Did anyone else get bladder pain with the hormone changes? When I was 35 I started feeling like I had a UTI, it got worse, and I just felt like I had to pee all the time. I also had CONSTANT bladder pain that significantly lowered my quality of life. The urologist said interstitial cystitis, which I found hard to believe because it came on rather suddenly. The urogyn gave me estrogen cream for the vaginal/urethral area and it helped a lot initially, and then the effects started to wear off. She also said to take the nexplanon out because the large amount of progesterone in that birth control lowers your estrogen levels, and a low estrogen state for 7 years possibly caused this. I serendipitously discovered that high amounts of systemic estrogen was the solution to my bladder issues when I started the nuvaring (since I took out the nexplanon), which is estrogen and progesterone based. I guess the flood of higher amounts of systemic estrogen to the pelvic area is what I needed because that is what completely got rid of my bladder issues. Whenever I take it out, it comes back. I don't know what to attribute this to, other than perimenopause... just curious if that has happened to anyone else because my gyno said he has never seen bladder issues like this before.

I'm just scared this will be a forever thing. I'm wondering if this is just an issue caused by having nexplanon in for so long or if this is perimenopause, my mom had her last period at 42, so genetically early onset menopause.

Can anyone else relate and do you have any remedies or suggestions? I’m in so much hip pain and it’s causing lower back pain too.

Am I missing estrogen?

43F perimeno
Hysterectomy this past June
Before hyst (and still now) taking Testosterone cream (for libido), Progesterone at night (for sleep), and vaginal estrogen for GSM.

The past couple of weeks I have felt completely unhinged. I am exhausted constantly despite sleeping well (I do wake up once around 1am but go back to sleep), my patience is hanging on by a thread, road rage is a new reality for me, I can’t control my thoughts (like I struggle to focus and words are hard) and my libido is non existent. My labs 10mths ago for all the non hormone things looked good (thyroid, iron, blood counts, vit d, etc)

Am I missing systemic estrogen? I went ahead and made an appt with a women’s health practitioner. Is estrogen patch/gel something I should bring up in this appt to help with this shit show I am feeling like 🤪

Thanks in advance for your help ❤️

So, ablation next week (plus hysteroscopy, D&C, and myomectomy). Will be under general anesthesia for all this. Gyn messaged me saying she was sending over a prescription for pain meds for after the procedure. I was surprised, she prescribed Vicodin, enough for multiple days. I’m hoping I don’t hurt that badly, but it feels nice that she sent in a prescription of something more potent just in case.

After hearing about too many women who are straight up denied any pain relief, it’s reassuring to know I’m being cared for by someone who doesn’t want me to suffer. She also looked over my history of various bcp types and Nexplanon failures and advised against a Mirena and straight to ablation due to my 2 week cycles.

Hey all,

I am 541 days without a period at 31, I have Endo but my OBGYN kicked me off her service because I won’t take hormonal contraception because of the awful side effects I’ve had since starting god knows how many of them at 14.

Bleeding free for 541 days and now I’m bleeding all day ? Not heavy but even so. What the hell ? Has anyone else have this experience ?

53F - I’m going to have a Hysteroscopy and D&C under anesthesia next month. The tricky part for me is that I live alone - I worked up the courage to ask a casual friend to take me and stay with me for several hours after we get home, but she can’t stay longer than that. All the official instructions say to have someone for “24 hours,” but that isn’t possible.

I’ve had colonoscopies, and been fine to take care of myself for the rest of the day, but this might be more than twilight sleep. Anyone gone through this procedure that can reassure me that I’ll be mentally alert enough to take care of myself that evening? This is making more anxious than the procedure!

Hi all, I'll be seeing my GP again in a few weeks and bringing it up with her directly, but I wanted to chat with others first to see if I was missing something. Last month I asked if we could try increasing my Estradot patch (I'm on 0.075 now) since my night sweats are returning and I don't really want to get back to a place where I'm feeling like shit all the time again, but she said that I couldn't go up because "there wasn't really anymore room to go up." I have no idea what that means. She acted like I was already almost at the maximum dose. I'm 40 and I'd been struggling with symptoms for a couple of years before I started HRT two years ago. I started at 0.025, went up to 0.05, and then felt great for a while on 0.075. I'm on Slynd to take care of the progesterone side of things. Is this about not upsetting the balance between the two?

The reason I'm crowdsourcing info here is because she's given me just plain incorrect information in the past about other medications, so if I want to push for an dose increase I'm going to have to show up prepared to argue my case.

