Perimenopause and HRT Booklet

Perimenopause is the period of time leading up to the ‘menopause’. Medically, the menopause actually refers to the point in time when you haven’t had a period for 12 months but the term is used much more widely to describe the process of transition in women when they change from being able to reproduce to not being able to – this is when the ovaries stop producing eggs and stop making estrogen.

The perimenopause is the whole duration of time from when you first start having menopausal symptoms and – for most people – periods start to change, right up to the ‘menopause’ point in time. It might just be months but for the majority, perimenopause lasts for many years.