Strange things can start happening to women as they enter middle age.

Lying in bed night after night, Andrea LaCroix noticed her heart was pounding mysteriously fast. Claire Gill had a baby in her early 40s, so when she started skipping periods a year later, she thought she might be pregnant again. Laura Okafor wasn’t sure whether her new sleep troubles and spike in anxiety were typical for a mom with young kids.

Eventually, all three women arrived at the same explanation for their symptoms: perimenopause, a period characterized by fluctuating hormones that can last for years before the official onset of menopause, 12 months without a period.

Menopause has been flooded with attention in recent years, the subject of books, businesses , and advocacy by celebrities like Drew Barrymore, N

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