dear asking for a friend,
i have been having night sweats and irregular periods for months. is this the start of menopause? and is there still
a chance i could get pregnant?
signed, hot flashes
dear hot flashes,
you’re in a transitional time of your life, but just because you’re experiencing night sweats and irregular periods, it doesn’t mean you’ve reached menopause — at least not yet.
research
shows that the average age for menopause is 51, but symptoms can start a few months or several years before your last period.
the years leading up to menopause are clinically referred to as perimenopause — it’s a time when
symptoms
such as vaginal dryness, night sweats, irregular periods and hot flashes first appear. at this stage, hormone levels begin to taper off, your period may vary in length and frequency, and your ovaries may or may not release eggs each month. perimenopause can drag on for more than a
decade
for some women, and while your fertility starts to decline at this stage, you can still get pregnant.
in perimenopause, it’s not unusual for your period to stop and restart again after a few months. only when you’ve been period-free for a full year do your hormone levels change, you no longer ovulate, and your chances of getting pregnant decline.