@dana.perimenopause: The problem with that list isn't the length. It's that not one of them arrives with a label on it. Itchy ears is a shrug. Dry skin is winter. Achy joints is getting older. Forgetting words is being busy. Separately they're nothing. That's the trap. You don't take twenty small nothings to an appointment. "You're a bit young to be worrying about that." I was 40. It took me two years to understand I hadn't collected twenty problems — I had one, showing up in twenty places. You're not a hypochondriac. You're not falling apart. You're pattern-matching correctly for the first time. Save it, then read it again in a month. Half of them won't land today and will land then. That's how it went for me. #perimenopause #perimenopausesymptoms #nobodytoldus #midlifewomen