Early Signs of Menopause

The average age at which women go through menopause is 51 years. However, about one per cent of women experience signs of early menopause before the age of 45 years. If menopause occurs when women are still in their early 20s, 30s or early 40s, it is said to be early signs of menopause.

What causes Early Signs of Menopause?

Autoimmune Disorder
The body's immune system, which normally fights off diseases, mistakenly attacks a part of its own reproductive system. This early menopause cause, hurts the ovaries and prevents them from making female hormones (estrogen, progesterone) that regulate the reproductive system. In this way, appearing the early menopause signs.

Chromosomal Irregularity
Some cases of early signs of menopause are caused by defects on an X chromosome, also known as "fragile X syndrome". Women have two X chromosomes and even though only one of these chromosomes is active, a defect on either one can cause early menopause.

Radiation Therapy and/or Chemotherapy
With the rise in cancer treatments has come a rise in early menopause due to these treatments. Unfortunately, the significant doses of radiation or chemotherapy used to kill cancer can cause ovarian damage - resulting in early menopause.

Total Hysterectomy and Oophorectomy
In this case, women experience early menopause after removal of both of the ovaries (a bilateral oophorectomy) or removal of the uterus, both fallopian tubes, and both ovaries (a total hysterectomy). Because both ovaries are removed, women's estrogen and progesterone levels drop, leading immediately to early menopause.

Ovarian Damage Due to Other Surgical Procedures
In some cases after a hysterectomy in which one ovary is left intact, it may fail. This happens when the ovary is damaged or otherwise affected by such procedures as cyst removal. In this case, the follicles on the remaining ovary slowly die out, resulting in early menopause. 

What are the Early Signs Menopause?

All early menopause signs, having in mind the causes shown above, result in a decline in the production of estrogen in woman's ovaries. This decline causes a hormonal imbalance in a woman's body, which is responsible for the typical early menopause signs, like:

Not every woman will experience these early menopause signs, but it is a proven fact that if women are in early menopause, they will experience most of these early signs of menopause in a more severe fashion than women going through menopause naturally. As shown in the diagram below, estrogen levels drop dramatically as a result of any of the early menopause causes shown.

The decline of estrogen results in a hormonal imbalance in a woman's body and causes the common early menopause signs. Estrogen levels will not recover in postmenopause. Thereby, they can raise new health concerns or still cause early menopause symptoms.