All About Perimenopause
Every women at some point in her adult life will experience "the changes," better known as menopause. As with every stage of our reproductive lives, menopause has stages. These stages exist to make transitioning from our childbearing years easier. The first stage of menopause is called perimenopause, which marks the beginning of this transition time.
When Does it Start?
Perimenopause begins two to eight years before the onset of menopause. This usually occurs around the age of 40, although women in their 30s have been known to feel the changes begin. This stage also known as "menopause transition," marks the final years of your menstrual cycle, and childbearing years. As the level of estrogen decreases, menstrual cycles may become highly irregular, being longer or shorter, than usual. There are no tests to denote how long you will go through perimenopause, although the ending is signaled by the lack of a menstrual period for 12 consecutive months.
Signs and Symptoms
For some women, the signs of perimenopause are barely noticeable, and to others they are highly discomforting. Some of the classic signs and symptoms associated with perimenopause are changes in menstrual cycle, hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, sleep problems, mood changes, pain during sex, increase in body fat and difficulty concentrating. Since these symptoms can be indicators of other medical conditions as well, you will need to discuss them with your physician, to make sure they are definitely symptoms of perimenopause.
Treatments
Treatment during perimenopause usually consists of the use of oral contraceptives (birth control pills). These low-dose birth control pills can help regulate estrogen, which helps to alleviate symptoms associated with decreased levels, such as hot flashes and night sweats. During this time, you still have a menstrual period, so you are still able to get pregnant. Birth-control pills in this sense, will help to prevent pregnancy. In addition, during perimenopause, women often experience itching, burning and stinging during and after sexual intercourse, this is due to vaginal dryness. You can use over the counter vaginal lubricants to help with this.
Complications and Risks
During perimenopause, you run the same risks as a menopausal woman, except on a lower scale. These risks include osteoporosis and heart disease. Osteoporosis is a disease caused by the bones thinning, and losing density. This disease causes the bones to fracture and break easily. Perimenopausal women are recommended to ingest at least 1,200 mg of calcium daily to reduce this risk. Taking Vitamin D is recommended in addition to calcium, as it helps with absorption.
Another associated risk is coronary heart disease. Coronary heart disease occurs when the small blood vessels responsible for supplying blood and oxygen to the heart are narrowed. This happens when fatty material and plaque, build up in the walls of your arteries. This buildup causes blood flow to the heart to slow down and possibly stop. Ways to lower the risks for coronary heart disease include; avoiding stress as much as you can, eating a well-balanced diet that's low in cholesterol, and saturated fat, getting regular exercise, and keeping your blood sugar and cholesterol under control (especially if you are diabetic).
Consideration
Some women do not go through this stage of transitioning and enter menopause before their 40s. This is called premature menopause. A majority of women who go through premature menopause, do so because their ovaries were removed surgically, or they were born with chromosomal defects at birth. If you are going through menopause prematurely, the risks for you are higher than women who have transitioned into menopause naturally.
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