Perimenopause Myth #1: You Won't Experience It Until Your 50s

Sit down sis, because we need to talk about something that too many of us found out the hard way.

For years the word perimenopause was treated like it belonged exclusively to women in their 50s...something far off in the distance, something future you would deal with eventually. So when symptoms started showing up in your late 30s or early 40s, the last thing on your mind was perimenopause. You figured it was stress. Or burnout. Or just life catching up with you.

But here's what nobody told us. Perimenopause typically begins in a woman's early 40s to early 50s, and for some women it can start as early as 35! That's not a typo. Your body can begin this transition years before most of us ever thought to consider it. And if your doctor didn't bring it up, and your mother didn't warn you, and your girlfriends were just as confused as you were 😕 you probably had no idea what was actually happening.

That's not your fault. That's a gap in information that too many Black women have fallen through for far too long.

So what does early perimenopause actually look like?? It doesn't always announce itself with hot flashes. It might show up as mood swings you can't explain. Anxiety that feels like it came out of nowhere. Sleep that's suddenly harder to come by. Brain fog that makes you question yourself. Symptoms that get dismissed as stress, depression or simply being too busy.

The problem is that when we don't have the right information we can't ask the right questions. And when we can't ask the right questions we leave doctor's appointments without real answers. Again.

Knowing that perimenopause can start earlier than you think is the first step toward understanding what your body is actually telling you.

Want to learn more?? "Not Just Hot Flashes: What Nobody Told Us About Perimenopause" is available now on Amazon. 

Written by ME...a Black woman for Black women navigating this journey.

Love & Light

Angela