By: Gina Ditta-Donahue FNP-C, ABAAHP
Many women ask me “how do I know if I am in perimenopause or menopause?” So perimenopause refers to the years before menopause hits, which is when you stop having a menstrual cycle. And why do we distinguish those two phases of hormonal changes in women? Well, because perimenopause is a period of time that is defined by fairly significant hormonal fluctuations. So very often women during their perimenopausal phase will have higher estrogen to progesterone ratio. And what this means is that periods can become very heavy, very painful, crampy, irregular, sometimes really heavy, sometimes really light. You might have a period every 2 weeks for 6 months, then you might not have a period for 6 months or 3 months, and then it comes back again. This period of time where hormonal levels are fluctuating significantly is called perimenopause – the period of time prior to your menstrual cycles stopping.
During perimenopause, I end up seeing very many women who have uterine ablations. So a uterine ablation is nice for some women, because it makes you stop bleeding. The problem is that once you have an ablation, it becomes much more challenging to try and track what’s happening with your cycles because you don’t generally bleed anymore. Of course, there’s always exceptions to that story. And I have seen women who continue to get periods even after an ablation, after a year or two.
Menopause is technically defined as no period for a whole year, but that doesn’t mean that you need to just pretend like you don’t have female parts and that you aren’t currently suffering with hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, changes in mood, fatigue, weight gain.
Brain fog, poor concentration, irritability, and all the things that come with these significant fluctuations in your hormones and then the sudden stopping of the fluctuations. If you want to know how to manage your own hormonal fluctuations, there are many things that we can do to help support your body during this time. And how each woman’s body is supported is completely dependent on how she’s lived her life and her body. There’s not a one-size-fits-all to this. It’s up to you, your body, and your relationship with your environment. So there is no simple solution. It’s really diving in and understanding what’s driving your personal symptoms so that we can get you feeling a little bit more normal during this time of transition.
If you are interested in taking a deep dive to learn how to balance your body, please schedule a free 15 minute consultation with Gina and get started on your health journey today.