Marion C
Member40, Hampshire. Still figuring the change out and trying to laugh when I can.
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Activity (5)
Jun 19 · Posted
Right so I've started writing down my cycle dates because they've gone completely weird and I have no idea if that's just stress or something else. 40 feels too young to even be thinking about this but here I am googling at midnight. Not calling it anything official. Just noting dates, how I feel the week before, whether I want to cry at adverts (yes, frequently). Will report back if I spot a pattern. Anyone else doing something similar? x
Jun 15 · Posted
Ok so this is going to be long and I apologise in advance but I need to write it somewhere because I've been sitting with it all afternoon and I think I might actually cry a bit. Background: I'm 40. I've been lurking in this room for about two months. I kept telling myself I was too young to be here, that I was probably just tired, that everyone with two kids and a full-time job feels like this, that I was being dramatic. Classic me. My cycles have been all over the place since last spring. Like, I used to be 28 days, reliable as a train that actually runs on time (rare, I know), and then suddenly 19 days, then 34 days, then 19 again. I started tracking it properly in January because I needed to feel like I was doing something rather than just googling at 11pm and terrifying myself. I wrote everything down. Cycle length, the anxiety that arrives out of nowhere about four days before, the week where I genuinely cannot find words and my colleague had to finish my sentences twice in one meeting, the night where I woke up at 3am absolutely convinced I'd forgotten to do something catastrophic at work (I hadn't), the fatigue that isn't fixed by sleep. I had two months of notes on my phone. And I went to my GP this morning fully prepared to be told I was stressed and should try mindfulness. She didn't say that. She actually looked at my notes. She asked follow-up questions. She said the cycle changes were worth taking seriously at my age and she's referring me for bloodwork. She said we'd talk about what the results mean and what options there are. She didn't say "you're too young" once. I sat in my car afterwards and I just. Sat there. Because I've been telling myself for nearly a year that I was making it up. That this was just life. That I needed to toughen up or sleep more or eat better or whatever. And someone finally said actually, no, this is worth looking at. I don't have answers yet. The bloods might show nothing. I might still be in "just life" territory, I genuinely don't know. But I feel like I was heard for the first time in a long time and that is not nothing. If you're sitting on symptoms and talking yourself out of going: take your notes. Go anyway. You're not being dramatic. x
Jun 10 · Posted
Hello. I'm Marion, 40, and I've been reading posts in here for about three weeks while telling myself I probably don't belong yet. But I keep recognising things people describe and I think I need to just say hello and stop lurking. So. My cycles have been doing something weird for about eight months. Used to be like clockwork, now they're anywhere from 24 to 35 days and twice recently I had spotting mid-cycle which has never happened before in my life. Nobody warned me this could start at 40. I thought perimenopause was a thing that happened at like 48 and involved hot flushes and being done with it. Apparently not. I'm also exhausted in a way that doesn't really respond to sleep, which is fun. And the anxiety. I've always been a bit of a worrier but this past year it's been a different quality, like background static that won't turn off. I keep googling at 11pm and going down rabbit holes and then feeling worse. I went to my GP in January and she ran some bloods and said everything looked normal and probably stress. Which, fine, maybe. I have two kids, a full-time job, and a commute. But I've had all of that for years and I didn't feel like this. I've started writing my cycle dates down properly instead of relying on an app that keeps asking me if I'm trying to conceive (I am not). Just trying to see if there's a pattern. Feels a bit dramatic to call it a symptom diary when I'm not even sure what I'm tracking for. Anyway. Hi. Glad this place exists x
Jun 8 · Replied
Community post
Thank you Susan, and everyone who replied. This is exactly why I posted. Reading these has made me feel much less ridiculous, and I am adding a few notes before my next appointment.
