In your 40s, your menstrual periods may become longer or shorter, heavier or lighter, and more or less frequent, until eventually — on average, by age 51 — your ovaries stop releasing eggs, and you have no more periods.
When you're in postmenopause, your menstrual period has been gone for longer than 12 consecutive months. At this stage in life, your reproductive years are behind you and you're no longer ovulating (releasing eggs). The menopausal symptoms you've experienced in the past may become milder or go away completely.
Once in menopause (you haven't had a period for 12 months) and on into postmenopause, the symptoms may continue for an average of four to five years, but they decrease in frequency and intensity. Some women report their symptoms last longer.
However, a Mayo Clinic study found that many women experience hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, mood changes and other menopause symptoms beyond mid-life and into their 60s, 70s and even their 80s.
Although many women over age 65 have persistent menopausal symptoms, there are limited data to guide therapy among older women. Approximately 9-16% of women over the age of 65 continue to have menopausal symptoms,1,2 and 13.7% of those women are using some form of menopausal hormone therapy (HT).
Menopause Symptoms Can Last Decades
A major new study by the Mayo Clinic found that a large portion of women experience hot flashes, night sweats and other symptoms not only in midlife but also into their 60s, 70s and 80s.
Overview Menopause
Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels. This usually happens between the ages of 45 and 55. It can sometimes happen earlier naturally.
Having said that, a lot of women find that, at some point during the menopause, their symptoms start to get worse, and it's almost as if they want to know the reason why.
You can't be the same as you were before the menopause because your hormonal balance is completely different, but you can feel that much better. You don't have all the monthly energy dips and spikes, you don't have all the hormonal angst, you don't have the physical drain.
Hot flashes in elderly adults are caused by a decrease in estrogen levels which affects the body's thermostat. Generally, hot flashes are associated with menopause.
Postmenopausal bleeding is vaginal bleeding that occurs a year or more after your last menstrual period. It can be a symptom of vaginal dryness, polyps (noncancerous growths) or other changes in your reproductive system. In about 10% of women, bleeding after menopause is a sign of uterine cancer.
Physical Symptoms After Menopause
Studies show that menopausal and postmenopausal women experience decreases in libido and orgasm which directly impact the frequency of sexual intercourse. This is most commonly due to the physiological changes of this transition rather than due to relational discord or depression.
Although the average age of the first period has been getting younger in U.S. women, there hasn't been a corresponding shift in the average age at menopause.
Using hormone therapy in women ages 65 and older remains controversial. There is limited data in this population, but some research says that women shouldn't be starting the therapy after the age of 60. However, hormone therapies offer bone protection, which opens the door discussion on usage.
Hot flashes in elderly adults are caused by a decrease in estrogen levels which affects the body's thermostat. Generally, hot flashes are associated with menopause.
Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels. This usually happens between the ages of 45 and 55. It can sometimes happen earlier naturally. Or for reasons such as surgery to remove the ovaries (oophorectomy) or the uterus (hysterectomy), cancer treatments like chemotherapy, or a genetic reason.
Menopause is when a woman stops having her period permanently, for 12 months in a row. While most women reach menopause by 51 or 52, this is an average and varies. Late menopause can occur in a woman's upper 50s or early 60s.
Having said that, a lot of women find that, at some point during the menopause, their symptoms start to get worse, and it's almost as if they want to know the reason why.
When people hear "hot flash," they generally think of menopause. This is the time in a woman's life when her period stops. While women typically experience menopause in the 40s or 50s, a large number of women can experience hot flashes not only during menopause but well into their 60s, 70s, and even 80s.
There's no set age when menopause should start, but usually a woman will enter menopause in her mid-40s to mid-50s. Menopause that occurs before a woman is in her mid-40s is known as early or premature menopause. If a woman is 55 or older and still hasn't begun menopause, doctors would consider it late-onset menopause.
If hot flashes don't interfere with your life, you probably don't need treatment. Hot flashes subside gradually for most women, even without treatment, but it can take several years for them to stop.
The International Menopause Society guidelines recommend that if menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) is prescribed, it be commenced before the age of 60, or within 10 years of menopause.
There's no limit on how long you can take HRT, but talk to a GP about how long they recommend you take the treatment. Most women stop taking it once their menopausal symptoms pass, which is usually after a few years.
A Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study involving postmenopausal, overweight, and obese women who took 2,000 IUs of vitamin D daily for a year found that those whose vitamin D blood levels increased the most had the greatest reductions in blood estrogens, which are a known risk factor for breast cancer.