Menopause and Perimenopause
“Menopause” comes from the Greek words, ‘Menos’ which means month, and “Pause’ meaning to cease. Menopause means when the monthly periods stop.
Menopause does not happen overnight but goes through stages over years.
The menopause transition usually happens between the age of 45 -55 years and on an average, can last 7 years, sometimes longer. Average age of menopause in UK is 50-51 years. To note, life expectancy of women in UK is about 82 years. So, a woman could be spending on an average 30 years or 1/3rd of her life in Menopause.
Stages of menopause
Perimenopause:
Women have 2 ovaries lying on either side of the uterus. These are the female reproductive organs. There are 2 main functions of ovaries, producing eggs every month (ovulation) and producing the main female hormones, Estrogen, Progesterone and about 50% of Testosterone.
Perimenopause starts when the ovaries begin to wind down. They are no longer produce eggs regularly and the amount of hormones produced begin to fluctuate a lot. This is also called Menopause Transition’.
Periods begin to get irregular. They can get lighter and more spaced out, or in some women the periods can become very heavy and painful.
Some of the menopausal symptoms may begin to appear like hot flushes, mood swings and brain fog. There is a significant fluctuation in the levels of hormones as the ovaries work erratically. Hence, there can be huge ups and downs in symptoms during this phase.
Fertility reduces as egg production reduces, but it’s still possible to get pregnant if women are ovulating.
On an average, this stage can last 4-5 years, but does vary a lot in individual women.
Menopause:
Menopause is defined as the last menstrual period. It is diagnosed retrospectively when a woman has not had a period for 12 months.
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The ovulation and periods stop completely.
The hormones drop to a very low level and women can no longer get pregnant naturally.
In most women, symptoms may tend to be worst in the year before and after menopause.
Post menopause:
It is the time after the final menstrual period. Things might begin to settle down after 1-2 years of menopause and many women may feel much better. But this varies hugely from woman to woman and in some women, it can last 7 years or even longer.
Symptoms like hot flushes and sweats might get better with time, however long-term conditions due to estrogen deficiency like vaginal dryness and osteoporosis tends to get worse with time.
