The stage before menopause is called premenopausal or transition stage from the fertile to the non-fertile stage. This stage lasts approximately 3 to 5 years, and the typical feature of this stage is changes in the menstrual cycle.
At the beginning, the cycles become short, less than 25 days and can last more than 8 days, with normal amount of bleeding; subsequently you can do long cycles, more than 35 days, last 2 to 3 days with decreased bleeding in quantity, but you can also alternate long and short cycles.
It is not often that at this stage their hot flashes and other changes, or if there are in most women are occasional and of mild intensity.
It is very important to know that if there is no prenatal control, it is possible to get pregnant at this stage.