turning 50 with Kathy: how Kathy Smith found a way to beat perimenopause--and you can too!

KATHY SMITH, THE FITNESS GURU, BEST known for her exercise videos and books, will admit that the day before her 50th birthday, she was a little emotional. She wasn't ready for the predicted trauma that comes with it. But the actual morning of this memorable day was a whole different ballgame.

"I woke up feeling so proud," she says. "It was very liberating." The past few years, however, have presented her with new challenges, both physically and emotionally. She began to experience symptoms of perimenopause, the period of erratic hormone fluctuation three to four years before menopause, which led her to create her new video and book, Moving Through Menopause (Sony Music Video, Warner Books, 2002).

"As someone who has spent her life promoting the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, I assumed I already knew a lot of the answers," she said. "But in many respects, this is new territory."

SUBTLE SIGNALS

The first signal that something was changing was an interruption in Smith's sleeping habits. She had always been a sound sleeper, but she found herself waking up at 4 a.m. "You don't put it all together at first," she said of perimenopausal symptoms. "There's always a reason that something happens. And then one day you realize. It's very subtle."

Perimenopausal symptoms vary from woman to woman and usually begin around age 47, when estrogen levels start to fluctuate. Common symptoms include missed menstrual periods, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, mood swings, night sweats, lack of concentration, fatigue and general irritability.

Once she realized what was happening to her, Smith talked to other women. "I vividly remember standing on the soccer field with a group of moms," she says. "We started talking about perimenopause and the stories were mind-boggling. One woman said, `I don't know who I am anymore--my husband doesn't even recognize me.'"