Symptoms of Perimenopause and Menopause in Women

What are symptoms of perimenopause and menopause in women? As well we know that both phases are important phases in women’s life. In many cases, women will experience these phases in the last third of their life or generally after the age of 40s. As the name implies, perimenopause is transition phase before menopause or before your menstrual cycles stop completely.

You might also like to read early signs of menopause in young women and about perimenopause weight gain, before continuing!

Although many women usually experience perimenopause in the age of 40 or older, but the time when this phase begins can be different from woman to woman! Even there are some women who experience it in the age of 30s.

What is actually perimenopause?

As mentioned before, perimenopause is the initial phase before menopause or usually lasts up until the phase of menopause! It can be a sign that your estrogen begin to decline gradually. Nevertheless, during this phase you still have a chance to get pregnant. Therefore if you don’t want to get pregnant, you need to keep taking your birth control.

The following are some helpful FAQs of perimenopause so thus you can clearly understand what actually it is?!

How long does perimenopause last on average?

You should not use the answer of this question to take the conclusion for the long period of your perimenopause, because the duration of this phase is different from woman to woman. But in many cases, this phase will last for about 4 years or 3-5 years on average. Some women may experience it for more than 5 years, while others may experience it for only a few months.

If there is no any health conditions that affect your period and you have experienced 12 months (1 year) without getting any menstrual cycle (but your period may still not stop completely), this can be a mark to indicate the end of your perimenopause and then you enter your menopause phase.

Another idea, you can ask to your mother about her long duration of perimenopause -- this idea is reasonable because there is a chance of having the same duration that your mother had.

How to know irregular period in consequence of perimenopause or due to other health conditions?

For women with regular period, having drastically irregular period can be one of major symptoms of perimenopause. But there are also other health conditions that also can affect your period that may be a sign of serious disease.

See a doctor immediately if you experience:

1. Your menstrual cycles occur/come closer together.
2. Spotting between your periods.
3. Spotting during/after sex intercourse.
4. Your menstruation lasts longer for several days (or even weeks) than usual.
5. Heavy periods that usually come with blood clots!

What are factors that can lead to earlier perimenopause?

There are some factors/conditions that can make you get your perimenopause at earlier ages. Some of these factors may include:

1. Certain surgeries that may affect the phase of your menopause to come earlier than it should be. For example; hysterectomy which usually needs to remove the uterus!
2. Women who had never given birth! Some studies found that those who never having delivered a baby are more likely to get early menopause.
3. The mother history! As mentioned before, when it comes to perimenopause and menopause -- women are more likely to have the same duration and same condition that their mother had, although there is still no clearly evidence to confirm this link. More researches are needed to find a clearly answer between the family history and menopause!
4. Cancer treatment in childhood! This treatment usually involves pelvic radiation or chemotherapy which then can contribute to cause early menopause.
5. Cigarette smoking! Some studies found that women who smoke can experience the onset of menopause for 1-2 years earlier than it should be.

What is actually menopause?

Generally, menopause is a condition to describe the end of the reproductive age. And it’s normal for every woman to experience this phase.

Talking about menopause, there are three major phases:

1. Perimenopause (it has been explained above).
2. The phase of menopause. In the end of this phase, your body have quit or stopped in producing most of your estrogen. Your chance of getting pregnant is almost zero (particularly in the end of menopause phase), because there is no any egg that your body releases.
3. Postmenopause! As the name implies, it is the phase after menopause. In this phase, your chance to get health risk associated with the loss of estrogen will increase. Some common health problems that come in this phase are disorientation in vision, poor elasticity of the skin, poor bowel-function, weaken muscle, osteoporosis, etc. But some of the most uncomfortable menopause symptoms (like hot flashes) can be relatively easier to overcome in the post-menopause period.

Generally, menopause that occurs after 40s is often considered ‘natural-phase’ or normal condition in women’s life. But when it comes earlier or before the age of 40s, it is usually called premature menopause.

In the U.S, women are more likely to have their menopause in the age of 51 on average -- according to a published article on MayoClinic.  

Symptoms of perimenopause and menopause!

Some common symptoms/signs of perimenopause that can be a signal that your body is transitioning into menopause may include:

1. You begin to experience hot flashes! It is a momentary/fleeting sensation of heat that sometimes also followed by sweating, red, and flushed face. There is about 2/3 of North American women experience it in the normal perimenopause period. And hot flashes are more common in premature menopause -- almost all women with premature menopause experience hot flashes.
2. Problems in sleeping, particularly you will be difficult to sleep (insomnia), which may be caused by other uncomfortable symptoms of perimenopause.
3. Discomfort during sex intercourse, because you may experience vaginal-dryness which usually also followed by declined libido to have a sex.
4. Premenstrual syndrome that gets worse.
5. Changes in mood, like mood swings or other emotional changes.
6. While sneezing/coughing -- you may feel urine leakage.
7. Irregular menstrual cycles that tends to dramatically irregular & increasingly rare in the last 1-2 years of menopause. After you don’t have any menstrual period for more than 12 months, this can be one of common signals that your body enters to the phase of menopause.
8. In line with the increasingly irregular periods and irregular ovulation, you chance to get pregnant can decrease significantly. But there is still a chance for your body to get pregnant during perimenopause, therefore you need to keep taking your birth control if you wish/want to avoid pregnancy!
9. Changes in your cholesterol levels. The declining level of your estrogen during perimenopause may also contribute to higher your bad cholesterol (LDL) and decrease your good cholesterol (HDL). The poor level of estrogen also can affect the strength of your bone (osteoporosis) -- but this condition is relatively more common in the postmenopause.
10. Another common sign is breast tenderness.

Some symptoms of perimenopause can keep continuing in the phase of menopause. The following are some common signs/symptoms of menopause:

1. Your hot flashes are more likely to become severe in the phase of menopause, and begin easier/better in the end of menopause phase.
2. Your irregular periods keep continuing until they stop completely in the end of menopause or in the phase of postmenopause.
3. Other symptoms of perimenopause that keep occur in your menopause phase may include; insomnia (difficult to sleep), vaginal dryness & decreasing level of your libido to have a sex, and mood swings (emotional changes) -- and these symptoms usually tend to get worse.
4. Urinary incontinence (problems in bladder control).
5. Women in their perimenopause are also more likely to have depression or other emotional changes.
6. Easy to get fatigue, and sometimes may be followed by headaches.
7. Aches & pains in the joint & muscle!

Note: not all women in their perimenopause and menopause phase experience all of these symptoms! For clearly diagnosis of the symptoms that you have, don’t forget to talk & consult with a doctor so thus you will get a clearly diagnosis and more advices.

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Reference: MayoClinic and WebMD
Image credit to ‘shutterstock’ for illustration