Thread by @ClaraJeffery

So perimenopause is just all the bad parts of menopause without the one upside, yeah?

Add this to the list of things women aren't taught shit about during biology or sex ed or by the culture more generally.

Reminds me of when my son had his first sex ed lesson in 4th grade and came home and said "Mom, I'm sorry it's so hard to be a woman."

Here's this thing that can make half the population feel like crap, is seemingly random as to exactly how, can last for a decade and nobody talks about it, ever.

btw, if you're planning to have/about to have a baby, learn about what can happen to you during/after delivery, which is also somewhat random, and what measures before and during can maybe mitigate, and that works for others re natural/drugs/etc may not be right for you.

My OB/GYN didn't tell me what to expect. Nor did my doulah. Nor did any of the natural childcare classes. Nor the books I read.

My best friend warned me, somewhat obliquely, about 10 days prior to birth.

Post-delivery, I had years of horrible pain, pelvic floor PT, and eventual surgery (which worked, but has risks). All of which maybe could have been avoided had i been taught about various choices. And I had every advantage, as these things go.

The entire OB/GYN system is 100% focused on delivery, pretty much ZERO support or info about post-birth. I had a nurse do a home visit and that's rare and extremely helpful--but it was one visit! You don't really see your OB except maybe once or twice again. It's fucked up.

Anyway, peri/menopause is even worse w/r/t how little we are told about it, how little the health care industrial complex researches and cares about it. And since the culture at large ignores and mocks middle-age/older women, there's no clues about how to discuss/deal.

This Tik Tok pretty much sums up the way the science and medical community treats women’s repro/hormone issues vm.tiktok.com/ZMedXddWw/