by Victoria Hunter

Created on: January 05, 2011

Menopause lasts for just one day.  Bet you didn’t know that.  It is the day that marks one year since your last period. All the rest of the stuff? It’s known as perimenopause.

Perimenopause doesn’t come with an announcement. There is no particular day when a woman says to herself “Aha, I am now in perimenopause.” Nope, it’s a sneaky little transition that heralds huge changes in a woman’s body.

Once a woman is past perimenopause, and she knows it, she can look back and realize that she had all or many of perimenopause’s symptoms. It validates that old saying: hindsight is 20-20. But while they are experiencing it, most women don’t truly understand what is happening.

Permimenopause, that period when your ovaries begin to produce less estrogen, is a gradual process. Your periods may become heavier, or more sporadic. But, what women hasn’t experienced a time in her life where her periods were a little wonky for a month or two? So, this symptom is often dismissed as just a weird fluke.

Sometimes, women will get the symptoms that we most associate with menopause, such as hot flashes or vaginal dryness, but this is a small percentage of perimenopausal women.

The most common symptoms, aside from the wonky periods, include sleep disturbances; an increase in vaginal or bladder infections, especially in women who are prone to them; vaginal dryness and a decrease in sexual desire.

Again, these things happen to many women who aren’t in perimenopause, so most women don’t really think twice about them. Others suffer miserably.

One tip off: mood swings. The woman with a normally sunny disposition that suddenly has urges to go postal in the grocery store or when someone cuts in their lane on the highway, may want to consider that she might be going through some hormonal changes.

To help deal with the symptoms, get some exercise, especially weight-bearing exercise. Add more calcium to your diet. In extreme cases, your doctor may prescribe an anti-depressant, sleep medication or short courses of hormone therapy.

Perimenopause isn’t a disease, it’s a normal phase that every woman will go through. It can start anytime, but generally occurs after age 40. The good news is that it can last for as short as two years. The bad news? It can last as long as 10 years. Once you get over the hump, though, life and your outlook on it, will be better than ever.

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