Hot flashes, night sweats, irritability, mood swings, irregular periods, loss of libido, anxiety, disorientation, aching joints, depression, weight gain, et al and many more symptoms are associated with menopause. “And while normal menopause is a gradual process that starts between the ages of 45 and 55, premature menopause is the cessation of menstruation before a woman is 40,” says Dr Ashwini Bhalerao Gandhi, Consultant Gynaecologist.
“Premature Ovarian Failure (POF) is when there is a stop in the normal functioning of the ovaries in a woman younger than age 40. Women are generally born with sufficient eggs in their ovaries so that they ovulate one each month from puberty until about the age of 50 or more. At that time, the supply of eggs is used up and menopause occurs. However, in approximately one to four per cent of women, there is premature cessation of ovarian function. It could be a loss of eggs, a dysfunction of the eggs or the removal of the ovaries at a young age,” says Gynaecologist and Infertility Specialist, Dr Nandita Palshetkar.

Hi Shane,
Instead of "this post has been edited by Shane" it should have said this post has been stolen by Shane!!

Plagiarism is alive and well........ http://www.harrowcellars.com/?p=370

Cheers

Thanks for keeping it honest - it is important to share references and sources with your fellow readers.
Now, tell me something about perimenopause . . .
Happy reading,
Tracey

Sure Tracey,
What would you like to know? Let us see.. menopause is the time when the menses, period stops. Peri-menopause describes the slowing down of the female change in life, where she goes from productive to non productive. Menopause is said to occur after one year without a period.

During peri-menopause the ovaries start to slow down and produce less hormones, this is a normal aging process and in the majority of women it only causes a mild nuisance, in fact for about 20% the only noticeable difference is the cessation of periods, about 70% notice a mild discomfort and nuisance symptoms, but for the other 10% it truly is a ride on the wild side, with large mood swings, lack of energy, sleeplessness, vaginal dryness, distressing hot flushes, memory loss, lack of appetite, a sensation of crawling under the skin and a lot of irritability with inability to concentrate and loss of libido. This is truly a difficult time for this unfortunate 10%.

A lot of divorces occur at this time when husbands don't seem to have a clue what is going on with their wife, one minute she loves them the next she hates them, and often there does not appear to be an end in sight. Some women would go mad without medical intervention, I know of cases where the wife has attempted to end it all, other cases where a distressed woman has run screaming into the night,and finished in hospital.

Low dose hormone replacement therapy often appears to be the only way out for these few to get some stability back into their lives. It is imperative that the husband offers as much understanding and care as he is capable of, it will eventually end. Eating a good diet is also essential during this time.

This period of peri-menopause sometimes lasts as long as ten years.

Some Asian countries such as Japan and China are reported to have no evidence of menopausal problems and it has been suggested that their high dietary intake of soy and other phytoestrogens may be responsible for this, other researchers simply claim the reporting is bad and it may never have been adequately reported. In Australia a lot of the natural treatments for the change in life has been tested by Professor John Eden from the University of New South Wales and Royal Womens Hospital. John has spent a lot of years researching herbs and in particular, herbs that treat menopausal problems. I have been to several seminars where John Eden was a prime speaker and he often recommends Chasteberry and a patented German preparation called Remifemin for this problem.

In my clinic I use Remifemin and diet and exercise, and over a ten year period I have found they provide a good result but not for everyone, occasionally they are abject failures. I make sure the diet is sound with a lot of vegetables, fruit and fish. But even if you do everything as right as possible it is sometimes still an incredible ride on the wild side. A good book to read is called "The Idiots Guide To Menopause".

Cheers