The word menopause actually means your last menstrual period: meno-refers to your menstrual cycle and –pause literally means stop. However, the actual definition of being menopausal is when you have not had a period for one year. The menopause occurs when your ovaries stop producing eggs and, as a result, the levels of your hormones called oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone fall.
The term perimenopause is often used as this is the time in which you experience menopausal symptoms but are still having periods. These periods are often more irregular and scanty than they used to be.
The hormones oestrogen and progesterone work together to regulate your menstrual cycle and also the production of eggs. During your perimenopause, the levels of these hormones fluctuate greatly and it is often the imbalance of these hormones that leads to symptoms of the menopause occurring. For some women these symptoms only occur for a few months and then their periods stop completely. However, other women experience symptoms for months or even years before their periods stop.