Menopause and Perimenopause

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• 0:03Introduction
• 0:27Definition of menopause
• 1:14Primary and secondary symptoms
• 2:21Perimenopause
• 3:54Not everyone has symptoms

Full transcript

1. 0:03Introduction

   Hi, I'm Dr. Taz Varkey. Today I'm gonna do part one of a three-part series on menopause. The future episodes are going to cover subjects like the treatment of menopause and the most common symptoms of menopause, such as vaginal dryness. But today I want to talk about how you know if you're in menopause. It's a very common question I get, and I thought if I put it in a video it would make life a lot easier for my patients and maybe some of you other women out there.

2. 0:27Definition of menopause

   So the definition of menopause is the lack of your period for one year straight. It's not based on symptoms, it's not based on your pattern of periods, it's just is when you stop having your period for one year. The tricky part is there are other things that can cause you to stop having your period for one year, such as thyroid problems, other hormonal imbalances, other medical problems.

3. 0:50

   But when a woman is in her late 40s and she stops having a period for a year, the most likely cause is menopause. And why does menopause happen? Menopause happens because your ovaries stop making estrogen and progesterone, because you stopped ovulating, you don't drop any more eggs.

4. 1:14Primary and secondary symptoms

   So the symptoms of menopause most commonly are hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness. In fact, I like to categorize the symptoms of menopause into primary symptoms and secondary symptoms. The primary symptoms, the most common ones, are what I just mentioned, hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness.

5. 1:35

   But the secondary symptoms are a little bit more nonspecific, and they include things like bone, joint pains, skin changes, breast tenderness, mood changes, fatigue. And the reason I call them secondary or nonspecific is because they can so easily be caused by other conditions as well, even just aging.

6. 1:58

   But those primary symptoms, hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, they most often are due to the lack of estrogen that accompanies menopause. So I know if I give a patient estrogen, I'm going to make those symptoms better. And we'll talk a little bit about treatment in future episodes. As I said, I want to talk a little bit more about the symptoms right now.

7. 2:21Perimenopause

   Irregular periods are a common one, and please remember, menopause, as I said, is when you stop having your period for a year. But perimenopause, perimenopause is that transition before menopause, and that can last up to 10 years for some women. It's the five to ten years preceding actual menopause, and it includes things like irregular periods and sometimes hot flashes and night sweats.

8. 2:44

   So in the beginning of perimenopause, we're going to have perhaps periods that come a little close together instead of far apart as you would expect. They could come every two to three weeks suddenly instead of the average one month. And this is because women can actually hyperovulate in early perimenopause. But as we progress into perimenopause and get closer to menopause, typically in our late 40s, the periods start to space out.

9. 3:08

   And so you might get a period every one month, every two months, or every three to six months even, and then suddenly they'll go back to every month. It's a little bit of a roller coaster, and that's exactly what your ovaries are doing. One month your ovary might be making the amount of estrogen and progesterone that a thirty-year-old is making, and the next month it's making hardly any, like a six-year-old.

10. 3:31

    So your ovaries are doing a rollercoaster ride in these perimenopausal years, and that's why you are gonna have some months where you have your period every month and others where it's missing, and some months you'll get hot flashes and night sweats and others you won't. It's because of this transition. I think it's also important to understand that not everybody has all of these symptoms.

11. 3:54Not everyone has symptoms

    You can go through perimenopause maybe just with missing some periods but none of those other symptoms I mentioned. And in fact some of them can go through actual menopause without any of these symptoms ever, and there's not a lot of these women, but there are some out there. So don't always expect that it's going to be doom and gloom, and even if you do have symptoms, there's things we can do to help you.

12. 4:16

    So that's it for today. I hope this was helpful. If you want to learn more, please come in to see me if you're my patient or go to your doctor, and I'm sure they'll be able to help you. Please tune in to my next videos, and don't forget to subscribe. Thanks.