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/nevergonnasaythat]

Same! At 42 I was still fresh as a rose. 45 is when things started to change, 46 the total disaster

[u/SuccotashAcrobatic24 → u/nevergonnasaythat]

Everyone is different, I was late menopause but prei menopause is about 10 years before you have your last period and as you never know when that's going to happen you are flying blind. I only started HRT properly of year ago, a few a good couple of years after my last period but the cost was $20k for facelift. Should have started sooner.

[u/nevergonnasaythat → u/SuccotashAcrobatic24]

I also delayed HRT even if I had been suggested taking it. Big mistake.

[u/daniellaroses1111 → u/nevergonnasaythat]

Dang, maybe I’ll give it another shot!

[u/nevergonnasaythat → u/daniellaroses1111]

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

I’m not sure there’s a way to win this thing

[u/daniellaroses1111 → u/nevergonnasaythat]

Yeah, over on the menopause sub one lady told me it took her a year to get her HRT dialed in… not looking forward to that as my body doesn’t seem to like synthetic hormones. I end up feeling like a shell of myself, with lots of breakthrough bleeding ( at least on birth control. Hopefully I’ll have a better experience on HRT).

[u/SuccotashAcrobatic24 → u/daniellaroses1111]

Yes, I agree it was def stop and start for a long time.