How Long Does Menopause Last?

By Sherri Daniels

This is a question a lot of women find themselves asking as they hit their forties. That is traditionally the time that menopause begins. The reason this question is so important is because menopause seems endless. To anyone who has not or will not experience, it may not seem like an important issue. However any woman who has been experiencing the symptoms of menopause for more than a few months are likely already fed up with it. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell how long menopause will last for you. There is just know way to know for sure. It all depends on you as an individual. The only thing you can really do is think about your mother and grandmothers. How long did menopause last for them? That is the one possible guideline you can look to for answers.

It may seem outlandish to think menopause can last for years and years. That is because most women use the word menopause to describe the whole process. That is not right. Menopause is a very specific period of time. It is only one stage out of three, sometimes four. Some women go through only three stages, some go through four, others go through more.

Pre menopause is the first stage. Sometimes it is used interchangeably with perimenopause. Sometimes they are considered separate stages. It really all depends on your doctor. He or she may consider it the same as perimenopause. He or she might consider pre menopause the period of life when you start menstruating irregularly.

So, perimenopause may be considered that stage, or the second stage of menopause. For the purposes of this article, we are going to use the two terms interchangeably because their fundamentals are the same. Transition is the key aspect of pre menopause. Most people define it as beginning when your periods become erratic and ending after you have been without a period for an entire twelve months. The real point is that there is no set amount of time for pre menopause to last. It can last as little as four years. It can go on as many as ten years. It can fall anywhere in between. There is just no real way to tell.

No matter how long it lasts, it does begin when your hormones start to go a little crazy. Their levels fluctuate wildly, gradually tapering off altogether. You start menstruating irregularly because your body begins producing less estrogen. Your ovulation schedule starts becoming more irregular as well. You begin to have hot flashes and night sweats. Mood swings start to take hold during this period of time. You can also experience insomnia and exhaustion, irritability, and you can start to become depressed.

As stated, menopause is a specific term. You have not experienced menopause itself until you have gone an entire year without menstruating even once. You have to go twelve entire months without bleeding at all. After you have done so, you will not have a period again. You are no longer fertile, so conceiving is an impossibility.

Post menopause describes, basically, the rest of your life. It begins after that final period and lasts, succinctly, as long as you yourself do. Approximately a year afterwards, give or take, you will stop experiencing the symptoms of menopause.

Answers to questions like How Long Does Menopause Last? ; can be found at http://www.menopauseabout.com

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