I have been wondering lately if a woman who has not had children has a more diffuclt peri/meno event? Also, does the age of when you began menstruating in anyway effect when you will begin the transition? I have no children, started my periods at the age of 11. My mother went through menopause without a peep of discomfort (kind of was hoping mine would be the same....NOT) and my doctor said that the age you start having your periods or if you have not had any children has nothing to do with peri/men....I don't really agree, which leads to more confusion. Anyone??

Well, I will give you my experience.

Started menstating at 13 years 4 months.

Had 4 children at ages 18, 21, 24 & 29.

Started peri at about 37.

Went through menopause at 46. And it was VERY DIFFICULT with physical and mental symptoms.

I don't think having children and starting menses late has made things any easier for me.

This is what researchers should be looking at --- When the majority recognise that perimenopause DOES exist and aknowledge the suffering that some women go through, THEN we might get somewhere --


Doctors have recognised the symptoms of perimenopause over 100 years ago, so why hasn't anything been done about it?

That would be an interesting study. . .Here's my info:

Period at 12 years 7 months

Children at 26 and 27

Peri started at about 38 and became difficult at about 41 through 47. Basically it started low, climaxed and then calmed down. I haven't haven't had a period in 9 months, a few hot flashes, a few moments where I remove myself from the public as I can become very angry but for the most part I have become very calm. I'm almost 49.

My mother was about the same age as I was when she went through her stuff, but she opted for medical help where as I have gone through mine without anything. Figured it was a natural process and I needed to stick with it. . .just changes made to lifesytle (food, vitamins, exercise and removing stressful junk in my life).

My experience so far is that I started my period a few days after my 8th birthday. I had children at 28 and 35. Started perimenopause at 36. I am 45 now with my periods all over the place and all the fun peri symptoms described here.

All the women in my family have gone through menopause by their 48th birthday and so far no one has told me it was an "easy" experience but neither are they forthcoming about any specifics.

I started my period at 12 years old and have no children. I had a difficult peri since my mid thirties. I just turned 49 and have sporadic but heavy periods ranging from 28 days to 120 days apart. I do feel a bit better this year with my symptoms giving me a break once in a while. I still have hot flashes especially at night, bloating and midline weight gain (big belly), fatigue and off and on sore breasts. My anxiety thankfully has subsided to a tolerable level as did the vaginal dryness. I can't wait for the periods to be gone

My periods started at age 14.

I had my daughter at age 31.

I had my twin boys at age 35.

I did not suffer any perimenopausal symptoms whatsoever.

My periods just stopped like magic, never to return at age 51.

But Post meno has not been kind to me at all. I had a pacemaker implanted, and spent several months in a psychiatric hospital. I am 54 years old.

Started my period at age 13

Had two children at the age's of 22 and 26.

Started to have peri issues by the age of 44-45 (fatigue, moody, hotflashes, insomnia).

Between the ages of 48 - 49 started skipping periods, more intense peri, started with some BHRT to bring relief.

Now at age 50, have had only one slight period in the past 6 months. Peri has been rough for me, not an easy transition.

Juliann

i have 'heard' this before.. that women without children have it all worse at meno time, and that an early puberty leads to an early meno.. i don't think so.... i don't think i have had it worse than others, in fact i think i have been better off than a lot of you and i have not had children.. and i'm only just post at 55, but had my first period when i was about 13 i think, maybe 12.. i know i had full breasts and looked fully mature long before i was old enough to have a school bus pass and had to pay full fare around that age..

period at around 12 or 13, no children, horrible and dibilitating symptoms. i have also heard this before. who knows for sure???

Linda

I don't remember when I had my first period.
Had one son on my 20th Birthday.
Started Peri when I was 38
Had my last period when I was 48
I'm now 49.

I had some realy witchy symptoms at 38 until I went on BCPs, then once going off of those I began having the sweats, flashes, low libido, lethargic, apathetic, etc.....

I had always heard that our symptoms would mimic those of our moms but.. that's not been the case for me.

Started my period at 13--then they stopped from 14-17 when I lost too much weight. Had my son at 24 and my daughter at 33. I breastfed both. I started having severe symptoms at age 46 just after having my Mirena IUD removed (after 4 months of problems) and then a D&C for prolonged bleeding. I am now 47 and feeling better on BHRT. My mom had absolutely no problems with menopause; she says she can't remember for sure but she thinks her periods just stopped at about age 50. She's also been a smoker since her mid-twenties (she's now 82 and still smokes). She had her seventh baby at age 46 and she says she thinks the "change of life baby" is why she had no meno symptoms. In fact, she tells me that all my problems will be solved if I have another baby! YEAH RIGHT! Here's some factors that I think seem to make meno symptoms worse:
Lots of Stress
A "Type A" perfectionist personality
Lower body fat (although I know that is not always true!)

Hi leland

I am nearly 42 started menstruating at 11 and had a son at 28 and a daughter at 31. I breast fed both my children.
My mother had a hysterectomy at around my age for heavy bleeding, but had little if no pain and cannot remember any problems with menopause.

