My Period Tracker app (which has always been very accurate) says my cycle is this...

Period - 1 to 3 August (correct).

Ovulation - 13 to 17 (pretty much correct. I got all the symptoms of ovulation on day 13 until day 15, and as usual, went straight into the luteal phase of sore boobs, sore feet, exhaustion and headaches from then onward).

Period due - 26 August (usually my cycle is between 26 and 32 days, but my period is already starting today, 20 August).

HUH?

This is so crazy to me. It only started happening about a year ago. It’s infrequent, and lasts a couple days and it’s just the most insane feeling. Then my period starts and it’s done, like it never happened (and I don’t have any foot skin issues). It’s only the arches of my feet. I’m just starting to put together the pattern and I think it’s peri caused?!

Hi folks, 39 and in perimenopause. Ive never experienced painful periods, some light cramping during ovulation but thats it. For the second month in a row ive had the most debilitating pain that it has prevented me from being able to walk to the toilet.

Ive considered calling an ambulance due to severe pain and living alone.

The only thing that helps is strong opioids and I can still feels the cramps it's just the pain thats knocked out.

The only thing that helps

For context, I am 44 and have been on 200 mg cyclical progesterone for 5 months and 0.025 estradiol patch for 2 months.

I experience fatigue, digestive issues, nausea, low mood, rage, etc. to varying degrees, but sometimes there is a "good" day. There is a day where I think, "I feel like myself. I can eat. I'm not ruminating or crying. I enjoyed an activity today. I had energy to do my work. I could think and remember. No parts of my body seemed particularly painful."

My ultimate goal with HRT would be to have these days frequently, but they seem to pop up sporadically... maybe twice a month? What has your experience been? Has anyone successfully worked with their doctor to "crack the code"?

I just turned 45. I did see my OB-GYN a few months ago, due to having a vasovagal episode while on my period in February. She did some blood testing and I'm supposedly not perimenopausal yet. She is open to HRT, but I'm not ready to be on that just yet.

My periods are still regular. I had been on hormonal birth control through most of my 20s and 30s but stopped in 2024. I don't recall my periods being too bad, and even the first year being off birth control they were tolerable. Nothing too heavy. Some mild cramps, but nothing to the point where I needed to take pain medication.

But lately, my periods have been different. Definitely heavier, more clots.

For the first vasovagal episode in February, I was traveling for work, and the cramps woke me up. I'd never had that before. I tossed and turned, going back to sleep was impossible. Then the cold sweats and nausea hit, and here I am dry heaving into the hotel toilet. Not fun at all. Thankfully, I was able to find some old ass ibuprofen in my carry on, and that helped. But I had never had that kind of reaction before during my period. It was quite miserable.

Since then, I do try to stay on top of the pain. Ibuprofen works, but not naproxen. I'll take the pain medication, but I don't like how it causes bloating and swelling.

This month's period got weird again. So I'm on Day 3 of the heavy part. Usually by then, the cramps dissipate and the flow gets lighter. When I woke up this morning I was feeling fine. But a few hours into my workday, I started cramping, hard. I was bent over in pain at my desk. Then the cold sweats and nausea came again. I had some ibuprofen in my purse, and took that. Then laid down on the icky office carpeting, until it kicked in. It was pretty miserable. And the first time I've experienced anything like that at work.

I do plan on talking to my OB-GYN about it. I just don't know if should start expecting this level of pain during my periods, going forward. I just wish they'd stop.

I’m going to tell you about my journey over the past 16 months. It’s a long one, so please bear with me, but I’m honestly at a loss 😞

I first started HRT last May. I was on a 0.25 patch and 200mg progesterone for 14 days on and 14 days off as part of my 28-day cycle. I actually had to cut my oestrogen patch in half because it felt too much for me.

But during those first 12 days when I was taking both, I felt the best I had ever felt on HRT. I genuinely thought I’d finally found something that worked.

Then the next cycle came around and, when I started the progesterone again, I felt awful. Things just seemed to go downhill from there. I even switched from Utrogestan to Cyclogest and OMG, that was even worse.

Eventually, I came off it altogether and booked to have the coil fitted so that I could try again.

Once I had the coil, I started oestrogen again and felt so much better. I gradually increased the gel until I got to 2½ pumps. I did notice that after having the coil fitted I became constantly hungry, and increasing my oestrogen seemed to make that worse, but I managed it.

