In forums on Reddit, women share tales of having perimenopause and menopause symptoms misdiagnosed or dismissed as mental health disorders, early-onset dementia, or autoimmune issues, resulting in months or years of unnecessary testing. They discuss sudden mood shifts of rage, and panic, and how they are routinely labeled by their doctor as primary psychiatric conditions rather than hormonal fluctuations, leading to unnecessary antidepressant prescriptions.
Severe brain fog, memory lapses, and sleeplessness from night sweats — all common signs of menopause or perimenopause — often terrify women into believing they have a degenerative cognitive disease before considering that these seemingly disconnected symptoms might be related to perimenopause or menopause.
