Menopause symptomsare usually seen as a lone entity with a definite start and end date. Most women fantasise about the day they can wave their periods goodbye. A day arises when your periods have stopped, PMS is a crude thing of the past, and you’re in the utopia called menopause. In reality, menopause is a tad bit more complex than that. Nothing to fear. We’ve got the breakdown right here. 

Menopause is divided into three stages. Perimenopause, menopause and postmenopause.

You might encounter perimenopause symptoms in your early 40s. It is considered a mere pit stop on your way to menopause. Perimenopause starts approximately 10 years before menopause officially manifests in your life. They often walk in during your early 40s, but it is possible for perimenopause to enter in your 30s. Perimenopause symptoms showing up before their time is usually called pre or early menopause. Pre-menopause or early menopause symptoms before the age of 45 are similar to normal symptoms experienced during perimenopause. Perimenopause might include hot flushes (it is a barbeque for your insides on a red hot flame), breast soreness (you might feel like someone has used your boobs as a punching bag). Irregular periods (will they, won’t they, this month visit), fatigue (is it old age or just the age of menopause?), among others, are also symptoms of perimenopause. Menopause follows in the footsteps of perimenopause. Menopause is known to start 12 months after your last period. Postmenopause is the months and years after menopause.

How Long Do the Symptoms Of Perimenopause, Menopause And Postmenopause Last?

Perimenopause symptoms usually last for 4 years before the onset of menopause. Symptoms such as hot flushes usually last for 2.5 years overall, but for 15%-20% women they might last up to 10 years or even more. Menopause symptoms, regardless if they start at the age of 45, 47 or 55, are similar.

What Age Can Menopause Symptoms Start

Some Of The Usual And Unusual Menopausal Symptoms Include:

There are a number of menopausal symptoms that might make their home in your body. Some of the rare and unusual menopause symptoms plaguing most women going through this stage include:

Hot Flashes Menopause Symptoms

1. Hot Flushes

Hot flushes are one of the early menopause symptoms. They appear during perimenopause as well. Medium, rare, or done. How would you like your insides?, menopause asks with a sly grin. You might feel like you’re on fire (not the good kind), when your entire body heats up and being flushed seems to be a constant state of being.

2. Night Sweats

If going hot and cold like a Katy Perry song wasn’t enough, now you’ve got sweating to cope with too. Your first encounters with perimenopause might be jarring as you start sweating without a reason. You might also wake up drenched in the middle of the night without an explanation, wondering if you should go take a shower or you just took one.

3. Insomnia

The lack of sleep all night is an unusual menopause symptom might not come as a surprise when you basically have an oven or refrigerator turned on inside your body. Sleeping next to a person who dozes peacefully while you’re up all night might awaken murderous tendencies you couldn’t possibly anticipate having. It’s a new way of life for you when perimenopause rolls in, with menopause on its heels. Menopausal murderer, the name of the movie based on you.

4. Irritation

During the great menopause age, you might be on edge no matter what. Irritation is the answer to every circumstance in life. Someone asks you where you want to eat? Irritating. If your husband or partner does? Still irritating. It might be hard for the people around you to understand why you snapped when all they did was look at you wrong. As soon as we enter perimenopause, maybe we should be awarded a tag that says ‘Beware!

I’ve got a dog and my menopause on.

5. Low Sex Drive

If you thought you could employ all of that aggression and sleepless nights to good use, you have another thing coming. Sorry to say but no hanky panky in your immediate future. A low libido means you might not be in a mood for a roll in the hay.

6.Sore Breasts

Because have a low libido clearly wasn’t enough torture to appease the menopausal gods, they decided to add sore boobs to the mix. Breasts might start becoming tender during perimenopause itself.

irritation during menopause
Hot Flashes Menopause Symptoms

7.Dry Vagina

You might be apprehensive at the direction your sex life might eventually be headed towards, but fret not, it’s not as bad as you think. Hang on, yes it is. Just kidding. Your vagina might not get naturally lubricated as easily and quickly as it did before. A decreasing amount of oestrogen since the start of perimenopause seems to be the culprit here.

8. Emotional Changes

Now you’ve up, now you’re down, now you’ve murdered someone and are googling ways to best dispose off the body, so looks the menopause age. Too many murder references? But they all ring true, don’t they? Being an emotional wreck might just be one of the unusual menopause symptoms.

9. Weight Gain

It is usually associated with getting older. But perimenopause and menopause could not bear to be left behind. So it added to the fray. Now you’ve got menopause as well as old age to curse when your muffin top plays peek a boo from under your top and rests comfortably on the waistband of your jeans.

Other common perimenopause and menopause symptoms include joint pains and aches, focus and memory issues, hair loss and thinning, headaches, racing heart, and bloating. Some of the unusual menopause symptoms might include a distinct change in your vision or spatial awareness, as well as your sense of smell and taste may differ from your pre-menopausal self.

How To Pacify The Usual And Unusual Menopause Symptoms:

1. Insomnia

Yoga and meditation can help calm your mind helping you sleep faster, better, and longer. Exercising also helps prime your body for sleep and help you kick this menopause symptom in the arse. You might think indulging in alcohol might increase your chances of falling asleep. But alcohol alters the quality of your sleep and might wake you up later. If you’re up any way you might want to employ that time doing something you enjoy like making a dent in your to be read pile until you fall asleep. Think of it as your alone time to have fun. If sleep is still a stranger and youre desperate to get it in bed, you might want to consult your doctor.

2. Hot Flushes

Hot flushes might have a trigger in the food you consume. Keeping a track of what sets it off will help you avoid that food in the future. If the hot flushes are out of control you might want to consult a doctor.

3. Night Sweats

Night sweats can further take a chunk off of your precious Z’s. There are several ways to retain your chill. Make sure your nightwear is comfortable and made of a breathable fabric. Using a bedside fan to keep the air circulating could help keep the night sweats at bay.

How Long Does Menopause Symptoms Last
Menopause Symptoms Weight Gain

4. Weight Gain

You don’t have to starve yourself. Portion control and making sure you’re eating healthy is better. Move your body whenever you can. Indulging your sweet tooth can be fun, but make sure it’s a once in a blue moon occurrence, and that you’re balancing it with healthy proportions of greens too. Consumption of alcohol can also add to your weight. If your weight gain is creating a hindrance in your life, you could consult a doctor to help you manage it better.

5. Pump Up Your Sex Life

The various hormone changes your body goes through kicks your sex life in the balls. Actually, it just makes your vagina dryer and thinner, which could take sex from being pleasurable to downright painful. So instead of looking forward to getting down and dirty, you just end up being down.

Your saviour to combat these menopause symptoms is non-prescription, water-based vaginal lubricants or a vaginal moisturiser. You can also consult your doctor for vaginal creams and rings, or medications to help relieve the dryness and pain during sex. Sex is important for your vag as it helps blood flow and maintains its health.

6. Set Your Sex Life Ablaze. Again.

The days of you feeling horny and jumping your partner’s bones are a thing of the past. If you want to indulge in some adult playtime, you might now have to schedule it. Try to indulge in new ways of building the mood. Foreplay takes on new importance, as it gives your vagina time to become lubricated. Hormonal imbalance is one of the reasons for a low sex drive. Some of the other reasons could be insomnia, emotional troubles, as well as bladder problems.

The amount of time that perimenopause and menopausal symptoms make their h