When Can I Expect Perimenopause?
You will probably have at least some perimenopausal symptoms starting six years before menopause.
You will likely experience menopause around the same time your mother did, providing she had a natural menopause and not a hysterectomy.
The world-wide age range for menopause is from the 30’s to the 60’s. Most Western women enter perimenopause around age 45, but it often occurs much earlier in Third World women.
If you are Westernized and do not smoke, expect perimenopausal symptoms from age 45 until the average menopause at age 51. If you smoke, expect menopause to occur two years earlier, around age 49.
Some women with late menopause experience perimenopausal symptoms at age 55 and menopause at 60.
If you had a simple hysterectomy, with only the uterus removed and the ovaries left intact, then you may experience menopause slightly earlier (around age 47), particularly if the surgeon has cut the nerves or blood vessels feeding your ovaries.
Premature menopause or early menopause (see www.earlymenopausesymptoms.net) is considered the end of childbearing ability before age 40.
You may experience premature ovarian failure (POF) due to one of these conditions:
- Diabetes mellitus
- End-stage renal (kidney) failure (ESRD)
- Autoimmune disease (e.g., lupus)
- Thyroid disease
- Cancer chemotherapy
- Radiation therapy
- Anorexia nervosa
- Being a fraternal or identical twin
Your doctor can measure your anti-Mullerian hormone levels to predict the time when you will likely reach menopause, but the actual date will be influenced by other factors.
If you smoke, have no children, take antidepressants, work with toxic chemicals, or received cancer treatment, then you are more likely to have an early menopause. If you have children or have been pregnant more than once, are overweight, or had high IQ test results as a child, then you are more likely to have a late menopause.
Perimenopause can occur early if you have:
- Malfunction of the ovaries
- Hysterectomy (removal of the uterus)
- Kidney failure
- Chemotherapy for cancer, endometriosis or other diseases
- Radiation for cancer treatment or nuclear accident
If you are in the right age bracket for menopause, your doctor may decide not to investigate until you have had absolutely no menstrual flow for at least 6 months.