Jun 8 · Posted
Right so I've been tracking my cycle for about four months now because something felt off and I couldn't explain it. Used to be like clockwork. Now it's 24 days, then 31, then 27, and last month I had this weird light one that barely counted. I'm 40. I keep telling myself it's just stress, work is a lot, the kids are a lot, everything is a lot. But the brain fog on top of it is what's getting me. I walked into the kitchen three times yesterday for the same thing and gave up on the third attempt. I'm not asking anyone to diagnose me, I just needed to say it somewhere that might get it. Because googling at midnight is not helping my mental state 😩 x
Posts (4)
Right so I've started writing down my cycle dates because they've gone completely weird and I have no idea if that's just stress or something else. 40 feels too young to even be thinking about this but here I am googling at midnight. Not calling it anything official. Just noting dates, how I feel the week before, whether I want to cry at adverts (yes, frequently). Will report back if I spot a pattern. Anyone else doing something similar? x
Ok so this is going to be long and I apologise in advance but I need to write it somewhere because I've been sitting with it all afternoon and I think I might actually cry a bit. Background: I'm 40. I've been lurking in this room for about two months. I kept telling myself I was too young to be here, that I was probably just tired, that everyone with two kids and a full-time job feels like this, that I was being dramatic. Classic me. My cycles have been all over the place since last spring. Like, I used to be 28 days, reliable as a train that actually runs on time (rare, I know), and then suddenly 19 days, then 34 days, then 19 again. I started tracking it properly in January because I needed to feel like I was doing something rather than just googling at 11pm and terrifying myself. I wrote everything down. Cycle length, the anxiety that arrives out of nowhere about four days before, the week where I genuinely cannot find words and my colleague had to finish my sentences twice in one meeting, the night where I woke up at 3am absolutely convinced I'd forgotten to do something catastrophic at work (I hadn't), the fatigue that isn't fixed by sleep. I had two months of notes on my phone. And I went to my GP this morning fully prepared to be told I was stressed and should try mindfulness. She didn't say that. She actually looked at my notes. She asked follow-up questions. She said the cycle changes were worth taking seriously at my age and she's referring me for bloodwork. She said we'd talk about what the results mean and what options there are. She didn't say "you're too young" once. I sat in my car afterwards and I just. Sat there. Because I've been telling myself for nearly a year that I was making it up. That this was just life. That I needed to toughen up or sleep more or eat better or whatever. And someone finally said actually, no, this is worth looking at. I don't have answers yet. The bloods might show nothing. I might still be in "just life" territory, I genuinely don't know. But I feel like I was heard for the first time in a long time and that is not nothing. If you're sitting on symptoms and talking yourself out of going: take your notes. Go anyway. You're not being dramatic. x
Hello. I'm Marion, 40, and I've been reading posts in here for about three weeks while telling myself I probably don't belong yet. But I keep recognising things people describe and I think I need to just say hello and stop lurking. So. My cycles have been doing something weird for about eight months. Used to be like clockwork, now they're anywhere from 24 to 35 days and twice recently I had spotting mid-cycle which has never happened before in my life. Nobody warned me this could start at 40. I thought perimenopause was a thing that happened at like 48 and involved hot flushes and being done with it. Apparently not. I'm also exhausted in a way that doesn't really respond to sleep, which is fun. And the anxiety. I've always been a bit of a worrier but this past year it's been a different quality, like background static that won't turn off. I keep googling at 11pm and going down rabbit holes and then feeling worse. I went to my GP in January and she ran some bloods and said everything looked normal and probably stress. Which, fine, maybe. I have two kids, a full-time job, and a commute. But I've had all of that for years and I didn't feel like this. I've started writing my cycle dates down properly instead of relying on an app that keeps asking me if I'm trying to conceive (I am not). Just trying to see if there's a pattern. Feels a bit dramatic to call it a symptom diary when I'm not even sure what I'm tracking for. Anyway. Hi. Glad this place exists x
Right so I've been tracking my cycle for about four months now because something felt off and I couldn't explain it. Used to be like clockwork. Now it's 24 days, then 31, then 27, and last month I had this weird light one that barely counted. I'm 40. I keep telling myself it's just stress, work is a lot, the kids are a lot, everything is a lot. But the brain fog on top of it is what's getting me. I walked into the kitchen three times yesterday for the same thing and gave up on the third attempt. I'm not asking anyone to diagnose me, I just needed to say it somewhere that might get it. Because googling at midnight is not helping my mental state 😩 x
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Thank you Susan, and everyone who replied. This is exactly why I posted. Reading these has made me feel much less ridiculous, and I am adding a few notes before my next appointment.