“Not Penélope Cruz being better educated in the menopause than the myriad of male doctors I’ve seen over the past five years.”

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As board-certified OB-GYN Dr. Mary Claire Haver explained to BuzzFeed, “Perimenopause is when you begin to notice some of the symptoms when your body is starting to register that something's changing in your hormonal life. It can take 7 to 10 years until your period stops.” In other words, it refers to the time that the body naturally transitions into menopause.

“Now I just think about frozen shoulder all the time. I’m just waiting for my shoulder to freeze,” Olivia laughed.

“I’m so glad people are actually talking about menopause nowadays because so many things can be caused by it, and we're not taught most of those in school. At least I wasn’t,” someone else said, while another person echoed, “It is absolutely crazy how uninformed we are about women's health. I wish we were more open about it, so many women feel so alone when going through perimenopause.”

“I’m 9 months into mine and had no idea until now as well. The doctor and I even discussed how our elderly mothers have experienced this. I knew about hot flashes and night sweats, but not this. It has been agonizing at times,” someone else wrote.

Some Reddit comments have been slightly edited for length or clarity.