What Is The Menopause?
The Menopause is an inevitable part of being female. The word menopause simply means your last menstrual period; ‘meno’ referring to your menstrual cycle. Over our lifetime we slowly lose eggs from our ovaries and for most women this loss accelerates around the age of 40 and results in lower oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone levels. Menopause symptoms classically start from the mid-forties but can appear earlier and this ‘period’ up until one year after the last menstrual bleed is known as the PERI-menopause. A lady can say they have gone through the menopause once their periods have ceased for 12 consecutive months or more. Should you have a period 11 months after the last bleed the clock would be reset to zero and you would have to count 12 months again from the last bleed.
A woman’s experience of the menopause is individual to them. Some may find it positive and liberating in terms of no longer having periods or having to worry about contraception where as some may experience debilitating symptoms. For some women these symptoms may be short lived, however for others they can last many months or even years beyond the last period.