What are the three ways you could tell you’re going through menopause?
Menopause comes in stages of perimenopause, menopause, and post menopause. And that perimenopause transition can last from one to 10 years. It’s different for everybody.
The first sign you might notice is the irregular periods that you’re getting. Some women get heavy periods, some women get extremely light periods, and some women will miss their period. Myself personally, I had my period regularly before perimenopause and that was every 28 days. And then when I went into perimenopause, which my perimenopause lasted about one to two years, my periods would go from three weeks and then I’d skip and I’d go to six weeks and this would sometimes happen and then go back to regular. But then that was kind of the first signal for me that hey, some change is coming.
The second sign is vaginal dryness. This is a BIG thing. Your mucus membranes in your body, your eyes, your mouth, your skin, your vagina. Everything starts to get more a little bit more dry and it’s kind of uncomfortable. But this is happening because of the decline in estrogen, and as you’re approaching the menopause years, estrogen and other hormones are beginning to decline and affecting your body in a number of ways.
The third sign is difficulty sleeping. Some women find they can’t fall asleep or have difficulty falling asleep, and others wake up in the, you know, early hours of the morning, four or five o’clock, and they can’t go back to sleep. For me, myself, I was OK falling asleep, but I’d sometimes wake up in the night with a hot flash and I had difficulty getting relaxed and going back to sleep. I’d be, you know, alert and wide awake. So there are many other symptoms that women experience, but these are a couple of the most common signs menopause is approaching.
