Can you get pregnant after going through menopause?

As women age, their hormone levels fall and menopause begins, ultimately resulting in their ovaries, no longer producing eggs. However, while many women believe that menopause happens overnight, the process can actually take years to complete. Until the process is complete, a woman can get pregnant.

Becoming Pregnant During Menopause - The Menopause Baby

When a woman goes through the menopause, her body phases out menstrual cycles until they stop completely. The woman may go for months or even a year between having one period and the next. This long time frame is at the heart of the undiscovered menopause baby.

During the time when the female body is not having a menstrual cycle, the body may still be releasing those last few eggs. If the egg is released and there is a viable sperm waiting to fertilize the egg, the female can, and will, get pregnant.

Thanks to the lack of a normal menstrual cycle, the female may not notice they are pregnant until they are months into the pregnancy. There have even been cases where mothers of climbing age have gone to the hospital with stomach and back pains only to leave the hospital a few days later with a baby in their arms.

Definitely, chances of pregnancy are lower in your menopausal years than during your 20s and 30s. By the time you are 40, your chances of becoming pregnant naturally are reduced by 50%. This percentage continues to decline the older you get. However, you are not completely infertile until your periods have stopped for at least one complete year. In fact, two-thirds of women between the ages of 40 and 44 ovulate regularly during perimenopause.

Detecting the Menopause Baby

The tricky point sometimes related to the fact that the perimenopausal symptoms mirror greatly the pregnancy symptoms, so it is easy to oversee the pregnancy signs, when you consider yourself of being in menopause. Of course, the most obvious is the missed period caused by perimenopause and pregnancy.

During pregnancy, fatigue sets in and most women find that it's difficult to get up in the morning. Often this is because of the change of hormones produced and energy used by the body for pregnancy. Perimenopausal women also experience fatigue but it comes from interrupted sleep caused by their change in hormones.

Both pregnant women and perimenopausal women have a reputation for mood swings. They both occur for the same reason, changes in the body's hormones.

Hot flashes seldom occur in pregnant women, so if you have all the above symptoms and hot flashes, you're probably not pregnant.

So, it is important as the female goes through the cycle of menopause to keep regular gynecological checkups. These checkups will allow for the doctor to examine the female and possibly detect the rouge pregnancy before it is too late to begin prenatal care.

It is important to keep track of all your menstrual cycles well into menopause and take note of any changes occurring in the body. There are clear signs when a pregnancy begins that will not be synonymous with menopause. These symptoms may include total cessation of periods, an unexplained increased in weight and swelling of the extremities.

Preventing the Menopausal Pregnancy

A lot of perimenopausal are unaware of the facts surrounding pregnancy during menopause. More than 60% of unintended pregnancies in women over 40 are aborted. More than 50% of women between 45 and 49 are not using contraception. 10% of these women in this age group use natural methods to protect against pregnancy. Natural methods may not be enough to prevent pregnancy during this time. Your periods are too irregular, and symptoms of menopause may distort your cycle. Although your risks are low, don't get caught unaware.

Pregnancy after the age of 35 is associated with a number of risks for both you and your baby. Chances of premature birth, low birth weight and still birth all increase after 35. Your baby also has a greater chance of being born in a breech position or via cesarean section. After 40, dangers to you and your baby increase again. You are at increased risk for developing bone loss or osteoporosis. There is also a greater risk of your baby developing gestational diabetes or chromosome abnormalities. Additionally, chances of spontaneous abortion increase.

If you really don't want to become pregnant, then look into getting some contraception that is appropriate for you and your lifestyle.

The most popular method of contraception among women over 40 is sterilization. Tubal ligation is a simple process in which your doctor cuts, ties, or clamps your fallopian tubes to prevent any eggs from traveling to you uterus. This process must be done in hospital under general anesthetic, but recovery time is only about one day. 20% of menopausal women have partners who have been sterilized.  Vasectomies are quickly and safely performed, and involve cutting the vans deferens (the tube that carries sperm) to prevent fertilization.

Oral contraceptives continue to be one of the most popular methods of contraception. They also have the added benefit of reducing symptoms associated with menopause, including hot flashes and vaginal dryness. However, oral contraceptives can put older women at risk for strokes and heart attacks.

Barrier protection, like condoms, sponges, and cervical caps are well suited to women who only need occasional contraception. Barrier methods also provide protection against some sexually transmitted diseases.

