Many women find the symptoms of perimenopause hard to ignore - sleepless nights, hot flushes, mood swings, to name a few. But others, those using some type of hormonal contraception, may not notice it's happening at all.
While fertility obviously starts to decrease around the same time many women will start to experience perimenopause symptoms, many sexually active women in their 40s still use a form of contraception to prevent pregnancy and manage their hormones. According to data from the UK Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, 32% of women over 45 were using long-lasting reversible contraception such as the IUD, injection, or implant as their main form of contraception last year. This means many women will be perimenopausal while also on birth control.
