Are you freaked out by the sheer thought of menopause because you’ve heard loads of horror stories about how women turn into hot-flashing, hair-losing, weight-gaining, incontinent Godzillas? OK, maybe not quite that dramatic, but you know what I mean. If so, I totally get you.
Or are you on the other end of the spectrum and it has it only recently hit you (like it did me) that you’re probably not too far away from it? But weirdly, none of your friends you usually talk to about absolutely everything has mentioned it with as much as a beep. That’s why you need to know more about it to get back in control.
If the answer is yes to one or more of the above, this post is for you. For some women, there is still a lot of mystery around that stage of our lives.
This post will give you a clear overview on all things menopause, which will help you understand and take the proverbial bull by the horns.
Here I answer the following questions:
- What is menopause?
- What is the average age for a woman to be menopausal?
- What causes menopause?
- What are the different stages of menopause?
- What are the symptoms of menopause?
What is menopause?
The word menopause is often used as an umbrella term for what actually are three phases in the life of a woman.
Basically, menopause is the time in your life when your menstruation has ceased permanently.
Permanent in this case means you haven’t had your menstrual period for a minimum (!) of 12 consecutive months naturally with no medical or surgical intervention (read more on this below).
Thus, if you haven’t had your period for 9 months, for example, you are not menopausal quite yet. Should you have another period, the count-down starts all over again.
A quick word of warning: If you are not planning to become a mommy (again) you still want to be careful when having sex and use contraception. Just because your cycle is all over the place doesn’t mean you cannot get pregnant. Natural pregnancies have been reported in women up to the age of 59. Therefore, some even go as far as saying that reliable contraception should be used up until at least age 60. Even though the rate is rather low, you wouldn’t want to become a statistic, would you?
What is the average age for a woman to be menopausal?
The average age for menopause is around 51 years for women in western society. It doesn’t vary too much in other societies.
And, because that’s the nature of averages, there are those who experience it earlier and those who do so later in life. Most women will have reached menopause when they’re between 45–55 years of age.
Of course it would be a bit boring if there were no exceptions to this.
In case you smoke, chances are pretty high that you will experience menopause 1–2 years earlier than non-smokers.
Then there are early menopause and premature menopause:
- You talk about early menopause if a woman reaches menopause between the ages of 40 and 45 years.
- Premature menopause is if you have had your last period before the age of 40.
What causes menopause?
There can be different causes for menopause. The most common one is the natural one. This means your ovaries reduce the production and at some point stop producing the hormones estrogen and progesterone altogether.
However, menopause can also be caused by medical reasons such as surgery or medical treatments. This is called medical or induced menopause and can be permanent or temporary.
These reasons can be
- removal of the ovaries (oophorectomy) or ovaries and uterus (total hysterectomy)
- chemotherapy
- radiation
What happens in your body during your menopause journey?
This journey goes through three different stages.
Different stages, what are you on about?
I know.
Until I started looking into things, I was clueless about the fact that our bodies start shutting down our reproductive capabilities long before we notice any changes ourselves.
For longer than I care to admit, I thought that I’d just one day stop having my period, and that’s that. No judgment, please. I just never gave it much thought.
Some people fittingly call the gradual shift from the reproductive stage in a woman’s life to the non-reproductive stage “The Change”. It hits the nail on the head.
There are three stages your body will/does go through. These are:
Perimenopause:
This is the time during which your body gradually transitions from its reproductive to its non-reproductive phase.
During that time, your ovaries start preparing for retirement. They do so by producing less estrogen and progesterone and develop fewer eggs which they release into the fallopian tubes.
This phase usually begins when you’re in your forties. Yes, usually, and this means it can also begin earlier.
Menopause:
As I mentioned above, this is not really a phase. It’s more like a milestone that marks the point in time of your life when you have your very last period.
To diagnose menopause you will have to be patient though, as you will have to go for a minimum of 12 months with absolutely no menstrual period before you can mark that day as your menopause.
That’s because during perimenopause your period can really be all over the place and you’d want to be sure.
Postmenopause:
You have reached post-menopause the day after the last day of your last period.
Sounds confusing?