If you Want to Have a Baby

While biologically it seems impossible to get pregnant after menopause (once you have been without your period for an entire year and confirmed with your doctor), women who wish to have a pregnancy after menopause still have options.  Women can use egg donors.  The egg is fertilized outside the womb and then implanted in the uterus.  Women after menopause need to take hormones leading up to this procedure in order to prepare the uterine lining to accept the eggs or embryos.  Timing is important and several attempts may be necessary before a successful implantation is made.  Besides the risk of failure and the many health risks of a pregnancy at an older age, there is a real risk of multiples:  twins, triplets, and even octuplets.

There are many reasons not to attempt a pregnancy after menopause.  There are many risks for the woman.  Pregnancies become being treated as high risk when the woman reaches the age of 35.  The possibility of serious risks increases with every year after that age.  Any pregnancy carries risk.  Gestational diabetes is a common complication of pregnancy and is increasingly common in older pregnant women.  Eclampsia, hypertension, bleeding, embolisms, and seizures are all also frequent complications in a high risk pregnancy, especially in an older woman.  Becoming pregnant after or during menopause is often unhealthy for the mother and unfortunately also unhealthy for the baby, since miscarriage is also a common complication that is encountered by the older pregnant woman.

If having a baby is the decision you’ve made, using a surrogate mother may bring you the satisfaction you need and also protect your health and the health of your baby.  The surrogate mother will be someone that a doctor has certified is in good health.  You’ll want to make sure that the surrogate mother also is in good emotional health, as the process of carrying a baby and then giving it up can be very difficult.  If you are still producing eggs, some will be harvested and then fertilized in the lab.  The surrogate will be given hormones in preparation for implantation of the eggs.  In this type of pregnancy, there is also a high risk of multiple babies since more than one egg is implanted at a time.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.babymed.com/gettting-pregnant-during-menopause

http://www.epigee.org/menopause/pregnancy.html

http://www.christianet.com/menopause/chanceofpregnancyduringmenopause.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?Pregnancy-After-Menopause&id=3296422

http://www.menopausefacts.net/pregnancy_after_menopause/pregnancy_after_menopause.html

How chemotherapy causes or contributes to the development of menopause?

Cancer and its treatment will undoubtedly cause many changes in your life.  One change you may experience from chemotherapy is the development of the symptoms of menopause.

How chemotherapy impacts the onset of menopausal symptoms is not fully understood, but it is clear that it can temporary or permanently impact on your menstrual cycle and cause the early menopause.

Chemotherapy causes premature menopause in about 30% of the women receiving treatment, particularly in those over 40. The symptoms of natural and premature menopause are the same, but they may be more severe when menopause is brought on prematurely. This is because in natural menopause the body adjusts to lower hormone levels over several years, while premature menopause causes a sudden and dramatic hormonal drop.

Impact of chemotherapy on ovaries

• A woman is born with a limited number of eggs in her ovaries. As she ages, this supply of eggs naturally diminishes. Some chemotherapy can damage or destroy eggs, reducing the supply. The effects of chemotherapy on reproduction vary with the woman’s age, the drugs used and the total dosages.
• The frequency of early menopause after chemotherapy is difficult to determine, because there are many possible influences, and the rate varies with the age of the woman and the type of chemotherapy. Depending on the type of chemotherapy, the age of the woman and her number of eggs, the incidence of early menopause ranges from 0 to 100%. Rates of early menopause range from 21 to 71% in younger women, and 49 to 100% in older women.
• There are many chemotherapy drugs that can affect reproductive function. A group of drugs called alkylating agents is the most likely to affect eggs and ovarian function. Cyclophosphamide, one of the most common drugs used in breast cancer treatment, is an alkylating agent. Taxol, also used in the treatment of breast cancer, may also affect ovarian function. The risk of menopause increases with age, most likely because older women have fewer eggs than younger women. For example, chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5 fluorouracil (CMF – commonly used for the treatment of breast cancer) will usually result in loss of ovarian function in 33% of women under age 30, 50% of women aged 30-35, 75% of women aged 35-40 and 95% of women over age 40. Chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy affecting the ovaries is also associated with an increased risk compared to 

