Did you experience puberty and menopause in about the same way?

For me they were different. I had no issues at puberty though I had friends with severe period pains.
I had terrible hot flushes at menopause and had to go on HRT. I still have them mildly.

I asked a similar question on the recent Expert Guest thread.
(I asked if you have bad PMT are you more likely to have a bad menopause.)

What happened to that?
Have I missed it, or has it not happened yet?

What a good question!

I “sailed through” menopause ten years ago, the only symptom being that my periods stopped.

Puberty was horrendous.

I don't think I had heard the word 'puberty' in the 1950s, nor had my parents. Life just went on as normal except that one day you began to menstruate.

Absolutely not the same. Puberty absolutely no problems. Menopause was a nightmare that lasted about 10 years. I had dreadful bleeds. I was sent to the women's hospital in Glasgow where we lived at the time. A consultant looked down his very long nose and announced there is nothing wrong with you!! I cried all the way home.
When we moved to Aberdeen soon after, I was referred to Gynaecology, where both the female consultant and I burst into tears. I had a hysterectomy, which sorted the bleeding, but the flushes continued for a few more years until I had HRT - nightmare!!!

Dreadful periods for 26 years, awful pregnancies, no Menopause symptoms , same as my Mother.
Hopefully my DDs will sail through the menopause too, as they have had heavy and painful periods.

My first period took my completely by surprise as I had been told nothing. I went to school with an old ripped up sheet between my legs. It was a very embarrassing day, especially as I was in the choir on the stage at morning assembly.

Menopause was easy.

"Developing" as we called it when I did it, was horrible.

Two years of being emotional and told to control myself.

Nasty smelling discharge that made my pants stink of ammonia and had me changing them, and washing "between my legs" at least four times a day.

Underarms stinking, and all deodorants brought me out in a rash.

Sore nipples and for what? My breasts never became anything to write home about.

Sweat running off me whenever I had to answer a teacher, because I suddenly became shy.

Glad it only happens once in a lifetime.

And of course it led to years of painful, heavy periods. And the embarrassment for a 13 year old of being the first girl in the class to get her period, and having to ask the school secretary where I could throw out me STs as the girls' cloakroom didn't have bins.

Menopause is a blessing!

My parents would tell you that they I had a dreadful puberty. Even I could see that I was horrible to them and awful to live with.

Apart from that, I had very heavy, painful, long and frequent periods right from day one - often not much more than ten days between the end of one and the start of another - and that's how they continued until I had a mirena coil fitted age 42 when I became very anaemic, although I think that tipping point was actually caused by a polyp.

The menopause is also proving horrendous.
I turned down HRT when it was offered because I felt I could ride out the hot flushes.

I had no idea then that the flushes would be just the tip of the iceberg for me, and that atrophy, along with a gradual, total loss of libido (following a previously great sex life) and regular UTIs were all to develop too over the following five or six years. Not to mention the fatigue and mood swings.
Once again, I think I am hell to live with, though that's the only real similarity I can see to my experience of puberty.

I agree annodomini I didn't hear the word puberty either. Just started to menstruate with no explanation given other than it was not something to talk about. Awful pink sanitary belt with looped cotton wool pads. My periods were not problematic until later life.
My menopause was horrible due to excessive flushes.

I think I’m lucky as puberty was a non event apart from periods starting & breasts growing with the usual embarrassment . Periods not too bad , a bit unpredictable but no pmt that I was aware of. Menopause likewise almost symptomless apart from one or two sudden heavy and embarrassing floods in public places . Then periods got more irregular & eventually stopped. Not aware of any other symptoms. My daughter though had very painful periods when young (though better after having children) so don’t know how her menopause will go. We haven’t discussed it.

Periods started with no problems, 4 days, light bleed exactly 4 weeks apart. Meanwhile Sister had great pain, fainting and irregularity.

Menopause? Horrendous, heavy bleeding, erratic timing. This continued for 3 years or so until a male GP registrar put me back on a period stopping version of 'the Pill'. After a year I stopped taking this pill, one small bleed and that was that.
Meanwhile Sister sailed through Menopause, lighter periods, further apart and then stopped. No Hot flushes, mood swings, Zilch

started my period just before my 11th birthday.Never really had problems with them,the odd late period and as I got older they became heavy.I still bled right up until I got HRT but by then it was 3 weeks flooding and one week clear in between .I was late 50's by then.Still got breakthrough bleeds until last christmas and attend menopause clinic yearly

sorry posted too soon.I'm a few weeks off 67 and still on HRT

My real issues with both times was migraine headache. I would be soooo ill a few days before period when young.During menopause i would wake in the night with the pounding on top of my head and would have to get up and sit in a chair and keep my head perfectly still until it subsided.

No comparison, puberty was a non event and menopause the total opposite, it was hell and dragged on forever.

I too sailed through the menopause, with no symptoms whatsoever. I did have a difficult couple of years when my periods started. I experienced severe pain, pins and needles in my hands and I went deathly white, it was agony for a while, even had to be sent home from school a few times. Then it came to the point when one teacher thought I was putting it on to get sent home. If only!

I hardly noticed the Menopause starting except for periods stopping of course.

So there doesn't seem to be much connection between the type of puberty experienced and the other end of it all.

Interesting that most seem to have had a mild puberty and a horrendous menopause. Or is that our memories playing tricks on us?

I sailed through puberty but had a terrible perimenopause that started at 37 and ended at 50. We are all uniquely individual so it will be different for everyone. I really believe that estrogen and testosterone effect our mental wellbeing hence the mood swings etc during this time. A male colleague of mine was so wise wen he said men have a long apprenticeship with the effects of testosterone where for us women it hits us like a train during this time and our moods cannot deal with its effects. I found myself feeling so angry out of nowhere. I didn't vent but it was so hard to deal with. It was like men who want to start a fight. I look back and I realise it made me feel like I was not myself. I no longer recognised myself anymore. Outwardly I carried on as normal but inside I felt so unhappy. I am glad for those women who fly through it and so sorry for those who don't.

No puberty problems at all---they were stored up for the menopause !

In the sense that I don't remember much about either, I guess my answer to the title question is yes.

Both just fine. Neither ups nor downs. The internal machinery did what it was supposed to.

I don’t remember puberty at all....but let’s say my menopause hasn’t passed me by unnoticed ?

I went through Puberty fairly easily, apart from becoming very shy and embarrassed towards some of the Boys who used to tease us Girls in our mixed Class. From the age of 12, we had a weekly 'Civics' Class, for Girls only, where the Headmistress used to teach us all things Female, from Puberty to Pregnancy and Childbirth, Contraception and personal Hygiene, Sexual Health and Law. We also had a visit to a local leading Manufacturer of Female hygiene products, and came home with lots of Free samples. I was 14 at the time, and after talking to my best friends big sister, who was 16 at the time, we all started experimenting with Tampons!
I never told my Mum at the time, and I think that she became quite concerned that I was not using any of the Sanitary towels she was supplying for me! When I finally told her, a few months later, she went crazy at me, and even made a complaint to my Headmistress that she had encouraged us to do so!
Menopause was a bit more problematic for me, I suffered from Fibroids, heavy bleeding, and Anaemia. The first Gynaecologist I was revered to was useless, he just prescribed Iron tablets and told me to await the Menopause when the bleeding would stop. It didnt, and I ended up paying privately to see a Menopause specialist Consultant who quickly booked me in for an Endrometrial Ablasion, which gave me my quality of life back and was the best moneysworth I ever spent. No major hot flushes, pain, or other menopause problems other than a bit of dry skin afterwards, In a way I suppose that I was one of the Lucky ones!