If your periods have started arriving closer together, every two or three weeks instead of the monthly rhythm you were used to, you are experiencing one of the most common and most disorienting changes of perimenopause. Many women expect perimenopause to mean periods spacing out and eventually stopping. In fact, in the earlier stages, the opposite often happens first: cycles get shorter and periods come more frequently. There is a clear reason for it.
Why Cycles Get Shorter First
Your menstrual cycle has two halves. In the first half, a follicle in the ovary matures and oestrogen rises. Around the middle, ovulation happens, and in the second half, progesterone rises to prepare the womb lining, before both hormones fall and a period comes.
In early perimenopause, the first half of the cycle often speeds up. As the ovaries age and the pool of eggs shrinks, the follicle tends to develop faster, so ovulation happens earlier. A shorter first half means the whole cycle is shorter, so your period arrives sooner, sometimes every two to three weeks. This is one of the earliest and most reliable signs that perimenopause has begun.
As perimenopause progresses, the pattern usually changes again: ovulation becomes irregular or is skipped, cycles start to lengthen, periods become unpredictable, and eventually they space out and stop. So frequent periods are often an early-stage feature that later gives way to skipped and spaced-out ones.
What Is Normal, and What Is Not
Shorter, more frequent cycles are a normal and expected part of perimenopause. But because frequent bleeding can also be caused by other, treatable conditions, and because bleeding very often can lead to anaemia, it is worth knowing where the line is.
Usually normal: cycles that shorten to around every 21 days or so, periods that are a little more frequent than before, and a generally irregular, changing pattern, as long as the bleeding itself is not excessively heavy or prolonged.
Worth checking: bleeding more often than every 21 days, periods lasting longer than about seven days, very heavy bleeding or large clots, bleeding between periods, or bleeding after sex. Frequent periods that are also heavy can quietly deplete your iron and leave you exhausted and anaemic.
Other Causes to Rule Out
Frequent or irregular bleeding is usually hormonal in perimenopause, but similar patterns can be caused by fibroids, polyps, thyroid problems, and changes in the womb lining, all of which become more relevant at this age and are treatable once identified. This is exactly why a pattern of frequent or heavy bleeding is worth a proper assessment rather than simply being put down to age.
What Helps
Track your bleeding. Note the dates, how heavy the flow is, and how often you change protection. A clear record helps you and your doctor enormously and reveals whether the pattern is settling or worsening.
Protect your iron. Frequent or heavy periods deplete iron. Include iron-rich foods, green leafy vegetables, dals, jaggery, dates, and lean meat if you eat it, and ask your doctor to check for anaemia if you feel tired, breathless, or pale.
Do not assume it is only age. Perimenopause explains a great deal, but frequent or heavy bleeding still deserves a look, both to rule out other causes and because it is treatable.
Ask about management options. If frequent or heavy periods are disrupting your life, there are effective treatments. Your gynaecologist can talk you through them.
When to See a Doctor
Routine appointment if your periods are consistently coming more often than every three weeks, if they are heavy or prolonged, or if the change is affecting your life. Simple tests, a blood count and often an ultrasound, can identify the cause.
Promptly or urgently if you are soaking a pad or tampon every hour for several hours, passing very large clots, feeling dizzy, breathless, or very weak, or bleeding between periods or after sex. Any bleeding after you have gone 12 months without a period also needs prompt assessment.
Periods arriving every two weeks can feel alarming and relentless, but for most women it is simply the earlier chapter of perimenopause, when cycles speed up before they eventually slow and stop. Track the pattern, protect your iron, and get heavy or very frequent bleeding checked, and you will know you are on top of it.
The Second Spring is an information resource, not a medical provider. For personal advice, speak with your doctor or gynaecologist. Write to us at thesecondspringofficial@gmail.com
