Is there any way to know about what age i'll go through menopause? my mother went through menopause fairly early, in her mid-40s. i am 40 and still have young children -- i don't think i could deal with menopausal symptoms on top of two preschoolers! is t

I : I can understand your concern. The average age of menopause is 54, so half of women go through it before 54 and half after. There is a genetic predisposition, but there are other factors such as nutritional status and other health issues, and of course you received half your genetics from your father. Forty is very, very young for your mother to have gone through that but that definitely does occur for some women. The odds are that you will not go through menopause at such an early age.

Yes : Yes (and no) because we do not yet have perfect tests. Here are is a link about to multiple resources about menopause timing (http://bitly.Com/gkpe8x). We think that a hormone called amh (anti-mullerian hormone) may be useful to predict menopause. Here is a link to my blog entry on amh (http://www.Dropsahl.Com/infertility/testing/anti-mullerian-hormone-amh/). Amh is a hormone produced by the growing follicles in the ovaries. The small antral follicles are constantly growing and you use up about 500-100 eggs each month. As you get older and the number of eggs goes down, so does the number of growing follicles (cysts containing an egg). The few growing follicles the lower the amh level. You blood level does not vary much from day to day, so your doctor could get that value (and perhaps an fsh) and give you some idea of how close you are. Let me comment on a couple of issues. First, your mother's age at menopause matters if she went through menopause naturally but not if the menopause was from surgery. Also, the mid-40's is not abnormal though a bit early as the average age is 51 years. Second, as you will learn from reading some of the links i provided, there is considerable variation in timing. Next. Let me say that the symptoms of menopause vary as well. Some women suffer from many effects of losing the estrogen hormone: hot flushes, mood changes etc. You are not necessarily doomed to have the same reaction or even the same symptoms. I hope this information helps. Best wishes and please do not worry too much about menopause which is normal and usually not a horrible experience.