Perimenopause can last for up to 10 years before menopause finally happens, so why is it a shock to many when it starts? With the lasting taboo around the subject and the widely-held belief that it's 'just' one of life's natural stages, many people go into perimenopause unknowingly. Here Kathryn Williams reveals her own journey and speaks to other women about what perimenopause really feels like.
I was well prepared for my first period. Well, sort of. I remember my mum telling me that the whole thing would be something of a non-event to begin with, a mere ‘smudge’ on my underwear, so light I’d probably barely notice it. So far so good, right? Except that when my period did arrive a few months after my 13th birthday, it was less of a smudge and more of a flood. Menstruation, it seemed, had arrived with a vengeance.