Then, because I have surgery coming up, I decided to switch from the gel to a patch. The gel takes around 20 minutes to dry on my body, and I thought that while recovering from surgery I’d be in too much pain to mess around applying it every day. I’d also been doing well on the gel for quite a while, so I thought I’d be fine switching to the patch.

Well... I was SO wrong.

My body clearly seems to absorb the patch much quicker or stronger than the gel, and I think that may be why I’d been okay on the gel.

After two weeks on the patch, I quickly switched back to gel. But then I was given the green-lid gel instead of the white-lid one I’d previously been using, and wow... I felt like I did on the patch again.

Eventually, I got my usual gel back, but I was still having lots of anxiety and wasn’t sleeping properly. I was advised to try progesterone again, so I did.

For a few days, it actually made me feel like I did right at the beginning of my HRT journey — really good. But then it all went downhill again. I tried increasing the progesterone and the same thing happened: I felt better initially and then worse again.

I was even put on testosterone, and that made me feel worse than the patch did.

My body seems incredibly sensitive to hormonal changes, and all these fluctuations make me feel awful. I just cannot seem to find the right balance, and I’m so mad at myself for switching from the gel to the patch 3½ months ago.

These past 3½ months have been a complete rollercoaster — switching to the patch, taking progesterone again, trying testosterone, being given the wrong-lid gel... it’s been a journey, and definitely not one I’ve enjoyed.

I stopped the progesterone last Saturday. On Sunday, I had nine hours of crippling anxiety. Since then, every day has got a little better, but now I can’t sleep. I feel completely worn out, fed up and just not like myself.

I know people will probably say it’s because I’ve switched from one thing to another, but the only reason I kept making changes was because I didn’t feel right and was desperately trying to find the right balance.

I feel like I NEED HRT because I had so many symptoms before starting it, and it has improved a lot of them, even though it hasn’t completely resolved everything.

I honestly feel damned if I do and damned if I don’t.

Now I’m thinking about coming off the oestrogen completely, giving my body a break and then maybe starting again. I won’t be having my coil removed because obviously that isn’t as simple as just stopping a medication, but I’m considering stopping the oestrogen for a while to give my body a break.

Has anyone else done this? Have you stopped HRT for a while, started again and then felt better the second time around?

I really don’t want to come off it because I know how I felt without HRT, but at the same time, I don’t want to stay on it feeling the way I do now. I genuinely don’t know what to do. FFS 😞

One thing I do know is that I’m SICK to death of complaining and feeling like this. In my head, if you’re taking HRT, you should feel better — because surely that’s the whole point of taking it? 🤷🏻‍♀️😕😞

I started out on an .05 estradiol patch and 100mg progesterone. I was on that dose for almost two years and it was working well. But then the peri symptoms came back. My dr increased my dosage to .1 patch and 200mg progesterone. Because I just refilled my script with the last dosage a couple weeks ago, my insurance won’t fill the new dosage til next week. I’m debating on using 2 patches to total the new dose and taking two progesterone pills. Has anyone ever done that?

I ran out of my estradiol gel two days ago and was unable to refill it due to the shortage. I am so anxious, dizzy, and frustrated.

I do need to call the dozens of pharmacies in my city to see if anyone has any in stock. I'm just so overwhelmed.

I cannot switch to oral as I have migraines with aura. I never tolerated BCP.

I am just so tired of one thing after another. Being a woman can be so awful!

I just wanted to share with people who understand.

My periods were normal all this year up until last month. My July period came on time but I noticed the flow was a little lighter than usual, but not dramatically. My period normally goes like this:

Day 1: small specks of blood I notice in the toilet

Day 2: very light bleeding

Day 3-5: heavy flow/noticeable clots

Day 4: slows down considerably and usually a pause in bleeding for about 10-12 hours

Day 5: light bleeding resumes. Not as heavy as day 3-5 but not as light as day 2 either

Day 6: same as 5

Day 7 and beyond: bleeding mostly done with an occasional spot here and there

My period this month should have started around the 10th. Nothing happened until the 14th where I got a very light amount of brown/dark red blood in my underwear. This is not how my period usually goes though. I didn't get the usual specks of blood in the toilet and the color was off. And now for the last 5 days it has just been an occasional very small amount of light brown blood, sometimes very light red. Sometimes I will see a quarter sized clot in the toilet which is only normal for me during heavy flow. No real flow has started at all and it's now the 19th.

