@margaret_caldwell: You never get one perimenopause symptom. You get nine, and every one of them looks like a different problem. Dry skin? The weather. Headaches? Screen time. The chin hair? Just getting older. Wide awake at 3am? Stress. Forgetting the word for the thing you strain pasta in? Tired. Nine problems. Nine excuses. Nobody adds them up. I taught elementary school for 23 years. I know exactly what a checklist is for. It never once occurred to me to make one for myself. When I finally went in, I got "your labs are normal, it's probably stress." Stress doesn't give you chin hairs. Here's the part nobody tells you: for most of us, perimenopause doesn't start with hot flashes. It starts with a handful of small things you'd never put in the same sentence. You're not falling apart. You're not imagining it. You're not the only one with a list this long. What I'd do with that list today: - count how many are yours — I had most of them - write down roughly when each one started - take it to your appointment and ask one question: "could this be perimenopause?" I'm not a doctor. I'm the friend who did the homework. If a friend came to mind while you read the list — the one who's mentioned three of these this month — send her this. #perimenopause #perimenopausesymptoms #menopauseawareness #womenover40

Margaret Caldwell

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Wednesday 09 September 2026 23:38:02 GMT