Early menopause & what can cause it

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Today's topic

Hello and welcome to my weekly video blog. And today on A.Vogel Talks Menopause, I'm going to be discussing early menopause and what can cause it.

Now, this is something I get asked on quite a regular basis. Younger women are really puzzled. They don't know whether they're going through the menopause or not. And very often, when they go to the doctor's with what we would describe as common menopause symptoms, they're told, maybe, "Don't be silly, you're far too early.There's nothing else going on." 

And very often, they're just left in the limbo. So I thought today, we would have another little, sort of closer look at this.

The difference between premature menopause & early menopause

Now, there are a very, very small number of women who are in their late teens and up to maybe late 20s who get what's called a premature menopause. This is very rare and very often there are underlying medical issues involved as well. 

Women between 30 and 40, in some sources say that this is the premature menopause as well. From about 40 to 45, it's considered an early menopause.

Average menopause age & late menopause

The average menopausal age is 45 to 55, which is quite a big age group. And then a small number of women will go on after that to what's called a late menopause. 

And I've heard women who are literally in their late 50s still getting periods wondering when the menopause is going to strike. But for now, we're looking really at those women who are in the 30 to maybe 45-year age bracket.

5 common causes for an early menopause

Now, what can cause an early or a premature menopause, unless it's sort of for medical reasons? Well, there can be a number of reasons certainly.

1. Hereditary

One of the main ones is hereditary. So very often, if you find that you're getting menopause symptoms in your late 30s, early 40s, and you're thinking, "Is this the menopause or not?" Is if you can, to ask other close female relatives. This could be your mum, your grandmother, your older sisters, or even your aunties, and see what age they started the menopause. 

And very often, you will find that they will have started the menopause at roughly the same age, maybe within a three or four years age gap. So if you're getting menopause symptoms and any of these close female relatives started around the same time, then you can probably be sure that this is you starting the menopause, even if you're told that maybe you're far too young for it. 

2. Smoking

One of the other main reasons can be smoking, so I'm not going to say any more than that. This is one that really can certainly affect your hormones, so best avoided if you possibly can. Although we do know that this is something that can be very difficult to stop, so we are sort of understanding of this situation.

3. Health problems

The other thing it can be is other health issues, so very often autoimmune conditions can cause an early menopause symptoms, or conditions such as diabetes can also trigger an early menopause, as can chronic fatigue syndrome or ME. So all of these health issues can very often trigger a menopause maybe four to five years earlier than what may have happened sort of naturally. 

4. Medication

It can also be medication as well. If you're on some really heavy-duty medication and you are getting menopause symptoms, it's always worth checking the patient information leaflet. And it's amazing how many women contact me, they're on medication and they're saying, "Am I going through the menopause?" 

And when we actually look at the side effects of their medication, we find that some symptoms look very similar to menopause ones. So if you're on any medication, check the patient information leaflet and if it looks like some of the symptoms you're getting are menopausal ones, and they're mentioned on the leaflet, then please just double-check with your doctor to make sure that you're not suffering from side effects rather than starting the menopause itself. 

5. Weight

The other thing that can cause an earlier menopause is if you're really overweight or very underweight because both of these situations can affect the way that oestrogen is stored and distributed through the body. So what sort of things do you really need to look at here? 

What are the drawbacks of going through an earlier menopause?

One of the main ones is the fact that you are living without oestrogen for longer. And we know that low oestrogen can potentially cause other health issues, so we know that low oestrogen can affect heart function. It can affect your bones. It can be a contributory factor to osteoporosis, things like anxiety, all your mood situations, depression as well.

So very often, you're recommended to be put on HRT, which I'll talk about in a minute. The other issue is it can be an extremely emotional one if you're in your mid-30s maybe, you've not thought about settling down or even starting a family, and to suddenly be in a situation where you're told, "Well, that's you going into the menopause." 

It can be absolutely heartbreaking. And we know that in this situation, a lot of younger women can end up suffering from things like anxiety and depression, which is a really bad state to be in. Hopefully, in this situation your doctor would be able to organise some form of counselling for you, just to help you through this particular stage. 

Treating early menopause with HRT or naturally

So what we can look at in this situation very often, women are recommended to take HRT to help protect their bones, and their joints, and their heart, etc. Now, I know there are those of you who don't want to go on a HRT, You would far rather do it naturally. You can do. 

There is nothing wrong with trying to do it naturally if you wish to, but obviously discuss this with your doctor first just to make sure that they're happy for you to go down the natural route, if you're starting a really early menopause. But, and I will emphasise a big but, it can be really hard work because you've got to pay very specific attention to your diet. 

You've got to make sure you're getting all the right nutrients for your bones, for your heart health, for muscle health, and for your emotional self as well. So it's really important that you get a good diet. You've got to look at exercise because many exercises are very, very good for bone health as well. So this is something if you wish to go down this route, then I would advise consulting someone like a nutritional therapist to start with, just to get yourself on the right track, so that you don't end up having problems a little later on down the line. 

So I hope this has given you a little bit of an insight into an early menopause. For those of you out there who have gone through this or are going through this, if you need any help, then, you know, obviously, please do get in touch. If any of you have done it and have found any particular methods or therapies or counselling has really helped you, then let us know as well because we always want to share what people have gone through with all the rest of you women out there, just to help you along the way as well. 

So I will look forward to seeing you next week for another edition of A.Vogel Talks Menopause.