What is Pre and Peri Menopause?

It took me awhile to realize that everyone stops acknowledging that they are growing old at a certain time of their life. Some people are 29 forever, others 41. I’ve never met anyone who embodies 75 or 91 because even though our bodies age, and we become wiser, we don’t think of ourselves as being old. In fact, it can be a shock to look in the mirror and realize we’ve aged because the only other reminder is our back pain, greying hair and eventually… menopause (probably a few other things too). At some point of your life you just know who you are and how you feel and saying 60, 70, 80 or any number just doesn’t seem right.

My point is, we all matter and we all have to deal with our bodies throughout all of its changes, like menopause.

How do you know you’ve hit the “menopause” age? Well it turns out Menopause is signaled by 12 months since last menstruation. The actual age is different for every woman and what causes it is widely unknown. However, a recent study linked sexual frequency during the pre- and peri-menopause actually decreased the likely hood of the onset of menopause.

So what is pre- and peri- menopause?

Let’s start with the easy one! Pre-menopause! Because contrary to popular belief - pre-menopause and perimenopause are very different!  Pre-menopause is when you’re not having any symptoms of menopause. This means you’re still having your periods, whether they are regular or irregular. You’ll still be considered to be in your reproductive years and nothing noticeable will change in your body.

Which is very different than Perimenopause which is the word most often used for your menopause transition. This transition normally begins several years before menopause (8-10 years before) and when this happens your ovaries gradually begin to make less estrogen. This normally starts in a woman's 40s, but can start in her 30s or even earlier. This phase (Perimenopause) lasts up until menopause. During this time, you’ll actually start experiencing some menopause symptoms. These might include changes in your mensural cycle, hot flashes, mood swings and trouble sleeping.

What are the Symptoms for Perimenopause? Irregular menstruation and a drop in estrogen! But don’t worry, if you’re experiencing irregular periods it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going through Perimenopause, if you’ve been following our blogs, you’ll know irregular periods can be caused from Stress, PCOS, Diet and more! The more you know about your body, the better you can evaluate what you’re actually going through.

Some other symptoms you may experience in perimenopause and menopause are forgetfulness, muscle aches, urinary tract infections, fertility issues, loss of sex drive, weight gain… a bunch of other things >>> before you start saying “Yes that’s me” just remember there are a lot of things that can be happening with your body to create these same symptoms so please make sure you’re eating right and working at balancing your hormones to see if you can eliminate these symptoms in other ways.

Which brings us to Menopause. We talked a little about when Menopause is "officially menopause" but what causes it all to happen? It all comes down to your ovaries producing so little estrogen that eggs are no longer released.

Things *besides less sex - according to that recent study* that may make you enter menopause earlier than normal:

• Smoking
• Previous cancer treatments
• A family history of early menopause
• Having had a hysterectomy (operation to remove a woman's uterus) or oophorectomy (surgical removal of an ovary or ovaries)

How do we deal with Menopause? Can’t we just take estrogen and fix this? Avoid all these nasty symptoms? It seems so logical to say yes but nothing is ever easy. Hormone Therapy is a thing for women experiencing Menopause and it does relieve symptoms but it also has risks, such as blood clots, heart disease, stroke, and breast cancer. Those risks aren’t as bad for women younger than 59 or women who are only within 10 years of menopause.

Here are some naturally ways to reduce the symptoms of menopause for a healthy body and life.

 

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Medical Disclaimer

This content is strictly the opinion of S'moo and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice or treatment from a personal physician. All readers/viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Neither S'moo nor the publisher of this content takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement or lifestyle program.