the.com/perimenopause
Puberty's evil twin, except you get wrinkles instead of a growth spurt.
means The hormonal transition phase leading up to menopause, often lasting several years, marked by irregular periods and fluctuating estrogen and progesterone levels.
from Built from Greek 'peri-' (around, surrounding) plus 'menopause' itself, which fuses Greek 'men' (month) and 'pausis' (cessation). So literally: the time hovering around the stopping of the months. The word 'menopause' was coined in medical French ('ménopause') in the early 1800s; 'perimenopause' is the newer, more clinical add-on, formalized as doctors realized the chaos starts well before periods actually stop.
- duration
- can last up to a decade, not a year
- hormones
- estrogen swings wilder than teenage years
- average onset
- starts mid-40s, sometimes late 30s
- ends when
- officially over after 12 period-free months