There aren't many resources that you can turn to to gain an insight into the menopause, there are even less looking at it from the perspective of someone under the age of 40. Nonetheless the resources you do find often talk about emotional changes particularly in the perimenopausal period. Women talk about the uncertainty of their emotions and the stresses associated with this at a difficult time in their lives. Throughout all the resources I have read surrounding this issue there is still a focus on early menopause affecting women aged 40-45. The emotional challenges this group of women face are often completely different to the emotional challenges faced in your late 20's/ early 30's. Regardless of age all women going through perimenopause often report struggling with the ability to attach a specific reason to their emotions and all seem to have initial difficulty in making that connection between emotional lability and onset of the menopause.
Now imagine obliviously going through all the emotional turmoil of the perimenopause before you even knew you could. Mood swings up and down, anxiety, low self worth, uncontrollable anger, these are all some of the emotional symptoms that can be attributed to the fluctuating hormone levels in your body. The scary thing is that although these may be expected in women approaching 50, in your 20's and 30's you would never think that the root cause of these emotions was linked to an unprecedented decline in your fertility.
I was 32 when I first got diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (POI) and by the time the diagnosis came it was assumed that I had already gone through the menopause. So when did the process begin. How had my body gone through this whole hormonal upheaval and I'd been totally oblivious until it was too late. Had I rode the wave of emotional instability really well and come out the other side unscathed. It's made me reflect back on my late 20's, the time I must have been going through the perimenopasue period. I was on the Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill (COCP) at the time so had some of these hormonal changes been masked by the hormones I was taking into my body. I have always been an emotional person and not scared to show my feelings rather than masquerade them, but I started to question had this been the real me or was this the emotional rollercoaster of menopause rearing its ugly head. I look back at various relationships I had with friends, partners and family and wonder how much this unconscious "perimenopase" had a role to play. Sometimes I would have a short temper and sometimes my emotions were disproportionate to the situation at hand. No one would have ever thought that the hormonal changes associated with POI would affect a women this young, how many women are currently going through this ignorant emotional hell unable to find the answer because no one is looking in the right place. Often when younger women demonstrate emotion they are tarred with the "time of the month" brush, which in itself is a chauvinistic outdated term of phrase. Imagine having to navigate this emotional dysregulation and combat these negative connotations on a daily basis at a time when society doesn't have an accepted explantation for your behaviour. No one expects you to be going through the menopause at 30 so society doesn't allow for you too. Women are often judged for showing emotion and not "having a grip" on these. How many women are belittled and ostracised for unpredictable emotional behaviour when they aren't receiving the support and recognition they perhaps need and deserve.
Your 20's are already an emotional battleground, you may have started your professional life, you may be getting married, thinking about starting a family, you may be a student with the ongoing stresses of exams. I was studying for medicine in my late 20's, I look back now and wonder how much of my struggles at this time could have been related to the perimenopause. Symptoms such as brain fog, forgetfulness, anxiety and stress; however it's hard to retrospectively go back and try and attach significance and meaning to symptoms and behaviours you that may or may not have been related. I think that I was relatively lucky, I managed to get through this period of my life without too much upheaval but there must be women going through it now who may not be so lucky and have no idea why they are feeling the way they do. Without raising an awareness that menopause can happen at such a young age we risk alienating those people who are going through it and understandably have no idea that they are.
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