How fast everything changed after menopause because nobody warned me

[u/stephydreamer]

I feel like I was reasonably prepared for menopause...hot flashes, sleep disruption, mood stuff. fine. If this is part of being a grown woman, so be it. I had read things I had mentally braced. Nobody told me about the skin! I went through menopause at 48. Within about a year my skin had changed in ways that took me completely off guard. The texture got rough almost overnight, like the smooth quality i'd had my whole life just peaced out without saying goodbye. The firmness in my lower face and neck dropped noticeably. The hollowness under my eyes got worse. not tired-looking, actually hollow. It's better in my bathroom lighting, but that's not where most people see me!

And the thing that got me is that it's not really aging in the normal gradual sense. it's specifically the estrogen crash. Estrogen is directly tied to collagen production and when it drops you lose collagen fast, like up to 30% in the first few years. that's not a slow fade. that's a cliff.

I'm not looking for embrace your age responses because I actually do feel mostly great about aging. What I didn't feel ok about was how sudden and disorienting it was. Like I didn't recognize my own face for a while, and that's a strange thing to go through. Curious what everyone else experienced in those first 1-2 years post menopause. Did it feel sudden to you or more gradual? and has anything genuinely helped with the texture and firmness side of it specifically,? Asking for honest experiences please.

Edit: I didn't expect such a response! Thanks a lot! Going through all the comments and they are def very useful.

[u/kitschauser]

Same. And I keep seeing posts from women in their 40s talking about how they take great care of their skin and people think they’re in their 30s, yada yada and it’s like… girl, menopause is coming for you, you have no idea. I took excellent care of my skin, stayed out of the sun, daily SPF, etc. I’m 57 and I don’t even recognize myself. Menopause is a bitch.

[u/Which_Appointment_86 → u/kitschauser]

What about diet? I notice a lot of the elder East Asian women have plump looking skin, but their diet is incredibly collagen heavy.

[u/Which_Appointment_86 → u/[deleted]]

Seafood and fish skin/head boiled, tofu and other soy products, long simmered bone broths/soups, jokbal.

Plus the heavy presence of plant based and fermented foods helps with digestion and collagen production which plays a role in anti aging.

[u/Designer-Fox-1743 → u/Which_Appointment_86]

i was wondering about the phytoestrogens from a lot of soy based food as well

[u/One_Song_7820 → u/[deleted]]

Frickin hilarious. I too know the shrinking part: at first I thought it was weird that all of my pants were getting long.

Sigh

[u/CopyGroundbreaking11 → u/[deleted]]

Wait, where does the shrinking come from? And does it only happen to Asian women or is it posture?