The transitional phase between fertility years and menopause, which is when the woman no longer gets her menstrual period, is known as perimenopause. The perimenopause phase begins in the mid-40s and can last anywhere from 2 years to 8 years, or at times even longer. However, on an average, it has been seen that this phase generally lasts for around 6 years.

During the perimenopause phase, the hormones levels in the body tend to fluctuate and this can cause a lot of symptoms and discomfort to the woman. However, in order to understand estrogen level in perimenopause, it is important to understand how the menstrual cycle takes place.

The menstrual cycle is regulated by the endocrine system of the body. The main glands that control the endocrine system are the pituitary and hypothalamus. These glands are responsible for signaling the ovaries to produce the sex hormones during the menstrual cycle.

When a woman is having normal menstrual cycles, the gonadotropin releasing hormone is secreted by the hypothalamus. This hormone then stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete more follicular stimulating hormone. This occurs in the initial 2 weeks of the menstrual cycle. The hormone from the pituitary is responsible for the maturation of the eggs contained within the follicles of the ovaries. The follicles, in turn, secrete estrogen, which helps to thicken the uterus lining to ensure that the fertilized egg can get implanted. On the 14th day of the menstrual cycle, the pituitary gland secretes more luteinizing hormone and this causes the ovary to release the matured egg. The corpus luteum surrounding the matured egg then produces more progesterone and less estrogen. In case the matured ovum is not fertilized by the sperm, then the corpus luteum reduces the amount of progesterone and estrogen produced. When this occurs, the menstrual period in the woman begins.

As a woman ages, there is a change in her menstrual cycle. This is because the ovaries have a fixed number of eggs and in each menstrual cycle one egg is released. Hence, after some years, the eggs start running out. When this happens, the hypothalamus causes the pituitary gland to secrete for follicular stimulating hormones so that the remaining eggs can get matured. During this period, the levels of follicular stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone are high, but the levels of estrogen tend to vary. As there is less number of eggs, during the perimenopause phase, ovulation does not occur every time. Hence, there is no increase in the progesterone levels, but estrogen is produced continuously. This results in more thickening of the uterus lining and the menstrual period may occur intermittently and may also be heavier than normal. And, as the woman enters the menopause phase of her life, the ovaries reduce the production of progesterone and estrogen and this causes the menstrual period to stop completely.

It has been seen that estrogen level in perimenopause tends to fluctuate and is not constant. On the other hand, the estrogen as well as progesterone levels are reduced and more or less constant during menopause.

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