My name is Dr. Ramya Raman.
I'm a Specialist General Practitioner, and I have a special interest in women's health.
Perimenopause, menopause, and the menopause transition period is about hormonal chaos. Perimenopause is a timeframe before menopause.
And menopause is a time when a person has stopped having their periods and it's been 12 months since their last menstrual cycle.
There's a lot of changes in your body, and that's real. Everyone experiences it at a different time and a different stage.
Perimenopause can start from about the age of 40, on average can be between two to six years for most, but sometimes it can actually last for up to about two to 10 years. That actually depends on family history.
The average age for an Australian woman to go through menopause is 51 years, but it can be anywhere between the age of 45 to 55 years.
Perimenopause and menopause can have a vast and wide range of symptoms in presentation. The most common, irregularity in periods, sleep disturbances, cognitive changes, a feeling of forgetfulness or maybe brain fog, urinary and genital urinary changes, a sensation of a creepy crawly feeling around the skin, joint pains, muscle aches and pains, tiredness.
And the most common thing we hear about is having the hot flushes. And for some there may be more of these symptoms, and for some there may be less. Some of the symptoms can be related to other conditions like diabetes or thyroid abnormalities, or many others that may look like it might be related to perimenopause and menopause, but in fact, there's something else going on.
So it's important to talk to your doctor, explain those symptoms. And we can help you through that. And don't ever think that you're on your own. You're not.
There are safe and effective treatments for perimenopause and menopause that will be suited to your personal circumstances and your medical history.
It actually will help improve your quality of life. So it's really important to speak to your GP or speak to your doctor regarding that.
You can learn more at health.gov.au/perimenopause.