Early Menopause

Early menopause occurs when hormonal changes in your body signal an end to your regular menstrual cycle. When your body stops producing the hormones it needs for a normal cycle, your periods become irregular or absent and you may experience uncomfortable symptoms.

Each woman experiences early menopause differently and the severity of her symptoms may vary. If you are suffering from uncomfortable or painful symptoms, it’s important to get help. There is no cure for early menopause, but Dr Ljiljana can diagnose your condition and work with you on a treatment plan to manage your symptoms. With the right treatment in place to control your symptoms, you can go on enjoying life.

Early menopause symptoms can be different for each woman and you may experience a range of symptoms, or only one or two. Some of the common menopause symptoms include:

• Hot flushes – a sudden feeling of heat, often around the face or neck.
• Waking up in a sweat, leading to disrupted sleep.
• Altered sleep patterns because of hormonal changes.
• Feeling anxious, depressed or on edge.
• Sudden mood changes.
• A need to urinate frequently or the onset of incontinence.
• An increase in urinary tract infections.
• Thinner and dryer vaginal walls due to decreased estrogen levels. Sex may become painful.
• Weight changes (weight gain is common).
• Irregular bleeding that increases in frequency or stops altogether.
• Unexplained aches and pains.

• Most women reach menopause between age 45 and age 55 (2).
• Early menopause occurs between age 41 and age 45.
• Premature menopause occurs before the age of 40.
• Premature menopause affects about 1% of women (3).
• Up to 8% of women experience early menopause (4).
• One in 1000 women reach menopause before the age of 30 (5).
• In up to 60% of cases, no cause is established for the onset of premature or early menopause.
• Although uncommon, it is possible to fall pregnant during menopause.

The loss of your fertility can be hard to deal with and it can have a devastating impact on your emotional health. If you are finding that your experience is affecting your mental and emotional health, it’s important to seek help. Dr Ljiljana understands the emotional impact that early menopause can have and may suggest counselling to help you process your emotions.

There are a variety of methods that Dr Ljiljana uses to diagnose early menopause. These include:

• Taking your family history, medical history and conducting a physical examination.
• Ruling out other causes for absent or irregular periods, such as hormonal imbalances, pregnancy, extreme weight loss and reproductive diseases.
• Tests for other conditions such as autoimmune diseases.
• Tests to check for genetic conditions that cause early menopause.
• Blood tests to measure hormone levels.

Dr Ljiljana understands the discomfort that menopause symptoms can cause and wants to work with you to help you find relief. She offers the following treatments to manage troublesome symptoms:

• Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)
  HRT involves taking estrogen and progesterone supplements to relieve hot flushes and vaginal dryness. It may also help to improve sex drive, reduce urinary tract infections and provide protection against osteoporosis.
• Monalisa Touch
  This therapy is a painless, minimally invasive laser treatment to relieve the symptoms of vaginal atrophy (the thinning and drying of the vaginal walls in response to lowered estrogen levels). It stimulates the body’s natural healing processes and often improves vaginal comfort within minutes. It aids in the healing of vaginal dryness, fissures and inflammation and has no side effects.

If you would like to learn more about how Dr Ljiljana can help you with your early menopause symptoms, feel free to give us a call or use our email form in the Contact Us section of our website to get in touch.

References:

(1), (4)
jeanhailes.org.au/health-a-z/menopause/premature-early-menopause
(2), (5)
betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/premature-and-early-menopause
(3)
healthline.com/health/menopause/facts-statistics-infographic#2