What Is Perimenopause?

According to Stedman's Medical Dictionary, menopause is defined as the permanent cessation of the menses. This condition may be diagnosed in retrospect, when one year has passed since the last menses. Well that’s pretty cut and dry and it's nice to know it was menopause you were going through last year.

But what can you do now? We know the average age of menopause is 51, but menopause starting at the age of 40 is considered normal. So what if you're having irritability, mood swings and irregular periods now and you're not 51? Can it be PMS? Is it premature menopause? Or is it the perimenopause? Can you still get pregnant? What are your treatment options? Do you need hormones or Prozac or just vitamin E? These are difficult questions and although there is a blood test for menopause (FSH), the test can only tell you if you are firmly in menopause. However, by the time the test is positive it's quite obvious that you are into menopause.

Perimenopause is defined as the transitional period from normal menstrual periods to no periods at all. The transition can, and usually does, take up to ten years. During the perimenopausal transition you may experience a combination of PMS and menopausal symptoms or no symptoms at all.