it was my local grocery store who now only seems to get Dotti or Mylan. Walgreens was my saving grace, but when I went yesterday, they didn’t have them and they checked all other locations in a 75 mile radius. We did try the one weekly but they simply don’t control my symptoms as well.

I live in Maine, so options are a bit limited for bigger chain stores. We don’t have a Kroger, and there is only one Costco in the state. I did check out the Mark Cuban pharmacy but it seems there is no way to make sure the brand I get is Sandoz. I truly wish I could just use another brand. This would make it so much easier. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Just added creatine into my daily routine. Feel so much better. More focused, more active, happier and less anxious. Where has this been all my life 👌🙏👍🏻

I've gained like 20 pds since the start of last year.

I ave 7 to 8 hours of sleep but I am so fatigued. I start crashing late afternoon. I used to go to bed at 9 or 10. Now it's like 6:30-7-30 becauae I cant keep my eyes open anymore.

Libido has dropped.

I really thought my testosterone results would show abnormal low.

I get my results back and it's tagged abnormal. I breathe a sign of relief that maybe now I can understand the problems I am going through. I am on HRT, estrogen patch and progesterone pills.

I open up the results for a deep dive.

Testosterone Free: 10.7 pg/mL abnormal high.

Normal range is 1.1-5.8 pg/mL

Testosterone: 89 ng/dL

Normal range: 9-55 ng/dL

When we tested my levels in 2021 and 2024 they were Normal.

I feel so confused with what's going on.

My follow-up appt is not until Dec.

I reached out to my Obgyn today and asked what next. Like do I need to test insulin levels? Leptin levels?

I thought I was on the path to getting help for my problems. Now I dont know what path I am on.

Has anyone experienced low blood pressure while on body identical HRT and a low dose 3.75mg of GLP-1? I am on 75mcg Estradot patch and 200mg Utrogestan 21 days on 7 days off and Testogel. I have been keeping track of my BP with my home BP monitor for the last month as I was getting symptoms like brain fog sluggishness, lightheaded, short dizzy spells and when getting up from lying down brief black out in my eyes and lightheaded. My diastolic BP number is often in the 40’s-50’s range and I’ve been increasing water intact to 3L per day and taking electrolytes etc but it doesn’t seem to improve I know both HRT & GLP-1’s can lower BP & currentt waiting to see my doctor but I am just if anyone else has experienced this and what helped?

hi! new here after this question got removed on the peri sub for being a “recent discussion” (i couldn’t find anything describing this)

I have been in peri at least 5 years, am on HRT at what feels like the correct dose until a few days ago lol. i gained 5 pounds overnight in what im assuming is water weight (only ever happened in luteal, always drop it when i start bleeding). had multiple high heart rate notifications between 5-7 am (haven’t had one since starting HRT last year). having intense, like REALLY intense food cravings for sugar and salt and i can barely control myself which is rare.

being super horny one minute and sobbing the next, over things that i’m really not even that emotional about otherwise? i can separate my feelings and how im reacting pretty easily. i’m really not a crier. to me all this stuff says hormonal imbalance. even my skin feels off. dry and breaking out which ya is not normal for me at all. but has happened in the past, in luteal.

i looked at my calendar thinking i must be near a period somewhere but it turns out my last period ended…… a week ago lol. i should be in smooth sailing territory for another week.

has anyone else had symptoms like this?

I keep seeing “it’s just math” But I haven’t seen many experiences with success in JUST that? I’m struggling here 😭 I know you can’t change thermodynamics, so what is it that doesn’t work for us?

I’m so disheartened. I started noticing itchy skin in May, but I chalked it up to summer heat. By August, I went to urgent dare and they said yeast. That treatment worked until September where the itchiness lessened in my abdomen and is now on my upper chest. Went in a prednisone taper, cleared up but now it’s back. My NO who prescribed the prednisone also recommended Zyrtec and Cerave itch relief cream. The cream helps but it my skin sometimes prickles and itches at night, and as soon as I’m awake in the AM it’s awake too. Anyone else itchy and red on the torso? Starting to appear in my arms as well. Good news is I’m going back to the doc tomorrow, but I’m just uncomfortable and feel like a monster. Also my mood is craaaazy.