I’m wondering if anyone here has experienced positional or orthostatic headaches and had it be related to perimenopause. I’m 46 and definitely in perimenopause. For the past 1.5 months I’ve had daily headaches. If I’m lying down, I’m totally fine. When I stand or sit up I get around an hour, sometimes a little longer, before I start to get headaches. If I don’t lay down they get progressively worse. My PCP referred me to a neurologist. They suspect a CSF leak, and I do have all of the symptoms of that. I had a brain MRI and it was normal. CSF leaks can be difficult to diagnose with imaging, especially if they’re spontaneous and not caused by a known injury to the head or spine. I’m waiting for a call back from my neurologist after the MRI, but I’m also just looking for anything else that could be causing these headaches. Today, both my mom and MIL, suggested it could be related to hormones so I thought I’d check here to see if anyone has had a similar experience.

Hi everyone,

I’m wondering if anyone who is feeling untested / having poor sleep at times uses a tracker to check ehats actually going on at night and how HRT impacts it?

I’ve been wondering if it would be a good thing to have to get more black and white what’s going on or if my sleep is good.

I just notice my recovery is just terrible at the moment - I often feel like I’m in fight or flight and since starting going to the gym (twice a week) and after a big day of extra physical / stressful day at work I feel this constant lingering of being worn down as if I’m about to get a cold. it’s like I’m on the verge of it.

not sure if getting a device could help explain things or if it will just say things I’m already feeling 😂

Wondering if my sleep is perhaps shittier than I’m aware of.

Hi Peri.
What the fuck? Yes I have fibrous, dense breast tissue, but that does not mean to make it rock hard. When I have the period that should have flown the fucking coop, I don’t enjoy this. Yes it will go down in a few days. Yes I’ve had a mammo and it’s ok. Yes I know it’s cyclical. For fucks sake leave the tits alone.
I’ve breastfed two kids. Gone through two pregnancies. Been dealing with breasts not liking hormonal changes. This is too fucking far.
I’m Gen X. I have no fucks left. Just stop.
Thanks
Tired ass human

Sorry if this has already been posted today. I just saw it. Print it off to take to the doctor, if you need!

Edit to add: I guess the link for the gift article isn't working. u/tea-boat posted this working link:

https://archive.is/rUUpr

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/15/well/live/menopause-hormone-therapy-acog.html?unlocked_article_code=1.I1E.kFyv.OHTHVvvm0-Lv&smid=nytcore-android-share

Pretty much what the title says. I’ve had zero energy for quite some time. For the past several months, my periods have been every 2-3 weeks. The periods are not heavier than normal, but the frequency is concerning. I got tested for low iron and ferritin and sure enough, I’ve got it. However, just taking an iron pill isn’t going to be enough. I need to address the root cause. So I’m going to the gynecologist next Wednesday.

Symptoms: fatigue, headaches, dizziness, shortness of breath/air hunger(also have asthma), brain fog, irritability, distract ability (ADHD meds not working well due to iron deficiency), hot temper, etc.

I have been referred for this so just wondering if anyone has had it and if it helps.

Now that I'm in Peri menopause my periods aren't regular but I feel I get an extended luteal phase.

I know my period is coming but it takes its time.

My luteal phase always kicks my butt emotionally and mentally.

Have you any advice or help?

47yo w PMDD and ADHD and feel like I’m losing the plot 🫠

I was on the Estrogel-Prometrium combo for about a year and it was working well to combat brain fog, low mood, etc. Not perfect (the hassle of the gel was annoying) but really pretty good, and sleep was great as the Prometrium acted as a sedative.

But my periods were getting heavier and heavier each month, and despite taking a daily (high quality) iron supplement for over a year, my ferritin levels just wouldn’t get above the danger zone.

I asked my women’s health GP about having an ablation and she suggested it would be better to try Zoely instead as it uses the same estrogen as Estrogel and is prescribed for women with PMDD, and it would enable me to skip periods to limit the iron loss.

I’m now halfway through month two and I’m sleeping about 4.5 hours a night. I don’t know what to do. I had a follow-up consult with her two weeks ago and she said it would be ok to take Prometrium with it to help the sleep piece, but that just made me feel awful emotionally.

I don’t know how to properly articulate what’s going on or figure out a way through because my brain just feels like it’s stopped functioning entirely.

Appointments with this doctor are $250 a pop so I’m reluctant to make yet another one if this is just a stage I need to ride out.

Please, if anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears.

Hey all

If you’re reading this .. firstly grab a brew, secondly please drop a response, thirdly forever in your debt!!!

Tired for over a year.. looked into all explanations, Iron, thyroid etc. I cannot accept that tiredness/ dry etc is simply the menopause..

