August 28, 2008
Discover Early Menopause Signs And Symptoms
Let me ask you a simple question…do you know what the early menopause signs and symptoms are?
Women who are going through menopause between the ages of twenty and forty, which is well below the average age to do so, are said to be going through early menopause or premature menopause. Normally, the average age that most women would have gone through and be finished with their menopause would be about fifty one. These figures indicate that most women will be going through their changes between the ages of forty seven and fifty three.
It is not really known why some women go through early menopause. It is believed that sometimes genetic factors can be a reason why a woman starts with premature menopause. Stress, a poor diet, heavy smoking and drinking can be factors that help contribute to this. Autoimmune diseases, which are usually disorders that result from an imbalance in the immune system, can also affect menopause.
More than likely, early menopause is simply caused by the fact that a woman was born with fewer eggs in her ovaries than the average woman.
If a woman receives radiation therapy or chemotherapy, a large number of eggs will be destroyed by this treatment leaving fewer eggs in her ovaries. A woman whose ovaries have been infected by a severe viral infection, such as mumps, would have suffered a lot of damage to her eggs also.
A woman who before the age of forty, has had to have her ovaries surgically removed for medical reasons can no longer produce ovarian hormones. This will cause her to go through severe early menopause especially if she does not have hormone therapy. Any kind of pelvic surgery, such as a hysterectomy, that affects the flow of blood to the ovaries will eventually cause the ovaries to fail.
Even though premature ovarian failure, also known as POF, is a condition known as premature menopause, does not really mean that the ovaries have stopped producing eggs. It is more likely that even though the eggs are present, the body is not responding to the signs to ovulate.
A woman who begins to experience the symptoms of early menopause and still gets fairly regular periods may have a condition known as diminished ovarian reserve. If this happens to her before the age of forty then she may be starting with the condition known as POF (premature ovarian failure).
Women that have a greater risk of developing osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases are those women that have already started to go through an early menopause. In order to be able to fight these diseases, any woman who knows that she has already started to go through menopause at an early age should make sure that she starts to take HRT (hormone replacement therapy) so that she can be better protected from these diseases. She should also make sure that she does not give up on her medication but take it for the time necessary for it to be effective.
These are a couple of the early menopause signs and symptoms that are part of other women's health issues.
Filed under Women's Health by Debbie