What are periods like during perimenopause? Your body is producing less of the hormones that help you ovulate, so your periods can become irregular. Your menstrual cycle could become longer or shorter than usual. Your bleeding could also be heavier or lighter than normal.
From your early 40s and into your 50s, during perimenopause, you may find that your periods change and become erratic as your ovaries slow down and oestrogen levels start to fluctuate. It can be very common for your cycle to become highly unpredictable and periods to be heavier and longer.
In the years preceding menopause, women experience changes in their menstrual cycle. The time between periods can become shorter or longer and periods may last a longer or shorter number of days. Bleeding can be heavier or lighter and change in flow from month to month.
Changes to your periods
The first sign of the perimenopause is usually, but not always, a change in the normal pattern of your periods, for example they become irregular. Eventually you'll stop having periods altogether.
The first sign is typically a disruption of your menstrual cycle. For many women, your period starts earlier or later than normal. For example, if your menstrual cycle has always been 28 days, during perimenopause, your period could come as early as 21 or as late as 35 days.
Generally, women experience lighter and less frequent periods as they enter menopause, which eventually causes a woman's periods to stop altogether. To help understand these hormonal fluctuations, we've put together a list of the most common perimenopausal period changes to help you prepare for the change.
Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels. This usually happens between the ages of 45 and 55. It can sometimes happen earlier naturally. Or for reasons such as surgery to remove the ovaries (oophorectomy) or the uterus (hysterectomy), cancer treatments like chemotherapy, or a genetic reason.
Menopause is a point in time 12 months after a woman's last period. The years leading up to that point, when women may have changes in their monthly cycles, hot flashes, or other symptoms, are called the menopausal transition or perimenopause. The menopausal transition most often begins between ages 45 and 55.
When you're in perimenopause, it's normal for your periods to be irregular and to come closer together. But sometimes these abnormal bleeding patterns can signal an underlying problem. See your doctor if: bleeding is unusually heavy for you or you soak through one or more pads or tampons in an hour.
After you've missed 12 consecutive cycles, you've reached menopause. If your cycles are still making an appearance — however delayed — ovulation is still occurring. This means you can still have a period, and you can still get pregnant. Anovulatory cycles can also create delayed or missed periods.
During perimenopause, your discharge may take on a brownish tint. It may also be thin and watery or thick and clumpy. These changes usually aren't cause for concern.
After menopause, the uterine lining may become too thin. This can happen when a woman has low levels of estrogen. The condition is called endometrial atrophy. As the lining thins, a woman may have abnormal bleeding.
In this phase, menstrual blood ranges in color from dark brown to bright red. You might notice brown discharge or perimenopause brown spotting throughout the month. The texture of your discharge will also vary from thin and watery to thick and clumpy.
The average age is 51. Physical changes begin years before the final menstrual period. This transition phase is called perimenopause and may last for 4 to 8 years. It begins with changes in the length of time between periods and ends 1 year after the final menstrual period.
The white discharge you may see before your period is known as leukorrhea. It's filled with fluid and cells that are being shed from the vagina and may even look slightly yellow at times. This part of your menstrual cycle is called the luteal phase. It's when the hormone progesterone peaks in your body.
It is not unusual to have irregular bleeding for up to 6 months before menstrual periods stop completely. Unless the bleeding is excessive, or a woman it at high risk for uterine cancer, this is generally not of concern.
Towards the end stages of perimenopause, cycles may become longer (more than 36 days) and further apart. They are related to anovulatory cycles, in which ovulation does not occur.
Period changes related to the menopause start in the perimenopause. The perimenopause typically starts up to eight to ten years before the menopause (though it can be shorter) and usually in your mid-to-late 40s (but for some it can be earlier or later).
For some people, one of the earliest signs of perimenopause is that their periods arrive slightly earlier—meaning that their menstrual cycle shortens, by ~2–4 days This is due to a shortening of the follicular phase (the first part of the menstrual cycle), as ovulation happens more quickly (19,22-25).
Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels. This usually happens between the ages of 45 and 55. It can sometimes happen earlier naturally. Or for reasons such as surgery to remove the ovaries (oophorectomy) or the uterus (hysterectomy), cancer treatments like chemotherapy, or a genetic reason.