Ladies 35+ Read On….

I’m having lots of conversations with Torbay ladies recently about this, because no-one thought to tell us to be on the look out for perimenopause from the age of 35!!!!

I used to think perimenopause was something I didn’t need to think about until my 50s 😂 but Mother Nature thought otherwise.

I see lots of Torbay ladies coming in with perimenopause types of symptoms and it’s always worth exploring. Also worth knowing is that erratic periods and hot flashes aren’t usually the first sign perimenopause is happening - there’s a huge range of symptoms including pain, crippling anxiety, exhaustion, brain fog and more.

Yes a great massage can help with perimenopause related muscle and joint pain, depression, anxiety, and a whole load of other symptoms related to perimenopause.

BUT ultimately part of my job is to try and spot when this ISN’T just muscle/joint pain and COULD be something more, to look a little bit deeper, and help you to have that conversation with your Dr (I’ve got some great perimenopause resources to help with that which I can share with you too).

So, could it actually be perimenopause?

Menopause is one single day in a woman’s life - 12months to the day since her final period.

The period before this we’re perimenopausal and after it we’re postmenopausal.

The ‘normal’ age women reach Menopause, according to the NHS website, is between age 45-55.

Symptoms of perimenopause can begin 7-10 years before this.

So… using even basic maths we can begin to understand why we need to be aware of perimenopause symptoms from age 35+ for the ‘average’ woman.

That being said, it is possible for some women to experience early menopause before age 45, and premature menopause before the age of 40.

So the more knowledge we have, the more we talk to our female friends, family and co-workers, the more we can keep an eye on each other and ourselves to spot these signs as early as possible - and most importantly, NORMALISE that perimenopause symptoms can begin in our 30s.

The number of ladies I’ve met who have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia, ME/CFS and years later begin HRT only to find their ‘depression’ ‘anxiety’ or ‘fibro’ almost completely resolve is scary. The saddest part of all is they’ve suffered through it for years because they were too young to even think about perimenopause.

The same thing happened for me, and that’s why I’m passionate about advocating for and supporting women.

This is why I offer women’s health specific soft tissue therapy - as we’re specifically looking at female specific conditions and supporting you through different life phases with information, stress relief, hands on massage, pain relief and giving you space to be free to speak honestly, openly and without judgement.

See you soon.

Jo