Rolled my sleeves up and took on the GP ..

GP blamed menopause- would not consider Iron ( ferritin low or thyroid fairly high and antibodies very high .. instead told my oestrogen is low and upped my patch from 50 to 75.

Bloods did not show this and still having regular periods ( this was Feb 2026) .. may extreme shoulder pain, X-ray osteoarthritis discovered, admittedly quite bad but I questioned why no pain before May .. ignored.

May to July - horrendous, I actually have PTSD, nerve stuff, all down my arms, felt like I had water running down my arms, vice life pain upper shoulders and neck, eyes drying than ever, nerve and numbness in legs, hip and groin pain..

Crying fits with GP - blamed shoulder OA and menopause- upped patch to 100mg no change to P ( currently 100)

July until now .. the above and so much more, flu like symptoms, every virus gping I’ve caught and now a bout of invitigo, breathlessness, three day migraines, joint pain but weirdly the nerve stuff has gone

I’m 52 periods each month .. I have explored autoimmune but could this be that my patch is to high ..

I’m so sorry this is so long winded but you are my go to before attempting to discuss with GP as the dismissal is just soul crushing!

If you could find it in yourselves to please advise I would be most grateful

I am 51. I got my first period at age 12. For most of my life, they were light or medium, three days long, and exactly every 28-29 days.

Then, about 6 months ago, everything changed.

In April I had a very heavy period that lasted about 5 days. Since then it’s been so inconsistent.
63 days (heavy)
35 days (heavy)
12 days (light-med)
29 days (heavy)
13 days (medium)
14 days (light-med)

I also have spotting a few days before and after each time. Last month I had a total of 7 days (not in a row) with no spotting or bleeding.

In June I started the Climara patch. That did not seem to help with bleeding at all, but helps with sleep, which is wonderful!

Last week I had an ultrasound and endometrial biopsy to check on things. No issues or concerns were found.

My doctor suggested an ablation, but I’m not sure. What if I’m almost done anyway, and just don’t know it? And I don’t like the idea of not knowing when I actually go through menopause. (My mom had chemo in her mid 40s, due to breast cancer, so did not go through menopause naturally.)

Any guesses on when this might end?? I know everyone is different, but I’d love some real life feedback.

Literally sick and tired of all of this!!

My body fluctuates from sweaty hot to painfully freezing cold regularly throughout the day, it is so annoying and frustrating! I don't get night sweats, but I am shivering cold when I crawl into bed for an hour or so before I heat up. Has anybody experienced this and had HRT help?

I’m only taking 50 mg and I am on testosterone too. I have bad histamine issues and period flu. Daily progesterone is the only thing that’s saved me from this.

I'm 49 have been perimenopausal for a bit. I haven't had my period for six months...SIX. I thought I was gonna be free and clear. That mfer arrived today. I nearly cried. Menopause clock T=0 again.

I’ve been on Sertraline 50gm for around seven months now, in the beginning it was tough but I slowly got my life back and I’ve had a lot of positive effects (see previous posts). I was initially put on this drug for anxiety and low mood and I think it could be linked to peri-menopause. I had an early period and for the last two weeks since my mood has been terrible and I’ve had awful brain fog and low-level depression. has anyone experienced a dip like this after months of feeling good? I feel like I’ve got a thick head can’t focus or concentrate and feel exhausted. I will definitely be going back into the Doctor as soon as possible but I’m not sure whether this could be a new reaction to the medication and maybe need a change or if I need to come off it altogether? I’d appreciate any advice from anyone particularly peri-menopausal women that have had success with this drug and what they did next. Thankyou

I know. I know. I need to eat. I need protein and fiber and vitamins and blah blah blah. But now that I’m in Peri, I hate food. Nothing sounds good. I’ll sit and stare at my fridge and can’t decide and just walk away empty handed. It’s easier to go hungry. And when I do eat, I choke it down and try not to barf it up

Am I alone in this???

I started HRT (almost 2 months in) and have added a few anti anxiety meds as well but I just cannot shake the feeling that my antidepressant (been on it for 6 years) has stopped working. Anyone else? I feel like I did when I was off antidepressants (been on them for a long time over my life). Has anyone else had to switch in peri?

I just want to know if it gets easier. I was on 100 mg and just went up to 200. 100 made me groggy in morning but now with 200 that feeling is worse.

Will I adapt?

It made me sleep for 9 hours straight, felt difficult to wake up, and now it’s noon and I have low motivation and I feel sleepy and slow and dumb.

I’m looking for other women who take Provera (medroxyprogesterone) along with their bioidentical estrogen. If so, can you share what dosages and how you take them?