I am a registered nurse and can tell you that peri-menopause can start as early as your thirties and last 5 to 10 years even though that length of time is not common. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Hey I am 39 years old and in January of 2014 I started having anxiety on and off, monthly insomnia and so decided to track my periods, sleep issues etc. Lo and behold my periods were always at least a week late or early, never the same, and my sleep always was fragile exactly a week before, and then a week after my period. SO odd. I had my hormones checked and my FSH and LH were high but not post menopausal high, so I am convinced that I am in perimenopause. No one can talk me out of this one because I have just felt more unstable this last year, with a few bad bouts of anxiety (which is pattern triggered by a few nights of no sleep)....I'm just more fragile. I wish I knew how much longer this was going to go on! I think the anxiety can take on a life of its own..if you let it. I just keep telling myself this is a process, I need to trust it, and try to take it in stride.

Hello ladies, I am 48 and have had been on this roller coaster ride of peri menopause for over 13 years.. Yes, you heard me, 13 years. No one could tell me what was wrong with me, first Dr. thought a celiac, so I stopped eating Gluten, my digestion issues did not stop! I think I was 35 at the time and had just stopped nursing my second child, a year prior. Then at 37 I started having panic attacks, heart flutters.... etc... Testing, still no answers.... I could go on, just know, that I have had all 66 symptoms thru out these 13 years. I have eaten healthy for over 25 years, well before it became a fade to do so, I have always worked out and danced. I have chosen not to take HRT or Bio's. I too, at times thought I was dying, before I realized it was peri, and just waited to die.... I can tell you that I talk about it all the time with my family and friends. My husband is going thru the men version of his change, too. Men go thru it, too, they just do not talk about it. Laughing is the best medicine. It (Peri Menopause), in many ways has saved my life... I never knew that I was in fact an incest survivor, until the panic attacks set in and I had to go on a quest to find out what was happening ( sparked by the hormone change). If you are having intense symptoms, it is often a sign that some trauma from childhood is coming forward from you unconscious trying to find resolution. I found my life's work thru my early peri menopause, as it made me go into therapy and heal my past, and now I do that for others. So, on my worst days, I feel blessed to have transformed some very deep emotional pain, that was hidden in the recesses of my mind, and body, that peri menopause brought to my being. Good luck ladies and know, I feel for you especially if you are just starting your transition, you can get thru it, make sure you have a supportive home life and take time for your own need, regardless of what anyone else thinks.......