Haha! I just read a book on this subject on the plane home from Seattle yesterday. The book was my sister's and very outdated, or I'd give you the title.
I'm 48, and I tried bio-identical hormones about 10 years ago after being tested and shown to be low on Progesterone. I think what prompted me to do this was reading What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause by Dr. John Lee. I did this for a while and it seemed to help with PMS symptoms and it regulated my cycle, which had always been irregular up to that point.
When we moved to Phoenix, our insurance changed and would not pay for the bio-identical hormones I had been using, so I went to the health food store and bought the natural Progesterone cream (the one withe a measured dosing pump). I don't think this is as strong as prescription bio-identical hormones, but it worked great for me, and I've been using it for at least the last 10 years. Whenever I've tried to go off it, all the PMS symptoms come back. I'm still cycling regularly, so I follow the directions and use 1 pump each night before bed on days 12-26 of my cycle. I can manipulate my cycle by a day or two by stopping the cream sooner or later than day 26,
Fast forward to the present. I got really sick last year with Shingles, and I went on a crazy healthy diet-lifestyle to try to build up my health again. In retrospect, I have been wondering if I was/am experiencing some of the less-obvious symptoms related to peri-menopause, not Shingles. For instance, even when I went off caffeine (for a year!) and all drugs, I still struggled with insomnia. Sometimes I would be tired at bedtime, fall asleep, and then wake up after 3-5 hours with my heart pounding for no obvious reason, unable to go back to sleep. During and after my bout with Shingles, I experienced crashing fatigue that probably had nothing to do with the illness. I tried to exercise more to build some stamina, but that only left me more and more exhausted. I started experiencing headaches that nothing would work on (at this point I tried ibuprofen, caffeine, and even pseudo-ephedrine, thinking maybe it was a sinus headache) with no relief. After a few months, I realized they were happening during the same part of my cycle, which led me to believe they were hormonal headaches, caused by my levels crashing.
Last month I went in for a physical, complete with EKG, chest X-ray, PAP and mamogram. My blood work and all of the tests showed me to be in excellent health (yay for that!). I asked my gynecologist about testing my hormone levels, but she told me a blood test would only show where my levels were at that particular moment, which wouldn't really tell us anything about where I am in the change of life. I would have to go to a more holistic doctor to do the saliva testing over a period of days and my insurance won't cover that type of care. I have also experienced uncharacteristic breast tenderness and very heavy clotting (any change in periods can be a sign of peri-menopause) and feeling a bit blue for no apparent reason from time to time.
SO! Sorry if that was TMI. Since I have ruled out other health concerns, I'm going to take myself to natural foods store that specializes in herbal remedies. My plan is to target the specific symptoms I'm having with herbs or homeopathic medicines while I settle in for the ride. My doctors were a little dismissive since I still have regular periods and am not having hot flashes or night sweats, but after researching this for a while, I think the symptoms I'm having are peri-menopausal too. Good luck on your journey. I will be following this thread with interest to see what else I can learn! Thanks for bringing it up.
PS I'm now enjoying a little coffee again. It helps with fatigue and depression. Then I'm able to run around and wear myself out and then sleep better at night, lol! The headaches are manageable when I know the cause and realize they will be over in a few days. We WILL get through this!