Hi I’m Hillary,

The definition of when menopause starts, varies slightly, however it is generally considered to be a point in time when a woman has stopped having her period for a full year. The build up to this is what is known as the Pre-menopause phase or the Perimenopause, and in general it will be occuring during your forties though in a small minority of cases the late thirties. Initially changes to your body will be so slight that you may not realise the change is happening to you, with hindsight you may look back to see the pre-menopause phase lasted for upto 10 years. Once you have reached menopause you may find your doctor or other medical adviser, referring to you as post-menopausal.

So what are the symptoms you are likely to experience during pre-menopause? Firstly the core issue is your menstrual periods will be affected. The range of change is likely to be upto a week longer for your menstrual cycle or upto a week less and often lasting longer by a few days, so more frequent periods or less frequent would be the first sign that you have reached Pre-menopause, as well as excessively heavy and longer periods. This change in menstrual cycle generally results from imbalances in your Oestrogen and Progesterone production, which has further knock on effects that cause hot flashes, vaginal dryness, disturbed sleep and hot sweats in the night, tender breasts, a slight reduction in bone density, mood swings causing a shorter temper and making you easily irritable and anxious, finding it harder to concentrate on something, gaining weight, retaining water and a reduced libido.