Perimenopause
Have your periods started to fluctuate? Do you occasionally have hot flashes, problems sleeping, or a decreased libido? If you're in your thirties or forties, you may be in perimenopause, the transitional phase that precedes menopause.
It can be hard to tell when you're actually in perimenopause since it doesn't have a specific starting point, such as a particular age, and its end point is defined in relation to menopause. In other words, perimenopause is over only after you've entered menopause. Moreover, if you've had PMS symptoms for years, it may be even more difficult for you to realize that your PMS symptoms are now part perimenopause.
In general, perimenopause (which literally means “around meno-pause”) takes place when a woman is in her mid-forties. However, this transitional phase can start as much as a decade earlier, when a woman is thirty-five a time of prime adulthood, when most people consider themselves too young to be aging. Perimenopause also varies in length: it can last as little as a year or as long as six years, or even up to a decade.
The Process
So what happens during this time? As you age, your body's system gradually slows and, for a time, goes a bit your ovaries begin to produce less estrogen and progesterone, hormone levels start to fluctuate wildly, your periods become sometimes bunching up and other times disappearing for of cycles, and your fertility decreases. This is why older generally have a more difficult time getting pregnant.
Alert
Motherhood delays perimenopause! Childless women are more likely to enter perimenopause sooner than women with children. The more children you have, the later you are likely to experience the onset of perimenopause.
Symptoms
Perimenopause is transitional in nature, and its symptoms the symptoms of both menopause and PMS. They include periods, mood changes, headaches, difficulty concentrating forgetfulness, joint and muscle aches, difficulty sleeping, in sexual desire, night sweats, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, sweating, and frequent urination and urinary incontinence.
Irregular periods are the most common perimenopausal affecting nine out of ten women, while 85 percent report flashes and sleep problems. During a hot flash, you'll suddenly your face, neck, chest, arms, and back get intensely hot, and your skin becomes flushed and blotchy. The sensation lasts only between three to five minutes, but it can take as long as thirty minutes to recover, and you may also experience sweating, chills, and shivering as your body temperature readjusts.
In some women, perimenopause kicks off more intense PMS symptoms.
