The Truth About Menopause

Menopause. It’s such a defining period in an adult woman’s life, yet little is communicated or discussed about it outside of the doctor’s office.Even the definition of menopause is often misconstrued.“Menopause means the cessation of menstruation for 12 months with no other identifiable cause,” Kimberly Kesler O’Rourke, MD, board-certified OB-GYN with GBMC Health Partners Perinatal Associates, said. “A lot of the problems or symptoms you hear about are actually perimenopause—getting irregular periods, hot flashes, mood swings—but menstruation hasn’t technically ceased yet. Some people go 12 months with no period and it’s not technically menopause for other various medical reasons.”Menopause is one day, 12 months following your last period. On average in the United States, women are 51 when this occurs, but it can happen anywhere between 45-60 years of age, and the symptoms, such as the ones Dr. Kesler O’Rourke described, can begin much earlier. If menstruation ceases before 45 years of age, it would be considered premature ovarian failure.“At that point, we would definitely want to look for a root cause and potentially treat with hormones as there are increased risks of low estrogen when starting that young,” Dr. Kesler O’Rourke said.& In the first 12 months to two...