Perimenopause or Menopause: What Is the Difference?

The short answer: perimenopause is the transition, lasting years. Menopause is a single day. Everything after that day is postmenopause. Most people use "menopause" to mean the whole experience. That is fine in conversation, but the distinction matters in an exam room, because the two are diagnosed differently and often treated differently. Perimenopause Perimenopause is the years leading up to menopause, when your hormones begin to fluctuate. It usually starts in your forties, sometimes in the late thirties, and lasts an average of four to eight years. The word means "around menopause," and fluctuation is the key feature. Your estrogen and progesterone are not declining in a smooth line. They swing, sometimes dramatically, week to week. That is why you can feel entirely yourself one week and not at all the next. This is when most symptoms appear: irregular periods, hot flashes, night sweats, (...)

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