I, on the other hand have had endometriosis all my life and have been having a difficult perimenopause, for the past 3 1/2 years.

I found the most useful thing fo the hot flushes etc was an acupuncturist, and it really helps to plot your symptoms monthly, as then you will be
able to see patterns, which in themselves can be reassuring. I learnt to do this with my cycle because of my endo.

Hope this helps.

Very interesting thread!

period began at 10 years 6 months.

No children

In Jan 07 at the age of 53 out of no where, I had 2 weeks of drenching nite sweats/cold flashes, dizziness and nausea. Made an appt with my GYN, she ordered bloodwork, FSH came back at 102. She was beyond shocked. Not only did my labs indicate menopause...it indicated POST menopause and I hadn't had one symptom of any kind prior to that 2 week stint. In her words....I blew past peri and crashed and burned in post menopause. I had a hyster (but kept my ovaries) when I was 38, so my symptoms were going to be the indicator as to when to test my hormone levels.

11 months later....all my peri/meno symptoms vanished. It was a wild rough ride packed into 11 short months. Co-incidentally my mother went thru it in one year as well.

I got my period at 15. Had a child at 31, and another at 36. I breastfed each of them for 3.5 years, and had no periods for two years with each of them ( which was nice). I never used birth control, except for a few years in college, and had three miscarriages during my marriage. I started having hot flashes, night waking at 44, and went on low dose BCP's. Also tried 1 year of HRT ( and gained weight) but went back on BCP's. Am now 53. I think my doctor will want me off the BCP's soon, so I will try HRT again.

My mother went on HRT before she had symptoms, at age 50. Stayed on it until age 66. Is now 88, and in perfect health, no meds, no hospitalizations.

started menstruating late - around 16 or so, was very athletic & low body fat, only weighed 113lb at 17 & i'm 5'6''. really had what i now know to be, in part, hormonal problems into my early 20s (& reached a better weight - 125). never had kids. always had bad pms & painful periods. have had issues since puberty with things like ibs, mood, etc, but things started getting weirder in my late 30s. will be 45 this september & the last few years have been horrible with pretty much most of the symptoms on a typical meno list & even a few more.

looking back, my mom probably had some bad problems at meno, but i was having bad problems at the same time & then she died when i was 24, so we never had a chance to discuss it.

I started my first period two months before I turned 13.

I had my first child at 17, then 5 more children by the time I was 31.

I've never had any problems with fybroids, ovarian cysts, etc.

At the age of about 45 I started having very heavy periods.

At 50 my peri-symptoms started.

I'm 54 now, still dealing with peri, and still having periods.

When will it ever end???

Interesting thread.........

I'm 55. Started my period at 14 years, 11 months. Periods were always normal, with some discomfort that Tylenol helped. But only had a period every 6 weeks instead of 4 for most of my life except when I was on BCP. Started peri symptoms at about age 51 with skipped periods, some very heavy. At age 53, had some anxiety. Went on BCP for 6 months. Doing quite well now. Had two children at age 30 and 33. One miscarriage at age 23.

I'm doing ok, meno wise, right now. Haven't had a period in 9 months. Rarely have anxiety. Never taken HRT. Take natural plant Estrogen and black cohosh, vitamin supplements, thyroid meds, and high blood pressure med. Just joined a gym. I'm doing water aerobics class 3 times a week, and resistence (weights) training 2 times a week.

Love the water class. If you want to get back into exercising if you haven't been doing anything in years, like I was (except for walking), the water classes are much easier on your joints than those high-energy aerboics classes that only 20 year olds can do. But you get a good workout in the water.

WriterMom

well I will add my info here

started periods at 13/14ish

children at 21 and 29

if I could pinpoint peri starting, which I can't, but will give a ball park figure it started with mild problems at 33ish...by 38 I was non funtional physically and mentally...periods coming iratically at 39 till present. I felt horrible, had to leave my business, became so anxious I was panicy regularly. I am 41 now and for now things are a bit brighter.

The only thing I was told really related to any of this is whether you have had bad pms, when your mother went through meno. and whether you were younger when starting peri.( not sure if the last is so true as I am sure some ladies here can attest that whether you are 30 or 50 sometimes it is just plain tough), but my mother was 43/44 when her periods stopped and I seem to be following her lead in that and I also had a rough pms through my younger years. HUGS MIKKI

My periods began at 13. I had my one and only child at 18. For me, perimenopause symptoms began exactly on my 46th birthday. I had my first crying jag for no apparent reason. At first, I thought it was just stress. Boy, was I wrong. Since then I've had many of the 34 symptoms. My period began to trickle down at 46 and was completely missing in action by 47/48. I now use bio-HRT and I am doing better with the health anxiety, night sweats and mood swings. I am not completely the me that I use to be, but I've said goodbye to that person. I'm now working on being the best me that I can be today.

