Early menopause (also known as premature menopause) used to mean menopause that occurs well below the more usual age of menopause - ie if it occurs between the ages of 20 and 40.

Usually, the average age at which most women will have finished their menopause by will be at around 51 years. Therefore, going by this figure, we can expect that the majority of women will be going through the change between the ages of about 47 to about 53.

Usually it is quite difficult to determine the actual cause of premature menopause.
Sometimes, genetic factors can have a bearing on this, as can stress, a poor diet and heavy smoking and drinking. It is also known that autoimmune diseases can affect the menopause (these typically tend to be disorders that arise from an imbalance in the immune system).

Sometimes, it is simply down to the fact that a woman is more likely to have an early menopause because of the likelihood that she was born with fewer eggs in her ovaries.

Other times, treatments such as radiation therapy or chemotherapy have the power to destroy larger numbers of eggs which means that there will be fewer eggs left. Further, if the ovaries are affected by severe viral infections, such as mumps, for example, this can also cause a lot of damage to the eggs that a woman has.

If, for whatever reason, a woman has to have her ovaries surgically removed before the age of forty (hence she is no longer producing ovarian hormones), then this will bring about the sudden onset of a severe early menopause especially if hormone replacement is not taken.

A hysterectomy, or any other type if pelvic surgery that affects the flow of blood to the ovaries may also cause ovarian failure over time.

Premature ovarian failure is a condition that used to be known as premature menopause
however POF (as it is commonly referred to) does not necessarily mean that the ovaries have run out of eggs. It can be more a case that the body is not responding to the signs to ovulate - even though the eggs are present.

There is yet another condition, known as "dimished ovarian reserve" in which a woman can get fairly regular periods but still experience the symptoms of the menopause. If this occurs before the age of forty then it is often seen as a precursor to POF (premature ovarian failure).

Those women who go through early menopause are at a greater risk of developing osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. Therefore, in order to combat these diseases, any woman who finds herself going through menopause early, should ensure that she starts to take HRT as this will provide her with protective measures - provided she takes HRT for a considerable amount of time and does not give up medication half way.

Tags: early menopause, menopause, premature menopause, hrt