Perimenopause

The reality is more like feeling as if my body thinks it is part of the grand finale of a fireworks show. Pop, pop, BAM! POW! Pop, fizzle, fizzle - Lisa Tozzi

Perimenopause
Perimenopause

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The best $190 I ever spent: a fan to ease my perimenopause

It’s possible that you, reading this, also simply don’t get it, and that’s okay, because I can explain: I am perimenopausal. Perimenopause means “around menopause” — menopause being the cessation of menstruation — and for most women, it begins in their 40s, though for some it starts earlier.

If that sounds vague and slightly menacing to you, well, yeah. It’s a vague thing. It doesn’t have a distinct starting point, and there are many symptoms, and you may suffer from some of them, or you may not, and cumulatively that lack of clarity translates for a lot of us to, “No one knows anything, just suffer quietly and possibly pump some hormones into your body.”

There are many…

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Featured

 No One Talks About Perimenopause—It’s Time to Change That

What to expect when you are absolutely, positively not expecting.

 Premenopause Symptoms: Everything You Need to Know About Perimenopause and How to Treat It

Medical experts (and society) are finally starting to take menopause seriously. But, frankly, navigating premenopause symptoms, a.k.a. perimenopause, can still be kind of infuriating. The problem? “It's sort of a retrospective diagnosis,” says Mary Jane Minkin, MD...

 Welcome to Perimenopause—It Doesn’t Have to Be Hell

Lately, all I do is talk about perimenopause and the injustice of women’s health care. (I’ve been a whole lot of fun to be around.) The day we are born, we have all the eggs in our basket, so to speak (or one to two million oocytes in our ovaries, if you want to be specific). By the time we are 30, we have 10% of those eggs, and by 40 we have just 3% left. As our eggs dwindle, our estrogen and progesterone levels also start to lower. This is perimenopause, and you can begin to notice what’s called the change as early as 35. Once we have no more eggs, we stop menstruating and our ovaries stop producing estrogen, the hormone that was essential for our bodies and minds to run relatively smoothly for the first half of our life.

 What Every 35-Year-Old Should Know About Perimenopause

Feeling off lately? You might be entering puberty 2.0.

 Why Is Perimenopause Still Such a Mystery?

Over 1 billion women around the world will have experienced perimenopause by 2025. But a culture that has spent years dismissing the process might explain why we don’t know more about it.

Articles of Interest

For Women, Midlife Brain Fog Is Real. Here’s Why

Wondering why you keep forgetting things? One culprit for midlife women: perimenopause.

Going Through Menopause in Your 20s and 30s Sucks

Hot flashes and night sweats are terrible at the best of times, but try experiencing them when you're 28.

How to Recognize and Treat Perimenopause and Menopause Symptoms

Many women don’t know what to expect during perimenopause, which is the time period — often marked by distressing changes in the body — that leads up to menopause, or the end of a woman’s menstrual cycle and childbearing years. Those changes can come as a shock...

How to spot the symptoms of the perimenopause

From weight gain to sleep and sex issues, experts reveal ways in which the perimenopause impact how we look, feel and live.

Menopause and Perimenopause: Taking charge of the transition

Perimenopause is the long transition that precedes menopause. During this stage, your periods may become irregular and you may experience hot flashes and other changes. There are many things you can do to get through “the change” in the best shape possible.

Mood Swings in Your Mid-40s? Perimenopause Might Be the Reason Why

Some doctors say hormone treatments can help women feeling anxious or depressed during this transition.

Perimenopause: Rocky road to menopause

Perimenopause has been variously defined, but experts generally agree that it begins with irregular menstrual cycles — courtesy of declining ovarian function — and ends a year after the last menstrual period.

The perimenopause can wreak havoc on your sleep pattern – here's how to deal with it

Hot tips for a good (not-so-hot) night's sleep.

This Is What it's Like to Experience Menopause at 31

I woke up in the darkness drenched in sweat. It wasn’t unfamiliar, because I remember it happening in the past when I came home from the hospital after having a baby. My clothes were damp where the moisture had soaked through.

What is perimenopause and how does it affect women’s health in midlife?

All women know to expect the time in life when their periods finish and they reach menopause. Many might even look forward to it. What many women don’t know, however, is they will also experience symptoms in the time leading up to menopause. This is known as perimenopause.

What is perimenopause, and what are the symptoms and treatment?

For most, the first sign of perimenopause is a shift from fairly regular periods to a less predictable cycle. But a raft of other symptoms can come on too. Hot flushes, or flashes, are sudden waves of heat that spread across the body for five to 10 minutes. The severity varies enormously: at worst, people can feel as if they are burning from inside.

You're 50, And Your Body Is Changing: Time For The Talk

When their body goes through a lot of hormonal changes. And no, we are not talking about puberty. We're talking about life on the other side of the reproductive rainbow. We're talking about menopause and perimenopause, specifically.

Resources

4 Symptoms That Could Be Early Menopause

Though menopause before 40 is rare, it can be devastating for the women who experience it.

7 things you really should know about perimenopause

This time of transition can begin earlier than you might expect. Here's your essential guide.

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