Cancer Articles (Dr. S.N White)

CHANGES IN THE MENOPAUSAL YEARS It has been six months since my last period.Am I menopausal? The answer isn’t so simple.You could be perimeno pausal (the time just before menopause), or you could be menopausal. “Classic” menopausal symptoms including hot flashes, night sweats or excessive sweating, palpitations, vaginal dryness, irregular or prolonged periods, and mood swings can suggest that you are beyond the perimeno- pausal stage. However, some perimenopausal women can have menopausal discomfort. What happens during perimenopause? The term perimenopause refers to the years imme- diately before menopause. Between two and six years before your last menstrual period, your ovaries have difficulty producing viable egg follicles. The common misconception is that women run out of eggs. This isn’t the case. Instead, ovarian function declines. The ovaries simply fail to respond to the command by FSH to “ripen an egg.” The ovaries release eggs irregularly instead of monthly. Eventu...

At what age do women start menopause? Menopause usually takes place between the ages of 45 and 55, although some women experience their last periods in their 60s, and others in their 30s. New research shows that genetic factors may determine the age at which a woman reaches menopause. In a British study of women ages 45 to 54, those women whose mothers had experienced early menopause were six times more likely to reach menopause early (between ages 40 and 45) or even prematurely (before age 40) than women whose mothers reached menopause after age 45.