Early menopause symptoms - every woman at some point in her 30's or 40's will wonder if what she is experiencing is really the first symptoms of menopause. Menopause is defined as the cessation of menses or the end of menstrual cycles for a period of 12 months or more. Menopause is a natural process for a woman, not an illness. It is quite common for a woman's hormone balance to begin shifting in her early 30's to 40's, resulting in early menopause symptoms. Why? There are several reasons why.

Women often demand much of their bodies. Stress exists in many forms for an active, involved woman today. Women have demanding and stressful careers. Women have family responsibilities. The relationship with the spouse or partner may not be the best. Aging parents can add to the burden. These and other responsibilities add up in the toll they take on the body, health and well-being of a woman.

And at the same time, the womans body may not be getting the support it needs to function as it was designed. Obesity, lack of exercise, poor nutrition, excess caffeine and alcohol add to the problem instead of helping the body cope with what is demanded of it. This stressful, demanding lifestyle, coinciding with inadequate support given to the body, contributes to experiencing many of the early menopause symptoms.

Common first symptoms of menopause for women are:

Irregular menstrual cycles
Light or heavy menstrual flow
Lumpy or tender breasts
Fibroid tumors
Endometriosis
Mood swings
Water retention and bloating
Sleep problems
"Foggy, fuzzy" thinking and memory lapses
Anxiety and depression
Inability to handle stress
PMS
Hot flashes and night sweats
Vaginal dryness
Weight gain

Then there are the hormones, the menstrual cycle and hormone production in the body. In the normal menstrual cycle and a healthy woman, estrogen is the dominant hormone that is produced for the first 10-12 days following the previous menstrual flow. Ovulation then signals the female body to produce progesterone, which happens for the next 12 days or so. If there is no pregnancy, progesterone and estrogen levels will drop at around day 28, allowing menstruation to begin. However, if there is no ovulation, progesterone will not be produced by the body that month. This event, called an annovulatory cycle, is a typical occurance today for women in their 30's and 40's - no ovulation, no progesterone. This leaves the woman with an excess of estrogen and a deficiency of the hormone progesterone.

Many women in their 30's and 40's are actually having fewer ovulations which creates hormone imbalance, resulting in many of the early menopause symptoms. And once ovulation ceases at menopause, progesterone levels fall to virtually zero. At the same time, estrogen is still being produced, again leading to hormone imbalance and the resulting first symptoms of menopause. If a hysterectomy has happened, surgical menopause means the woman no longer produces progesterone. Besides the problems created by missed ovulations or hysterectomy, excess estrogen is regularly obtained from other sources. Birth control pills, household chemicals and pesticides, certain foods that have been sprayed or given chemicals and many construction materials used in homes are all sources of estrogen which leads to excess in the body.

Doctors call this hormone imbalance condition of excess estrogen in the body "estrogen dominance". What are the symptoms of estrogen dominance? The symptoms include low sex drive, bloating and weight gain, headaches before the menstrual period, mood swings, irregular periods and excessive menstrual bleeding. If the amount of unbalanced estrogen in the female adult increases beyond what is desirable and healthy, you will definitely experience early menopause symptoms. On the other hand, when your hormones are balanced, you feel more alert, energetic and ready to take on the challenges of life.

How can a woman tell if the first symptoms of menopause being experienced are because of hormone imbalance? An easy and effective way is to take the online test provided by a leading womens health clinic for early menopause symptoms. It takes just a few minutes and the test is free. Find out more about your health, premenopause and menopause symptoms, what the symptoms are telling you and what to do about it based on your answers to important questions. Read more about hormone imbalance, estrogen dominance symptoms, side effects of a hysterectomy and physician-recommended natural treatments for eliminating the early menopause symptoms.

Copyright 2005 InfoSearch Publishing