Menopause is the stage in a woman’s life that signifies the end of the reproductive years. This stage simply alerts a woman that their chances of making babies are no more, except if they, together with a specialist start a process of specialised fertilization, shares many health centers.
According to the United Nations specialised agency, World Health Organization (WHO), menopause is caused by “the loss of ovarian follicular function and a decline in circulating blood oestrogen levels.”
The first sign of being menopausal is not getting menstrual periods for 12 full months, while not suffering from a condition.
WHO shares these three different stages of menopause, namely:
- Normal menopause – this usually occurs to many women between the ages 45-50 years and upwards.
- Early menopause – this is a term given to menopause before the age of 45 years.
- Premature menopause – refers to menopause affecting 40-year-olds and younger. WHO states that premature menopause is a result of, “chromosomal abnormalities, auto-immune disorders”, or unknown complications.
Even though menopause can affect women in their early ages, it is not something to worry about as it is very unlikely. Early menopause occurs to about 5% of women before the age of 45 years. While premature menopause happens to about 1% of 40-year-olds and lower.
Menopause around the age 20 is very rare but not to say it may never occur as it affects 0.1% of women, shares multispecialty academic medical center Cleveland Clinic.
Cleveland Clinic shares the following as some of the signs and symptoms of premature and early menopause:
- Hot flashes
- Insomnia and night sweats
- Dryness and discomfort during sex
- Changes in your sex drive
- Being more forgetful
- Frequent urge to pee
- Dry skin, eyes or mouth
- Difficulty concentrating
- Weight loss or weight gain
Also see: 3 Possible causes of sore nipples