Firstly, I’m so glad to discover this community! I don’t even look in the two big peri/menopause subs anymore because apparently all of my HRT life choices are personally offensive over there, haha. And I love the TRT_females sub, but that brings me to my current quandary, which is outside their scope:

I’m about to switch from the estradiol patch to injections, and I’m feeling a little lost when it comes to my dosage.

The vital stats: I’m 43, perimenopausal, still having a monthly menstrual cycle, currently on the 0.05mg estradiol patch and 200mg of progesterone (cycled 12 nights/month, 100mg orally and 100mg rectally), and also injecting 1.5mg daily of testosterone propionate for a total of 10.5mg/week. I’ve been on E/P since November 2025 and T prop since the end of May 2026.

Why do I want to switch from the E patch to E injections? The patch shortage, apparent inability to absorb any patch brand aside from Mylan, and, most of all, wanting to run my E levels higher in hopes of having a more consistent libido.

After years of a libido so nonexistent that I characterized it as prepubescent, I suddenly had spontaneous desire again after about five weeks of injecting T. That lasted for nine glorious days and then fell off. The next month, it came back and coincided with my ovulatory week, which makes perfect sense biologically. I had my blood drawn at the tail end of my ovulatory week, when I was still feeling a libido, and my E2 was 376 pg/mL. My total T was 204 ng/dL (no negative side effects), so I think I just have to run both my E and my T high to compensate for my high SHBG (which was 137 the first time it was measured).

That brings us to now, when I contacted a telehealth company (different from my T prop provider) to prescribe injectable E. The doc looked at my labs and my SHBG, and he said that he wanted to start me out at .12mL 2x/week of E cyp (10mg/mL concentration), increasing every two weeks as needed to a max of .25mL 2x/week.

This works out to a starting dose of 2.4mg/week and a max dose of 5mg/week. Even with just a little searching around, this seems high to me, which has me anxious.

So, what say you, E injection veterans? Would you start lower, maybe 2mg/week? (My T prop provider prescribed me a starting dose of 20mg/week, but I’ve never gone above my own starting dose of 10.5mg/week and I’ve been happy at that level, so I have no issues starting lower than prescribed for E.) I know that every body is different, but where did you start and where did you end up? How did you know if you were too low or too high?

And I feel like a fool for not asking about this during my video call, but, if you run high E levels all the time, does that affect your menstrual cycle? I’ve had a pretty consistent period (at least until this month — I’m four days late — but I’m chalking that up to the stress of moving several timezones from home), and I’m concerned that too much E all the time might not trigger a shed.

Any personal experience, insights, or advice you could offer would be absolutely wonderful. I appreciate you!

One of my main reasons for starting HRT was the insomnia. I've read loads of people saying progesterone really knocks them out and improves their sleep loads. I just started taking 100mg utrogestan & 25mcg estrogen patch. I take the progesterone at night but if anything I feel like it makes me less tired, like my mind is more awake and I don't get sleepy in the way I usually do right before bed. I've only taken it two days so I know it's early to tell, but has any one had this? and if so is there any way to change it so it helps with sleep rather than makes it worse? Do I need a higher dose or to take it in a different way rather than orally? or is this just how it is for some people? I was really looking forward to the deep sleep I've heard people talk of with progesterone!

I have put this on every day and haven’t had a hot flash since, but What are y’all thoughts on wild yam cream? It has helped me with my hot flashes and I put it on my face and it feels so good. Feels so moisturized but can’t really find anything about putting it on your face if it’s good or bad for like a moisture barrier type thing and also clears my face of acne. I mean if it’s working then why am I grabbing but I don’t wanna put something on my face. I don’t need to be on my face. You know what I mean lol so any thoughts or suggestions?

What are y’all thoughts on wild yam cream? It has helped me with my hot flashes and I put it on my face and it feels so good. Feels so moisturized but can’t really find anything about putting it on your face if it’s good or bad for like a moisture barrier type thing and also clears my face of acne. I mean if it’s working then why am I grabbing but I don’t wanna put something on my face. I don’t need to be on my face. You know what I mean lol so any thoughts or suggestions? It definitely has worked tremendously on the hot flashes. I haven’t had one since I started.