You'll know you've reached menopause when you've gone 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period. Contact your healthcare provider if you have any type of vaginal bleeding after menopause.
The menopausal transition most often begins between ages 45 and 55. It usually lasts about seven years but can be as long as 14 years. The duration can depend on lifestyle factors such as smoking, age it begins, and race and ethnicity.
Over-the-counter home tests to check FSH levels in your urine are available. The tests could tell you whether you have elevated FSH levels and might be in perimenopause or menopause.
A change in menstrual patterns and the appearance of hot flashes are usually the first signs. Although blood tests are not required, healthcare providers can run blood or urine tests to determine levels of the hormones estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH).
Some women will experience few, or no, symptoms. But for some, they can be quite severe and have a significant impact on everyday life. The first sign of menopause is usually a change in the normal pattern of your periods.
Menopause is defined as 12 months without a menstrual bleed, in the absence of other conditions. To date, there is no simple test to predict or confirm menopause or perimenopause, but research continues. So, check your menstrual calendar and seek your healthcare providers' opinions.
Most Australian women experience menopause between 45 and 60 years of age. The average age of menopause is 51 years. You have reached menopause when you have gone 12 months without having your period.
At menopause, many women experience weight gain, particularly around the abdomen. Contributors to weight gain at menopause include declining oestrogen levels, age-related loss of muscle tissue and lifestyle factors such as diet and lack of exercise.
Menopause is divided into three basic stages: perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. During this time, the ovaries begin to atrophy which causes a decline in the production of the hormones that stimulate the menstrual cycle; estrogen and progesterone.
Perimenopause is the transitional period before menopause. During perimenopause, levels of estrogen, a key female hormone, start to decrease. You may begin having menopause-like symptoms, such as hot flashes or irregular periods. Perimenopause can last for years.
Can You Get Pregnant in Menopause? No, women in menopause cannot get pregnant. After menopause, you do not produce eggs, and you can't get pregnant in a natural way. However, you might still get pregnant with the help of fresh or frozen donor eggs, or your previously frozen eggs.
The average age for menopause is around 51. But some women experience menopause in their 40s – with a small percentage experiencing signs of menopause earlier. Some women may not reach menopause until their 60s. There's no way to know your exact menopause age until it happens, but genetics seems to play a strong role.
Management and Treatment
Given the health risks associated with early menopause, providers recommend hormone replacement therapy (HRT), unless there's a reason hormone therapy is unsafe (like if you've had breast cancer). HRT replaces some of the lost hormones in your body.
The main medicine treatment for menopause and perimenopause symptoms is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which replaces the hormones that are at low levels. There are other treatments if you cannot, or choose not to, have HRT.
Hot flashes, flushes, and night sweats are the most common symptoms of low estrogen. At times, blood rushes to your skin's surface. This can give you a feeling of warmth (hot flash). Your face may look flushed.
Menopause is considered to have occurred after a woman has gone a full 12 months without a period. Menopause marks the end of menstruation and a women's fertility. American women reach menopause at an average age of 51 years, although it can occur as early as age 40 to as late as the early 60s.
On average, they last three to five years and are usually worse during the year following the last menstrual period. For some women they go on indefinitely.
“About two years after your last period, in general, the rate of fat gain doubles and lean mass, or muscle mass, starts to decline. On average, women gain 5-8% of their baseline body weight during this time,” she says.