The Earliest Menopause Symptoms

Most women dread the onset of menopause. It is quite difficult to deal with the huge list of symptoms, but some women actually experience symptoms before they begin to experience the menopause cycle, which means they have to deal with this big change in life much earlier than they ever imagined. Menopause is usually expected to occur around forty-seven to fifty-two years of age, but no matter whether you experience it then or earlier, it can be very hard to handle. The symptoms of menopause usually include missed or irregular periods, a loss of desire for sex, a sense that your heart is racing, a thinning of your hair, dry skin, and urinary incontinence. Some women, though, have much more severe symptoms that include hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, and mood swings.

The earliest symptoms and signs of menopause occur when two major hormones, estrogen and progesterone, change their production cycle in your body. As your ovaries continue to become increasingly less functional, they fail to produce the levels of these two hormones that your body has become accustomed to. Your body has difficulty dealing with that change. This results in symptoms like night sweats, hot flashes, headaches, trouble sleeping, and others. The first sign you will probably notice, though, won't be one of these major symptoms. The first sign you are most likely to notice is a change in your normal monthly cycle. For some, the monthly period will cease immediately and never return. For others, though, over the course of time, you will notice a lacking flow and a shorter length of time in which your monthly period occurs. For most women, this gradually reduced period will occur over one to three years before you ever completely stop bleeding.

If you think you have begun to notice some of the earliest signs and symptoms of menopause, there are a number of things you can do to figure out if you are actually undergoing this major life change. First, go see your gynecologist and have a pap smear done. This can help to determine if there is a change in your vaginal lining. As menopause begins to occur, the vaginal lining thins and your estrogen levels decrease. You might also ask to have a bone density test done at the same time, as osteoporosis is a common condition that occurs with menopause, and you need to know if you are at risk for it. You might even be able to find a menopause test at your local drug store. These are quite similar to home pregnancy tests, in that you simply hold a test stick in your urine flow. If the stick shows a change in color, it means that the hormone levels in your body have changed. This is one of the earliest signs of menopause.

It is important to remember that every woman experiences menopause, whether early in life or later. If you don't have symptoms you cannot control, you will likely not be subjected to any sort of treatment. Some women do quite well with this major change in their bodies. Most women, though, do need some sort of treatment. You can discuss treatment options and side effects with your doctor.