Angie, I menopaused at around 45 too...got married the year before and poof! Gone...(sort of like the 'best before' sticker on my butt expired)
I have noticed a lot of changes since (none good)...more fragile muscles/tissues, repeat hernias, more fragile ligaments and tendons, less muscle mass, more fat (as if the rest wasn't bad enough!)...not even going to touch the wrinkles and hair etc...
It appears that our health goes down hill in a handbasket with age...my mom had serious fibromyalgia...now I am wondering if she didn't have Ehler's-Danlos too. (some similar symptoms like severe fatigue and pain everywhere)...I will find out more at the rare diseases clinic...they will do genetic testing...not sure what they can do for me once we get some answers...maybe just to learn how to control the pain without narcotics.
Not sure how we handle this crap...speaking to normal people with normal people problems almost makes me laugh...we deal with the same stuff that they do plus have to deal with all of this on top of it...they cry, complain (fine, they are allowed but still...) but haven't the foggies idea what life is like when on top of the normal stuff you have all of this pain to deal with...And it never, ever goes away...
This morning I woke up with my 10yr old G-daughter beside me...made pancakes for her...best job in the world being a G-mother! (especially since I never got to be a mother)...some days it is worth staying alive.
Sharon