Here are the symptoms you might experience that indicate you are experiencing perimenopause. Each woman is unique in her experience with the menopause transition. Some women sail through this time with hardly a notice of changes occurring. Other women ride a rougher sea of change, experiencing changes that dramatically affect their quality of life.

The Most Commonly Experienced Symptoms Include:

• Changes in menstrual cycle (longer or shorter periods, heavier or lighter flow, clotting, missed periods, or any combination)

• Hot flashes, power surges, tropical moments: a sudden flash of heat from your chest to your head

• Night sweats: hot flashes that occur when you are sleeping and disturb your sleep.

• Vaginal dryness

• Interrupted sleep

• Fatigue

• Mood swings, depression, irritability (PMS gone wild!)

• Loss of desire for sex, painful intercourse

• Increased body fat around your waist

• Weight gain

• Problems with memory and concentration

• Wrinkles when you smile (and when you don’t)

• Rogue chin hairs (stray hairs willing to sprout just about anywhere!)

• Vision changes (so you can’t see the stray hairs until they are 3 inches long)

Other less common symptoms:

• Crawly feeling under the skin (called formication)

• Bouts of rapid heart beat

• Chills or periods of extreme warmth (other than during a hot flash)

• Bloating, gas pains, flatulence

• Anxiety and panic attacks

• Sensitivity to being touched by others

• Aching ankles, knees, wrists, shoulders

• Urinary leakage (when you laugh, cough, sneeze or when the urge is too great)