When Are You in Menopause? When Are You in Menopause? Menopause is identified after the fact, Dr. Santoro says. When you look back at your calendar and see that you have gone one full year with absolutely no menstrual bleeding, then you are in menopause. You might go a long stretch of months without getting a period, but if one eventually comes before 12 months have passed, you are still perimenopausal.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976298f43c2bc-6e2a-4923-8dd4-cd0b2595a6b8 In the United States, women typically enter menopause between age 45 and 58, with the average being 52, according to the Office on Women’s Health.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629fce6a077-de22-4a2e-bae9-b4f2f835d6e4 Some women are even in their sixties. Women usually reach menopause around the same age as their mothers.
The Takeaway Menopause begins a full year after your last menstrual bleeding, while perimenopause is the transitional stage before it, characterized by irregular cycles and fluctuating hormones. Symptoms like hot flashes, trouble sleeping, and mood changes are most common in late perimenopause but can persist for 7 to 10 years after you reach menopause. If you are experiencing wildly erratic or stopped periods, especially if you are under 45, consult a healthcare professional to rule out other potential causes, like pregnancy or underlying health conditions. Treatments including hormone replacement therapy, lifestyle changes, and natural remedies can help you find relief from perimenopausal symptoms.
Hot Flash Symptoms May Start in Perimenopause but Continue After Menopause Hot Flashes Women who have moderate to severe hot flashes may experience them beyond the perimenopause stage. In fact, many women experience hot flashes 7 to 10 years after reaching menopause.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e59762992a28161-7cb3-425c-9e70-d6c9b9b15063 Women who are younger when they start perimenopause typically experience symptoms longer than women who are older, Santoro says. Hormone replacement therapy is still the best treatment for most perimenopausal symptoms. Other women find relief through lifestyle changes or natural remedies.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e59762928bf91ca-b676-4181-b8dc-85953ac88286
Period Changes Are Not Always Caused by Menopause Period Changes Missed periods can have causes other than menopause, Santoro says. Especially if you’re younger than age 45, she suggests checking with a healthcare professional if your periods become wildly erratic or stop altogether. And since pregnancy is still a possibility, it’s important to check whether that’s also a possible cause. Missed periods may be due to lifestyle factors like stress, low body weight, and overexercising. But serious health problems, including a tumor in the pituitary gland, overactive or underactive thyroid, or polycystic ovary syndrome, can also cause your periods to cease.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976296416851c-9031-494c-b51f-302029f95d4e Likewise, changes to your period could be caused by taking medications — like antipsychotics, blood pressure drugs, and antidepressants to treat other medical conditions — or contraceptive pills might be stopping periods. If you’re worried about period changes or concerned about perimenopause, seeking a clinical opinion can put your mind at ease and help you find solutions.
Perimenopause and menopause are normal and natural stages that typically occur when a woman is in her forties or fifties, toward the end of what is considered her reproductive life. Perimenopause is the stage around menopause but before you officially reach it. (The prefix “peri” comes from Greek for “about”). During perimenopause, which many women experience during their forties, menstrual cycles are irregular, and fertility declines , but conceiving a child may still be possible.
Premature and Induced Menopause: What to Know Premature and Induced Menopause A small number of women enter menopause much earlier than the average. Menopause that starts in women age 40 or younger is known as premature menopause. This happens to about 3 percent of women in the United States.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629f009d790-54b2-4ef2-9c6f-79f8ea29022c In some cases, menopause is surgically induced, for example, when a woman undergoes surgical ovary removal , or oophorectomy, for cancer prevention or treatment. Chemotherapy or radiation therapy can also induce menopause. Women with induced menopause often experience more intense symptoms than women going through the process naturally due to the sudden and severe drop in estrogen.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629e4702233-e383-4160-8f93-f8b05ea382a7 Because a woman’s health risk for certain diseases increases after she goes through menopause, women going through the process at a younger age — whether induced or natural — need to be more closely monitored for these health conditions:e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629ae16d8dc-dd40-43f9-9e60-5bbb5bcdabf5 Osteoporosis and an increased in risk of bone fractures (menopause leads to a period of rapid bone loss so this risk is present longer in women who go through premature menopause) Dementia, because estrogen has protective effects on the brain Heart disease Mental health problems, since early menopause can affect sense of the self, especially in women who still want to have children
When Are You Most Likely to Experience Perimenopausal Symptoms? When to Expect Perimenopausal Symptoms Santoro coauthored one of the largest studies of women going through the transition to menopause, the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). SWAN found that the most common time for symptoms to occur is the late perimenopause stage. But some women may experience symptoms earlier.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976298b383132-cc5c-4449-9c47-216fb8873756 Women in perimenopause experience a variety of common symptoms:e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976299005bedf-e0e7-4b2e-a4db-30455b0aafc2 Hot flashes Trouble sleeping , often from hot flashes at night, known as night sweats Vaginal dryness Low libido Needing to pee more often Mood changes, sometimes including depression or irritability But women may experience a wide range of symptoms during this time, including an odd taste in the mouth.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629619758a0-dd59-444b-8212-f5e74d4c7431
The 2 Stages, or Phases, of the Perimenopause Transition Stages of Perimenopause Transition Scientists divide perimenopause into two stages. Early perimenopause is when your menstrual cycle starts to become less regular, when it was regular before. If your menstrual cycle has always been irregular, it can be difficult to tell when you have entered early periomenopause. You are in early-stage perimenopause when your period comes a week or more later than usual over several months.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e59762992434e09-f16d-4617-9ff6-96753ec3ee5e Periods might also last for fewer days than before.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629b8edb99f-239a-4a65-adf2-21c7b32c30dd You enter late perimenopause when there are at least 60 days between some periods. This can happen soon after the early stage begins or, more commonly, not for several years. The hormones in a woman’s system are in flux during this time, and the fluctuations may trigger symptoms such as hot flashes.
What Brings on Perimenopause and Perimenopausal Symptoms? Perimenopause Causes Since an egg that has ovulated but has not yet been fertilized is what triggers a monthly period, or menstrual bleed , it makes sense that a woman’s eggs are the central reason she enters perimenopause. When a female child is born, she has all the eggs she’ll ever have. Over the years, the quality of these eggs declines, says Nanette Santoro, MD , a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, reproductive endocrinology, and infertility and reproductive sciences at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Anschutz and a longtime menopause researcher. When the degeneration reaches a critical stage, follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone ramp up, trying to force these lackluster eggs to ovulate. “The hormones are going up because they’re trying harder and harder to get the ovaries to work,” she says. The rise in these two hormones is typically associated with being in perimenopause. The age at which perimenopause begins varies. On average it starts around 8 to 10 years before menopause, when women are in their mid-forties, but some women are in their mid-thirties when perimenopause starts, which may be known as early premature menopause depending on how long the transition lasts.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629e1e740d8-90c8-4b28-8cfa-4415924d5838 Some women don’t begin perimenopause until their mid-fifties.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629667279a7-fd93-4973-8215-1e5221884695
Perimenopause and Menopause: What’s the Difference?
