perimenopause or menopause

well i thought i was on the menopause as i had blood tests last year and was told my hormone level were so high i would not have another period and after 8 months i came on and its heavy bleeding again. not sure if i now have to start counting my 12 months again as they say you are not truely menopausal until you've gon 12 months without a period. i'm 51 but started on peri menopause when i was 44!!

HI Kim. They say you have to be without a period for 12 full months before you are considered IN menopause.  All this other stuff is considered Peri-menopause. I have been bleeding now for a month on and off.  For the past 2 years my periods have been off.  I even went 4 months without one. I really thought i was done.  I am finding that chelated iron is slowly the bleeding down. I have tried a lot of natural things.  YOU are not alone.  I always find that comforting in my misery!  LOL 

Hi ladies!

Yes, you go a whole 12 months with no period and then you are in menopause. I've known women to go 11 months and then bam! Period, start all over again....

Hi Kim,

Peri Menopause can go on for years. Mine was a good 10 years before my periods started really getting different. Mainly much heavier, longer periods. A full 12 months without periods you are considered to be in menopause. Although this seems like the end of the changing body and hormones it is only the beginning. Not to scare you but while you are still having your periods your body is still making hormones. Even though it is not much. But once those periods end things really seem to change and fast. Thinning hair, thinning skin, brittle nails, lack of lubrication for intimacy and even painful sex from thinning of the vaginal walls. Yes peri is just the beginning. Once in menopause some women in their 60s and 70s still talk of hot flushes, sweats and all kinds of other feelings that are all related to bottomed out hormone levels. '

I'm 57, been in menopause for two years. Started bio identical hormones almost immediately. Estrodial, Estriol, Testosterone and Progesterone. Key word, Bio Identical, when and if considering hormone replacement therapy. Good Luck!

By the way, I feel great. Will be on hormones the rest of my life. I too started with all those symptoms I mentioned above and the more I read the more depressed I got and had to do something about it. 

The 13th month with no period they say is officially menopause. You sound very typically peri menopausal. I tracked my periods and all my symptoms for about 2 years. It definitely helped me to understand what was happening to me and when I visited the doctor who does my BHRT it helped a lot along with my blood results for him to know what to give me. I questioned my sanity on a number of occasions and even though my BHRT has helped tremendously I still has some ups and downs.

Keep us posted on how you're going. Its posts like yours that have helped me through the dark days.