So let’s say you had your last period in August 2019. The last day of that period was August 29, 2019. This means from August 30, 2019, onwards, you are post-menopausal.
So you could say from August 30, 2019, the rest of your life would be post-menopause.
Here’s a little fun fact about menopause: Did you know that humans, killer whales, and pilot whales are the only mammals who live to experience post-menopause? Neither did I.
What are the symptoms of menopause?
You might already know that there is a plethora of symptoms you could theoretically develop during perimenopause. But don’t despair!
Just because there are loads of symptoms you could potentially get, you will not get them all. And the best part is that some women don’t develop any at all. So, keep your fingers crossed, you might just be one of the lucky ones.
Like with every other medical condition no one is the same as the one before. If you’re best friend already went through some hot flashes and had to carry a spare set of tops to change into at all times, it doesn’t mean that it will be the same for you. So, please, please, please, don’t waste your time worrying about something that might or might not happen.
I encourage you to gather information, just like you’re doing now while reading this post. By doing this you’re preparing yourself to be in the know of what could come up so you can make informed decisions instead of worrying about the unknown.
Here’s why it helps to be prepared:
The other day I spoke to a friend of mine and she asked me about how I was getting on with Midlife Motions. I gave her a quick run-down and mentioned that I am working on this blog post (the one you’re reading right now) at the moment and I told her that the reason I think this is important. She then confirmed to me that I am actually onto something here.
She told me about her friend who was going through an awful time of feeling depressed and things not getting any better for a long time.
When she finally spoke to her doctor about it, she was totally surprised that what caused her to feel depressed for so long was that she was going through The Change. Her depression was caused by the hormonal changes going on in her body. She got a prescription from her doctor and was back to normal in no time.
See, had she known before, that going through The Change can affect your mental health and that you could go through it without knowing, she would probably not have waited so long to ask her doc for help. That’s why she’s telling all her friends about it now so they will not have to go through the same thing.
And hot flashes or depression are by far not the only symptoms you could get.
Below I’ve listed some of those possible symptoms
Hot-Flashes – this is probably the most widely known one. A feeling of warmth that mostly suddenly appears in the upper body. It is felt the most intense in the chest/neck/face area. When experience a hot flash the skin can redden. A lot of women also sweat (a lot) while experiencing a hot flash.
Sleep Disturbance – This can include night sweats and having difficulty falling asleep.
Hair Loss/Growth – Due to the change in hormones you might experience the loss of hair in the place you want it and, because life’s no fair the growth of hair in places you could do without it, like your above your lips, on your chin and neck.
Mood Changes – such as irritation, bad temper, anxiety, uneasiness, feeling depressed, attention loss, loss of self-confidence.
Sexual Discomfort/Challenges – vaginal dryness, lack of libido, difficulty getting aroused, difficulty to orgasm, pain during intercourse (which can be a result of the dryness and thinning of the vaginal tissue)
Urinary Incontinence/Leakage – The reduction of estrogen levels can cause the thinning of the urethra’s* lining. This in combination with the weakening of the surrounding pelvis muscles caused by aging may result in urinary incontinence/leakage.
*This is a short tube-like connection through which the urine is transported out of the body.
Now you know some of the symptoms of The Change. However, just because they can be symptoms of The Change doesn’t mean they cannot be symptoms of something different and at times more sinister.
Always check with your doctor!
As I have mentioned, just because something is on the list above as a symptom of menopause, it doesn’t mean that menopause is the (only possible) cause. Some of the symptoms like incontinence can also be a simple result of the aging process.
And other times it could be something a lot more serious.
For those who like examples: Night sweats for instance can be caused by The Change, but another reason for them could be cancer such as lymphoma or leukemia. That’s why I’d absolutely urge you to go and have things checked out. In these cases you definitely want to err in favor of safety, don’t you agree?
Full disclosure: I have done quite a bit of research on this subject, but I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice but rather advice from a friend you haven’t met.
Where are you on this journey?
How much thought have you given this subject yet? Do you already have a good understanding of what it is happening or what of what to expect? Or are you still in the early stages of looking into it?
Maybe you have some experiences or advice you’d like to share. I’d love to hear about it. In case you do, just send me an email or share them in the comments.
As always, have a fantastic day XXX
R