At age 44, Marni Penning felt extremely off. Some days, she felt as if a weight was sitting on her chest. Other days, she had an urge to just openly weep. Then there were the days she wrestled with intense anger and rage. She was so concerned about these rapidly changing mood swings that she sought out a neurologist. Penning thought she might be on the brink of dementia. It wasn’t until she went to her OBGYN’s office in tears that she found an answer. The mood swings weren’t a symptom of cognitive decline, but instead the beginning of perimenopause, which is the period before menopause.
“My doctor said, I think that you are in the first stages of perimenopause,” Penning told Salon. “And she's like, 'Here's what's going to happen: periods are going to get closer and closer together, and then they're going to start skipping.”
