The first indication of perimenopause

Perimenopause is the time of transition into menopause as ovulation becomes less consistent, and with that estrogen/progesterone production becomes more erratic.  This is a natural process that we expect to happen as egg quantity and quality decrease with age.  

In perimenopause we expect you to have some cycles where you ovulate and somewhere you don’t. Some moments in the month where estrogen sky-rockets and some moments when it tanks. 

The first indication that we’re in this transition is usually going to be changes to your menstrual cycle.  A cycle getting shorter (from 1st day of bleeding to the next 1st day of bleeding), a cycle getting longer (from day 1 to day 1), or an increase or decrease in terms of total blood flow.  A change by a couple of days doesn’t mean a lot, but a change by a week in cycle length could be an indication that one is in perimenopause.  

Bleeding patterns can be quite erratic, as we can actually see a bleed even without ovulation, and these cycles of bleeding WITHOUT ovulation are often all over the place.  Unfortunately, what’s happening with your cycles does not give us a lot of insight into how long that perimenopausal experience will last, and when your cycle will go away for good.

This erratic hormone production will also change the symptom experience pretty significantly from month to month, in that in a cycle where ovulation occurs - one might notice more premenstrual symptoms (such as mood changes, breast tenderness, and bloating), and where ovulation does not occur, one might notice more ‘menopausal symptoms’ of vaginal dryness, hot flashes, insomnia, joint pain, mood changes.  This experience can be very different from cycle to cycle depending on whether or not ovulation occurred.  

We can’t stop the process of perimenopause, but we CAN help you to figure out what is what; and help to manage those premenstrual symptoms, ‘menopause’ symptoms, and the iron deficiency in between.  

If you’re looking for support through this period of time, or would like to understand what’s going on underground to a greater extent, book a visit!