The information and advice provided in this article are for general purposes only and should not replace individualized professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor about your specific health needs.
Last year, 46-year-old Mandy Fong of Sacramento, California, began noticing some unusual changes to her body: extreme mood swings, heart palpitations, fatigue, nausea, headaches, bloating, weight gain. The symptoms felt a bit like pregnancy, but she knew that wasn’t the case. Concerned, she consulted her OB-GYN and confided in close girlfriends. Turns out, these clues were simply an indication that her body was aging, and that she had entered a little-known stage of life called perimenopause.
According to the Mayo Clinic, perimenopause is “the time before menopause when your body is getting ready to stop having periods.” This can begin as early as your 30s or as late as your 50s. Experts note that fluctuating estrogen levels during perimenopause can trigger symptoms such as irregular periods, hot flashes, sleeplessness, night sweats, mood swings, vaginal and bladder problems, bone loss, increased risk of osteoporosis, and changing cholesterol levels. Perimenopause leads to menopause, defined by the CDC as when a person has gone for 12 consecutive months without a period.
After decades of hushed conversations about menopause and perimenopause, women are beginning to voice their experiences in search of solidarity, support, and solutions. Aging is a part of life, and it’s time to talk about it openly. Yet there’s still much to learn.
A 2025 study published by the National Institutes of Health reported that approximately 2 million women in the U.S. enter perimenopause each year. Yet among 1,000 people ages 18 and up surveyed about their level of familiarity with perimenopause and its symptoms, the responses were pretty evenly divided among five categories ranging from “not familiar at all” to “extremely familiar.”
“There’s a…
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