Starting periods at a young age is linked to early menopause

[PaintingOwls]

Sorry if I put this in the wrong place, I just came across this article. I started my periods when I was 11 and this is making me very concerned, particularly this bit:

Women without children who had their first period before 12 were five times more likely to reach menopause prematurely than women with two or more children, who started menstruating at 12 or older.

Often, these women had difficulty falling pregnant, Mishra says. This suggests there is a link between early menstruation, infertility and premature menopause. If a woman goes through menopause in her 30s, her fertility could start to decline in her 20s, Mishra says.

www.newscientist.com/article/2119117-starting-periods-at-a-young-age-is-linked-to-early-menopause

Am also on my phone so sorry the link isn't clicky!

I thought it was the opposite. I thought starting LATE was linked to early menopause.

I'm sure I saw things years ago saying the earlier you started the later you are to finish (and in my sample of one that bears out - DM menstruated from 10- late 50s).

I live in hope as a childless woman who also started my periods aged 10 that earlier menopause is on the cards. I hate my periods.

It makes sense, doesn't it? We're all born with our eggs already inside us so the earlier your body starts releasing them, the earlier you're going to run out? I started before age 10 and am perimenopausal now at 44.

Ha! I started at just 11. I am 51 next month and STILL HAVING FECKIN' PERIODS. In fact, I am starting to wonder if I will ever finish....

Forty feckin' years.....

I wonder if it's affected by long term use of the pill which stops your body from ripening new eggs.

In that case Bella, it would mean that women who have had a lot of pregnancies would have their meno later as they weren't ovulating during pregnancy, (as if they were on the pill) wouldn't it?

I think it's more complex and complicated than an "early in early out", or "first in last out" or a pill/ pregnancy suppression of ovulation type of story.

I always thought that we had a certain number of eggs so it would stand to reason that the earlier your periods started the earlier your menopause would? In which case women like sue radford will have periods for a long time to come as she has had 20 x 9 months worth of eggs to get rid of. Wow thats another 15 years of periods beyond what her natural menopause age would be. I wonder if that's likely. I don't know enough about anyone else's periods to have any idea.

I also thought I'd read that women who started younger finished their periods later... I wonder which is correct. Or maybe there is no hard and fast rule.

I started having periods 2 months before my 12th birthday and started the menopause at 49.

I would imagine we all start out with differing amounts of eggs anyway.

My friend only has one ovary and has a period every 6 weeks.

Every woman has her own particular number of eggs, not an identical amount! Baby girls have millions, and by puberty there are only a few 100,000 or so.

Some come into fruition and are released, but the majority of them die off even before puberty. Here is some detail about eggs from a fertility clinic

Chemicals like some medicines, chemo, too high or too low bmi, lack of exercise, PCOS, smoking, alcohol use can all effect how the eggs atrophy and their reabsorption rate.

By the time a woman is in her menopause she has about 1000 left and these don't respond to the FSH released to stimulate them into action.

I started my periods aged nearly 17 and started the menopause aged 40. During my midwifery training we were taught the later you start the earlier you finish. My personal experience would seem to corroborate that.

I started my period on my 11th birthday, I am 55 in March and haven't missed one yet. Last baby born at 39.

I started my period when I was 9 and am officially peri menopausal. My mum was 8 and had early peri menopausal symptoms.

Well I started having perimenopausal symptoms about 3 years ago and now I am 49 so at the age of 46. I started my period late - at around 15 so definetly not in my case.

I am 54 ,i started on my 12th birthday have been permenopausal for about 10 years but last period was at christmas, although did go 9 months last year without one.

Another one who thought the later you started, the earlier you finish.

My first period came when I was 15, with a gap of a year until the next one and some regularity. Peri menopause symptoms in early 40s, all over by 47.

My sister is 18 months younger so heading for 50 now, started before me and has no end in sight.

My sister didn't start till 13, and was diagnosed with premature menopause at 39, so the rule didn't apply in her case.

Well, I must be the exception that proves the rule.

I didn't start my periods until I was nearly 16 (late), and went through menopause at 46 (early).

I started at 9 and after bouts of menopausal episodes lasting up to a year had first dc at 25.
He was a complete shock and only found out at 20 weeks.

Then ds2 at 29.

Then dd at 38 during the menopause, confirmed 2 weeks before befor gp told me I was pg.
Another complete shock, took about 2 weeks to sink in.