Chemotherapy influence on the onset of menopause

• During chemotherapy, women may have irregular menstrual cycles or amenorrhea (disappearance of menstrual periods).  Some medications used in chemotherapy may also cause damage to the ovaries, resulting in menopausal symptoms or menopause.  
• Menopause may be immediate or delayed, permanent or temporary when triggered by chemotherapy.  
• There is no way to accurately determine how or when chemotherapy or other cancer treatments will affect your menstrual cycle. However, the chance that treatment will cause early menopause depends on a number of factors. These include:
• Your age.
• Your ovarian function before treatment.
• The type and dose of chemotherapy you receive.
• The dose of radiation you receive and the area of the body that is irradiated
• Menopause is rarely a sudden response to chemotherapy.  When chemotherapy treatments begin, you may notice some menopausal symptoms, but usually the symptoms are delayed for several months after treatment is started.  This is natural. 
• Menopausal symptoms may last for years after treatment is completed. 

Menstrual flow after chemotherapy

Menstrual cycles vary from woman to woman.  Some women may experience less frequent cycles than they had prior to chemotherapy.  They may skip a period or increase the number of days between periods.  Other women may have more frequent periods.  Some women may not experience a change in the length of their menstrual cycles but the flow pattern may be different than it was before treatment (the number of days or amount of flow may diminish or the flow may be heavier).  Mixed patterns are also common: some women may have shorter menstrual cycles with heavier bleeding or infrequent cycles with many days of a very high flow. 

Even though periods tend to be irregular around the time of menopause, it is important to be aware of bleeding that is not normal for you.  It is very important to call your physician if you ever have very heavy bleeding that is associated with weakness or dizziness.

Periods return after chemotherapy

• Many pre-menopausal women retain or recover ovarian function and their periods return after treatment is completed.  
• Return of ovarian function may depend on the woman's age prior to treatment and the type of medication she received during treatment.

Recent Research

Giving the ovaries a rest when young women with breast cancer are undergoing chemotherapy may help prevent early menopause and preserve fertility. According to new research in the July 20, 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, shutting down the ovaries by giving the hormone triptorelin when a patient is undergoing chemotherapy helped prevent early menopause.

Triptorelin appears to protect the ovaries by halting ovarian function temporarily, although it's not entirely clear why. The authors found that among women who took triptorelin in addition to chemotherapy, more than 63 percent regained the ability to menstruate, compared to about 50 percent of the women who had chemotherapy alone.

The study authors suggest that this option could help women with breast cancer who want to prevent early menopause. About 6 percent of women with breast cancer are diagnosed before age 40.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.chemocare.com/managing/menopause_chemotherapy.asp

http://www.amoena.com/tbcs/InTreatment/Chemotherapy/HormonalChanges.htm

http://www.mskcc.org/patient_education/_assets/downloads-english/738.pdf

http://www.menopause.org.au/consumers/information-sheets/30

What are the Main Female Sex Hormones?

Introduction

Female needs not just her own female hormones, but also male hormones in adequate amounts for proper functioning and well-being. The ovaries produce both female and male hormones. The main female hormones are estrogen and progesterone and the main male hormones are testosterone and androstenedione. Let’s review these hormones and their functions for female body functioning in more details.

Estrogen

Estrogen refers to a group of female "sex" hormones, produced primarily in the ovaries, and to a lesser extent in the body's fat cells. It is important for adolescent sexual development and for regulating the menstrual cycle. Estrogen prepares the uterus for receiving the fertilized egg by stimulating the uterine lining to grow. During days 10 - 14 in a woman's cycle, the uterus is mainly under the influence of estrogen, which begins to climb right before ovulation, which is usually between days seven to fourteen, peaking at ovulation in preparation for a fertilized egg. Estrogen also improves skin tone and reduces vaginal dryness. There are three main types of estrogen that a woman makes: Estradiol (E2), which accounts for 80% of her estrogen, Estriol (E1), and Estrone (E3), each accounting for 10% of the remaining estrogen.

Estradiol is the main source of estrogen for women up until the time of the menopause, and is produced by the ovaries.  From puberty to around the age of 30, the levels of estradiol reach their highest (average blood levels of 450 to 550 pmol/l). After around the age of 30 years the production of estradiol gradually lessens. A few years before the menopause, estradiol blood levels are around 200–300 pmol/l. After the menopause, however, levels of estradiol fall to around 80 pmol/l.

The other source of estrogen (estrone) comes from the adrenal glands, which sit on the top of each kidney. These glands produce a male hormone called androstenedione, which is converted in the fatty tissue to an estrogen  called estrone. The average level of estrone after the menopause is around 100 pmol/l. Since the conversion of androstenedione takes place in the fatty tissue, women with greater amounts of fatty tissue produce higher levels of estrone.

