Menopause
Menopause is sometimes known as the "change of life", and is marked by the ending of menstruation which means that a woman's periods had stop. It is known that the average age for a woman to reach the menopause is 50 to 52 years old.
A woman's periods do not usually stop suddenly, although this can happen. They usually become less frequent, the odd period is missed, and then they stop altogether.
A woman is said to have reached the menopause once she has not had a period for one year. After this point, she can be described as post-menopausal. The time leading up to the menopause is known as the peri-menopause.
The menopause is the end of egg production or the ovulation process. Ovulation is the release of the egg mid-cycle each month. This occurs as a result of falling levels of the female sex hormone, estrogen, which regulates menstruation. During menopause, the ovarian supply of follicles and eggs declines sharply as a woman approaches this stage. Prior to this stage, the onset of perimenopause, which can last anywhere from five to fifteen years, the brain continues to send out hormones trying to stimulate the development of ovarian follicles and it is common for woman's ovaries to respond erratically, so that the hormones fluctuate a great deal from month to month. These fluctuations are responsible for many of the symptoms of perimenopause.
During the perimenopause, the hormonal and biological changes that are associated with the menopause begin. As a result of these hormonal changes, many women experience both physical and emotional symptoms.
If the menopause occurs in a woman who is under 45 years of age, it is known as premature menopause. It is estimated that premature menopause affects 1% of women under the age of 40 and 0.1% of women who are under the age of 30.
Eventually, though, the ovaries are no longer able to develop an egg for ovulation. Ovarian production of estrogen goes into a permanent decline and progesterone is no longer produced. The lining of the uterus thins, since it is not being stimulated by high estrogen levels each month and therefore, monthly bleeding stops. Thus, menopause has occurred.
Most women reach the menopause without seeking medical advice. However, treatments are available that can ease menopausal symptoms that are severe or distressing.
Because hormone levels may fluctuate greatly in an individual woman, even from one day to the next, hormone levels are not a reliable method for diagnosing menopause. Even if levels are low one day, they may be high the next day in the same woman. There is no single blood test that reliably predicts when a woman is going through the menopausal transition. Therefore, there is currently no proven role for blood testing regarding menopause except for tests to exclude medical cause of erratic menstrual periods other than menopause. The only way to diagnose menopause is to observe the lack of menstrual periods for 12 months in a woman in the expected age range.
By: Cathy
Menopause Recommended Resources:
University of Maryland Medical Center
Zarah McDonough 16.04.09 at 11:08am Susan 12.11.09 at 08:45am Hebe Navarro 15.11.09 at 12:40pmThank you so much,
Hebe Navarro
Aggie Toros 23.11.09 at 20:46pm Kim Page 25.11.09 at 01:13am
