Did you know the term 'perimenopause' has been around has been around for hundreds of years, yet society rarely speaks about it?
"It's still really challenging for a lot of people to talk about it," shares female health expert Dr Samantha Newman, founder of Female GP. "We need to reframe it."
Speaking to our own Sarah van der Kley, Dr Samantha shares that it's time to change the way we approach the taboo topics of menopause and perimenopause, and understand that there's more to what people traditionally know
"[Perimenopause] is not a new topic. We think it's new but actually the term has been around since the 1800s," she says.
"Traditionally it's defined when your periods change. But now we recognise that the symptoms of perimenopause can start about five years before the change in the physical symptoms, and can last like 10 to 12 years."
While most see periods physically change in flow and timing, the first symptoms are often psychological.
"Anxiety, irritability, women wanting to kill their partners... I'm looking at all that through a hormonal lens and realising it's actually really common," Dr Samantha says.
Learn more interesting facts about menopause and perimenopause in Sarah's interview with Dr Samantha Newman in the interview above.
