Early Menopause Symptoms: How I Embraced the End of the "Curse"

For years and years during my forties, I would go to annual physical exams and petulantly ask my doctor if I were finally going through menopause. Every year, he denied it. Can you imagine? Actually, he laughed! He said I was too young! Never mind that all of the friends in my age bracket had already experienced menopause and were on their way into old age. Each year, as I approached 50, I was getting older and older, yet nothing was happening. I was feeling quite left out. Hormonal imbalances were striking my friends and relatives, but not me.

You might ask, why would this seemingly normal woman want to experience menopause? The answers are many. First of all, I'm cold all the time by nature, so I was looking forward to hot flashes. Menopause is also a great reason for irritability and wide mood swings. Of course, I wasn't looking forward to packing on the extra pounds, but it would be worth it not to go to Sam's Club and buy the jumbo box of feminine protection, if you catch my drift.

Yes, I'm being flip about the "change" but once I had my own early menopause symptoms, I gathered a new appreciation for those who suffer through with extreme symptoms. Mine were very mild and didn't last very long the first time.

About two years ago, I started getting night sweats. These were very extreme and while it was nice not be cold, it was positively awful to be drenched in your own juices every night. Along with this, I found I couldn't sleep very well. Even with this discomfort, I was starting to get excited. Maybe I was experiencing early menopause symptoms!

Two months later, I became depressed when I had my monthly friendly "visitor" again. This meant I was not menopausal, only peri-menopausal.

Life continued as per usual for the next year or so. Here I was, 51 and still not experiencing many of the symptoms of early menopause! What was up with that?

Finally, toward the end of last summer, I started to feel warm all the time, and it wasn't related to the temperature outside. About this time, periods became spotty. I was feeling a sense of irritability more than was normal for me. Actually, I started feeling a level of depression, and was always tired. These symptoms, though not intense, lasted a couple of months, and have since evened out.

Since then, I have researched the symptoms of early menopause. In case you are wondering, they are:

1. Hot flashes
2. Night sweats
3. Irregular periods
4. Loss of libido
5. Vaginal dryness (Thank goodness, I didn't experience 4 or 5!)
6. Fatigue
7. Hair loss (Oh! That's what happened to my hair!)
8. Sleep disorders
9. Difficulty concentrating
10. Memory lapses (And I thought I was pre-Alzheimer's!)
11. Dizziness
12. Weight gain
13. Incontinence
14. Bloating
15. Allergies
16. Changes in fingernails
17. Changes in body odor
18. Rapid heart beat
19. Mood swings (Yes, I have them.)
20. Tears
21. Depression
22. Anxiety
23. Irritability
24. Breast tenderness
25. Migraines
26. Aching joints (Mine ache especially after exercising.)
27. Burning tongue or mouth
28. Electric shock sensation on head
29. Digestive problems
30. Gum problems
31. Muscle tension
32. Itchy, crawly skin
33. Tingly extremities
34. Osteoporosis
    

As I stated before, I only experienced a few of these symptoms, and thankfully they weren't very intense.

There are many good online references, including:

http://34-menopause-symptoms.com/

http://www.womentowomen.com/symptoms/

http://www.safemenopausesolutions.com/

Don't worry - if you suffer from early menopause symptoms, there are ways to deal with them. Just ask your physician to direct a course of treatment suited for you.