Each individual hormone follows its own pattern, rising and falling at different points in the cycle, but together they produce a predictable chain of events. One egg (out of several hundred thousand in each ovary) becomes 'ripe' (mature) and is released from the ovary to begin its journey down the Fallopian tube and into the womb. If that egg isn't fertilized, the levels of estrogen and progesterone produced by the ovary begin to fall. Without the supporting action of these hormones, the lining of the womb, which is full of blood, is shed, resulting in a period.

The main functions of estrogen are to:

• Help regulate menstruation.
• Help in growth and development of female organs.
• Help prepare the body for fertilization.
• Stimulate the lining of the womb so that it thickens.
• Maintain lubrication of the vagina.
• Help maintain the acid level in the vagina, thereby protecting against infections.
• Work in conjunction with progesterone to help with the breakdown of the endometrium (lining of the womb) in the second stage of the menstrual cycle.
• Maintain a supply of calcium to the bones.
• Help maintain the health of blood vessel walls.
• Reduce the blood cholesterol level.
• Bring about the development of secondary sex characteristics, i.e. the breasts and nipples.
• Influence body shape at puberty, resulting in women having broader hips and narrower shoulders than men, and a tendency to deposit fat on the hips and thighs.
• Increase elasticity of the skin, promoting performance of hormone collagen.
• Influence the growth of body hair, so that women have less body hair and more scalp hair than men.
• Stop the growth of the arm and leg bones, resulting in women being generally shorter than men.

Progesterone

Progesterone is another female "sex" hormone, produced in the ovaries, that prepares the uterus for a fertilized. Its sudden withdrawal causes the uterus to shed its lining if pregnancy does not occur. While estrogen is high (during days 1-10 of the menstrual cycle), progesterone is at its lowest level. Its levels climb to a peak between days 14 - 24, and then dramatically drop off again just before the start of menstruation. Ideally, women should have five to ten times more progesterone than estrogen in the blood and 40 to 150 times in the saliva. The lower the ratio of progesterone to estrogen, the higher the risk of health problems. Progesterone has the unique ability to change its structural form to become other hormones, allowing it to be converted and utilized by the body to the point of depletion.

The main functions of progesterone are to:

• Help prepare the body for fertilization and maintain pregnancy. Progesterone during pregnancy and prolactin during lactation promote nest building.
• Work in conjunction with estrogen, to help with the breakdown of the endometrium (lining of the womb) in the second stage of the menstrual cycle.
• Help regulate menstruation.
• Change the mucus produced by the glands in the cervix so that it becomes thick and acidic, thus protecting a potential pregnancy from infection.
• Aid development of the glands in the breast.
• Increase water and salt retention, which may lead to painful breasts and weight gain.
• Improve the immune system.
• Have a relaxant effect on some of the muscles in the body (i.e. stomach, uterus, and fallopian tubes).
• Increase production of sebum, leading to more oily skin and spots.
• Increase the body temperature.

In addition, progesterone may have an impact on mood, leading to an increased irritability. Hence, women often report experiencing changes in mood prior to having a period when the levels of progesterone are at their highest.

Testosterone and androstenedione

Both female and male sex hormones are produced by men and women, but at different levels. Up until the menopause, women have about one-tenth of the amount of male sex hormones that are found in men.

Both testosterone and androstenedione are produced in the ovary, and after the menopause, these hormones go on being produced for a few years. In addition, androstenedione is produced by the adrenal glands (on top of each kidney). The amount of androstenedione produced by the adrenal glands is unchanged after the menopause, although after the menopause it is converted to a form of estrogen (estrone) in the fatty tissue.

The role of male hormones in women is not fully understood, although they have been shown to:

• Increase libido.
• Stimulate the growth of pubic, facial and underarm hair.
• Possibly enhance mood.
• Increase the density of specific bones (for example, the hip bone).