Did not get period until almost 16 years old
Always had exceptionally regular cycles of 30 days
As I got older 2 weeks out of the month would be very very swollen with tender breasts
Stopped getting regular period at 47
Have 2 children - had one at 31 and one at 39
Had ectopic pregnancy @ 35
had no problem conceiving
peri symptoms began to get bad around 48

"I am not completely the me that I use to be, but I've said goodbye to that person. I'm now working on being the best me that I can be today."

Dear New Yorker:

I am having a hard time with this part of the process"

How did you do this?

With admiration - pooks

Several years ago I did some research since I was having so many peri problems. What I read said...women who were small bones, had little body fat, and no kids, always had much more severe problems during meno. (had something to do with lower estrogen than normal weight women.)

I started my periods at 15, went post at 52 (officially post just a few months ago in feb., & turned 53 in april). Still have lots of peri symptoms, though they are getting less severe. I do believe there is something to it, I had far more trouble than many of my friends who were of average weight and had kids. However, it also said in the articles that overweight women can have serious peri problems too because they have to much estrogen....

I wish I could remember what I googled...was it...no kids, menopause? I know it was something like that....

Tay

I work with several mid-age women who never had children. We have talked about this before and none of them had trouble with peri-meno symptoms. In all three, their periods just sort of faded away and they are doing fine now in meno. I am not so fortunate. My period started at 13.5 with 40 day cycles for many years. Pregnancies at 19 and 28. All of my symptoms, anxiety and heavy bleeding started in my early 40's. Now almost 54, I have a period about every 21 days. There have been a few days when I thought I would die from loss of blood but I'm still standing with my patience running thin for this period business. No other symptoms save for a fibroid and anemia. I don't even know what a hot flash feels like. Sounds like we are all very different...

Wow...that was interesting reading everyone's repy. We are all so different and so much alike. I like what skiergrl wrote about:
type a personality check
stress check
lowe body fat nah, I'm 5'1" and 105-108 lbs
but I found that interesting.

I guess what is true is the attitude we bring with us in to this stage and our inner thoughts that we allow to rumage through our head.

Thank you ladies for sharing your stories.

Silvana

because for forever they were all men!!!!

it would be nice to know if not having, or having kids had any affect on meno. of course if not having them meant an easier time with meno, there may not be anymore kids--

i also feel pretty sure that no one has researched any of this before because for forever all doctors were MEN!!! and women didn't have much voice about these things.

ain't it grand that now we do!!

Gosh, everyone - you make me feel so much better reading all your responses. (Not that I like to see you suffering, but I don't feel quite so strange or alone to see that you all are having such problems, also). Dear New Yorker - I'm with Pooks. How did you learn to let go of that person you used to be? I'm still mourning her because I can't stand the person I am right now. Just praying I will end up being someone I can live with again soon. I am trying very hard, but most days lately, I'm not pulling it off at all.

I started my period at 12; 1 miscarriage at 26; no children; 5'3"; small-boned, vary between 105 and 115. I'm 54, still having monthly "events" (mostly light and medium flow) joined together by endless spotting. I stopped spotting 7 Jun (fingers crossed) which is the first day I haven't been bleeding in some shape or form since Jan.

In retrospect, my mother had an absolutely horrible peri experience. (At the time, I was 8-14 years old, I just thought she was CRAZY). Literally, if she went in my closet for any reason, like to put clean clothes in, and if anything was not in absolute, neat order, she would throw EVERYTHING into the middle of the floor (yes, the entire contents of the closet), screaming at the top of her lungs the whole time. I would then have to put it all back in. And honestly, my closet was never very messy; I'm a pretty neat person by nature. When I was 8 or 9, I would just cower in a corner terrified. As I got older, I wasn't as terrified, just convinced she was crazy. She never spoke about that time when I became an adult (she never talked about "personal" stuff with me), so I'm just making the assumption now that it was peri. She did get better by the time I was 16 or 17.

Unfortunately, my peri experience seems to be following suit (difficulty-wise) - though I don't scream and yell, just get on crying jags and feelings of doom/gloom. My poor husband must think I'm losing my mind - although he's too polite to say so. He just holds me and tells me it's just my hormones. (Not sure if he really believes it, but at least he USUALLY says the right words).

I did have a VERY "freeing" experience this weekend - not sure if anyone can identify with it. My husband and I rarely have tiffs, about once every 2-3 months. But when we have them, he raises his voice at me. I cannot stand any form of yelling, it really upsets me (hey - I just realized as I typed this that it is probably because of my mother's yelling fits!). Anyway, I calmly gathered my purse, walked out the door and went to the movies ("Sex and the City"). (I NEVER go to the movies - maybe once every 3 years and never alone). I felt so FREE, sitting in that theater, knowing that absolutely no one in the world knew where I was at that moment. It actually calmed my nerves. Is that weird? Even bought the LARGE popcorn and coke and ate it all myself! When I got home, he was over his fit, didn't ask where I had gone, nor am I volunteering the info - have decided I'm going to go to the movies every time he yells at me from now on! So, at least I'll see a new movie 3 or 4 times a year.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness post - just needed to spill it out. Thanks again for the wonderful people that you are - you are all lifesavers!!
Hugs all around.
Pam