PREGNANCY AND EARLY MENOPAUSEPregnancy and early menopause can share many of the same characteristics. Therefore, it is important not to dismiss your symptoms as menopausal when you could be expecting a child. Some of the medication, both prescription and the natural remedies for menopause, can be harmful to a fetus. You will want to make sure you are indeed in menopause and you're not expecting a child before you get started on any of these. A woman can be in the family way even after her periods have stopped. That’s why we don’t say someone has reached full menopause until one year after her last menstruation. A woman is still producing estrogen and progesterone during this time, although they are in lower amounts. So, this means the woman who thinks she is in early menopause can still get pregnant. Dr. Laura Corio states, "Although by far the most common cause of abnormal vaginal bleeding during perimenopause is hormonal disorders, I always take a detailed medical history to rule out any other possible reasons for irregular bleeding. Pregnancy is the most obvious possible cause of skipped periods or spotting...stress can cause you to stop menstruating as well." Hormone testing for perimenopause is one method that is sometimes used in conjunction with a full medical and menstrual history and physical examination by your doctor. However, often these hormone tests are inaccurate to determine perimenopause. A pregnancy test, whether it is over-the-counter or performed by a lab, it is very reliable to determine if indeed you are pregnant. Conclusion for Pregnancy and Early Menopause If the thought of starting or adding to your family at this stage of your life horrifies you, then you should be on birth control until you are in postmenopause stage.
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