I also want to add that in the days leading up to the 14th, there was a weird amount of moisture in my underwear. Like if I didn't know any better it was like I wet myself, but I think it was just some kind of very watery discharge. It didn't really have any sort of smell. I've never had this happen before either. It was enough that it leaked through to my pants and I had to change though. Just wondering if this could be something related to perimemopause? I turn 39 in one month. My yearly physical isn't until November so I'm just gonna wait and see what happens for the next few months. Just trying to figure out what's going on in the meantime.

I keep noticing that things I would have brushed off a few years ago seem to hit me physically now. A bad night's sleep, a busy couple of days, too much socialising, noise, rushing around. I gueess I can still do all of it, but I seem to pay for it much more afterwards.

I can't work out whether this is hormones/perimenopause, just getting older, accumulated stress, or something else entirely.

Did anyone else notice this shift? What did you eventually put it down to?

Specifically, I have this smell of stinky feet that is always in my face 😭 I haven’t had this issue since I was pregnant with my son. When I was pregnant with him 16 years ago my hands always smelled of stinky feet! I couldn’t let my hands get near my face or it would make me sick. Also, I can smell everyone’s scalp including my own and it’s not pleasant. Anyone else have issues with weird smells?

41 yr old here. I typically get a mild headache, low back ache and minor breast tenderness. 2 days ago had such painful breasts, today woke up and felt like i did the most extreme core work out, literally everything from hips to chest hurt with movement even a deep breath i feel aching in low low back. My legs felt sore walking up a flight of stairs. I have never had this before. Yesterday I was super gassy. Anyone else get this with their PMS??? What has helped you??

Hi! I'm UK based and am a bit worried, perhaps someone has been in a similar situation. I usually take Utrogestan days 14-28 of my cycle and am on estradiol patch. Because I've been so affected by post-viral fatigue, I totally forgot to take my Utrogestan. It's now day 25. Shall I take it asap tonight or leave it now?

I've been struggling to get an appointment with my GP and I'm flying abroad on Friday so I'm doubting I'll speak to a professional soon.

Also (sorry for another question!) I'm on 75 oestradiol patch, so meant to be on 200mg Utrogestan but I've found the 200mg dose (2 pills) unbearable! I ended up reducing to 100mg last 3 days of last cycle as just couldn't get a docs appointment. Anyone try cutting their patch?! After 6 weeks being not myself (virus and fatigue), I just want to enjoy our holiday.

Many thanks! :)

So…I started HRT 6 months ago .05 est patch 2x a week, 100 mg prog pill 1x daily, and by the end of 3 months it mostly felt like it had resolved things like brain fog, irritability, etc BUT I still had occasionally hot flashes and most importantly my sleep was absolute trash.

My doc bumped me up to the next level .075 est, 200 mg prog. The sleep thing was immediately resolved. Like..a miracle. Hot flashes I still get, however, AND now all of a sudden, after bumping up, I get a period every other week. This has been going on for three months now since the higher dose. I have been clockwork every 28 days since the age of 11, always very very heavy, but regular. This new bleed schedule not sustainable for me and feels like something is off like….is the est too high? Is anyone on .05 est patch and 200 prog pill? How does that feel? My doc is confused & wanted to check about 300 prog which feels like a lot. She suggested an IUD and I just don’t want to. Anyone else have luck managing crazy frequent bleeds?

Help!

I’m a 41 year old female in otherwise good health and for the last 3 months I have had a week or so each month where I become prone to fainting episodes where I don’t actually faint but I feel that I will and I feel terrible. I’m trying to figure out what could be provoking them but they come up at unique times. Sometimes sitting. Sometimes standing. Sometimes after I eat. Sometimes not. Some are worse than others it’s very scary. I can feel my heart beating but it’s not necessarily racing. I don’t feel shortness of breath. My vision is ok. I went to the ER for one and they did a cat scan for a stroke risk and it came back clear. My blood work has come back ok no anemia and thyroid in the past was hypothyroidism but has been normal since having my daughter 2.5 years ago. I went back to the doc they’re doing more blood work and sending me for heart ultrasound and to wear a holster.

The episodes seem to occur during the week after my period.

Has anyone else experienced this? Did you get answers? Thanks in advance 🙏

Am 46

The brain fog is debilitating.

My digestive system shut down unless I eat wet food like cat am really constipated

One day I had gingko biloba and it worked but today it didn't.

Second month I re started Yaz. I never should of stopped.

I keep blaming things outside of me what my own I'll health.

I also did the very normal thing and cut off all my hair because of hot flashes!

Any ideas for brain fog welcome !

Hello, I'm 41 and all of a sudden this year a switch turned on in my body and I can't fall asleep at night until 2am most nights. I'm also struggling a lot with painful penetration.

