My experience with peri-menopause was a never-ending nightmare. The worst part was enduring 3 years of constant heavy periods...the cycle was backwards, with 28 days of period and 5 days free! It was horrible, painful and exhausting. We traveled a lot during that time, and it was always such a challenge (and inconvenience) finding public bathrooms every two hours! The doctor and other menopausal women kept telling me it was normal. I still don't know if all of that WAS normal, because the uterine cancer was so small that it doesn't seem that it could have been the cause of all of that pain and suffering. Still, the hysterectomy has brought much welcome relief in so many ways, some I wouldn't have thought possible before the surgery! I love the freedom!!