What age??? - Menopause Message Board

Lori3 · 06-28-2005, 12:15 AM

At what age did your Dr. tell you that you were in menopause? I know many women have perimenopause as early as their 30's. But at what point did you discover you were actually in menopause?

mgraylorn · 06-28-2005, 10:16 AM

I have a friend who went through menopause in her early to mid 40s. She had hot flashes but that was about it. Her periods were regular and well behaved until they just stopped and that was it.

Stavia · 06-28-2005, 11:21 AM

The way that I understand it, menopause is the date of your last period. The period of time that preceeds that date, when your ovaries are shutting down, is perimenopause.

I was 46/47 when I started perimenopause and 53 when I had my last period. My doctor informed me that I was in perimenopause when I was about 50, but I knew better. I had already been experiencing a lot of peri symptoms for 3 to 4 years by then.

Hopefully · 06-28-2005, 12:07 PM

It's my understanding that you are considered menopausal after 1 year without a period. What is confusing to me is that my estradiol level is in the postmenopausal range, yet I'm still having a period. My logic says that the two should go together, if my estradiol level is postmenopausal then I should not still have monthly periods...I wish someone could explain this to me.

molly123 · 06-28-2005, 02:47 PM

At age 50-1/2, I had really bad peri symptoms that came on suddenly to the point where I was debilitated for five months. By the time I was 51, I was feeling fine again. I am now 52 and will make my 1-yr mark the end of this month and have continued to feel fine.

Hopefully - Did you get checked out to make sure it isn't b/c you could have maybe a thick uterine lining? My sister mistakeningly thought she was having monthly periods (they were floods), only to find that she had this thick uterine lining at which the gyn told her that she would have had this bleeding for the rest of life causing her think she it was a period when it actually wasn'tm and she would've thought she would never be in menopause. I don't know what her estradiol level was but this happened when she was 52.

molly