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debbi
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 Posted: 02/27/05 - 03:00 Post subject: The cause of an early menapause |
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Hi, I'm 37 years old and I have been having problems with my menstruation. In the last 11 – 12 months my periods have become irregular and sometimes there can be even three months between them. I'm experiencing big mood swings, sometimes it seems that I am in a very bad mood and yet sometimes it’s all great. I have noticed that those swings in the mood are in relation to the periods, as soon as I start feeling bad. Could this be a sign that I'm entering early menapause? Most women in my family have had early menapause until the age of 40. What could be the cause of going to menapause?
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hocutt
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| Posted: 04/10/05 - 16:15 Post subject: |
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Menapause is a physiological state that every woman must go through and includes changes in reproductive system, decrease in production of sexual hormones and losing the menstrual cycle. An early menapause is a condition identical to real menapause but it happens much earlier. Generally speaking, if symptoms of menapause appear before the age of 40 then we are talking about an early menapause. The causes can be many, genetic factor seems to have a great influence in your case. Possible causes of an early menapause are: any kind of a disease or other factor that damaged your ovaries, autoimmune diseases – antibodies created against your own reproductive cells, chemotherapy and radiation, as well as the use of medication for treating cancer like Tamoxifen, surgical damage to your ovaries or surgery caused blood flow difficulties in your ovaries which cause gradual dying of your follicles and an early menapause. Basically when your ovaries run out of eggs, you stop ovulating and symptoms of an early menapause can appear. You can be also experiencing a condition that comes before the normal menapause called perimenapause and can be normally found in women after 30 years of age. You can't do much even if youre in menapause, the best advice I can give you is to go see your doctor and ask for advice. Some hormonal therapies can be prescribed to ease the symptoms of the menapause.
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liv
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Joined: 22 Apr 2005
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| Posted: 04/22/05 - 09:52 Post subject: am i going through early menopause? |
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:( Had been trying for a baby for over a year when i got pregnant last october, sadly lost the baby at 3 months over christmas. began trying again with no joy. finally had blood tests this week and got results yesterday - am very confused. two hormone levels tested, apparently one fine the other very high - doc said this would indicate early menopause but have booked me in for more tests as they can't really make sense of these results and say they can't really explain any more until the next tests. I am only 28, there is no previous history of this in my family and as far as i have read i have no menopausal symptoms. i have regular periods every month (29 day cycle). I have been pregnant twice in the last 3 years - could this really be happening to me now?
please help.
liv |
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hocutt
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| Posted: 04/22/05 - 13:14 Post subject: |
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Dear Liv,
Have you ever heared for PREMATURE OVARIAN FAILURE term. I've read carefully your story and it looks like POF. That's of course just a guess since nobody except your doc or some other specialist can't tell you exactly what it is. So I encourage you to make some additional tests and to contact few other specialists for their opinion because it's pretty delicate theme. However I'll give you few definitions of POF in case that you don't know:
Autoimmune Disorder
This is a common cause of premature ovarian failure. In fact, some recent studies have shown that up to two-thirds of the women with premature ovarian failure have it due to an autoimmune disorder. When this happens, your body's immune system mistakenly attacks itself. In effect, your body senses part of itself as an invader -- so it sends out antibodies to destroy this perceived threat. In the case of premature menopause, you may have antibodies to your own ovarian tissue, to your endometrium, or to one or more of the hormones regulating ovulation. These antibodies attack your reproductive system, and may interfere with and ultimately destroy your ovarian function. If you have a family history of autoimmune disorders or have one yourself (such as thyroid disease, diabetes, or rheumatoid arthritis), this may be the cause for your early menopause.
Chromosomal Irregularity
Some cases of hereditary premature menopause are caused by defects on an X chromosome. It's a very complicated topic, but, briefly, here's what happens: Women have two X chromosomes -- and, even though only one of these chromosomes is active, a defect on either one can cause premature menopause. This defect, sometimes called "fragile X syndrome," apparently interferes with the production of eggs. So if you are a fragile X carrier, you have a lesser number of eggs in your ovaries, which in turn leads to an earlier menopause -- generally at least six to eight years before other women. Another related form of genetically-caused premature menopause is called "Turner's Syndrome." In this case, you're born without a second X chromosome -- or without part of the chromosome. Since you need two X's for your ovaries to develop properly, a missing X or a faulty X leads to deficient ovarian development (called ovarian dysgenesis). Often women with Turner's Syndrome never have their periods at all, since their ovaries never develop enough and don't produce ovarian estrogen. On the flip side, some women enter premature menopause because they have three X chromosomes -- which interferes with ovarian development as well.
I wish you luck and we would like to know results of your further tests so we can help more people with the same symptoms.
Best Regards,
Hoc |
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| Posted: 09/16/06 - 12:34 Post subject: |
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| hi i am toni i am going through the menapause and still taking my periods and my doctor told to come of the pill befor he can get a good reading is that right |
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| Posted: 01/11/07 - 16:42 Post subject: |
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| i am 24, never had an irregular period, until i had my son 2 years ago, since i was breastfeeding him i went on2 the low dose contraceptive pill, which i knew wud halt my period 4 a while. I went off the pill a year ago as my husband and i want 2 try for another baby, i still havent had a period so i went 2 the doctors yesterday, and he said it cud be early menopause, i'm having a blood tet next week. i'm a bit freaked out |
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| Posted: 03/24/07 - 00:05 Post subject: i started my menapause symptoms early. for two years now i |
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| hocutt wrote: | Dear Liv,
Have you ever heared for PREMATURE OVARIAN FAILURE term. I've read carefully your story and it looks like POF. That's of course just a guess since nobody except your doc or some other specialist can't tell you exactly what it is. So I encourage you to make some additional tests and to contact few other specialists for their opinion because it's pretty delicate theme. However I'll give you few definitions of POF in case that you don't know:
Autoimmune Disorder
This is a common cause of premature ovarian failure. In fact, some recent studies have shown that up to two-thirds of the women with premature ovarian failure have it due to an autoimmune disorder. When this happens, your body's immune system mistakenly attacks itself. In effect, your body senses part of itself as an invader -- so it sends out antibodies to destroy this perceived threat. In the case of premature menopause, you may have antibodies to your own ovarian tissue, to your endometrium, or to one or more of the hormones regulating ovulation. These antibodies attack your reproductive system, and may interfere with and ultimately destroy your ovarian function. If you have a family history of autoimmune disorders or have one yourself (such as thyroid disease, diabetes, or rheumatoid arthritis), this may be the cause for your early menopause.
Chromosomal Irregularity
Some cases of hereditary premature menopause are caused by defects on an X chromosome. It's a very complicated topic, but, briefly, here's what happens: Women have two X chromosomes -- and, even though only one of these chromosomes is active, a defect on either one can cause premature menopause. This defect, sometimes called "fragile X syndrome," apparently interferes with the production of eggs. So if you are a fragile X carrier, you have a lesser number of eggs in your ovaries, which in turn leads to an earlier menopause -- generally at least six to eight years before other women. Another related form of genetically-caused premature menopause is called "Turner's Syndrome." In this case, you're born without a second X chromosome -- or without part of the chromosome. Since you need two X's for your ovaries to develop properly, a missing X or a faulty X leads to deficient ovarian development (called ovarian dysgenesis). Often women with Turner's Syndrome never have their periods at all, since their ovaries never develop enough and don't produce ovarian estrogen. On the flip side, some women enter premature menopause because they have three X chromosomes -- which interferes with ovarian development as well.
I wish you luck and we would like to know results of your further tests so we can help more people with the same symptoms.
Best Regards,
Hoc |
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