Menopause

A lot has been said about menopause. There is a seemingly infinite number of books offering advice. Films and TV shows use it as a plot point. Thousands of memoirs, both humorous and serious, investigate this critical transition point in a woman’s life, and it’s a regular topic of conversation in lifestyle columns and magazine articles. In other words, menopause is an undeniable part of our cultural conversation. But what about perimenopause?

There’s a sharp, persistent throb on the side of your head, a pulse of pain that seems to quicken even while it slows down time. You have trouble concentrating, become acutely sensitive to noise and lights, feel nauseous, and maybe even experience vomiting. It’s a migraine. And if you are undergoing menopause, it could be the result of your changing hormones.

According to CDC research, 25% of perimenopausal women have trouble falling asleep more than four nights per week. Even more have trouble staying asleep, and over 50% of surveyed women don’t wake up feeling rested during most of the week. These numbers are powerful confirmation that sleep duration and sleep quality are often serious concerns during the transition to menopause, and they’re affecting huge numbers of women across the globe.

Menopause can be a difficult time. Intrusive symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, painful sex, and sleep problems can create physical discomfort and emotional distress. Meanwhile, the transition out of your fertile years can be a time of introspection and give rise to complex feelings about your sense of self and your place in the world. For some, it is also a time when the symptoms of depression emerge, either for the first time or more severely than in the past.

Nearly every woman will go through menopause. Except for women who have had their ovaries removed before puberty, it is an experience as universal to womanhood as anything. But just as each woman’s personality and experiences are unique, everyone’s journey with menopause is profoundly personal.

When you struggle to fall asleep at night due to racing thoughts, you might brush it off as just another side effect of stress. When you wake up every morning feeling dread for the day to come, you might think it’s just because of your tight work schedule. But when you start feeling anxious for no reason at all, you might start to worry that something’s wrong. As those worries compound exponentially alongside uncomfortable physical and emotional symptoms of hormonal change, you finally realize that you need outside help to escape this painful cycle.

Kim experienced the worst cramps of her life on the day she turned 46. She’d never really dealt with PMS before—only the occasional moody afternoon or minor breakout, nothing debilitating. But from that cycle onward, she had all the symptoms she’d watched her “unlucky” friends struggle with: bloating, breast tenderness, cravings, irritability, and severe menstrual cramping that seemed to press pause on her entire life. Kim went to her doctor seeking answers and was surprised to discover that her PMS symptoms marked the beginning of perimenopause.

It’s easy to be a partner during easy times.

That’s a simple statement, but being long-term partners with someone is sometimes relatively straightforward. Things are normal, and you both know the rules and know how to behave. Things might not be “easy”, per se, but you know how to deal with them. The ups and downs of life have established a pattern, and you get it. You know what to do.

After years of warnings from doctors, public health campaigns, and loved ones, women know to be on their guard when it comes to osteoporosis. Too many of us have seen the toll that osteoporosis can cause up close, and chances are that you’re motivated to do everything you can to age gracefully and stay healthy. But many women underestimate the impact of menopause on their risk of developing osteoporosis.