Causes of Menopause

Menopause is a natural occurrence that all women will experience at some point in their lifetime. This is when a woman no longer has periods and their ovaries cease to function. What leads to this occurrence?

One cause of menopause is hormonal imbalance. The luteinizing hormone (LH) and the follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) are substances that bring on the menstrual cycle. Once these substances are in the bloodstream, they give signals to the ovaries to produce estrogen and progesterone which help to regulate the menstrual cycle. As a woman gets older, they begin to produce more LH and FSH due to the ovaries not being receptive to commands from the pituitary gland. As a result, less estrogen and progesterone are secreted by the ovaries eventually leading to the menstrual cycle discontinuing. Loss of estrogen is also considered to be a cause of the many symptoms associated with menopause.

A hysterectomy, chemotherapy or radiation therapy can also lead to the onset of menopause. A hysterectomy can cause menopause if both the uterus and the ovaries are taken out. When this happens, the period stops immediately and you start to experience some of the signs and symptoms of menopause.

With chemotherapy or radiation therapy, menopause can be induced over the course of treatment causing symptoms that are related to menopause such as hot flushes.

Menopause can occur if the ovaries are destroyed due to chemotherapy or radiation therapy. This is usually the case for those undergoing treatment for cervical cancer.

Most women experience menopause during their late 40′s or early 50′s although it can come earlier or later. Most of the causes of menopause can all be linked to aging since age plays a big role in how the body functions. A lot of things start to decline with age such as egg count, production of hormones, and responses to brain signals. When these things start to decline, so does the ability to menstruate which leads to menopause. Going through menopause may be hard due to the unpleasant symptoms that are associated with it. However, there are several good treatment options that can help you deal with the symptoms of menopause.