Menopausal Symptoms
Perimenopause is the time where your body changes from a reproductive stage to a less fertile condition. During this process there are many changes in your hormones and body and eventually you stop having menstrual cycles and reach menopause. Menopause is achieved once you have gone a full year with no menstruation, which on average occurs at age 51. For women who have had uterine surgeries such as endometrial ablations or hysterectomy, it can be harder to determine when this exactly happens. Common signs of perimenopause include vaginal dryness, decreased sex drive, pain with intercourse, irregular menstruation, hot flashes and mood swings. Symptoms will affect you both physically and emotionally largely due to a fluctuation in hormone levels. Because there are many signs, it is sometimes difficult to diagnose perimenopause based off of symptoms alone. For this reason, you may want to consider additional testing over a period of time to determine if you are indeed perimenopausal.
You will notice that your period occurs less often until your menstrual cycle completely stops. At this point, when you have not had a period for one year, you have gone through the natural change process, menopause. At times it can be difficult to determine if the bleeding irregularities are part of the natural change or a symptom of a problem. Anytime a woman has heavy, painful or too frequent menstruation, she should schedule an appointment to discuss her symptoms and determine if further testing is warranted. Any bleeding after menopause is considered abnormal and should be evaluated. If you would like to discuss this further, schedule an appointment with Dr. Dooley.
You will notice that your period occurs less often until your menstrual cycle completely stops. At this point, when you have not had a period for one year, you have gone through the natural change process, menopause. At times it can be difficult to determine if the bleeding irregularities are part of the natural change or a symptom of a problem. Anytime a woman has heavy, painful or too frequent menstruation, she should schedule an appointment to discuss her symptoms and determine if further testing is warranted. Any bleeding after menopause is considered abnormal and should be evaluated. If you would like to discuss this further, schedule an appointment with Dr. Dooley.