Menopause is the end of menstrual cycles, confirmed after a year without a period in midlife. Estrogen falls. Periods stutter first in perimenopause, which can last years and feel like someone keeps changing the rules. Hot flashes, sleep breaks, and mood weather are common. So are thinner vaginal tissue and less easy lubrication.

Desire may drop, rise, or rearrange. Sex can stay wanted and still need more warmup and a bottle of lube. Local estrogen and moisturizers help many people. Systemic hormone therapy is a separate medical decision with benefits and risks that belong in a clinic conversation.

Partners sometimes vanish from the topic as if desire had a retirement age. It does not. What retires is the old script that assumed a body would stay seventeen with better wine.

Track symptoms. Bring the list. Vague suffering gets vague care.