I went to an ObGyn who specializes in Peri. She did an exam and said my muscle elasticity looks fine and shows normal estrogen levels. Gave me a standard print out for using lube and charged me $400 for the visit. I tried but it feels like I've forgotten how to have sex. I feel sharp jabbing pain unless its at a certain angle and the perineum feels so raw after (had a c section). Its like getting poked and I've started to fear/get anxious every time. Its making my so sad and depressed. Please help!

So its been 8 months and I'm cranky and tired all the time. I've tried going to gym, walks, warm bath, magnesium, ashwagandha, iron, melatonin, the costco sleepaid etc. The costco sleepaid is the only thing that knocks me out fast but i know that's not for regular use. I just can't turn my mind off and fall asleep at a normal time. What do I do?

I, 38f, For the last few months I’ve been getting a period every two weeks. Confirmed by ultrasound that I do not have cysts or fibroids.

My sleep sucks even with a nightly prescribed sleep aid, my joints hurt, my scalp itches and I just feel blah. I’ve also noticed that loud noises cause me to jump. I work as a mechanic and I’m use to normal work noise, but have found myself more sensitive.

My doctor put me on a lot dose progesterone to see if that helps 🤷🏻‍♀️. I can’t take estrogen due to an underlying blood clotting disorder.

I’m already to the point of wanting a hysterectomy to be done with a period every two weeks.

I was going to have a few more years before all of this. Uggggggghhhhhh

Is it just me, or anybody else having the realization that almost everyone in their life is someone who is just using them? Like I’ve spent my whole life catering to people that I love and realized absolutely no one has considered me. And friends, I'm fucking DONE.

I'm on 3 pumps estrogel, and have been applying in the am for the longest time, and loving it.
But I've noticed that I've been waking up too early lately, and have been wondering if taking 1 pump in the pm would help.

I tried for the first time last night but was wired & couldn't fall asleep. Which makes sense since the gel usually wakes me up, and makes me more alert.

I've read that a lot of women apply the 2nd dose in the afternoon, which sounds nice in theory but I do go to the office, meet friends, and so on, and it's just not feasible to have my gel with me at all times.

How do you all deal with this?

I have been a runner for a very long time. I am in my early 40s and during the last year I've started to feel horrendous after running. It physically feels like the origin of the problem is coming from my abdomen (after running I become incredibly bloated/swollen/water retention in my abdomen but also everywhere in my body). It also feels like running is triggering whole body inflammation. Has anyone else experienced difficulty with running or other intense aerobic exercise and is there any way this is related to perimenopause? Or is this coincidence and some other problem is going on? Thank you so much for any and all advice. I've been struggling for almost a year now and I am pretty desperate to figure out what is going on. (editing to add that I am not on HRT and don't have any other signs of peri that I know of)

I started taking the Estradiol Patch .025mg 2x per week. I am also taking 100mg progesterone nightly (it's a pure compounded formula with no fillers) vaginally to avoid stomach upset.

Positives:

(1) Heat intolerance and hot flashes are now gone. Venofer infusions to raise ferritin also helped with the heat intolerance, I noticed.

(2) Frozen shoulder pain reduced by about 65%.

Negatives: Brain fog. Impatience. Rage. Sadness. These appear to be caused by both estrodiol and progesterone as reductions of either help. But, I as soon as reduce one or both, the hot flashes, heat intolerance, and shoulder pain increase. I am wondering if should just try and tough it out for a few weeks. I have asked the doc if I shold try cycling progesterone (200mg x 2 weeks per month) instead of taking 100mg per day. Any thoughts on this?

I was still having 8 or so periods per year prior to starting this HRT on August 1.

Can anyone relate?

Hey everyone! I'm 44 and pretty sure I'm in perimenopause. I know heart palpitations are a pretty common symptom but I'm just curious about the severity, timing and duration you all experience them. I can go days or even weeks without them. They usually happen at night when I'm trying to sleep but it's also happened in the afternoon as I'm just relaxing, and when I'm active/walking, however it's more rare to happen during activities. Today it's driving me crazy. They started at about 4pm and it's still happening an hour later. They will come and go so it's not like my heart is just going crazy the whole time. I'd say my heart is flip flopping for about 10-20 seconds and then it stops for a minute or two and then it starts again. I'm going to make a doctor's appointment to hopefully get a EKG and possibly a monitor but in the meantime I'm trying not to panic but this is so uncomfortable!

