Perimenopause--think I'm having it.

[vixengrl]

I'm just shy of 37, but I've had something suspiciously like "hot flashes" over the last six mos. (or so), and my last period went a little like--two weeks of PMS, then two days of period. And there have been other little signs that I've started going through changes.

I feel like I'm too young to start noticing changes like this, but then again, I know mentally I still see myself as in my early 20's, and also, I'm kind of a compulsive ruminator--I always notice when things are out of whack. Even if it's me that's out of whack. I'm going to bring this up when I go to a doctor later this week, but I wonder--I know perimenopause can start in one's late 30's, but has anyone else experienced it early? I've always been a little jokingly eager to be done with periods "and all that.", but I feel a little sad, now, as if really, "all that" was a badge of pride.

Does anyone have experience of the change while still relatively young? Was it difficult? Did you have HRT--I'm scared of doing that, myself--and what was that like?

Part of me just wants to "nature-girl" it along with wild yam cream and black cohosh and more soy--anyone find natural sups that stop the sweating and the weeping and gnashing of teeth?

Now, I also am gonna ask my doctor about my athritis and whether my thyroid is sluggish, which are things my research suggests might also have something to do with how I feel--I might have another reason for being temporarily "off". But I still want to know about what I might be facing about menopause, because deep down--I kind of know it's coming up.