I went through close to ten years of perimenopause also. Irregular periods - sometimes two weeks apart, sometimes long enough that I had to buy a pregnancy test - when I'd always been very regular. Major estrogen surges with so much breast swelling and pain that I didn't even realize it was "cyclical" until about the third time it happened. Two years into it, so far menopause itself has been way easier than perimenopause. I didn't even have any hot flashes until several months after my periods stopped, when I cut way back on soy because of breast issues.