Category: Understanding the Menopause

Menopause happens when your ovaries start working less and then eventually stop working altogether. One of the main functions of the ovaries is to produce hormones in particularly oestrogen. You always will have some levels of circulating oestrogens even when menopause has occurred but it will be less then what you used to have.

This is the clue of the problem as oestrogens have a lot of beneficial effects on your body and not having them anymore can cause lot of symptoms and problems.

Not all women experience symptoms. Some women will have a more gradual transition and might not have any issue at all. We are all different and every woman will have a different experience.

Changes in periods will normally happen in the time leading up to menopause and they eventually will stop.

This is one of the most common questions  I get asked by patient. Diagnosing menopause can be tricky because it is a gradual process. Contrary to common belief it is not possible to do a blood test to tell you if you are starting menopause or not. Changes in blood levels will only be evident after menopause has happened and that is not very helpful because the vast majority of women will have symptoms well before that stage. In medical terms we call this a retrospective diagnosis.

What we do instead is look at a woman’s symptoms and age. Listening to symptoms is enough in the vast majority of cases to make this diagnosis easily.

You really should not worry about pinpointing the exact time of going through the transition but you should worry instead about how the process is affecting your health and quality of life.