When Does Perimenopause Start?
This is a question I often get from my patients. The answer is, it varies from person to person and it isn’t always consistent. Generally speaking, it can start up to ten years before menopause actually happens, but symptoms can show up periodically for some people even before this.
What exactly is perimenopause?
It is the time before menopause actually happens. At menopause your menstrual periods permanently stop. Before that the gradual decline in hormones can cause your body to react to this decline causing various symptoms.
What can you expect?
The symptoms are really the same as menopause symptoms for instance; hot flashes, nightsweats, insomnia, weight gain, irritability, mental fog and others.
You probably won’t experience all of these and they likely won’t be consistent.It may simply be that you experience one or two on occasion. Some women may never experience any of these.
When I was 36 I started to have night sweats. This is early! I went to my acupuncturist and told her and she said, “you are too young to be having these symptoms!” I couldn’t agree more. She gave me an herbal formula which I took for a short period of time and the nightsweats went away permanently. Yay! This can work for you too if you are having symptoms.
What makes perimenopause different from menopause is that you are still getting a period, except it may now be irregular. Some women bleed excessively during this time because of imbalanced hormones, while others have barely any period at all. You may notice more PMS symptoms or barely any. This time before menopause begins will vary from woman to woman.
Some women may get a period every two weeks while another may get one every 40-60 days. If you are one of the women who bleeds excessively or is getting a period too frequently in perimenopause, getting some help to balance your hormones can help to regulate your cycles and stop the excessive bleeding. Of course there are other reasons for excessive bleeding and those may also need to be addressed. If it is due to the changing of your hormones, then herbs and acupuncture can be of great assistance. They can help regulate your hormone balance, help stop the excessive bleeding and help ease the menopause like symptoms mentioned above.
If you would like to explore how herbs and acupuncture may help your perimenopause symptoms, call for a free 15 minute consultation at 310-367-1564.