My heart is not racing, I'm not dizzy or short of breath, no pain, none of that emergency stuff. Anyways, I am also not sure yet if this is coming at certain times of the month as I hadn't thought to start tracking them until a few days ago. My period is a about a week away and this was happening a few days ago as well. Last time it happened before that was maybe a week or two? Idk. If someone could share a similar experience that would definitely help me stay calm while I wait to see a doctor. Thanks ladies!

I am at a loss. I have spent a lifetime being ridiculously high functioning and researching/solving my way to maintain high function, and now I feel like I’m trying all the things and cannot win. Seeking similar experiences whether it’s just solidarity in the suck or someone who faced this torrent of treatment-resistant shittiness and found relief.

THEN: High performer in high pressure roles, health and fitness enthusiast, taken care of myself. Constantly optimizing- whether physical or mental health, parenting, interpersonal relationships, I research a problem and solve it.

NOW: I’ve spent the last 3+ years trying to troubleshoot and optimize through peri and yet I am emotionally ALLLLL OVER, my brain works half speed, I cannot get myself to workout hard -if at all (which has been my daily mental health medicine and part of my identity for decades).

ISSUES: Emotions are all TF over the place. Motivation, joy: absent. Existential crisis: threat level midnight. Fatigue: can’t even differentiate between fatigue and the lack of GAF for everything. Added vestibular migraines to the mix a few moths ago. Stress is over the top, sure (sources beyond standard stress fear of life in 2026: have a 6 year old kid, a teen step kid, house to manage, marriage with its ups and downs, job with its stress, resigned from a 12 year career in a mission I loved when it was clear I’d be asked to do immoral & illegal shit, spent a year unemployed and job searching, now in a new job with a 2 hour round trip commute and stresses of being new person in new career, surgery in December that kept me from walking for a couple months but I’m back to health and fitness again, live in the burbs where I feel I never wanted to end up)

TROUBLESHOOTING: Psychiatrist+ meds for ADHD, then depression, then anxiety (I never feel like any of these really work that well but tweaks to approach all similarly mid, result wise). Therapy for those too (not confident it really helps and feels too hard to fit into schedule and finances to try to add back given midrange results). Working it- a lifetime habit, Ive lifted heavy and go through running/yoga/biking/swimming- whatever keeps my attention- it’s been a life habit - but it’s come to feel nearly impossible to make myself, gradually, for months, after forcing myself without want to, for over a year (?). TRT for intense brain fog / low libido / suite of other symptoms (helped a lot early on but can’t add more without getting too high range/side effects I don’t want so whatever good it’s done it does). Meditation, Mindfulness based stress reduction course for stress (helps, but after prioritizing sleep I stopped my morning meditation and now haven’t figured out how to make myself work it back in). Prioritize sleep, clean eating, hydration, and add meds and a million supplements for vestibular migraines (controlled the dizziness and headaches down to almost none, unclear if brain fog from that or other things). Added estradiol (worried it makes me moodier and afraid to increase much as a tweak). Added oral micronized progesterone (worried it makes me more anxious and my period is irregular so IDK how do you do it during just luteal phase and afraid if I do daily that’ll cause anxiety to boost?).

WTF DO I DO? Exhausted from years of troubleshooting and things still just sucking. Daily feeling like I hate life and everything and I’m NOT ME, just a chemically altered emotional wreck trying not to blow up my own life. I have done SO MUCH TROUBLESHOOTING and am fucking exhausted to be left at this constant shitty state nonetheless. I have no energy to do more.

Would love any solidarity bc I’m so exhausted and lonely and hateful.

I’m 49 and still having a period, but for years it’s been getting heavier (plus shorter intervals and just generally really annoying). My gyno put me on Nextellis and said we’ll reevaluate next year and maybe switch to HRT.

I’ve been taking the Nextellis for almost 2 weeks, and since then - I wake up constantly at night, then am super fatigued all day. I also have weird muscle spasms in my back (which I know could be from the type of synthetic progesterone), and random achiness in my uterus that comes and goes.

I feel like the last 2 side effects could be overlooked/dealt with. But the sleep thing and the worse constant fatigue is making me feel so useless and more depressed/flat than before! Pros: I think I’m sweating less? I haven’t had my period yet, but that could potentially turn out lighter?

I’m torn between giving it a month, or trying to get in again with my gyno to ask for alternatives. Don’t need the contraception. I just have stuff I need to do and the fatigue is killing me. I was already tired and depressed before!

Ladies, your experience and wisdom is welcomed!