Perimenopause: The Women’s Health Issue No One’s Talking About Enough

Topic: Perimenopause: The Women’s Health Issue No One’s Talking About Enough

It’s something most Gen X and cusp millennial women experience, but it’s still extremely misunderstood. Here’s what to know.

Arianna Sholes-Douglas remembers the moment her body was in the grips of perimenopause ― though she didn’t recognize it for what it was at the time, despite being an OB-GYN and integrative health physician focusing on women’s health. Sholes-Douglas was performing a C-section, a surgery she estimates she had done over a thousand times, and her brain just blanked.

“I had a total brain freeze. I couldn’t remember what to do,” she recalled. “It was very scary, and I didn’t know who to talk to or what to do.”

At first, she worried it was early-onset Alzheimer’s. But the big changes she’d been experiencing in cognitive function were hormonal. She was going through perimenopause, the transitional period before menopause when a woman’s body starts making less estrogen until eventually her ovaries stop releasing eggs.

And she’s not alone about being in the dark. Many Gen X women and cusp millennials — who are at the age range when perimenopause has begun or could soon start — have far too little support and information.

Perimenopause can be a huge transition for many women — but they’re still not prepared enough for it or given adequate support.

Arianna Sholes-Douglas remembers the moment her body was in the grips of perimenopause ― though she didn’t recognize it for what it was at the time, despite being an OB-GYN and integrative health physician focusing on women’s health. Sholes-Douglas was performing a C-section, a surgery she estimates she had done over a thousand times, and her brain just blanked.

“I had a total brain freeze. I couldn’t remember what to do,” she recalled. “It was very scary, and I didn’t know who to talk to or what to do.”

At first, she worried it was early-onset Alzheimer’s. But the big changes she’d been experiencing in cognitive function were hormonal. She was going through perimenopause, the transitional period before menopause when a woman’s body starts making less estrogen until eventually her ovaries stop releasing eggs.

And she’s not alone about being in the dark. Many Gen X women and cusp millennials — who are at the age range when perimenopause has begun or could soon start — have far too little support and information.

“We haven’t been educated. Patients haven’t been educated. Doctors haven’t been educated. There really hasn’t been a resource that’s been reliable for women, so they are caught off-guard,” said Sholes-Douglas, who went on to write the book “The Menopause Myth: What Your Mother, Doctor, and Friends Haven’t Told You About Life After 35.”

“Because in their minds, they’re thinking menopause is an old lady issue,” she added. “They think it’s only relevant when they stop having a period.”

But that’s not true. So here are three important things “Xennial” women should know about perimenopause:

It can start in your 30s or 40s.

There aren’t lines around when perimenopause begins, in part because it varies by individual and also because the types of symptoms are so broad. The term perimenopause really just means “around menopause.”

It’s also a stretch of time that can drag on for a while. Many women start to experience symptoms five or even 10 years before they stop having a period (though the average is about four years). And given that full menopause can happen when women are in their 40s or 50s, perimenopause can begin when they’re in their early 40s or even mid-30s.

Topic Discussed: Perimenopause: The Women’s Health Issue No One’s Talking About Enough

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