As can be seen from the above lists, both male and female hormones have a number of functions within the body. Although levels of these hormones change around the time of the menopause, this does not happen suddenly. Ovarian changes occur from around the age of 35 until around the age of 55 to 60 years.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/1X/04708447/047084471X.pdf

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/womenshealth/features/hormone.htm

http://www.worldhealth.net/pages/the_female_sex_hormones_extrogen_and_pro/

http://www.sabresciences.com/sexHormones.htm

http://m.healthcaremagic.com/articles/Female-sex-hormones/7405

Irregular Periods during Menopause: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

Overview

In general, irregular periods are very common during the perimenopause. The most common early menstrual irregularity noticed in the perimenopause is a shortening of cycle length. Women with prior 28 day cycles will commonly describe 24 to 26 day cycles during the early perimenopause. Eventually, the cycle length widens and skipping menses typically occurs. These changes in cycle may lead to heavier flow in the early perimenopause, followed by a lighter flow and occasional spotting in the later perimenopause. A common reason for the late periods and prolonged bleeding is due to 'anovulation' (not releasing an egg). When this occurs, there is no signal to the body to cause a period (if there is no pregnancy). When this continues for long enough, the body starts to shed the uterine lining in a 'piece-meal' fashion, which leads to the prolonged bleeding. This can occur for long periods of time, or can correct itself by the next cycle. The unpredictable aspect of the perimenopause can be the most frustrating.

Regular Periods

Before we can define an irregular period, we must first determine what a regular period is. People often say that a regular period occurs every 28 days, but actually, every woman's menstrual cycle is different. Depending on your body and your hormones, you may get your period every 20 days or your may get your period every 35 days. A good way to determine if your periods are regular is to keep a chart and count the number of days between each period. If they occur with roughly the same number of days between each cycle, then your periods are regular. A regular period typically lasts 5 days, but it is completely normal to menstruate for anywhere between 3 and 7 days.

Irregular Periods

Irregular periods aren't unusual they affect about 30% of women in their reproductive years. An irregular period is any type of bleeding that is abnormal when compared to your usual menstrual cycle. This can include a late period, an early period or bleeding between periods. It can also appear as particularly heavy bleeding (menorrhagia) or scanty bleeding. Many women also experience irregular periods in the form of a missed period, continuous periods, or periods that occur twice in one cycle.

Causes of Irregular Periods

Irregular menstrual periods are usually the result of hormonal signals that have been thrown out of sync. In order to produce a period, your body makes hormones, like estrogen and progesterone. These hormones are kept in the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and ovaries inside your body. In order to trigger ovulation and menstruation, these parts of the body need to send signals to one another. Sometimes, these signals get crossed or skipped, causing irregular periods.

But what causes these hormone signals to get out of whack? Well, there are actually a number of things that can easily cause your hormone levels to change, other than the menopausal symptom. Among them:

• Pregnancy: If you are pregnant, your body will begin producing different levels of hormones. This will cause numerous pregnancy symptoms, including an end to your period.
• Stress: Stress is a common cause of irregular periods. If you are fatigued, worried, or anxious this can cause your hormones to become unbalanced.
• Diet: A poor diet or extreme weight loss or gain can also affect your hormones. Women with anorexia or bulimia often have no period or irregular periods.
• Exercise: Intense exercise can wreak havoc on your body, often causing irregular periods.
• Menarche: the cycles after a girl's first period may be irregular for some time. It can take up to 3 years to get regular periods.
• Hormonal Birth Control: Birth control pills and irregular periods sometimes go hand in hand. It can take a while for your body to adjust to the new levels of hormones delivered by hormonal birth control.
• Travel.
• Hormone problems. This may cause a change in the levels of the hormones that the body needs to support menstruation.
• Illegal drug use.
• Problems with the pelvic organs, such as imperforate hymen, polycystic ovary syndrome, or Asherman's syndrome.
• Breast-feeding. Many women do not resume regular periods until they have completed breast-feeding.

Complications

During the perimenopausal period, the most likely explanation for your irregular cycles is menopause. Perimenopause refers to the time before menopause when hormone levels, particularly estrogen, begin fluctuating. Perimenopause occurs, on average, about four years before actual menopause. Menopause is timed as the date of the final period, confirmed after periods have been missed for 12 months.

In the meantime, however, your hormones are all over the place. Some months, levels of estrogen and/or progesterone are up, and some months they're down. All of which affects your periods. You may go months with a normal period, or months with one that's so heavy you can't leave the house. Your period may last four days or two weeks. You may skip a month or have spotting between periods. You may find your period comes every 28 days or every 45 days. There just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

Perhaps the most bothersome part of all this is the heavy bleeding. It's not just a slight inconvenience. Heavy bleeding makes it difficult for women to leave their homes, sit in meetings, shop or exercise, because they fear having an "accident." Additionally, the fatigue that often accompanies heavy bleeding can interfere with your daily activities.

