What is Natural Menopause?

Natural menopause/perimenopause is the stage of a woman's life when her reproductive hormones dramatically decrease. With the drop in her hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone) a woman may or may not have uncomfortable symptoms. This change occurs over approximately 10 years.

"Menopause" officially occurs one year to the day after a woman's last menstrual period (unless she has had surgery or a procedure which caused her to stop menstruating early). A woman can expect to spend 40% of her life in post-menopause.

Perimenopause specifically is the often very symptomatic time before a woman reaches menopause as her hormone levels begin to fluctuate and ultimately decline. This is the ideal time to start menopausal hormone therapy.Common symptoms of perimenopause and menopause include changes in period frequency (or stopping periods altogether), hot flashes, brain fog, night sweats, weight gain (especially around the belly) vaginal dryness or pelvic pain among many other symptoms.

Fortunately, there are many ways to ease a woman's discomfort during perimenopause and menopause including menopausal hormone therapy, other prescription medications, supplements, and lifestyle changes.

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