Early Perimenopause

During early perimenopause you are likely to experience changes to the length of your menstrual cycle.

For many of us, this means that the time between our periods begins to shorten.

When you have two (or more) menstrual cycles in a row, where the change or difference in the length of these cycles is seven days or more, you are in the early perimenopause phase.1

In other words, you are likely to have your periods more often or frequently during the early perimenopause phase.

Many women also experience heavier flow or bleeding during this time. Heavier bleeding may involve larger clots, flooding, and bleeding through your pad, tampon or cup very quickly.

My Menopause SA

Evidence-based menopause information for South African women.

Page last reviewed: 1 March 2026
Next review due: 1 March 2027

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Footnotes

1 According to STRAW+10, early perimenopause is characterised as having two or more consecutive menstrual cycles, where there is a change in the length of these cycles of seven or more days. ↩

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Santoro N. (2016). Perimenopause: From Research to Practice. Journal of women’s health (2002), 25(4), 332-339. Https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2015.5556 (Pt 332-339.). Journal of Women’s Health, 25(4). https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2015.5556