On average, the inception age of innately occurring menopause is 51 years in the United States. But due to varied factors that are related to certain ailments, heredity, or medical procedures, certain women undergo menopause even before touching forty years.
This form of untimely menopause arrival due to either innate or induced reasons is called ‘premature menopause’. Premature menopause is the outcome of an underlying process that is highly likely to be reversible once commenced.
The harrowing experiences of dealing with hot flashes, moodiness, and other signs that come with menopause also face physical and emotional turmoil. For instance, as menopause is the precursor of sterility, it is a total letdown for those women who had plans of getting pregnant.
Women who get premature menopause experience depleted estrogen levels due to the ovaries halting a major portion of their production, which leads to alterations in a woman’s general health and might raise the chances of developing particular medical conditions like osteoporosis, colon and ovarian cancer, gum disease, loss of tooth and also leading to cataract.
Also Read: Skipped Periods Reasons
Women with premature menopause go through major parts of their lives with no safeguarding advantages of their estrogen, which lands them at a heightened risk of an array of menopause-associated health issues.
Premature Menopause Symptoms:
The premature menopausal symptoms are quite analogous to those experienced during natural menopause and could comprise of:
- Erratic or skipped periods.
- Heavier than or lesser than normal periods.
- Hot flashes – an abrupt sense of warmness that seems to spread throughout the body.
All these signs are an indicator that there is less production of estrogen in the ovaries.
Alongside the above-stated symptoms, few women might experience:
- Dryness experienced in the vagina, along with additionally becoming thinner and less supple.
- Irritability in the Bladder and deterioration in urinary incontinence.
- Emotional fluctuations ( tetchiness, moodiness, mild depressive tendencies)
- Dryness in the skin, mouth or eyes.
- Wakefulness.
- Lowered libido.
Suppose one is below 40 years of age and are experiencing any of the below-mentioned conditions along with the above-stated symptoms. In that case, one must promptly seek medical advice to ascertain if one is experiencing premature menopause:
- Those are having been through chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
- If you or a kin member is ailing from an autoimmune disorder like hypothyroidism, lupus or Grave’s disease.
- Persistent failures in getting pregnant for longer than a year.
- One’s mother or sister has undergone premature menopause.
Diagnosis & Tests:
- The doctor would carry out a physical exam and a blood sample to overrule any conditions like pregnancy and thyroid disease.
- The doctor might additionally order a test for measurement of the estradiol levels. Depleted levels of estradiol – a type of estrogen could point to the condition of commencing ovarian failure. Estradiol levels that are less than 36 could indicate one is menopausal.
- Yet, the key test for diagnosis of premature menopause is a blood test that involves the measurement of FSH or Follicle Stimulating Hormone. FSH is responsible for the production of estrogen by the ovaries. When the estrogen production by the ovaries slows down, the FSH levels rise.
- FSH levels that are above 30 or 40 mIU/mL normally point to being menopausal.
Premature Menopause Treatment:
The signs and health threats of premature menopause, along with the emotional upheaval that could result due to it, might be treated with analogous methods like those being employed for treating natural menopause.
Women who face sterility due to the outcome of premature menopause might want to talk about their choices with their doctor or their gynaecologist.