Plus, heavy bleeding can lead to iron-deficient anemia, the most common health-related threat of heavy bleeding. While most cases of anemia are easily treated with oral iron supplements, sometimes the bleeding is so severe a woman's entire volume of blood drops, leading to shortness of breath, severe fatigue and heart palpitations that require hospitalization.

Treatment

As irregular periods during menopause are related to low estrogen levels, the best way to overcome irregular periods is dealing with hormonal imbalance. The major types of treatment options include lifestyle changes, alternative therapy, and medical procedures.

As a first step to get relief, women should make an effort to change easily controllable factors in their daily lives, such as diet and exercise. However, although lifestyle changes help to treat symptoms of hormonal imbalance, such as irregular periods, they don't correct the underlying problem. To attain maximum relief from irregular periods, menopausal women should seek an alternative treatment to help reverse estrogen decline and treat irregular periods at its source. As a last resort, a few women with severe conditions may find it necessary to consult their doctor about undergoing certain medical procedures. Keep reading below to learn about what each option for treating irregular periods entails.

Lifestyle Changes

Irregular periods caused by fatigue, stress, and poor physical health should be corrected by adopting a healthy lifestyle. This is the easiest, cheapest and safest way to alleviate menopause symptoms. Here are some tips:

• Enjoy a healthy diet: Abnormally long period cycles or absent menstruation are sometimes caused  by  poor  nutrition  and  lack  of adequate fat in the diet. Avoid crash dieting and extreme restriction, and eat a healthy, balanced diet.
• Be prepared: In the years leading up to menopause, menstruation may occur sporadically and at unexpected times. Always having a supply of sanitary napkins or tampons on hand can help.
• Reduce stress: Practicing stress reduction techniques like yoga, meditation, or aromatherapy can help to alleviate some of the uncomfortable symptoms associated with PMS, like headaches and irritability.

Alternative Medicine for Irregular Periods

Because lifestyle changes only treat the symptoms of hormonal imbalance, such as irregular periods, herbal supplements are a great solution for fixing the actual problem. Herbal remedies are typically cost-effective and free from serious health risks or side-effects.

The main types of herbs that are effective at treating menopausal symptoms include phytoestrogenic herbs, which have low levels of plant hormones that have an estrogenic affect in the human body, and non-estrogenic herbs, which encourage the body to increase its own hormone secretion.

Both of these herbs have been used to successfully treat hormonal imbalance. Phytoestrogenic herbs, however, have been criticized for their tendency to make the body less responsive to producing its own estrogen, thus worsening the problem. Non-estrogenic herbs, on the other hand, encourage the body to correct hormonal imbalance by itself.

In medical terminology, these plants are called "selective estrogen-receptor modulators" (SERMS). They don't just raise total levels of estrogen, but have the unique capacity to selectively increase estrogen in some organs, and block or reduce it in others. In a premenopausal woman suffering from elevated estrogen levels, for example, these herbs can decrease estrogen, while in a postmenopausal woman, they help to augment hormone levels. This herb thus balances hormone levels naturally.

An excellent example of a safe and effective non-estrogenic herbal supplement for hormonal imbalance is MacaActive. This herbal supplement is noteworthy for its ability to balance hormone levels in women by nourishing the hormonal glands, thus alleviating most disorders related to hormonal imbalance, including irregular periods.

Medical Procedures

After lifestyle changes and alternative therapy, medical procedures (especially hormone replacement therapy or surgical procedures like hysterectomy) are the most extreme treatment solution. Pharmaceutical companies driven by profit motives lobby hard to make women think that this is the only option for treating menopause symptoms, but in reality serious medical procedures are only appropriate for a very small percentage of women. Due to the elevated cost and associated side effects, including a higher risk for certain types of cancer, this step should only be considered as a last resort for women with severe conditions. Women who think this treatment may be appropriate for them should seek advice from their doctor.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.menopauserx.com/health_center/sym_ir_bleeding.htm

http://www.epigee.org/menstruation/irregularperiods.html

http://women.webmd.com/tc/missed-or-irregular-periods-topic-overview

http://www.healthywomen.org/content/ask-expert/1786/irregular-periods-and-perimenopause

http://www.natural-progesterone-estrogen-supplements.com/irregular-periods-treatments.htm