How Long Does Menopause Last?

At What Age Does Menopause Start:

at what age does menopause start

Doctors will determine that you’ve reached menopause when you haven’t had a period for 12 consecutive months. The symptoms of menopause vary from one woman to another, even in the same families. The age and rate of decline of ovary function differ tremendously. This means you’ll need to manage your menopause individually. What worked for your mother or best friend may not work for you.

This test helps determine whether you will soon be entering menopause or if you already have. There’s no simple test that can tell you when you’ll reach menopause, but researchers are working on creating one. An orgasm may feel hard to achieve once you’ve reached menopause, look at this but there’s no physical reason to prevent you from having an orgasm. The intensity, frequency and duration of hot flashes differ for each individual. However, some evidence suggests a link between PTSD and worse symptoms during the menopause transition.

Post-menopause signals the end of your reproductive years, and you’ll be in this stage for the rest of your life. While your ovaries are still making low levels of the hormones estrogen and progesterone, you are no longer ovulating (releasing click here for info eggs), so you can’t become pregnant. A healthy diet and regular exercise program will help manage your symptoms and boost your health. This is a great time to finally kick any old, unhealthy habits like smoking or drinking too much alcohol.

at what age does menopause start

Also, if you’ve missed your period and you’re not sure whether perimenopause has started, consider taking a pregnancy test as a first step. Women in post-menopause are at a higher risk for certain health conditions like heart disease and postmenopausal osteoporosis. You and your primary care doctor can work together on a plan to prevent or manage those conditions. The menopausal transition affects each woman uniquely and in various ways.

Before menopause, declining estrogen levels can cause people who menstruate to experience premenopausal symptoms. During perimenopause, people will usually notice irregular periods. “Close together, far apart, heavy, light’you name it,” Dr. Minkin said.

So be kind to yourself, practice self-care and ask for help if you’re having trouble. There’s no way to know your exact menopause age until it happens, but genetics seems to play a strong role. You may get a general idea of when to expect menopause based on when your family members went through it, particularly your mother.

If you have osteoporosis or osteopenia, your treatment options could include estrogen therapy. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. Because these can also be symptoms of pregnancy or other medical conditions, you should consider seeing your doctor for evaluation. ‘If you have your uterus removed (hysterectomy), you may experience menopause one to two years earlier than if you still had your uterus,’ she adds. ‘The average age of menopause with one ovary is the same as the average age of menopause if you have two ovaries,’ says Dr. Girzhel.

In the time leading up to menopause (perimenopause), you may have irregular periods or skip periods entirely. However, if your periods resume before 12 months have passed, you have not yet entered menopause. Perimenopause most often begins in a person’s forties and can last anywhere from a couple of years to 10 years. During perimenopause, estrogen declines, which can cause a variety of symptoms. Examining your family history may be the most accurate way to help you predict when you might experience the change. You’ll likely reach menopause around the same age as your mother and, if you have any, sisters.

You may have a sudden urge to urinate, or urine may leak during exercise, sneezing, or laughing. The first step in treating incontinence is to see a doctor. She’s excited to be starting a new phase of her life as her children leave home and she has more spare time for her other interests.

Keep in mind that after more than 1 year of no menstrual periods due to menopause, vaginal bleeding isn’t normal, so tell your doctor if you have any ASAP. Yes, several factors you can try these out related to menopause can lead to depression. There are extreme shifts in your hormone levels, you may not sleep well because of hot flashes and you may experience mood swings.

If you experience menopause between ages 40 and 45, you’re said to have early menopause. About 5 percent of women go through early menopause naturally. Discuss all past medical conditions and your family history with your healthcare provider to understand the risks versus benefits of hormone therapy. A correlation exists between severe hot flashes and night sweats and your risk for cardiovascular disease. Healthcare providers may suggest starting hormone therapy if you have these severe symptoms since it’s an indicator for future cardiovascular risk. As you age, your reproductive cycle begins to slow down and prepares to stop.

But you can still become pregnant as you’re transitioning to menopause, and you still need to use birth control if you don’t want to conceive, she says. The authors found that perimenopause lasted longer in women who started the transition at a younger age, and the women had more symptoms, such as hot flashes. In general, the symptoms of perimenopause can be eased by estrogen therapy.

Although it can be difficult for scientists to tease out specific factors that impact when a woman goes through natural menopause, there is a growing body of research in this area. If you have questions about when you’ll experience menopause and if you can do anything to change it, keep reading for answers. Furthermore, menopause can be the result of using medications for chemotherapy or hormone therapy due to having breast cancer. As your hormone levels change, you may find yourself feeling more irritable, anxious, sad or forgetful than usual.

Not everyone will have the same symptoms as they transition to menopause. If you’ve already been through menopause, it doesn’t always mean you’re done with all the symptoms. An estimated 40 percent of women ages 60 to 65 still get hot flashes. In the postmenopausal stage, your risk for heart disease can increase.

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